The Geneva Challenge, created thanks to the vision and generosity of Swiss Ambassador Jenö Staehelin and under the patronage of the late Kofi Annan, is an annual contest that encourages master students to bridge the gap between their studies and real development policy by developing innovative and practical proposals for effecting change.

For the 2024 edition of the Geneva Challenge, teams of graduate students from academic programmes all over the world presented innovative and pragmatic solutions to address the challenges of youth empowerment. Out of 91 project entries submitted by 362 students, 15 teams were chosen as semi-finalists. A jury of high-level policymakers then selected five finalist teams, one per continent, who defended their projects at the Geneva Graduate Institute on 19 November 2024. 

This year, the team from Africa, consisting of five students from the University of Cape Town, was awarded the first prize. Their project, “MNTASE Cares – Mobile Clinics for Youth Empowerment,” aims to address South Africa's teenage pregnancy crisis by providing underserved youth with holistic reproductive health services, education, and mentorship through mobile clinics and cutting-edge telehealth services.

Second place went to both the team from North America and Oceania with their project “BESI” and the team from Europe with their project “REACH”. The teams from Asia (“Project DigiBridge”) and Latin America (“Project YOUTHXPORT”) won the third prizes.

In her introductory remarks during the award ceremony, Marie-Laure Salles, Director of the Geneva Graduate Institute, stressed the importance of empowering young people to achieve the sustainable development goals. 

In her keynote address, Memory Banda, children’s rights activist and founder of the Foundation for Girls Leadership, drew from her personal experiences growing up in Malawi where child marriage and school dropout rates were rampant among girls. She highlighted pressing challenges faced by youth today, such as unemployment, education gaps, digital exclusion, and climate change, urging urgent investments in education, youth leadership, and equitable resource distribution. Banda concluded with a passionate call for collective action, emphasising that young people are the key drivers of a sustainable and equitable future. Her speech was followed by a conversation with Martina Viarengo, Associate Professor of Economics and Chair of the Academic Steering Committee for the Geneva Challenge.

In his congratulatory speech, Michael Møller, President of the Jury, announced the theme for the 12th edition of the Geneva Challenge, which will be "The Challenges of Migration". Migration benefits host and origin communities by driving economic growth, fostering cultural enrichment, and enabling knowledge exchange, while also providing younger workforces in ageing societies. However, many migrants face challenges such as discrimination, exploitation, and limited access to services, with forcibly displaced individuals — now numbering 122.6 million — often hosted by low-income countries struggling to meet their needs. Addressing these issues is essential for protecting migrant rights and building inclusive, resilient communities. The “Advancing Development Goals Contest” of 2025 calls upon graduate students from around the world to develop innovative solutions that address the global challenges of loneliness.