UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, is pleased to announce the winners of the first of its kind AccessAbility innovation challenge, a competition to provide funding for social enterprises with innovative solutions that disrupt inequalities and empower young people living with disabilities.
Issued in collaboration with the Global Disability Innovation Hub (GDI Hub) and the Global Network of Young Persons with Disabilities (GNYPWD), the challenge invited submissions along the themes of addressing gender-based violence; enhancing access to sexual and reproductive health-care services and information; digital inclusion; and removing socio-cultural barriers.
Four ventures from UNFPA programme countries were selected as winners by a panel of judges from UNFPA, GDI Hub and GNYPWD. The challenge received 229 applications from 54 countries, with entries spanning six global regions. Submissions included a range of solutions addressing key challenges and barriers faced by young people with disabilities around the world. These barriers include higher risks of violence, barriers to sexual and reproductive health and rights and difficulties meeting basic needs.
The winners were selected from teams that are driving solutions to help young people with disabilities access their sexual and reproductive health and rights. These winning ventures will be provided grants in the form of seed funding and professional coaching and will be enrolled in a series of tailored workshops to help test and advance their innovations.
The four winning ventures are:
Technoprise Global
Location: Kenya / Eastern and Southern Africa
Title: Conversational AI for Inclusive Data Collection
A conversational, multilingual, AI-powered platform that engages users in respectful and dynamic conversations to collect accurate and comprehensive information on their sexual and reproductive rights and health needs. The project aims to fill an important gap - the lack of effective data collection within the disability community - by sharing information to young people living with disabilities through a personalized and user-centric journey.
