Support to the Design and Implementation of a Regional AI Hackathon in the East African Community
Within the framework of the UNESCO Campus Africa Flagship Programme, the selected provider will co-design and implement a regional AI hackathon across eight East African Community (EAC) Partner States, engaging over 2,000 participants from more than 50 universities. The initiative will include the development and management of a dedicated online platform to host the competition, enabling participant registration, training delivery, solution submissions, and real-time scoring. It will ensure equitable participation and will feature preparatory AI and digital skills training delivered in collaboration with partners. These activities will lead up to coordinated two-day hybrid hackathons in early 2026. By fostering ethical, practice-oriented, and gender-responsive AI solutions, the hackathon aims to address challenges in higher education, agriculture, and renewable energy, while strengthening local innovation ecosystems, supporting university–industry linkages, and enhancing youth employability.
Sustainable Procurement practices integrate requirements, specifications, and criteria that are compatible and in favour of the protection of the environment, the social progress and in support of economic development. These practices seek resource efficiency, improve the quality of products and services, and ultimately optimize costs (HLCM Procurement Network). Sustainable Procurement is one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (goals 12 and 12.7), and it also contributes to the achievement of all SDGs. This procurement opportunity is considered sustainable as it incorporates at least three sustainability considerations, in accordance with the HLCM Procurement Network's Sustainable Procurement Working Group - Sustainability Indicators Framework. To learn more about which considerations are included in this procurement opportunity, please see below for a specific description. For more information, contact the procurement official or author of this procurement opportunity.
The tender contains sustainability considerations addressing gender equality and women's empowerment.
Examples:
Gender mainstreaming, targeted employment of women, promotion of women-owned businesses.
The tender contains sustainability considerations regarding local MSMEs, local communities or disadvantaged groups.
Examples:
Reserved labour opportunities for local communities, use of local materials, reserved procurements for local companies
The tender contains sustainability considerations promoting sustainability through the entire supply chain.
Examples:
Sustainability requirements for tier 2 suppliers, identification and approval of subcontractors.
This indicator summarizes sustainability considerations that relate to inclusion of a person with disability.
Examples:
Organizational policy on disability inclusion, recruiting people with disabilities, accessible premises, disability-inclusive supply chains, and manufacturing accessible products.
The tender contains sustainability considerations promoting the sustainable use of resources.
Examples:
Energy-saving measures, recycling, take-back programmes and responsible end-of-life management