Call for Innovators: Mental Health and ASRHR HackLab Program

The HackLab will target young innovators who have aspiring solutions that when taken to scale can make impactful change on the mental health and ASRHR of young people in the region.

The project will identify innovators and connect them with technical support through UNFPA COs to assist them with aligning with UNFPAs mandate to develop their innovative solution in addressing issues related to mental health and ASRHR. This will help to raise awareness on the bi-directional interlinkages between mental health and ASRHR and help mitigate the consequences of both negative mental health and ASRHR outcomes in adolescents and young people.

The HackLab aims at identifying and empowering young innovators and activists to ideate on solutions reflecting youth leadership on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). This HackLab will be an avenue for UNFPA to facilitate opportunities for young people to innovate and create solutions on SRHR while creating jobs for youth.

Focus Areas

• They welcome ideas and solutions which address both mental health as well as ASRHR challenges. The opportunity areas include:
  • Ideas and solutions aiming at improving the mental health of pregnant adolescent girls and young women and/or young mothers and young parents.
  • Ideas and solutions aiming at addressing the interlinkages between HIV and mental health of adolescents and young people.
  • Ideas and solutions focusing on mental health of adolescents and young people who are GBV survivors.
  • Ideas and solutions on preventing mental health issues and improving mental well-being of adolescents and young people of the LGBTIQ+ community.
  • Ideas and solutions on drug and substance abuse and its interlinkages to mental health and ASRHR.
  • For the above mentioned opportunity areas, potential interventions are (not exhaustive list):
    • Promotive and preventive interventions (including stress and anxiety management, emotional regulation, problem-solving and interpersonal relationship skills).
    • Online tools (digital information regarding ASRHR and mental health and the interdependent and bidirectional relationship).
    • Awareness raising and reduction of stigma of both Mental health and ASRHR.
    • New, creative peer models for support and prevention.
    • Interventions that reach caregivers to improve the mental health and ASRHR outcomes of adolescents and young people.

Funding Information

• Each of the two emerging solutions will benefit from a seed fund investment of USD$15,000.
• Another $5,000 in kind investment readiness business support will be provided to each winning solution by the identified business incubation hub. The acceleration support provided by Afrilabs will include business support services – exposure to investment opportunities, business coaching, customer acquisition, brand positioning and awareness, financial management, team building, product development and augmentation etc.

Outcomes

• The outcomes are as follows:
  • Identified youth led innovation solutions focusing on mental health and ASRHR in the Safeguard Young People (SYP) Programme Countries to build a dynamic pipeline of innovation solutions accelerating UNFPA’s mandate.
  • Built the capacity of young innovators (including women, girls and adolescents) to become active change makers and leaders of SRHR and mental health  issues.
  • Mobilized evidence to support UNFPA’s investment in youth, SRHR and mental health in the ESA region.
• Specific outputs of this project include:
  • Mobilize at least 50 innovation solutions from 12 countries in ESA focusing on mental health and ASRHR.
  • Provide a total of $30,000 in seed funding for two emerging solutions, coupled with business and investment readiness growth support valued at $10,000.
  • Engage at least 100,000 young people across the region with information and advocacy messaging on mental health and ASRHR.
  • Organize a dialogue session on the role of innovation in promoting mental health of young people across the ESA region.

Eligibility Criteria

• To participate in the Hacklab, the selected innovation solution must meet the following criteria:
  • Ideas must be new, innovative and respond to any of the opportunity areas.
  • Be based in an UNFPA SYP Programme country (Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe);
  • Demonstrate that the idea or solution is novel in the SYP programme country;
  • Demonstrate capacity with a clear plan for incubating the idea or solution to scale;
  • The innovator must be 35 years or younger (African Union definition for youth). Women and girls and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply;
  • Innovations can be submitted by individuals, or teams. Innovation teams cannot be represented by more than 3 members;
  • Align with the UNFPAs transformative results and/core mandate;
  • Align with the UN principles of innovation;
  • Be scalable and commercially viable solutions. Solutions that are adaptable to other contexts with little financial injections required;
  • Have a demonstrable capacity to empower women and youth;
  • Teams must be willing to adjust their idea or solution if advised by their Country Office facilitating their technical capacity building;
  • Willingness to showcase their idea or solutions through communication platforms to be determined by UNFPA.

For more information, visit UNFPA.