Global Venture Showcase: the AccessAbility Innovation Challenge

AccessAbility – inclusive innovation challenge to ensure rights and choices for youth with disabilities.

Join us for this free webinar that will shine a spotlight on four incredible teams, their innovations and journey of growth over the past 6 months. The event will also bring the launch of a digital platform led by Young Persons with disabilities that will serve as a networking and knowledge management space.

In June 2023 The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in collaboration with the Global Disability Innovation Hub (GDI Hub) and the Global Network of Young Persons with Disabilities (GNYPWD) launched the AccessAbility Innovation Challenge to support the development of innovative solutions to address barriers to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) facing young persons with disabilities.

Access to health services and freedom from gender-based violence are human rights. Women and young persons with disabilities often experience higher risks of violence, increased barriers to SRHR, and significant challenges in meeting their basic needs due to factors such as gender and disability.

Technological innovations offer opportunities and hope as enablers to support persons with disabilities in learning and accessing their rights, resources, and benefits. However, several barriers currently impede access to sexual and reproductive health rights, including digital inaccessibility, limited digital literacy, and fragmented internet access, among others. This innovation call sought solutions to address these pressing challenges, disrupt inequalities, and foster the empowerment of women and girls, encompassing the diverse range of their experiences, abilities, and identities.

The challenge aimed to enhance the capacity of young persons with disabilities, improve the availability and accessibility of innovations tailored to their unique needs, and facilitate their access to financial resources and participation in decision-making processes related to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information, commodities, services, and essential support in the area of gender-based violence (GBV).

Winners were selected from teams and organizations led by young innovators with disabilities, with the most promising innovations focusing on solutions to address the challenges facing young persons with disabilities in accessing their sexual and reproductive health and rights. The winners received a blend of financial and capacity-building support, as well as enhanced connections with UNFPA teams and the technology ecosystem. Join us for this hour long webinar to hear more from the ventures, and team behind the challenge.

The four ventures:

• Technoprise Global, located in Kenya with their project "Conversational AI for Inclusive Data Collection"
• Alianta Infonet, located in Republic of Moldova with project "Inclusive voices: Empowering Content Creator with Disability through Podcasting"
• AccessAble; located in India, with project "Information access on SRH topics using conversational flows in low-resource settings"
• Vessels for Development; located in Cameroon with project, "Inclusive Reproductive Health Initiative (IRHI)"

You can read more on the winning ventures of the AccessAbility Innovation challenge here: Winners of the AccessAbility innovation challenge

Following the webinar there is an opportunity to meet the ventures personally in breakout rooms - this time is specifically designed for funders, investors, scaling partners, and other ecosystem collaborators who may be interested to get acquainted, learn more, and stay connected.