Call for Proposals to Participate in the Third UbuntuNet Alliance Women Hackathon 2025
This initiative is sponsored by the European Union as part of the EU co-funded AfricaConnect4 project.
The AfricaConnect4 project seeks to unlock the potential of education and research through increased access to digital infrastructures and technologies for African education and research institutions. The UbuntuNet Alliance Research and Education Networking - a partner in the AfricaConnect4 project - is a membership organisation of National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) in Eastern and Southern Africa, covering all the countries in the region.
Background and Rationale
UbuntuNet Alliance serves as an enabler for conducting collaborative research and provision of quality higher education by providing access to the global knowledge community, global digital education and research resources, and cutting-edge applications and infrastructure. The mission of UbuntuNet Alliance is to develop and grow a thriving sustainable community of NRENs and partners within Eastern and Southern Africa, enabling and strengthening collaboration and innovation among Research and Education Communities. More details on the Alliance can be found on our website, https://ubuntunet.net.
Research and education are two core objectives in academia, opening doors to new theories, ideas and innovations that shape society. These innovations have revolutionized the way we live and improved our livelihoods. However, the full potential of research and education is yet to be realized due to many challenges.
Approach
The hackathon programme will adopt a hybrid approach. The first part of the programme shall be conducted virtually where 15 teams of passionate young women consisting of 3 participants each competitively selected, will be mentored to develop innovative proof-of-concepts tackling climate mitigation and adaptation challenges. Selected participants shall be mentored by academic and industrial experts and guided to develop innovative digital climate change adaptation and mitigation solutions. Webinars on topical issues shall also be mounted to impart relevant skills and build confidence among the future women technology leaders. In addition, to the impactful experience for the women participants, this activity shall also deliver innovative proof-of-concepts tackling climate mitigation and adaptation. These will have the potential to be further developed through to commercialisation.
Top 5 teams shall then be selected at the end of Phase 1 shall invited for a further 3-day in person hackathon which shall be collocated with the UbuntuNet-Connect conference to further refine and improve their concepts to commercialisation. The teams shall present as part of the conference programme where winners shall be announced and feted.
The in-person UbuntuNet Alliance Women Hackathon shall be held on October 27-29, 2025, as a pre-event to our UbuntuNet Connect annual conference in Harare, Zimbabwe themed “Resilient and Sustainable Research and Education Networks for the Future” (https://ubuntunet.net/uc2025/). The hackathon seeks to addresses the gap in innovations supporting research and education, and the gender gap in software development on the Africa.
Aims, Theme and Key Focus Areas
We are looking for 45 passionate young women developers, (organised in teams of three) from the UbuntuNet Alliance region of East and Southern Africa to participate in a hackathon.
Theme: Innovate for climate change, adaptation and mitigation in research and education
Key Focus Areas for projects
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Innovations for climate change, adaptation and mitigation: Climate change is one of the most pressing global challenges of the 21st century, with far-reaching impacts on ecosystems, economies, and human well-being. Adaptation (adjusting to current and future climate impacts) is crucial for minimizing risks and ensuring sustainable development. The innovations will, therefore, focus primarily on tackling climate change, adaptation and mitigation where participants will be expected to showcase their skills in coming up with solutions to address various climate challenges.
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Innovations for 21st century education: All over Africa, there is a need to improve the way learning happens both in and out of a school, especially in the post pandemic era. Moreover, the reliance of education on technology has continued to increase and awareness of such technologies is key.
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Innovations for improving uptake of research and its outputs: This involves innovations, which help in stakeholders becoming aware of and accessing research outputs to improve policies and practice. Research uptake involves dissemination of research findings, Capacity development to understand research outputs, increased Influence (social influence), Incentives and creation of enabling environments among others.
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Innovations for improved collaboration: Innovations, which bring together multiple stakeholders in research projects. Collaboration technologies include those which assess the diversity of teams (experiences, roles, etc.), help in the mobilisation of teams and assess performance and contribution of teams and individuals in order to provide impactful research.
Why participate
Participants will get the following benefits: -
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Certificates of participation for all participants
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Travel and accommodation costs fully covered
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Opportunity to attend the UbuntuNet-Connect conference in Tanzania
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Possibility of internship opportunities with the UbuntuNet Alliance NRENs
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Linkage to the industry
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Opportunity for Mentorship
How to Apply
We invite concept proposals from teams from eligible countries The concept note should be 3-5 pages [font Times New Roman, size 12, single spacing], excluding the cover page. It should ideally contain an introduction, a background (or relevance), proposed objectives (leading to development of an ICT solution), methodology (that is based on the software development lifecycle and contains necessary technologies), programming skills of team members, previous experience, links to developed work, education level, year of graduation (past or future). The cover page should have the topic and team member details (names and email address, phone number). The concept note shall be submitted through the online link (https://event.ubuntunet.net/event/145/).
Eligibility
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Female participants.
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Pursing or in possession of a university degree in Software Engineering, Information Technology, Information Systems, Computer Science, or any related field.
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Participants should be students or graduates of not more than 5 years.
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Eligible countries within the UbuntuNet Alliance Region: Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, Congo, DR Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
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Must not have participated in a previous UbuntuNet Alliance women hackathon.
Selection Criteria
The concepts will be assessed based on the following criteria:
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Proposed idea solves a problem and fits within the theme.
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The idea being proposed is innovative.
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The team has necessary programming skills to implement the proposed idea.
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Feasibility of the proposed idea.
Deadline for submission: Friday 13th June 2025
Successful applicants will be notified by Friday 30th of June
Phase 1 Selection Duration: 12th of May – 13th of June 2025
Phase 2 Online Onboarding: 1st of July– 31st of July 2025
