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).

Eligibility criteria

Prospective applicants need to pay close attention to the following eligibility criteria that determine whether they can be considered.

The Fund will focus on the provision of support to not-for-profit and for-profit organizations (e.g. social enterprises) acting within the civic space & the civic tech ecosystem Particular attention will be paid to digital solutions that benefit women and youths as target groups .. In short, the following eligibility criteria exist:

• The organization must be a legal entity.
• The organization must be registered in an African Union Member State.
• The organization must be able to sign a service contract agreement (as opposed to a grant contract agreement).
• The organization must not be bankrupt or being wound up, nor having its affairs administered by the courts.
• The organization must not have received an adverse audit opinion, either by its own auditors or its donors’ auditors.
• The organization must have policies in place and/or practices in place to guarantee the ethical management of personal identifiable information.
• The organization must not have been the subject of a judgment for fraud,corruption, involvement in a criminal organization or any other illegal activity.

Geographic focus: The Fund will seek to provide funding and support in any African Union Member State within the limits of its capacity. The Fund will not provide funding in any country which is under sanctions by the African Union at the time of investment.

Support package

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.

Priorities

The overarching policy framework for the 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).

For example, initiatives may propose to leverage technology in order to…

• Enable citizens to have a voice on key issues within their constituencies, e.g. by encouraging participation in digital councils, fora, etc.
• Enable citizens to better understand and interact within political decision-making processes, including electoral or political party processes, e.g. by post-electoral tracking of campaign promises or election observation recommendations.
• Enable citizen journalism in the context of monitoring governance performance and promoting responsiveness, transparency and accountability, e.g. by sourcing, opening and analyzing public data
• Support citizens’ action to prevent violence and conflict, e.g. by combating misinformation or providing digital civic education.