One Young World: Lead2030 Challenge for SDG 6 Grant

One Young World: Lead2030 Challenge for SDG 6 Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: One Young World
Amount: US $50,000
Last Updated: April 01, 2026

Summary

The One Young World Lead2030 Challenge for SDG 6 aims to enhance global access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene by collaborating with youth-led initiatives. With 2.2 billion people lacking safe drinking water, this challenge supports innovative solutions that leverage technology and social entrepreneurship. Winning projects will receive mentorship, funding, and sponsorship for the One Young World Summit 2025. Reckitt emphasizes sustainability, aiming for a significant impact on public health and education, particularly for vulnerable populations like children and women.

Overview

About How do we achieve universal access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene by 2030? Access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene are basic human rights and essential for public health and economic prosperity. Yet, progress towards SDG 6 is off-track. 2.2 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water, and half of the world’s population face severe water scarcity for at least part of the year Additionally, 3.5 billion people lack access to safely managed sanitation while 419 million still practice open defecation. According to UNICEF, almost half of schools worldwide lack handwashing facilities with water and soap, affecting 802 million childrenSuch limitations lead to wider spread of serious diseases such as diarrhoea and pneumonia, the leading causes of death for young children under 5 around the world. Meeting SDG 6 targets by 2030 requires a 4x increase in pace of progress. Reckitt has time and again reinstated its commitment towards SDG 6 by working tirelessly with local communities, social enterprises, government, NGOs and various charitable organizations around the world to improve access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene. Through Reckitt’s partnership with Water.org, over 2.4 million people now have access to clean water or sanitation in their homes. In 2024, school programmes, like the Dettol Hygiene Quest have brought high-quality hygiene education to 24.5 million children in more than 15 countries, reducing water-borne diseases and absenteeism. Reckitt believes social entrepreneurship has a powerful role to play in solving the world’s greatest challenges. With a portfolio of over 60 entrepreneurs, Reckitt acts as a catalyst working with expert partners like Yunus Social Business and Health Innovation Exchange to scale pioneering solutions and build sustainable business models. Reckitt is proud to have supported the Lead2030 SDG6 challenge since 2019, working with 11 WASH entrepreneurs to date. We want to build on this success in 2025, by supporting innovations that create measurable impact by enabling access to clean water, sanitation or hygiene, and are particularly interested in innovations with a focus on children or women/girls. The focus of this challenge is not limited to providing equitable access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene facilities but to also creating a sustainable ecosystem that ensures, year after year, continuous development and increasing awareness. Whilst Reckitt are interested to receive applications that target at a wide range of areas within WASH, there is a particular interest in hearing about innovations that do either of the following: Make innovative use of digital technology and AI to reach more people and enable access to water, sanitation, and hygiene on a wide scalePromote good hand hygiene practices and reduce water-borne diseasesHelp us tackle WASH related challenges in our value chain supporting Reckitt's Water positive agenda e.g. water recycling and reuse at factories Challenge crtieria Aligned: Evidently aligned with the SDG6 indicators. Youth-led: Founded by a person aged 18 – 30. Focused: Clear implementation and scale-up plan, identified key stakeholders and beneficiaries, and proposed outcomes that are reasonable and well thought out. Proven: Solution is readily available, being piloted, implemented, or scaled. Impactful: Solutions must have a positive social impact, for example, promoting health, generating educational outcomes, or employment opportunities. Measurable: Solution’s impact in society must be adequately measured. Financially viable: Must be able to achieve efficiency and to survive independently through the resources they generate and/or the investments and donations they attract. Scalable: Potential to grow impact after expanding in scope or size and/or into other regions. Prize The winning solution will receive: Sponsorship to participate in the One Young World Summit 2025.A US$50,000 grant from Reckitt.12 months of mentorship from a team of Reckitt professionals. The mentorship team will work to accelerate your solution based on the needs of your initiative or organisation.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. The challenge is open to applications from all types of organisations including social enterprises, charities, community groups, individuals and start-ups.Youth-led: Founded by a person aged 18 – 30.