4 Days to Preliminary Rounds

China-LAC Youth Tackling Global Challenges

2026 Poverty Alleviation Challenge

Global Challenges, Collective Response

When Poverty Alleviation Meets Cross-Cultural Youth Wisdom

How Will Young Students Respond to Global Challenges?

4 days left until the Tsinghua Preliminary Rounds of the Poverty Alleviation Challenge

Let's count down together

And welcome a cross-cultural, cross-regional, cross-disciplinary

Intellectual exchange of youthful minds!

About the "Poverty Alleviation Challenge"

Poverty alleviation is a common challenge for developing countries and a shared challenge for the world. In 2024, the Tsinghua University Latin America Center, the Tsinghua SEM China-Latin America Management Research Center, and the Tsinghua University Student Global Competence Development Guidance Center, in collaboration with Latin American university partners, successfully initiated and launched the China-Latin America Youth Tackling Global Challenges – "2024 Poverty Alleviation Challenge" project (hereinafter referred to as the "Poverty Alleviation Challenge") in China (Tsinghua), Brazil, and Chile, sparking a wave of university-led dialogues on poverty alleviation in China and Latin America. In November of the same year, during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Brazil to attend the 19th G20 Leaders' Summit and for a state visit, Qiu Yong, Secretary of the CPC Tsinghua University Committee, and the President of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro jointly signed a cooperation agreement between the two universities regarding the "China-Latin America Youth Tackling Global Challenges" project. This agreement was included in the outcomes list of President Xi Jinping's visit to Brazil, becoming a landmark project for win-win development between China and Latin America led by Tsinghua University. It was also hailed by mainstream media in China and Latin America as the "youthful force in global governance."

The "2026 Poverty Alleviation Challenge" is jointly founded and hosted by Tsinghua University, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, University of Chile, and Universidad del Pacífico (Peru), with the Embassy of China in Brazil, Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) EAESP São Paulo School of Business Administration, and Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú serving as co-organizers. This competition aims to build a cross-cultural exchange platform for Chinese and Latin American youth, encouraging young students to leverage their professional strengths, build consensus through mutual learning, and explore innovative solutions to global poverty alleviation challenges with youthful wisdom.

In 2026, the "Poverty Alleviation Challenge" underwent further upgrades and innovations based on the previous two years. Through various forms such as transnational team formation, competition, field studies, lectures, and seminars, it promotes exchange and cooperation between Chinese and Latin American youth on poverty alleviation and development issues, fostering mutual learning of poverty alleviation experiences from different countries through joint practice. The "2026 Poverty Alleviation Challenge" has attracted over 675 young participants from 91 universities, colleges, and enterprise institutions in China, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and other countries, forming 120 competing teams.

The "2026 Poverty Alleviation Challenge" has received support from the Embassy of China in Brazil, the Consulate General of China in Rio de Janeiro, the Embassy of Brazil in China, the Embassy of China in Chile, the Embassy of Chile in China, the Embassy of China in Peru, and the Embassy of Peru in China. Renowned domestic and international enterprises such as Envision Group, Chile's CGE Group, Minmetals Peru's Las Bambas, Zongsan (Beijing) Cultural Industry Co., Ltd., Didi Chuxing, China Mobile International (Chile) Co., Limited, Kuaishou Technology (International Business Department), and Banco BOCOM BBM S.A. (Bank of Communications Brazil) have provided significant support for the competition.

01 Preliminary Rounds Schedule

Time: Saturday, June 6, 2026, 08:30 – 15:30

Location: Jianhua Building, Room A406

Format: Team presentation in English + Expert Q&A on-site + Open observation and exchange

As a key component of the Poverty Alleviation Challenge competition, the preliminary rounds will feature full English presentations and live project demonstrations, comprehensively evaluating students' cross-cultural communication skills, interdisciplinary integration capabilities, and their systematic understanding, response, and innovative solution capabilities regarding global poverty alleviation issues. Each team will conduct project presentations based on the "5W1H+" toolkit provided for the competition.

02 Inspiration, Refinement, and Competition: From Campus to the International Stage

Since April, participating teams have continuously refined their proposals through activities such as the information session, topic finalization, inspirational lectures, and mentor guidance, striving to provide practical inspiration for poverty alleviation practices in China and Latin American countries with clear logic, solid research, and actionable designs.

The winning teams from the Tsinghua preliminary rounds will have the opportunity to participate in the international stage of the 2026 Poverty Alleviation Challenge, traveling to Chile or Brazil for face-to-face exchanges with Latin American partners, conducting in-depth field research, sharing China's experiences from a youth perspective, pooling global wisdom, and exploring a shared path to poverty alleviation.

The Tsinghua preliminary rounds for the "China-Latin America Youth Tackling Global Challenges 2026 Poverty Alleviation Challenge" are about to begin. The power and wisdom of youth will converge here. We eagerly anticipate this exchange and collision among Chinese and Latin American youth. Global challenges demand a collective response!

03 Registration Information

For on-site participation in the preliminary rounds:

Please fill out the registration form.

Scan the QR code to add the staff member on WeChat and join the group chat.

Tsinghua University Latin America Center

04 Competition Overview

The 2026 Poverty Alleviation Challenge features a multinational team formation structure centered on cooperation between China, Brazil, Chile, and Peru, while also embracing broader international participation. The competition has attracted 675 young participants, forming 120 teams, covering 91 universities/institutions (including extended members).

Participation by country (based on team affiliation and member origin):

Tsinghua University: 112 students, 25 teams.

Brazilian universities: 144 students, 29 teams.

Chilean universities: 120 students, 17 teams.

Peruvian universities: 245 students, 47 teams.

Additionally, there are 52 extended members from 36 universities/institutions.

Knowledge Introduction Initiatives:

1. Innovative "Knowledge Introduction Mechanism" for teams: Adopting a "5+N" team composition model, where "5" refers to the 5 official team members, and "N" refers to supplementary intellectual resources outside the official members, such as entrepreneurs, think tank experts, and startup founders. This establishes a more dynamic and implementable team network. This year, 52 "N" members from 36 universities/institutions were onboarded.

2. Establishment of a China-Latin America transnational mentor network: A total of 110 professional mentors, including 69 from China, 21 from Chile, 16 from Peru, and 4 from Brazil. Their backgrounds cover diverse sectors such as universities/research institutions, government/public sectors, enterprises/industry, international organizations, think tanks, venture capital institutions, and social organizations, providing teams with interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral, and multinational professional support.

Team Topics:

Team projects focus on core issues of poverty alleviation and development, covering key areas such as public policy and social governance, environmental sustainability and circular economy, education and capacity building, financial inclusion and employment/industry, agriculture and food security, healthcare and public health. A number of project directions with practical relevance and a foundation for transnational collaboration have been formed in areas such as rural and remote area development, empowerment of women, youth, and vulnerable groups, education and skills training, business models, and market linkages.

Institutional Project Proposals:

This year, 26 institutional project proposals were released during the team formation stage, sourced from 9 types of entities including university platforms, public institutions, enterprises, and social innovation organizations. So far, a total of 44 teams have chosen institutional proposals. These proposals focus on directions such as online education and skills upgrading, accessibility and inclusive development, rural revitalization and activation of existing assets, cultural tourism empowerment, circular economy and community employment, health and housing poverty, sanitation and clean energy in the Amazon basin, agricultural value chains, and community forestry. This effectively connects competition topics with real poverty scenarios and resources for potential project implementation.

Tsinghua University Participation:

A total of 112 Tsinghua students participated, leading the formation of 25 teams. Tsinghua participants are involved in 44 teams, covering 30 departments/schools/units including the Department of Industrial Engineering, Shenzhen International Graduate School, School of Architecture, School of Economics and Management, School of Public Policy and Management, School of Social Sciences, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, PBC School of Finance, School of Environment, School of Law, and School of Information Science and Technology. The project topics of Tsinghua teams cover areas such as environmental sustainability and circular economy, agriculture and food security, healthcare, education empowerment, financial inclusion, public policy and social governance, infrastructure and public services, demonstrating Tsinghua students' multidisciplinary engagement and solid foundation for transnational collaboration on global poverty alleviation issues.

We Look Forward to Your Participation

Let's jointly explore innovative solutions for poverty alleviation

And contribute wisdom and action to global development!