In a thrilling display of critical-thinking, innovation and commitment to sustainability, Team PlastiConn, a team of students from the Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos (UNILAG) is set to represent the University at the 2024 SDG Olympiad Award Ceremony holding in Paris, France come Thursday, September 26, 2024.
After participating in the SDG Olympiad Summer School hosted by the Lagos Urban Studies Group (LUSG), under the Department of Geography, UNILAG, three (3) teams: COFAWO, PlastiConn, and WASHMonitor, competed for the chance to represent the university at the 2024 SDG Olympiad holding in Paris in September 2024.
The Summer School and Final Pitching Session, which held at Nithub, University of Lagos from Monday, July 1 to Friday, July 26, 2024, was an enlightening experience and a tough challenge among three brilliant teams who each put up a passionate pitch where they identified unique environmental or health challenges and proffered solutions compliant with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The pitch presented by Team COFAWO (Community Food and Water Observatory) focussed on predicting and preventing future disease outbreaks in Nigeria. Using the recent cholera outbreak as an example, the team identified poor hygiene practices in communities and under-reporting of health issues as challenges resulting in disease outbreaks. Team COFAWO thus proposed to achieve its goal through creating a data-collation model that enables individuals to report incidences of food poisoning and unsanitary environments around them in real-time, linked with a machine learning model that analyses such data for prediction of future epidemics. This solution promises with equip health organises with needed information to provided proactive healthcare services and sensitise communities in danger of a disease outbreak of preventive measures.
Team PlastiConn (Plastic Wastes Connector) chose to face the challenge of recycling plastics by connecting plastic users to collection centres as well pickers using a GIS-based solution. This way, individuals who have no wherewithal to recycle plastics they use can have it scheduled for collection by collection companies or middle-men known as pickers.
Team WASHMonitor (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Monitor) was all about protecting the quality of the water we ingest and use for countless activities daily. Having identified a rising challenge in water sanitation and hygiene, the team pitched a solution to improve water quality, sanitation and hygiene practices by erecting suitable water purification infrastructures in strategic locations across campus with hopes of expanding to other locations in Nigeria.
Passionate about the cause for improving the quality of living, some undergraduate students from departments of Zoology and Mass Communication teamed up with their counterparts in the Department of Geography to form these teams. Each team had as coaches, postgraduate students of the Department of Geography.
The Final Pitching Session of the 2024 SDG Olympiad Summer School, which held on Friday, July 26, 2024 also held at other venues across the world and was adjudged on-site and virtually by a jury panel comprising of industry experts and academia from Nigeria and Geneva, Switzerland.
After fielding several questions posed by the jurors and careful consideration by the panel, all teams were evaluated according to five global criteria: novelty, relevance, feasibility, prototype, and presentation. Team PlastiConn emerged victorious with a total of 109 points; Team COFAWO came second place with 94.5 points; and Team WASHMonitor, third place with 68.5 points.
The winning team, consisting of: Onafeso Imisioluwa, 300Level student of the Department of Geography; Azeez Moyosoreoluwa, 300Level student of the Department of Mass Communication; Shobogun Sodiq, 400Level student of the Department of Geography; Fatimilehin Oluwatobiloba, 200Level student of the Department of Geography; and Onasanya Oluwademilade, 300Level student of the Department of Geography, was coached by Miss Oluwatoyin Odulana, a Masters student at the Department of Geography, UNILAG.
Clinching first place secured Team PlastiConn a spot on the global stage set in Paris, France where the winning team from each summer school will compete for gold, silver, and bronze medals.
Global Prize winners will gain exposure to a global network and potential support for their solutions. Other promising initiatives that didn’t reach the final stage in Paris, will also stand the chance of receiving at least one of seven Special Awards categories prepared as encouragement by the SDG Olympiad.
The 2024 SDG Olympiad is a youth-driven socially and environmentally impactful initiative, inspired by the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It is was officially launched at the Geneva Trialogue on Friday, May 31, 2024 with focus on team-based projects and challenge-based innovation.
The Final Pitching Session for the 2024 SDG Olympiad Summer School in UNILAG was attended by the Ag Head, Department of Geography, Dr Mayowa Fasona and the full summer school and pitching session was convened and coordinated by Dr Peter Elias of the Lagos Urban Studies Group (LUSG) in the Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos (UNILAG).
As the team prepares for the next stage of the competition, they are firmly assured of the University of Lagos community cheering them on to success and encouraging them to remain focused on their goal of creating a more sustainable future.
We believe they will make us proud and make a significant impact on the global stage.
