Opportunity brief
Introduction
After the grand success of Samadhan 2025, welcome to Samadhan 2026—a social hackathon where your ideas have the potential to create real, measurable impact.
In this challenge, you will tackle live, operational problems faced by NGOs in areas such as skill development, sustainability, technology integration, and community-centric engagement. It's an opportunity to combine structured thinking with creativity to design practical, resource-sensitive solutions that can be implemented on the ground.
Are you ready to go beyond theory and turn your ideas into action? Let the journey begin.
The Need for Samadhan
Samadhan bridges the gap between academic learning and real-world impact by challenging students to solve live, resource-constrained problems. Through a focus on sustainability, scalability, and innovation, it empowers young minds to design actionable solutions that enhance operations, improve efficiency, and drive meaningful change in the social sector.
About UPAY
Founded by Varun Shrivastava, an IIT Kharagpur alumnus, UPAY (Under Privileged Advancement by Youth) is known for delivering education and skill training directly to underserved communities through models such as Footpathshaala. With 50+ centers and a strong volunteer base, UPAY creates grassroots impact by combining accessibility, sustainability, and community-driven solutions.
Problem Tracks
- Skill-Driven Sustainable Livelihoods
- Tech-Enabled Impact Solutions
- Community-Centric Engagement
Key Expectations from Participants
Understand the Problem at its Core
Start by immersing yourself in UPAY's on-ground challenges—interact with stakeholders, observe operations (virtually or on-site), and identify gaps or inefficiencies. The goal is to develop a deep, insight-driven understanding before proposing solutions.
Design Practical & Scalable Solutions
Based on your understanding, craft innovative and resource-sensitive solutions tailored to UPAY's operating environment. Whether it's a business model, a tech-enabled solution, or a community engagement strategy, your ideas should be practical and implementation-ready.
Refine, Validate, and Build for Execution
Your final submission should include a clear, actionable plan or prototype along with an execution roadmap, defined roles, estimated costs, and measurable impact indicators.
Eligibility
- Open to all students currently pursuing a professional degree.
- There is no limit to the number of teams participating from a single institute.
Team Composition
- Teams must consist of 2–4 members.
- Cross-specialization teams are strongly encouraged.
Regional Rounds
- College Round: In your respective college.
- Regional Rounds: Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Guwahati, and Pune.
- Finale: IIT Delhi, Delhi.