SafeTech Africa HackLab 2026 – YOA

Deadline: October 18, 2026

Applications are open for the SafeTech Africa HackLab 2026. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA Eastern and Southern Region & Western and Central African Region), in partnership with the Spotlight Initiative Africa Regional Programme (SIARP 2.0), the Global Programme to End Child Marriage (GPECM), the African Union Women, Gender and Youth Directorate (AU Innovation Lab), UNDP, UNICEF, UN Women invites younger innovators, social entrepreneurs, and digital rights advocates throughout Africa to submit entries for the Youth Social Innovation Challenge Titled “SafeTech Africa Hacklab 2026”

Officially launched through the African Union Innovation Festival ’26 (AU InnoFest ’26) in Addis Ababa beneath the theme “Vibrant Youth Ecosystems for AI & Digital Sovereignty,” this problem identifies, incubates, funds, and scale youth-led digital and group options. Across Africa, younger individuals comprise over 60% of the inhabitants, but adolescent ladies and younger girls, and different marginalized teams face extreme structural inequalities: an adolescent delivery price of 93 per 1,000, 1 in 3 ladies married earlier than 18, a 26% cell web gender hole leaving 230 million girls offline, and pervasive expertise-facilitated violence (TF-VAWG). Driving a technique of Decentralised Power and Systemic Shifting, the Hacklab goals to equip native youth management to problem entrenched energy imbalances immediately.

Benefits

Winners and runners-up enter a submit-hackathon assist program:

• High-Level Pitching Stage: Shortlisted finalists obtain pitch teaching and can current dwell on the YouthConnekt Africa Summit in November 2026.
• Seed Capital grant: Four winners will obtain seed grants ranging between USD $5,000 to USD $10,000.
• Market Access & Investor Matchmaking: Direct publicity to traders, enterprise funds, and continental improvement companions current at YCA Summit.
• Continental Visibility: Spotlight characteristic throughout UNFPA, Spotlight Initiative, and African Union media channels, and different media channels through the YCA summit.

Eligibility

• All staff leads and members should be between 18 and 24 years outdated on the time of application.
• Open to younger innovators residing in Eastern, Southern Western and Central Africa.
• Team of two-5 members are strongly inspired. A chosen staff lead serv as pimary focus.
• Female-led startups and gender-balanaced groups (no less than 50% feminine membership) are prioritised.
• Solution should display an intentional intersectional design method that actively accommodates marginaised and underserved youth populations (rural youth, younger girls, out-of-college adolescents, displaced individuals, and youth with disabilities).

Evaluation Criteria

• Problem-Solution Fit: Relevance to the three Hacklab groups:  Gender-based Violence, Child Marriage, FGM, or Countering Anti-Rights/TF-VAWG.
• Innovation & Originality: Creative, novel, and modern concepts that clearly targets the recognized drawback within the communities or of the goal beneficiaries.
• Feasibility & Viability: Realistic 12-month implementation roadmap, outputs and milestones.
• Inclusivity & Disability accessibility: Solutions be sure that No One is Left behind with clear measures to advertise inclusivity and accessibility amongst offline, low-knowledge or intermittent connectivity, low-digital literacy communities and/or individuals residing with disabilities. 
• Youth Leadership: Young individuals, particularly younger girls, lead resolution design, execution, and enterprise possession.
• Scalability & Impact Potential: Clear pathway to scale from pilot group to regional degree with measurable impression metrics.
• Safety, Privacy & Ethics: Compliance with moral AI, consumer knowledge privateness, safeguarding, and mitigation of digital pushback/censorship.

Application

Applications should be submitted on-line by way of the official portal by 18 October 2026 (23:59 CAT).

Required Application Content:

• Team Lead & Member particulars (ages, gender composition, nationalities, contact data, and roles).
• Theme Selection (Select 1).
• Problem Statement (Max 200 phrases): A transparent description of the affected individuals/group, the place are the affected individuals/group, what’s the drawback/challenges confronted by the individuals/group, and why it issues and what can be the price of inaction.
• Innovation Description (Max 700 phrases): How your product/platform works, expertise used, consumer advantages, and scalability.
• 12-month implementation roadmap, outputs and milestones.
• Digital Safety & Inclusion Note: Safeguarding measures, knowledge privateness, and accessibility issues.

Click here to apply

For extra data, go to SafeTech Africa HackLab.