District administration invites Proposals for ‘Grand Challenge Udupi’

District administration invites Proposals for ‘Grand Challenge Udupi’

Udupi: The Udupi district administration in association with Manipal University is organising “Grand Challenge Udupi” which is intended to stimulate young minds to use their creativity, knowledge and skills in presenting innovative solutions to real-world problems said Priyanka Mary Francis Deputy Commissioner of Udupi district at a press meet held at the DC office here on November 16.

Based on internal discussions, the Udupi Deputy Commissioner’s Office has identified the following areas for the hackathon challenge. The problem statements defined here form the basis for the Grand Challenge. Each of the given themes has a micro, macro and policy component.

I. Solid Waste Management:

• Provide a creative and innovative publicity campaign ideas to drive the message of solid waste segregation at source and keeping our district clean (Swachh Udupi Mission publicity drive).
• How do we attract, recruit, motivate, train and retain our personnel who implement the Swachh Udupi Mission for the last mile?
• For sorting solid waste, what policy framework can we use to nudge people’s mindset: carrot or stick or a combination of both?
• What are the creative ideas to generate lesser waste in the first place.
• Waste buyback by corporates, particularly nonrecyclables like Lays chips or other snacks. What policies do we need to have in place? Corporations need to be involved or plan for the complete life cycle of their product and packaging.

II. Drinking Water Resource Management:

• How to deal with increased water salinity during summer months.
• Scarcity of drinking water during summer months, resulting in huge costs on tanker supply. What are the alternatives?
• How do we promote judicious use of water amongst citizenry?
• Maximum utilization of fresh water of rivers before they attain salinity while joining the sea.
• What are the best modes of potable water supply for scattered rural habitations situated on islands in Udupi district. They may have access to brackish water but need clean drinking water.

III. Pre-school and Primary Education:

• Make Anganvadis physically appealing, attractive, educational resources for children and parents. Can NGOs or Corporates sponsor Anganvadis?
• Can we make Anganvadis fun activity centers, with educational modules on simple problem solving, decision making, learning simple math, social skills, language skills etc.? How do we make them smart classrooms?
• Can we organize spoken and written English for local school students?
• Staff grooming, modules for training and motivation.
• How do you manage students who aren’t enrolled in, or don’t attend school?
• Enrollment, attendance and retention of Primary children.
• Making schools safe and friendly for the disabled.
• How do we improve the quality of mid-day meals provided to students?
• Develop self-defense and gender sensitization exercises/modules.
• How do we augment the Anganvadi and school libraries?

IV. Menstrual Health Management

• Raise awareness remove the social stigma amongst school girls and society
• Encourage use of eco-friendly, cost-effective pads
• Develop local, eco-friendly disposal All students and faculty of Degree College in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada district can participate in the competitions.

The participating team should submit their solutions by January 14, 2018, through bit.do/gcudupi website.

January 10, 2018: Submit your potential solutions. Fill this form and attach a PDF (or MS Word) with your complete team information and 300-word abstract. The Teams will be selected and asked to submit detailed proposals for implementation on January 30, 2018. The final Presentations will be held on February 17. Best solutions are eligible to win cash prizes for implementing their innovative solutions. We have allocated Rs. 50,000 in total prizes, she added.

Shilpa Naag Assistant commissioner Kundapur also present in the press meet.