Running until September 18th, this free online program will help young people overcome many barriers thrown up because of the coronavirus crisis, from cancelled internships to lost jobs. “This change, while necessary to help slow the spread of COVID-19, leaves many young people (particularly recent post-secondary graduates) at an unexpected pause in their career and skill-building at a crucial turning point in their professional careers,” says Shakti Ramkumar, Student Energy’s Communications Manager.

By taking part in BetterTogether’s series of fun, talent-developing challenges, participants will build important skills, gain experience, and connect with peers around the world, all while competing for the chance to win up to $25K in prizes.

BetterTogether participants will receive:

• The chance to participate in any of a series of 10 challenges, each addressing an important issue to help them become change agents through empowerment, education, and building skills;
• 50+ live AMA speaker sessions with role models, co-founders, and other inspirational figures;
• A platform to connect with over 1.5 million students and young professionals from 150+ countries;
• The opportunity to win up to $25,000 in prizes, scholarships, memberships, and other exclusive awards;
• Access to Pearson’s Workplace Behaviors Learning Programme modules;
• And more!

Student Energy’s goal is to work towards a sustainable and equitable energy future by empowering young people all over the world to take action. BetterTogether removes barriers for youth by providing a program that not only helps them build important skills for the post-COVID-19 era, but also inspires, encourages, and supports them along the way.

The BetterTogether program is delivered through a strategic partnership with Goodwall. Goodwall is the next-generation community for students and professionals to connect on shared interests, showcase themselves and discover learning and earning opportunities. Learn more about Student Energy’s strategic partnerships here.

About Goodwall

Goodwall is the next-generation community and social development network built specifically to address the needs of Gen Z and younger millennials. Goodwall aims to help students, entrepreneurs, and young professionals by giving them a unique platform to share ideas, highlight achievements, showcase talents, document experience, meet like-minded peers around the world, find jobs, internships, and scholarships, and seek & provide support.

The Goodwall community is made up of over 1.5 million members from 150+ countries around the world. With 5+ million job and internship opportunities, more than $1 million in scholarships and awards, thousands of volunteer events, and hundreds of online courses, Goodwall is well-prepared to help navigate students and young professionals through this new decade.

STUDENT ENERGY PARTNERSHIP PRINCIPLES

OUR PARTNERSHIP MODEL

Given the sensitive nature of the energy debate, the current global climate crisis, and different energy contexts around the world, Student Energy abides by a strict ethics policy whereby partners are valuable stakeholders but do not have influence over the presentation of content, materials, or programs. All partnerships are formed with the intention of helping organizations to internalize the value of working with youth. Being transparent about where Student Energy receives funding and the role that partners play in the organization is crucial to our integrity.

Please scroll below for more detail on our Partnership Principles and Youth Engagement Principles.

OUR VALUES

The mission of Student Energy is to accelerate the next generation of energy leaders, by creating change agents in young people and making space for youth to act in the energy system.

We encourage a diversity of organizations to fund the work of Student Energy, as we believe every actor needs to be at the table and every diverse context and perspective of the energy system represented if the world is to transition to a sustainable energy future that truly leaves no one behind.

Student Energy does not advocate for a specific energy mix; we empower and educate youth to be critical thinkers who are capable of engaging productively with diverse energy actors, determining what their ideal energy transition looks like, and advocating for and influencing that energy future to happen. If we were to exclude a particular organization, this would reflect a specific stance that Student Energy takes on that energy path, which goes against a core value of our organization.

Transitioning our world to a sustainable energy future will take the collective action of industry, government, non-profits and students and as such we actively seek support from every possible stakeholder group and have done so for all previous events we have held.

One important value to emphasize is that Student Energy advocates for and stands behind climate science. Therefore, we do not support the work of or invite funding from organizations who are not recognizing the need for taking bold action on the current climate crisis consistent with the Paris Agreement and who are not committed to meaningfully engaging with youth on climate solutions for their organization. We will only work with organizations who understand the value of young people and the need to engage with them.

PARTNERSHIP PRINCIPLES

I. No partner or funder will ever be permitted to control our program and content.

II. Should a potential funder place conditions on their funding that would prevent us from sharing all perspectives on any topic, this request will be flatly refused.

III. Partnerships are built with the trust that Student Energy best understands our community. We will find the best ways to meaningfully engage with our network to ensure the appropriate presentation of your organization’s brand and work.

IV. All partnerships must directly benefit youth. Benefits mean that Student Energy will receive direct contributions (in-kind or financial) to support our operations, the funder will have the opportunity to meaningfully engage and work with young people. The partnership benefits our students through offering them new perspectives, meaningful engagement experience or unique opportunities.

YOUTH ENGAGEMENT PRINCIPLES

As Student Energy was founded by youth to empower youth-led solutions and collaboration, our Youth Engagement Principles help ensure that our current and future programs continue to meet the needs of young people, globally. These guidelines inform our organizational priorities and strategic direction, and are also shared with all partners and collaborating organizations before beginning a partnership.

I. Ensure that opportunities facilitated by Student Energy are accessible for young people across geographical, financial, educational, ethnic, gender boundaries. For opportunities we are not directly involved in, be mindful to promote a balanced, diverse array of opportunities that are accessible for global youth.

II. Before attending an event or speaking engagement, consult the ‘Student Energy’s Purpose at Events’ document to ensure we are implementing our organization principles regarding youth engagement before, during and after the event.

III. Ensure that Student Energy’s communications and showcasing of student work represents and reflects the diversity of our network.

IV. Be transparent with our youth network on how and why we work with youth, and about funding and partnerships. Before collaborating with a partner, request that they do the same.

V. Elevate the profile of youth within our network to demonstrate results, barriers and possibilities.

VI. Advocate for event organizers and partners to give youth agency in program development and communicate to them how they can influence the organization.

VII. Ensure youth are well-supported to participate in any programs we organize or co- organize (i.e. financial barriers reduced, trained on topic and social situations, feel prepared).

VIII. Ensure all programs deliver on two or more components of Student Energy’s Theory of Change.

IX. Ensure that Student Energy’s programs provide students in our network with exposure to as many perspectives on energy as possible so students understand all avenues where they can make changes to the energy system.

TRANSPARENCY POLICY

Information Sharing: Should any individual wish to know the organizations who has supported or been approached to support Student Energy, all information will be freely shared. Note: No personal contact information collected by Student Energy will ever be shared with third parties for any reason.

In relation to privacy Student Energy Legally complies with GDPR and PIPEDA.

Should you have any questions about Student Energy’s partnership principles, please contact our Director of Partnerships.

Helen Watts

Director of Innovation and Partnerships, Student Energy Global

helen@studentenergy.org

Last amended: January 27, 2020