The African Governance Architecture (AGA), AU Department of Political Affairs has released the list of the Top 20 selected winners of the Youth Innovation Challenge on Democracy and Governance in Africa. The young African innovators were selected from a pool of submissions by the youth from across the continent and in the diaspora, focused on digital or non-digital innovations that address issues of democracy deficit, lack of good governance and the promotion of human rights practices in Africa.
The Top 20 young African innovators will benefit from an accelerator training programme with experienced trainers and experts, to help develop their ideas further for replication and/or scale-up. The training will be followed by the final process to identify the top innovations that will receive the top recognition awards.
The Head of the AGA Secretariat, Amb. Salah Hammad expressed enthusiasm on the talents and the capabilities in the area of democracy and good governance, noting that the innovation challenge, undertaken in collaboration with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), is a testimony of the demographic dividend of Africa’s greatest asset, the youth that should be encouraged and supported with the right investments. “The quality and number of applications we received from our young innovators are quite laudable. It has demonstrated the boldness, creativity and the aspiration of young people to drive the socio-economic transformation of the continent by creating platforms for change”, he stated.
Amb. Salah further added that “as AGA and the African Union as a whole, we are delighted to showcase and support these Top 20 innovators, innovation hubs and incubation centres from across the continent led by the youth who have proven that democracy and good governance is attainable from a bottom-top and all-inclusive approach. We will continue supporting such innovations to realize Aspiration 3 of Agenda 2063 that envisions an Africa of good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law.”
Launched in August 2020, the Youth Innovation Challenge is aligned with the African Union theme of the year 2020 on “Silencing the Guns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s development”. The innovation challenge supports efforts aimed at promoting prevention, management and resolution of conflicts in Africa while taking stock of challenges and opportunities to make peace a reality for all, rid the continent of wars, violent conflicts and human rights violations.
Find the Profiles of the Top 20 young African innovators and innovation hubs selected here.