African Union 2021 Innovating Education in Africa for African Entrepreneurs

The advent of COVID-19 has exacerbated challenges in Africa’s education system and reinforces the need for fit for context, innovative and scalable solutions in education. DOTSS[1] provides an approach for reorienting Africa’s education and training systems to meet the knowledge, competencies, skills, innovation and creativity required to nurture African core values and promote sustainable development at the national, sub-regional and continental levels as espoused in CESA.

There is the need to promote innovation in the entire education and skills development ecosystems, taking advantage of the digital revolution, in order to increase its impact and also ensure that disadvantaged groups are not left out. As the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25) states, ICT is an essential tool for ensuring universal access, quality of provision, and empowerment of school graduates for meaningful personal lives, and contribution to social economic development.  

Since its inception in 2018, the Innovating Education in Africa Expo has continued to gather momentum and established itself as the leading Pan-African event promoting the adoption of Education Innovations in Africa. In light of the above, the African Union Commission (AUC) and Partners across Africa will hold the third edition of Innovating Education in Africa Expo as a virtual series of events and activities from October 2020 – June 2021.

• Table of Content
• About African Union
• AU Innovating Education in Africa
• Aim and Benefits of AU Innovating Education in Africa
• Requirements for AU Innovating Education in Africa Qualification
• Application Deadline
• How to Apply

About African Union

The African Union (AU) is a continental body consisting of the 55 member states that make up the countries of the African Continent. It was officially launched in 2002 as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU, 1963-1999). The main objectives of the OAU were to rid the continent of the remaining vestiges of colonisation and apartheid; to promote unity and solidarity amongst African States; to coordinate and intensify cooperation for development; to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States and to promote international cooperation... read more... continue reading

AU Innovating Education in Africa

Aim and Benefits of AU Innovating Education in Africa

Successful applicants will benefit from one or more of the following:

• Receive grants of up to 100,000 USD to implement pilot projects in collaboration with AU Member States.
• Promotion and publicity of Innovation to AU Member States and Development Partners, including publication in the Africa Education Innovations Handbook 2021 and future invitation to participate in AU events and programs.
• Certificate of recognition from the African Union Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation.

Requirements for AU Innovating Education in Africa Qualification

Applications will be accepted from AU Member State citizens who lead an organisation that meets the following criteria:

• Implementing or piloting an education innovation in one or more AU Member States;
• Legally registered and operational for not less than 1 year;
• Directly responsible for the implementation and management of the innovation, i.e., not acting as an intermediary;
• Should not have been a previous grant recipient under Innovating Education in Africa.

Application Deadline

How to Apply

Submissions should be made online in English or French at www.edu-au.org/submit-innovation, with the following information:

• Brief statement of the problem you are trying to solve (100 words).
• Describe your innovation, specifically how it functions and the implementation approach (500 words).
• Justification of how the innovation can be implemented on a large scale sustainably, given the prevalent challenges in the African context (250 words).
• The number of people that have already used the innovation.
• Legal documentation of business registration and operation.
• Video demonstration of your innovation (optional).

Deadline for submissions is 25th September 2020 by 23:00 (GMT+3). Please send any enquiries to owusum@africa-

Formore details, visit AU website.