Hub Projects and Impact Last update: December 2023

Every hub is required to implement at least one hub project per year. Whether it’s a skills-building effort, emergency response, awareness campaign or something unique to your community context, all projects aim to provide solutions to local challenges. In this guide you will find the official information of hub projects:

1. Project Criteria

Each hub is required to undertake at least one project per year that positively impacts their community.
Hub projects involve at least three members of the hub, have clear objectives, timelines and core teams.
Hub projects improve the lives of people outside the hub, not Shapers themselves.
Hub projects are non-partisan in nature and adhere to our values
Hub projects tackle relevant global, regional, national or local issues and focus on urgent, short-term actions and/or long-term systemic social change.
There are no restrictions regarding the duration, frequency and/or scale of hub projects. One-day events are not usually considered hub projects unless they have measurable outcomes.
Hub projects may be new initiatives created by the hub or partnerships to support existing initiatives.

Projects by and with Shapers

When developing hub projects, avoid replicating or duplicating activities already underway. Instead, there are two options:

Projects by Shapers: Identify a pressing issue that is not being sufficiently addressed in your city and develop a hub project from scratch. Recruit collaborators as needed. Global Shapers can evolve their individual projects into hub projects, as long as the hub has a clear process of making collective decisions and three or more hub members participate.
Projects with Shapers: Identify an issue and map relevant stakeholders in your city working on this issue area. Hubs are encouraged to partner with external organizations that can contribute to a hub project. Your hub can also plug into an existing initiative as long as the hub maintains a leading role in moving the cause forward.

2. Project Stages

2.1. Conception and Initiation

Identify a problem in your local reality and together with the hub agree on one issue of which you would like to make a difference
Research if there is a feasible solution the hub could execute to tackle this issue
Work with your local stakeholders and community members to identify the right issue and solution

2.2. Definition and Planning

Once you have properly identified an issue and developed a potential solution, it is time to create a project plan for your impact.
The most important step is to define a clear, ambitious and measurable goal. Research how to set SMART or FAST goals.
Complete in detail the Hub Project Planning & Tracker Template.

2.3. Launch and Execution

Build a strong core team and assign responsibilities
Set accountability checks to ensure timelines are met
Design a kick-off meeting and/or launch event locally
Develop your network and recruit influential allies
Modify your hub project plan as needed
Impact Officers should upload the project to TopLink

Once the project is approved by your community manager, your project will receive its own page on TopLink. Use this page to keep all Forum stakeholders up to date on your project’s progress, including your hub members, Community Manager and other Global Shapers.

2.4. Performance and Evaluation

Evaluate your progress using key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure that your hub is on track. For example, #of people mobilized, # of young people trained, # of policy changes driven by Shapers or #of solar lights distributed.
Make course corrections as needed to achieve your goals.

2.5. Showcase and Close

Update the description on TopLink using past verbs to indicate the project is finished
Ask your Community Manager to change the stage to "Closure" and share an estimation of the start/end dates of the projects to keep as a record.
Approach local media to amplify your achievements
Write about the project on Agenda, the World Economic Forum’s blog
Recognize and thank team members and supporters
Host a hub debrief to evaluate what went well and what can be improved for future hub projects
Projects do not automatically appear on the hub page of www.globalshapers.org. If your project fully complies with the TopLink Project Submission guidelines send an email to your Community Manager to have it showcased.

3. Best Practices

Clarify your goals: Know what problem you’re trying to solve and have a concrete solution with clear objectives and measurable outcomes. Be specific!
Establish your brand: The best hub projects develop memorable names and hashtags (for example, Internet 4 All, 52 Weeks 52 Cities and Sustainability Sundays.)
Collaborate: Establish different ways to engage (for example, how to include those inside/outside the core team and those inside and outside the community, etc.)
Fundraise: Funding can be a big barrier. Even few resources, whether in-cash or in-kind, will give your hub project a boost.
Keep your hub in the loop: For a short-term project, organize a weekly update in person or by email. For long-term collaborations, update the hub monthly.
Build credibility: Demonstrate to local stakeholders that you are trusted partners for impact by providing regular updates and producing a final report at the end of a project to demonstrate your capabilities for future collaborations.
Skills-based recruitment: Your core team should include members with diverse talents who can each contribute in different ways. If you’re missing a certain skill, align hub recruitment with project needs.
Be realistic: Our community is not a development agency. We are a network of volunteers who are passionate about making a difference. Leverage the power of volunteers and plan your impact accordingly.

TIP 1: To find all hub projects on TopLink, head to the Global Shapers Community TopLink page and click on the initiatives tab

4. Cross-Hub Initiatives

A cross-hub initiative is a large-scale initiative that capitalizes on our shared values of service and cooperation.

4.1. Criteria

The initiative fully meets the Hub Project Criteria.
The initiative has one leading hub and at least two other contributing hubs. The leading hub is responsible to keep track of the global execution and impact of the initiative.
The initiative received written approval from the Global Shapers Community team.
Each participating hub must have a clear local impact related to the cross-hub initiative, which is reflected in their own TopLink submission.

4.2. Benefits

Use the Global Shapers Community logo in line with our branding guidelines
Mobilize all 500+ hubs and 17,000+ Shapers and Alumni
On specific cases, access the community social media accounts and TopLink announcements amplification such as newsletters
Request your Community Manager for a potential introduction to a Forum initiative, as long as you write a concise and feasible rationale for your request
Be showcased as a prime example of our community impact at Forum meetings

4.3. Types of cross-hub initiatives

4.4. Approval Process

The Global Shapers Community team approves new cross-hub initiatives. To get your project approved, follow these steps:

Fill the Project Planning & Tracker Template for each participating hub. The project template can be the same for each hub, but each hub has autonomy to run the project in different ways that best adapts to their local realities.
Apply to have the initiative approved by filling the Cross-hub Initiative Application Form. You should receive a reply in no more than two weeks.
Once you have received written approval, the leading hub will be asked to create a TopLink page for the global project with the information submitted in the application form. The leading hub contact will have editing rights to this global page.
Each participating hub including the leading hub must also submit an individual project on TopLink, carefully following the instructions given in the Project Submission Guide. The project submission should have the same project title as that of the global page followed by the name of the hub city (e.g. Shaping Fashion Amsterdam). Be sure to carefully follow each section detailing the project's specific efforts and goals. It should also be clear that the hub is part of the cross-hub initiative.

TIP 2: Most cross-hub initiative submissions are not detailed enough to make an approval in the first try. The team usually replies asking for clearer activities and impact metrics. The better your submission, the faster you will get your project approved.

Once you receive written approval for your cross-hub initiative, you can immediately use the community logo and access all other benefits.

4.5. Keep the Project Updated

All participating hubs must keep their own project TopLink page updated following the guidelines in the TopLink Submission Project Guide
The leading hub is responsible for updating both the main project page with general information about the cross-hub initiative, and their own project TopLink page with specific information on hub activities and contributions
Explore if other hubs are doing similar projects and may be interested in joining forces
Share general updates and celebrate major achievements on TopLink and directly with your Community Manager

TIP 3: When you are looking at all hub projects on the Global Shapers Community initiatives tab on TopLink, you can find past and present cross-hub initiatives by using the filter "Initiative Led By" and selecting "Global Shapers Community"

5. FAQ

What should I do if I can't fully differentiate a project from a hub activity?

If what you are doing meets the basic project requirements as listed in the Project Criteria section of this guide but you are still unsure if it qualifies as a project or as an activity, don't worry too much. The important thing is that hub members are in agreement that this project is truly making a difference in someone's life and that you have a way of measuring this difference. You can, however, take this as a sign that you should think about raising the level of ambition the hub has for this project.

In addition to this guide, we compiled a Projects vs Activities Mini Quiz, a fun exercise to do as a hub, that helps decipher ambiguous scenarios as well as the criteria for what qualifies as a project.

Under the COVID-19 context, what type of hub projects can we execute?

While we understand that COVID-19 represents a challenge to execute projects where it is easy to measure impact, the rules for project criteria still apply. One-time webinars are not considered projects. Check out the compilation of some COVID-related projects and download the COVID-19 Project Playbook that contains ready-to-be-implemented examples that could serve as an inspiration for your hub.

Should every project member make a TopLink submission?

Ideally, only the Impact Officer should upload projects to TopLink as they are trained to follow the TopLink submission guide. However, anyone who is trained on the guide can technically do it. In either case, make sure that you are aligned and only make one submission per project.

My hub's Impact Officer uploaded a project to TopLink but I can't see it. Should it be uploaded again?

No. Once submitted, a project needs to be reviewed and approved by your Community Manager before it can become visible on TopLink. If you notice that after two weeks your project is still not approved, please email your Community Manager for a follow up.

I made a submission, but I want to make some edits before the project gets approved. How can I do this?

It is very important that the project submission guide is carefully followed on the first attempt to save time. Once you have made a submission, you have to wait until your Community Manager approves it. Once the Community Manager approves it, only a few fields will remain available for project managers to edit (e.g. overview, members, picture, etc.). For all other fields, such as project needs and insight areas, you will need to individually request it to your Community Manager.

Your Community Manager is also the only person with the rights to edit the project lifetime and delete any of your hub projects on TopLink.