When is the Application Deadline:
15th June 2024, 23h59 (East Africa Time).
Tell Me About African Union Civic Tech Fund:
The African Union Civic Tech Fund is a pan-African competition that aims to accelerate innovative civic tech initiatives that have the potential to lead to citizen-led transformative action across the African continent. This rests on the recognition that there is an acute need for meaningful participation by African citizens in addressing and solving governance and development challenges across the continent.
The overarching policy framework for the African Union Civic Tech Fund is Africa’s Agenda 2063 as well as other key policy documents associated with the African Union Shared Values agenda, such as the ACDEG or the African Youth Charter. Initiatives should therefore provide innovative solutions to solve problems of citizen participation, across a number of relevant areas:Participation in public space & public discourse;
Electoral cycles and elections;
- Rule of law & orderly transfers of power between governments;
- Democratic culture and political pluralism;
- Responsive, transparent and accountable governance;
- Peace and security (where it impacts democratic governance);
- Human, economic and sustainable development (where it impacts democratic
- governance).
What Type of Scholarship is this?
Grants
Who can apply for African Union Civic Tech Fund?
- Prospective applicants need to pay close attention to the following eligibility criteria HERE that determine whether they can be considered.
- How are Applicants Selected? The Fund is a pan-African competition that aims to accelerate innovative civic tech initiatives that have the potential to lead to citizen-led transformative action across the African continent.
- The overall budget available under this current call is EUR 160 750. The financial support to be awarded to each initiative will range from EUR 10 000 to EUR 20 000 – over an implementation period of six months. Recipients must be able to enter a service contract agreement (as opposed to a grant agreement). Additional rounds of funding will follow in the future.
- Due to the size of financial support available to each recipient, the Fund will pay particular attention to the upscaling, adaptation or replication of pre-existing civic tech initiatives – if they are in accordance with any of the priorities described further below. The financial support may also be used to fund the deployment of civic technology in close partnership with a particular citizen group or civil society organisation that does not have the expertise to do so on its own. While the ground-up development of original ideas qualifies for funding as well, such proposals, like all others, need to demonstrate feasibility and probabilities of success within the budget ceilings specified above.
The list of evaluation criteria is as follows:
● Relevance to the priorities (as described in these present guidelines);
● Technical viability of the suggested civic tech initiative & operational capacity of the implementing organisation;
● Added-value elements (as described in these present guidelines);
● Expected impact on proposed target groups;
● Sustainability;
● Cost-effectiveness.
Which Countries are Eligible? African countriesHow Many Scholarships will be Given?
What is the Benefit of African Union Civic Tech Fund?
Aside from the financial support, the Fund will provide selected initiatives with additional technical support according to their identified needs. In sum, the support package looks as follows:Financial support
- EUR 10 000 to EUR 20 000 per recipient.
- Technical support
- Virtual inception/acceleration week (hosted by AfriLabs).
- Provision of embedded technical expertise through the engagement of civic tech specialists.
- Thematic support
- Provision of thematic expertise on democracy support, African Union governance & continental policy-making.
- Marketing, communication & showcasing support
- Facilitation of access to decision-makers at the African Union level as well as the international development community.
- Peer-to-peer learning & networking
- Facilitation of exchange between recipients and other members of related civic tech ecosystems.
How Long will the Program Last?
The implementation period lasts six months.
How to Apply for African Union Civic Tech Fund:Before applying, please see the Terms of Reference here for more details concerning the requirements and the application.Interested candidates should send a CV and the supporting documents listed in the Terms of Reference to info@civictechfund.africa. Please name the email heading as follows:
“LAST NAME – FIRST NAME – Tech Fellowship – ROLE FOR WHICH YOU ARE APPLYING.”
Interviews will take place in the week of 27th of June 2024, with a possible start date on the the week of the 11th or 18th of July 2024.