The Refugees and Displaced Person division of the African Union is set to sponsor 5 promising African Tech Solutions in a bid to tackle forced displacement and other humanitarian challenges facing Africa.
In a blog post released on the Africa Union’s platform dubbed Humanitarian Innovation Challenge; Solving problems through digital innovation, the group will help tackle various disasters like man-made or natural disasters such as droughts, floods and epidemics.
It could be recalled that the United Nations listed Africa as one of the places largely embattled by natural disasters and Internal displacement. A typical case is that of Nigeria that has nearly 1.2 million internally displaced persons. Other countries like Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo were also included in this list.
Thus, the decision to sponsor the Humanitarian Innovations Challenge came in tandem with this, as well as with the African Union 2019 theme- ‘The year of refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons: Towards a durable solution to forced displacement in Africa.’
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The five selected innovators from the Humanitarian Digital Innovation will attend a three-day-long prototype Lab testing in Nairobi (Kenya) between the 20th and 22nd of November.
In the course of prototyping, innovators will receive professional mentorship and support to brew their ideas to the next stage. They will pitch their ideas at the close of the 3-day prototype lab testing where the winner will be selected.
The best innovator for the Humanitarian Innovation Challenge will receive a £20,000 fund that will be used to materialize the idea into an innovative digital product or service.
The accelerator phase of the selected innovation will take place in the winner’s country in 2020. Interested startups can apply using this link
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