Africa: Call for Young Innovators and Youth-Led Innovation Hubs to Help End FGM and Early and Unintended Pregnancies

4 August 2022
UNFPA East and Southern Africa (Johannesburg)

Johannesburg, South Africa — UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, announces the launch of two Innovation Crowdsourcing HackLabs for young African innovators and youth-led hubs based in Africa.

The Early and Unintended Pregnancies (EUP) HackLab and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Stretch Hubs Hack provide African innovators with an opportunity to create dynamic and future-fit solutions to address harmful practices that impede women and adolescent girls' progress. The hacklabs were initiated by UNFPA, in collaboration with the Spotlight Initiative Africa Regional Programme (SIARP) and the Safeguard Young People (SYP) Programme.

Call for applications for FGM HackLab: This initiative provides a platform for young people to share their innovative ideas and solutions to end FGM in communities across Africa. Innovation incubators and accelerator hubs across Africa are expected to tap into their networks and innovative solutions, and pitch their best solutions to ending FGM in Africa. This call is open to hubs that are based in West and Central Africa, East and Southern Africa, Egypt, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, and FGM-endemic countries, as well as the Spotlight Initiative-supported countries of Nigeria, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

Call for Applications on EUP Hacklabs: The Early and Unintended Pregnancy HackLab seeks to crowdsource innovative solutions from youth innovators, youth-led organizations and companies in East and Southern Africa, to help reduce early and unintended pregnancies in the region. The goal is to create a world where communities, including women and girls, are supported and lead the campaign against early and unintended pregnancy. This call is open to innovators in countries under the Safeguard Young People (SYP) Programme: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Innovators and Hubs are encouraged to submit their applications by 5pm (South African Standard Time) on Sunday, 21 August 2022. Follow these links: FGM Hacklab and EUP Hacklab for more information and to apply.

UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, delivers a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA calls for the realization of reproductive rights for all and supports access to various sexual and reproductive health services, including voluntary family planning, maternal health care, and comprehensive sexuality education

Read the original article on UNFPA.

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