Description

Girls and young women aged 13–21 from Smart Africa Member States are invited to submit innovative Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered solutions that address real challenges faced by women, girls, and their communities across the continent.

Why « HerLens AI Solutions »? HerLens

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping the world — but too often, the challenges faced by women and girls are invisible in the data, missing from the design, and left out of the solutions. Africa cannot afford that gap.

The 2026 challenge invites you to design AI-powered solutions that are grounded in the real, lived experiences of women and girls in Africa (HerLens) — solutions that are practical, ethical, inclusive, and ready to scale across communities, countries, the continent and beyond.

This year’s focus builds on the momentum of the African Union’s Continental AI Strategy and Smart Africa’s commitment to inclusive, people-centred AI. Africa’s girls are not waiting for the future — they are building it.