Announcing the AgriYouth Africa Hackathon 2023

Apply by Wednesday, 10th May 2023 for consideration!

As part of the Africa Agribuisness and Science Week 2023 (AASW8), YPARD in partnership with Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the Global Forum for Agricultural Research and Innovation (GFAR) is organizing The AgriYouth Africa Hackathon under the theme, “Digital Technologies (ICT4Ag): The Pathway to Engaging the African Youth in African Agricultural Research and Development (AR4D)”.

The main objective of this hackathon is to provide a platform to enable and empower young agricultural professionals in Africa to shape sustainable food systems through the proposal of ICT-based solutions for Africa’s agriculture. The hackathon will further serve as a platform for young professionals to be mentored on ways of improving their ideas and proposals for the provision of sustainable and scalable ICT-based solutions. This will serve as a skills enhancement mechanism to increase the youth’s access to capacity development opportunities.

Essentially, the hackathon is to stimulate the creativity and investigative character of Africa’s youth in contributing to improve food security in Africa through the adoption of innovative and inclusive ICT4Ag for high performance across the value chains.

The hackathon is…

… a series of events showcasing the creativity of teams of young professionals in addressing various challenges along the agricultural value chains through the application of ICT;

…. organized as a competition among teams of youth from different but complementary professional backgrounds based on their chosen topic of interest.

… focuses on the areas of engagement include Production; Processing; Logistics, transportation and storage; Nutrition and health; Climate Resilience; ICT for agricultural IoT; Agricultural Machinery and Equipment;

… a competition for an ICT tool, software, application, sustainable product, business model, knowledge management, trade to science linkages, or other innovative solutions to food systems challenges;

… facilitated by youth engagement experts from partner organizations and senior professionals who will serve as mentors on the related themes of engagement.

The series of events include:

• Primary Round Selection of Participants
• Mentorship Sessions
• AASW Project Presentations

Team Eligibility

• Applicants should be in groups of not more than 5 young professionals;
• Applicants should be from different but complementary professional backgrounds (interdisciplinary) based on their chosen topic of interest;
• All team members should not be older than 40 years of age;
• At least one team member should reside in Africa and be a citizen of an African country.

Teams are encouraged to be inclusive and gender balanced.

Project Eligibility

Submitted projects must fulfill the following criteria to be eligible, and must describe these in their application materials. Projects must…

• Provide a solution to food systems challenges for one (or more) of the following:some text
  • Science-business Nexus to Boost Intra-African Trade
  • Nutrition Sensitive and Gender-Responsive Food Systems
  • Climate Resilience, Natural Resources Management and Farming Systems Transition
  • Knowledge Management, Digitalization, and Youth Entrepreneurship.
• Have gone through initial stages of implementation;
• Include ICT solutions (either in current implementation OR plans for future growth).

Participants Checklist

Prospective participants are expected to submit their applications through an online survey form. Submissions of the teams’ ICT-based innovative solutions should consist of the following:

• Application form (including Teammates’ profiles)
• An optional 30-second to 1-minute video presentation on the project

Awards and Benefits for the Winning Teams

• A fully sponsored opportunity for one team member to participate in and/or speak in the AASW 2023 in Durban.
• Networking with participating teams, FARA, and partners for future collaboration.
• Feedback and support from international industry experts and mentors, and gaining valuable insight and ideas on strategic thinking on food security and food systems in Africa.
• Matchmaking with industry leaders as appropriate for project scaling.

Follow this link below to submit your application by Wednesday, 10th May 2023.

Find application instructions here, and download the Team Member Information Form here.

Consent: Please note that your participation gives consent for the organizers to promote your initiative through YPARD’s, FARA's and GFAR's platforms.