Opportunities

Call for Submission: AU Innovating Education in Africa 2022 ($100,000 cash grants)

The AU Innovating Education in Africa Call invites innovators to propose new and practical education innovations with the potential for sustainability, scalability and replication on a wide scale. We are looking to mobilize continental education innovators to rethink solutions that will help address education and skills development challenges in Africa especially as countries emerge from COVID-19.

AU Innovating Education in Africa aim to create change by:

  • Incentivizing innovators to identify major education and skills development challenges in Africa;
  • Sourcing innovative ideas and solutions to those challenges for adoption replication and scale-up; and
  • Encouraging innovation partnerships involving education and training institutions, governments and other key stakeholders.

Eligibility Criteria

Applications will be accepted from citizens of AU Member States leading an organisation that meets the following criteria.

  • Successfully implementing an education innovation in one or more AU Member States with verifiable outcomes. An education innovation refers to a product or service being offered by an organisation which uses a relatively distinct approach—with respect to the African context—in addressing challenges in the education system.
  • Legally registered and licensed to operate in an AU Member State.
  • Directly responsible for the implementation and management of the innovation, i.e., not acting as an intermediary.

Benefits. Successful applicants will benefit from one or more of the following:

  • Receive grants of up to 100,000 USD to strengthen the interoperability of innovations with public education systems, while collecting evidence on effectiveness.
  • Promotion of Innovation to AU Member States and Development Partners, including publication in the Africa Education Innovations Handbook 2022.
  • Certificate of recognition from the Commissioner of Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation of the African Union.

Application Procedure

Submissions should be made online in English or French at www.edu-au.org/submit-innovation, with the following information.

  • Brief statement of the challenge being addressed (100 words).
  • Description of the innovation, specifically how it functions, the implementation approach, and revenue model (500 words).
  • Report of the performance and outcomes of the innovation (500 words).
  • Documentation of business registration and license of operation.

Please note that no more than one innovation may be submitted by an organisation; failure to comply will lead to disqualification. Recipients of grants under the IEA programme in the past are not eligible to apply.

Timeline.
Submissions will undergo the following process.

 ActivityOutcomeTimeline
i.Eligibility CheckThe longlist of eligible innovations19-21 September 2022
iiTechnical review andshortlisting50 promising innovations and 10 finalists for Early Pitch are selected.22 September –7 October 2022
iiiEarly Pitch (Virtual)5 finalists for Final Pitch are selected13 October 2022
ivFinal Pitch (Tunisia)3 Innovations are selected and awarded grantsNovember 2022

For More Information: Visit the Official Webpage of the African Union Innovating Education in Africa. Application Deadline: 15 September 2022 by 23:00 (GMT+3)

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