In efforts to support innovative youth entrepreneurs and facilitate knowledge management and exchange, UN Women, in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will host the Africa Youth Conference 2018 on 23 – 25 October 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya. The conference, under the theme of “Unleashing the Potential of Youth in Africa – Prioritizing Investment in Youth Development in the Post-2015 Agenda”, will offer a platform for young people and key stakeholders to showcase their work, share ideas, experiences and innovative approaches for effectively addressing youth challenges in Africa, with a special focus on addressing the challenges facing women and girls.
The SDG Challenge
Within the Africa Youth Conference 2018, UN Women partners with the UNDP to conduct a challenge and award grant financing to help African youth entrepreneurs to develop and implement their innovative solutions that address SDG challenges in their communities, especially those targeted at bridging the gender gap in their countries.
The grants follow the Open Innovation Challenge of “YAS! Youth for Africa and SDGs”, which UNDP implements in partnership with Accenture. YAS! is a portal-platform for Africa’s youth entrepreneurial ecosystem. It supports the development and growth of youth entrepreneurship in Africa by creating a marketplace for eco-system players, namely investors, large corporates and governments.
This Challenge invites African youth entrepreneurs to step forward to help realise the Goals of Africa: They call on young people, especially women and girls, to present them with their innovations for SDG attainment in their communities and countries across Africa. Areas of particular relevance for this Challenge include youth access to sustainable livelihoods, youth engagement in governance / political participation, leadership and decision making, as well as youth action in preventing violence and other harmful practices against young women and girls.
WORTH
Winning entries will receive funding to develop, validate and scale innovative ideas. The grants will be awarded to entrepreneurs who would like to test their innovative solutions or grow existing ventures, as per the following categories:
- Idea Stage: 5,000 USD (seed grants)
- Growth Stage: 10,000 USD (scale grants)
ELIGIBILITY
You are eligible for the Challenge if you answer “yes” to all of the following questions
- Are you African, aged between 15 and 35 years?
- Do you have an innovative, replicable, scalable idea that could transform your community, country… or even Africa?
- Would you like to contribute towards the attainment of the SDGs and therein especially gender-related targets and indicators of SDG 1 (poverty), SDG 5 (gender equality and empowerment of women and girls), SDG 8 (decent employment) and SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure)?
- Do you have the passion to help Africa progress – but struggle to find the support you need to turn your idea into reality?
DEADLINE: September 18, 2018
To apply and for more information visit here
){kind=link}