On 25 September 2015, 193 countries of the UN General Assembly adopted a set of 17 Global Goals, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda. 

Shaping Kolkata is a hub project to engage young people and encourage them to develop and share their ideas for solving problems around the Global Goals in their communities.  In the form of a competition, college and/or university students are asked to submit solutions ideas for sustainable development initiatives which can be implemented in Kolkata or West Bengal. Shaping Kolkata taps into the potential of young people to solve local problems with an entrepreneurial mind-set. It is a powerful step towards localising the UN Global Goals for the biggest metropolis in eastern India.