The winners of the UNFPA Mental Health and Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (ASRHR) Innovation HackLab have been announced.
The much-anticipated award was announced during the Youth Connekt Africa Summit 2023 held at the Kenya International Conference Centre.
The two youths from Namibia and Malawi each received $20,000 (Sh3,067,808) in seed funding and enterprise support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
"These solutions, geared towards enhancing mental health and ASRHR, resonate across the East and Southern Africa region."
The ten finalists were drawn from Malawi, Namibia, Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Rwanda competed for the top prize at a pitch event held on the sidelines of the Youth Connekt Africa Summit 2023.
Selma Ndasilohenda Iyambo, 22, from Namibia, had an idea on 'Sex Talks,' which takes the form of a youth-centric podcast dedicated to delivering essential SRHR and mental health insights to young Namibians.
Her platform not only encourages open dialogue but also fosters connections between youth and experts for additional support.
On receiving the award, Iyambo said young people are often too shy to speak about issues of sex and reproductive health and have few places to turn to when they need information.
“I feel privileged to be able to build a platform where youth are free to ask questions and get the support they need to make informed choices and build healthy lives," she said.
On the other hand, Tapiwa Penama, 29, has an initiative from Malawi 'Tilitonse,' which serves as a comprehensive one-stop center providing crucial sexual and reproductive health, mental health, and psychosocial support to vulnerable youth within Malawi's Dzaleka refugee camp.
Supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the UNFPA HackLab thrives on crowdsourcing youth-led social innovation.
The UNFPA Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Lydia Zigomo congratulated the HackLab winners on their innovative solutions and pledged UNFPA’s commitment to advancing youth-led solutions that advance sexual and reproductive health and rights on the continent.
The UNFPA Innovation HackLab has so far awarded more than USD 200,000 to nine innovators across Africa.