Application Deadline: July 8, 2026
Applications are now open for the 2026 SheConnects Digital Accelerator Program. The SheConnects Digital Accelerator: Africa aims to scale proven, high-impact solutions that enable women and girls to participate fully in the digital world, improving their lives and livelihoods. By catalysing innovative partnerships and use cases in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Accelerator will strengthen evidence on what works, foster south-to-south learning, and help shape a more inclusive global digital ecosystem. The Accelerator’s initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa are managed by CARE and the GSMA Foundation with support from the Gates Foundation.
Eligibility Criteria
To ensure that funds are directed toward teams capable of handling rapid institutional scaling, applicants must meet the following baseline requirements:
- Organization Type: Eligible applicants include non-profit organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations, community-based organizations, mission-driven for-profit enterprises, academic institutions, and structured collaborative partnerships or consortia.
- Geographic Focus: The proposed initiative must be implemented entirely within Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Exclusions: Government agencies, multilateral or bilateral organizations, and individual applicants are strictly ineligible to apply as prime or lead applicants.
- Application Limit: To maintain a competitive and focused pool, organizations may submit only one single application as the lead entity.
- Target Scale and Capability: Applicants must present a credible, verifiable pathway demonstrating how their digital solution will reach and positively impact at least 50,000 women users within the 18-month implementation window.
Benefits
Selected organizations and consortia will access a transformative suite of resources engineered to maximize their regional footprint and operational capacity:
- Transformative Capital Injection: Grant allocations ranging from USD 500,000 to USD 1 Million provide full financial runway to deploy solutions widely without the burden of repayment.
- Extended Implementation Runway: A generous 18-month project timeline gives teams ample space to localize, deploy, iterate, and stabilize their platforms in diverse markets.
- South-South Knowledge Sharing: Awardees enter an elite cohort network, fostering deep peer-to-peer learning, technology cross-pollination, and collaborative strategy sharing between innovators in Africa and India.
- Global Credibility & Validation: Backed by global heavyweights like CARE and the Gates Foundation, participating organizations elevate their institutional profiles, opening doors to future international funding and long-term policy partnerships.
Application Timeline:
- Application Deadline: July 8, 2026
- Submission Time: 11:59 PM EDT
- Expected Results Notification: Mid-August 2026
- Anticipated Project Commencement: January 2027
For More Information:
Visit the Official Webpage of the SheConnects Digital Accelerator Program
