The Government of Japan-UNITAR’s Empowering Youth and Women Programme 2026 for Sub-Saharan African Innovators (Fully Funded)

Application Deadline: July thirty first, 2026

Applications are actually open for the 2026 UNITAR’s Empowering Youth and Women Programme. Sub-Saharan Africa is coming into a interval of important transformation formed by speedy demographic progress, digital disruption, evolving commerce Opportunities, local weather pressures, meals safety challenges, and the pressing want for high quality jobs and resilient livelihoods. Across the continent, youth and ladies are more and more driving innovation, entrepreneurship, and community-based options. However, many promising concepts and initiatives wrestle to progress past early phases as a result of restricted entry to networks, funding readiness, strategic partnerships, and market linkages.

At the identical time, there’s rising curiosity in strengthening sensible and mutually helpful collaboration between African and Japanese ecosystems in areas akin to innovation, know-how, sustainable industrialization, agribusiness, digital transformation, clear applied sciences, manufacturing, and human-centered financial growth.

In this context, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research is launching a multi-phase capability growth programme underneath the framework of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development 9 (TICAD9) to strengthen the capability of African youth and ladies to rework modern concepts into scalable, partnership-ready, and investment-oriented initiatives aligned with nationwide and regional growth priorities.

Implemented by the UNITAR with the assist of the Government and People of Japan, the Programme is designed not solely to strengthen entrepreneurial and management competencies, but in addition to assist members in formulating sensible, financially viable, and implementation-oriented tasks that may have interaction public establishments, monetary actors, ecosystem companions, and accountable private-sector stakeholders. Through structured mentorship, utilized studying, ecosystem publicity, and worldwide engagement Opportunities, members will progressively develop tasks which can be credible, collaborative, and positioned for operationalization and long-term impression.

Learning Objectives

By the top of the Programme, members will have the ability to:

• Design modern, inclusive, and sustainable enterprise or growth options aligned with nationwide and regional priorities.
• Apply digital applied sciences, AI, and rising innovation instruments to handle challenges associated to meals safety, local weather resilience, employment, commerce, healthcare, industrialization, and service supply.
• Develop operationally possible and financially viable undertaking ideas with clear implementation pathways and partnership methods.
• Strengthen management, negotiation, stakeholder engagement, and cross-sector collaboration competencies.
• Integrate sustainability, gender equality, social impression, and SDG concerns into entrepreneurial and innovation initiatives.
• Formulate partnership-ready and investment-oriented proposals knowledgeable by market realities and public–non-public collaboration rules.
• Communicate undertaking worth propositions successfully to buyers, growth companions, public establishments, and private-sector stakeholders.
• Build long-term skilled networks and collaboration Opportunities throughout African and worldwide innovation ecosystems.

argeted Audience

The Programme is open to youth and ladies professionals aged 18–35 from the next Anglophone Sub-Saharan African nations: Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Applicants might embrace:

• Aspiring or early-stage entrepreneurs
• SME founders and innovators
• Professionals and practitioners
• Researchers and know-how innovators
• Social entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders
• Individuals creating scalable options with financial or social impression potential

Participants working in, or aspiring to contribute to, the next sectors are inspired to apply:

• Agri-food Innovation and Bioeconomy
• Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Smart Digital Solutions
• Fintech and Financial Inclusion
• Clean Technologies and Strategic Resources
• Climate and Environmental Solutions
• Healthcare and MedTech
• Sustainable Cities and Mobility
• Blue Economy
• Creative Industries
• Light Manufacturing and Industrial Solutions
• Skills Development and the Future of Work
• Social Impact and Essential Services

Selection Criteria

The Programme seeks motivated people with sturdy potential to translate concepts into sensible impression. Particular consideration will probably be given to candidates who show:

• Innovation and problem-solving capability
• Leadership potential and dedication to neighborhood or financial growth
• Clear undertaking or enterprise concepts with implementation potential
• Openness to collaboration and partnership growth
• Commitment to studying, mentorship, and long-term engagement
• Potential for scalability, sustainability, and measurable impression

Progression to subsequent phases of the Programme will probably be aggressive and based mostly on efficiency, engagement, management, and the standard and feasibility of the proposed undertaking or initiative. Due to the excessive quantity of anticipated purposes, UNITAR and its companions will fastidiously overview all submissions and choose candidates with the strongest profiles and purposes.

Content and Structure

The Programme will run from August 2026 to March 2027 by means of 4 progressive phases combining digital studying, utilized undertaking growth, mentorship, and worldwide engagement Opportunities.

Phase I – Foundations and Opportunity Development (August – October 2026)

Participants will obtain foundational coaching in:

• Entrepreneurship and innovation
• AI and digital transformation
• Leadership and methods considering
• Sustainable growth and SDG integration
• Market evaluation and buyer discovery
• Business ecosystems and worth chains
• Introduction to partnerships, funding readiness, and collaborative engagement

Focus: Strengthening members’ capacity to establish real-world Opportunities, perceive market and growth wants, and construct solution-oriented ideas with sensible relevance and progress potential.

Phase II – Applied Innovation and Project Development (Including ToT) (November – December 2026)

Selected members will deepen their sensible application abilities by means of:

• Business mannequin refinement
• Financial and operational planning
• Project structuring and implementation design
• Monitoring, analysis, and impression measurement
• Pitch preparation and communication
• Partnership mapping and stakeholder engagement
• Training-of-Trainers (ToT) parts to assist native data multiplication

Participants will progressively rework their concepts into implementation-oriented and partnership-ready undertaking ideas.

Focus: Developing scalable, credible, and financially viable initiatives succesful of attracting collaboration and operational assist.

Phase III – Leadership and International Engagement (January – February 2027)

A restricted quantity of high-performing members will take part in a complicated hybrid engagement section, which features a quick immersion program in Japan.

Activities might embrace:

• Mentorship classes with business and ecosystem consultants
• Exposure to innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems
• Learning visits and institutional dialogue
• Networking and strategic engagement Opportunities
• Project refinement and partnership discussions

Focus: Strengthening members’ readiness to interact with worldwide companions, buyers, business actors, and ecosystem establishments whereas advancing investment-oriented and implementation-focused undertaking methods.

Phase IV – Africa–Japan Innovation and Partnership Round Table (February 2027)

The Programme will conclude with a high-level dialogue and engagement platform that brings collectively members, ecosystem actors, growth companions, mentors, buyers, and representatives from each the general public and non-public sectors.

Selected members will showcase initiatives, trade classes discovered, and discover sensible collaboration pathways for implementation and scaling.

Focus: Facilitating strategic connections, visibility, ecosystem collaboration, and long-term partnership Opportunities.

Program Details

• Language: English
• Delivery Mode: Primarily digital, with a restricted in-person element for chosen members throughout Phase III
• Certification: Certificates of completion will probably be awarded to members who full every section
• Fees: None. Participation is funded by the Government and the People of Japan. Selected members for the Japan immersion section could also be accountable for restricted private bills
   

IMPORTANT – Selection for International Engagement: Participation within the Japan immersion element will probably be decided by means of a aggressive analysis course of based mostly on implementation potential, sensible feasibility, partnership readiness, and long-term impression potential. Due to the restricted quantity of locations obtainable, not all programme members will probably be chosen for the in-person element. By making use of to and collaborating within the programme, members acknowledge and settle for that every one choice choices made by UNITAR and its companions are ultimate

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the UNITAR’s Empowering Youth and Women Programme