Programs

Resolution offers a number of programs that serve young people from university students to mid-career professionals. Most notably, Resolution includes:

Each of these programs contributes to providing young leaders with the tools, access and experience they need to become socially responsible individuals actively creating both global and local change. Resolution offers Fellowships to those young leaders who have distinguished themselves, while also providing mentorship and access more broadly through its network and career initiative.

The Social Venture Challenge

In March of 2009, Resolution launched its first full Social Venture Challenge (SVC). The SVC is an annual competition, designed to identify and support teams of young people from around the world who offer strong solutions to pressing social issues. Founded in conjunction with Ashoka, and held annually at WorldMUN, the SVC rewards outstanding innovation, initiative, and enterprise among participating venturers.

The SVC affords participants the opportunity to form a global community of young socially-responsible leaders whose ideas are creating real change. As Resolution grows, we will continue to offer the SVC at WorldMUN, but will also expand it to other networks and venues.

Specifically, the SVC presents students with three challenges: to identify a problem, large or small; to conceive of a solution; and to implement that solution. Students are asked to produce a proposal in stages, describing the problem they will address and how their social enterprise will address it.

Through various team-building and presentation phases, the competitors fine-tune their proposals to prepare for a final round judged by a select panel of judges. Iterations include the online sign-up and registration process, submission of a short abstract, followed by a full-length project plan; presentation of the venture to a large group of their peers in a Social Venture Forum at WorldMUN; and a final judging round. Over the past three years, Resolution Fellowships have been awarded to teams working on six continents and a wide variety of important areas.

Each SVC venture team is competing for a "Resolution Fellowship." The Fellowship provides a number of valuable services to these nascent social ventures, including:

  • • Two Resolution Points of Contact for each venture, acting as liaisons to the venture team, remaining in monthly communication and coordinating Resolution's various support streams;
  • • Consulting and advice on anything from project strategy, to operations, to tactical decisions;
  • • Access to Resolution's network of allies and contacts;
  • • Seed funding at a high enough level to launch the venture; and
  • • Assistance in accessing additional funding as the venture develops, including potential for further Resolution funding, entering social venture competitions with larger awards, and introductions to donors and grant pools.

As part of the agreement between Resolution and its Fellowship recipients, each venture is required to furnish due diligence information and submit regular reports and accounting to Resolution.

Past final judging rounds have included the following distinguished panelists:

  • • Katy Dobbs: Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, Staples International
  • • Geraldine Acuna: General Counsel, Bracebridge Capital
  • • Melissa Helmbrecht: Founder & CEO, Splashlife
  • • Ariel Dora Stern: Bosch Fellow & Project Manager, Straight/To
  • • Phua Chao Rong: Captain, Singapore Armed Forces & Deputy Chairman, Singapore National Youth Achievement Award Gold Award Holders’ Alumni

The Resolution Platform

In March of 2007, Resolution launched a web application that keeps Resolution members connected and provides them with critical tools to access mentors, build teams and share their accomplishments in creating change. Through this suite of online tools, which currently hosts over 4,000 members from over 70 nations, Resolution is working to grow a network of internationally-minded, socially-motivated entrepreneurs and future leaders. Notably, a Resolution Fellowship was awarded in 2009 to UNIDAS, the leaders of which met and coordinated their proposal for the SVC over the Resolution Network.

The Resolution Project is composed of talented and engaged students who are passionate about global solutions and forming a network of change-makers. In 2011, Resolution plans to launch the next generation of its web-based interactive platform with a greatly expanded set of tools and benefits. Resolution will be breaking new ground in social entrepreneurship, providing an online forum for its Resolution Fellows, their peers, selected mentors, and Resolution’s volunteer team to interact, post content, crowdsource ideas, share opportunities and resources. The organic collaboration that will occur on this platform takes advantage of the most exciting emerging elements in social and digital media, with extraordinary potential for enhancing and expanding the impact of our Fellows and their work around the world.

The Resolution Career Initiative

As part of the offerings for its Members, Resolution also sponsors and organizes a panel discussion on international and socially-responsible careers. Over three years, these panels have been attended by nearly 1,000 students and featured young professionals from private, public and non-profit sector organizations, in both entrepreneurial and traditional careers, including:

  • • Ashoka / Youth Venture
  • • The Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria
  • • Sidley Austin
  • • ammado
  • • ProMujer
  • • McKinsey & Company
  • • Splashlife
  • • Group 113
  • • Egon Zehnder International

In addition, Resolution has provided its Members with access to various speakers, including, for example, current special advisor on management reforms to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ambassador Richard Butler, and others.