Spotlight Initiative SafeTech Africa HackLab 2026 for Young African Innovators
Brief Description
The Spotlight Initiative SafeTech Africa HackLab 2026 is a premier Youth Social Innovation Challenge built to discover, incubate, fund, and scale digital and community solutions developed by the continent’s brightest young minds. Launched during the African Union Innovation Festival ’26 (AU InnoFest ’26) in Addis Ababa under the theme *“Vibrant Youth Ecosystems for AI & Digital Sovereignty,”* this challenge invites you to tackle pressing issues like technology-facilitated violence, child marriage, and female genital mutilation. If you are a young innovator, social entrepreneur, or digital rights advocate with an original, practical solution, this program offers a shot at securing $10,000 in seed capital grants to bring your vision to life.
Name of Host Institution
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, and UN Women.
Requirements/Eligibility Criteria
Age: All team leads and team members must be between 18, 24 years old at the time of application.
Residency: Open to young innovators residing in Eastern and Southern Africa and Western and Central Africa, with solutions tackling child marriage strongly encouraged from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger, and Sierra Leone.
Team composition: Teams of 2, 5 members are strongly encouraged, with a designated Team Lead serving as the primary contact.
Gender equity: Female-led startups and gender-balanced teams with at least 50% female membership will be prioritized.
Application category: You must apply under one category only; multiple submissions will not be evaluated.
Solution stage: Eligible solutions may be at the concept stage, early functional prototype stage, or early pilot stage.
Connectivity: Your solution must operate effectively in low-bandwidth, high-cost, or intermittent-connectivity environments.
Priority Themes
Theme 1 (Safe Physical & Community Spaces): Innovative protection and prevention tools targeting child marriage, FGM, and technology-facilitated violence against women and girls (TF-VAWG).
Theme 2 (Safe Informational Spaces): Dissemination of accurate digital comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) and sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) health information.
Theme 3 (Safe Digital Spaces): Countering anti-rights narratives that normalize child marriage, censorship, and TF-VAWG.
Deadline
Applications close on 18 October 2026 (23:59 CAT).
Young innovators, social entrepreneurs, and digital rights advocates aged 18, 24 residing in Eastern and Southern Africa or Western and Central Africa, competing in teams of 2 to 5 members.
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