MANIFESTO

The world is facing one of the largest crisis in history of humanity: More than 70 million people are displaced around the world due to wars, economic inequalities and climate change. This number is expected only to increase in the upcoming years.

Displaced people face a variety of livelihood challenges. These challenges are complex and their solutions are usually beyond the capacity of individual governments, corporations or international organizations.

The SDG Impact Accelerator was started with a belief in the power of entrepreneurs in providing solutions to the livelihood problems of displaced people by catalyzing cooperation between the relevant stakeholders in an action-oriented and solution-focused way.

We aim to accelerate the solutions by startups, spinoffs or research teams by making them to work together with relevant stakeholders in pre-determined systemic challenges. In Summer 2019, we open two challenges, supported by some of the most critical institutions in the respective areas:

  • Sanitations solutions – supported by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest private donor institution and Eczacibasi Vitra, one of the largest sanitation systems producers globally
  • Digital ID solutions – supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and World Food Program (WFP)

The SDG Impact Accelerator is initiated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey. More than 4 million displaced people live in Turkey, the country hosting largest number of refugees in the world. Turkey is an excellent place to explore new solutions to the needs of displaced people. The Summer 2019 programs of the SDG Impact Accelerator will support testing new solutions, which in turn would be scalable to other locations.

The program is also supported by Limak Holding, a Turkish conglomerate with investments in energy, health and transport in developing countries. A number of global technology luminaries support the program through the international advisory board.

  • If you are a startup, spinoff, a social venture or a corporate or research team that wants to be involved in the challenges, you can apply here.
  • If you are a corporation, philanthropic foundation, international organization or an impact investor that can potentially partner with the SDG Impact Accelerator, you can get in touch with us here.