Solve for Tomorrow 2024 (SFT), the educative programme by Samsung Electronics for Central America, the Caribbean, Ecuador, and Venezuela continues to make impressive strides with the recent selection of 10 projects moving on to the next phase.
Alongside the programme’s progress, Samsung Electronics noted a significant increase in the number of students and teachers participating.
In particular, a total of 202 participants from Trinidad and Tobago registered in the initial stage of the programme. After the evaluation of interesting and original proposals, three schools have been selected for the semifinals – Five Rivers Secondary School; Holy Faith Convent, Penal; and Queen’s Royal College.
They are among 10 teams preparing to enter the next stage of SFT. This year marks the 11th edition of this programme, with students from Belize, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
Overall, project topics related to the environment (40%) and mental health (20%) stood out. This was followed by those focused on education (15%), social inclusion-mental health (15%), and the improvement of public or community services (5%). Proposals from students in Trinidad and Tobago predominantly focused on safety and inclusion topics.
At the start of this year’s edition, Samsung Electronics already met one of its objectives: to increase enthusiasm and the willingness to participate within the student community in the 11 countries where the call was made. For SFT 2024, 2,922 proposals were registered, presenting solutions to collective problems affecting their communities. This was a notable increase compared to last year, which had 2,304 submissions. This increase was also reflected in the number of students and teachers who participated. This year totalled 12,821, representing a 45 per cent increase compared to 8,838 last year.
To achieve greater coverage in these nations, a large team of field coordinators visited educational institutions and conducted introductory Design Thinking workshops for students and teachers, providing them with the tools to refine their proposals, which they submitted in the first stage of SFT 2024. This flagship programme by Samsung Electronics is carried out in collaboration with the renowned organization Glasswing International.
“The support of our allies in each country has been crucial to the success of this program. Year after year, we have strengthened alliances with Ministries of Education in each country, universities, foundations, business chambers, and multilateral organizations, through their valuable contributions that strengthen our programme,” said María Fernanda Hernández, Corporate Citizenship Manager at Samsung.
“We have also encouraged more girls and women to participate in STEM activities—Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics—in our educational programmes. In Solve for Tomorrow, we focus on ensuring that students form mixed groups to participate.
“It is very encouraging that in this year’s SFT, in five countries, more female students registered than male students. Notably, in Trinidad and Tobago, 55 per cent of the teams comprised female students, followed by Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras, with the rest showing a balance between both genders.”
Hernández noted that another achievement was increasing participation in areas remote from capital cities to expand geographical participation: “This year, we reached coverage of approximately 20 per cent of the territory in the different countries.”