Pitch for Progress: SDG Week Case Competition

Presented in partnership with SustainSU

Are you passionate about sustainability in Edmonton? Are you interested in working to solve current issues affecting our community? The Pitch for Progress: SDG Week Case Competition gives participants the opportunity to propose a creative solution, which must incorporate one or more of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, to solve one of three issues affecting the University of Alberta and the greater Edmonton community:

1. Focus: Truth and Reconciliation Initiatives in Alberta. How does your pitch foster allyship towards Indigenous peoples? How can your pitch create sustainable solutions to problems that current Truth and Reconciliation investigations and initiatives face? Consider your own positionality, whether you are Indigenous to what is known as Canada or a settler on this land. 

2. Focus: Coal Mining in the Rockies. How does the proposed coal mining in the Canadian Rockies disrupt ecological diversity and contribute to climate change? What are sustainable solutions or practices that could be implemented to reduce the environmental effects or what could be proposed in order to replace the coal mining proposal completely? Is your proposal economically viable?

3. Focus: Poverty and the Edmonton Housing Crisis. In what ways can you/your team eliminate, prevent, or educate about poverty on campus? How can sustainable growth be achieved in the wake of Edmonton's current crisis regarding the cost of living? How can this relate to housing on campus and around Edmonton, as well as related problems?

Supplementary/Guiding Question: Who are the stakeholders that should be consulted in preparation for the execution of your proposal? What kind of information do you expect to gain from their experiences and expertise?

All proposals will take the form of live presentations to a panel of professionals on Friday, March 8, 2024; each individual or group will be given advice and feedback. A rubric will be distributed in advance of the competition to give participants guidelines on their proposals. The top proposal for each issue will be given a $500 monetary grant to go towards implementing their solution in the real world! This competition is also intended to be a preparatory event for other related grants, including the Campus Sustainability Grants and the SCF Green Fund, and is a great opportunity for both experienced students and students new to case competitions! Participants must be students at the University of Alberta and can enter individually or in groups of 2-6. The deadline to enter the Pitch for Progress: SDG Week Case Competition is March 3, 2024. More details will be shared as SDG Week draws closer.