UNLEASHers are sparking community-led innovation
Every year, UNLEASH invites Alumni who have been inspired by their own UNLEASH experiences and are eager to replicate these transformative moments in their community to sign up to organize Hacks focused on locally relevant themes.
For the last few months, UNLEASHers embarked on mobilizing partnerships and participation for their envisioned Hacks, after engaging in a series of workshops to be equipped with the tools for execution. Many of these Hacks have happened across the world with incredible outcomes for both the Organizing Teams and the people they reached! Read on about which ones have happened to date and their outcomes.
UNLEASH Hack Afghanistan: Higher education pathways and career building
In Afghanistan, Talents worked on developing practical solutions to challenges in accessing higher education and career development. They addressed practical access issues, such as a lack of reliable information and limited advisory support, to come up with solutions for mentorship, application prep support, digital skills-building, and accessing freelance opportunities.
Several Talents expressed the mindset shift they experienced during the program, moving from doubting their ability to truly innovate to growing confidence as they worked through the innovation process. At the end of the Hack, many moved away from feeling limited by circumstances to perceiving themselves as capable problem-solvers. One Talent commented that the experience “made problem-solving feel possible, even for big challenges.”
Already, the Hack’s impact can be seen beyond the two days, with both Talents and Facilitators sharing the tools and methods they learned with their community and helping to spread solution-focused thinking and confidence to continue creating change.
UNLEASH Hack Sri Lanka: Sustainable cities for a greener nation
In Sri Lanka, Hack Talents came together to design solutions for cleaner, more sustainable urban environments. The ideas they came up with demonstrated the need for a balance between environmental and social approaches: eco-friendly spaces for youth wellness, innovative waste management approaches, and eco-tourism practices that promote sustainable livelihoods, among many others.
For many of the Talents, this was a first experience with design thinking, where they learned to look beyond initial assumptions to focus deeply on root causes. One reflected: “I realized how important it is to frame the problem before thinking about solutions.” This realization highlights how the UNLEASH methodology enables participants to uncover and understand the root causes of challenges – an essential step toward creating lasting, system-level change; since solutions that only address surface symptoms risk reinforcing the very structures they aim to transform.
UNLEASH Hack Bangkok: Urban pollution solutions
Bangkok’s Hack focused on one of the city’s most urgent challenges: urban pollution. Talents came up with solutions that merged technology, community engagement, and entrepreneurship. Some ideas included an electric van rideshare to reduce emissions and congestion; a platform repurposing crop residue instead of burning; and a campaign to encourage sustainable habits through peer-led community engagement.
Organizers highlighted the tangible results achieved within just two days, underscoring the UNLEASH Methodology’s capacity to bring ideas to life. The Hack’s impact has also inspired them to integrate the UNLEASH Innovation Methodology into their ongoing projects, and demonstrated that with collaboration and purpose, cities can transform pollution into opportunity and collective action.
UNLEASH Hack Kampala: Careers for climate action
In Kampala, participants reimagined how climate action could build livelihoods. The Hack produced ideas that merged environmental restoration with skill-building, from composting to solar-powered hydroponics, and innovative uses of plastic waste.
Talents found new ways to identify core problems to design realistic interventions for their communities and appreciated how the format of UNLEASH Hacks encouraged them to think more deeply and innovatively.
UNLEASH Hack USA: Educational access in underserved communities
In New York, UNLEASH Hack USA Talents worked together to explore how to make education more accessible by addressing financial, cultural, and nutritional challenges. The ideas they came up with included community-led classes that preserve cultural identity among immigrant families, a campaign urging city universities to lower tuition costs, and fundraising for nutritious school meals for young children.
The Organizers were inspired by their first UNLEASH Hack and plan to use their learnings to explore how to integrate more institutional support for a future reengagement with the program.
UNLEASH Hack Nigeria: Bridging education and skill gaps
This Hack in Nigeria explored how to bridge learning and technology divides for students in rural communities. Talents focused on creating affordable digital devices with long-lasting batteries capable of updating educational content even in areas with poor internet access. The conversations went beyond technical feasibility, touching on ethics and sustainability – should innovation prioritize profit or social good? The teams chose social good because they understood their target users’ needs and barriers to access, underscoring their commitment to equity in education.
One Facilitator highlighted the value of the experience for all involved, especially relating to how the Ideating activities on role-storming and artificial constraints helped teams think outside the box by approaching complexity from different angles.
More Hacks to come!
Excited for more community-led impact? There are still several UNLEASH Hacks in the pipeline for the rest of 2025 (and early in 2026!), such as in Lebanon, Singapore, India, Egypt, Somalia, Malawi, the Philippines, and more!
Check them out here.
