SheConnects Digital Accelerator: Africa – Request for Applications (Round 2: Partnerships for Women’s Digital Empowerment at Scale)

Application Deadline: July 8, 2026 (11:59 PM EDT)

About SheConnects Digital Accelerator Africa – Round 2 Program

The SheConnects Digital Accelerator Africa – Round 2 is a funding and partnership initiative designed to empower women across Sub-Saharan Africa by supporting organizations that use digital technology to create lasting social and economic impact. The programme invests in high-potential organizations that combine innovative digital solutions, strong implementation partnerships, and women-centered approaches to expand women’s meaningful participation in the digital economy and improve their quality of life. The accelerator focuses on three key sectors health, education, and agriculture/livelihoods where digital innovation can generate transformative outcomes for women and their communities. Applicants are expected to demonstrate how their solutions can improve women’s and children’s health and nutrition, increase household income and economic resilience, and enhance educational opportunities for children and young people. Rather than promoting technology for its own sake, the programme prioritizes initiatives that clearly show how digital tools can deliver measurable development outcomes while addressing the real needs, challenges, and priorities of women. Successful proposals will combine practical digital delivery models with trusted partnerships, realistic implementation strategies, and scalable approaches capable of reaching large numbers of beneficiaries. By emphasizing collaboration, sustainability, and inclusion, the SheConnects Digital Accelerator seeks to close the digital gender gap and strengthen women’s economic and social participation across the region. Only projects that establish a credible link between digital innovation and tangible improvements in the priority sectors will be considered competitive for funding, ensuring that supported initiatives deliver meaningful and lasting impact.

Purpose and Objectives

The purpose of this RFA is to identify and support organizations that are well positioned to implement and scale approaches that expand women’s meaningful access to and use of digital technologies to support better health, education, and agriculture/livelihood outcomes for women  and their families and communities. Applicants should propose models that are practical, inclusive, and appropriate to low-resource settings, and that demonstrate credible potential to impact at least 50,000 women users within an 18-month grant period. The SheConnects Digital Accelerator: Africa is particularly interested in approaches that:

• Place women’s lived realities, needs, and risks at the center of program design and implementation
• Focus on solutions and teams with a track record
• Use digital technologies in ways that are practical, scalable, and responsive to local contexts
• Demonstrate a realistic path to reaching 50,000 or more women users within the grant period
• Build on trusted delivery channels, community partnerships, or strong direct distribution mechanisms
• Articulate how the project could be sustained, scaled, or shared beyond the grant period
• Demonstrate the potential for adaptation or extension across geographies, donor types, and government integration
• Use responsible AI practices and safeguards if AI is used

The SheConnects Digital Accelerator: Africa will not fund proposals that:

• Focus only on access, including infrastructure (hubs/labs) and equipment provision
• Propose digital literacy curricula
• Do not support sectoral outcomes
• Are focused only on customer acquisition by increasing the number of female users

Scope of Work and Eligible Delivery Models

Applications may propose one or both of the following delivery models:

• Last Mile Service Providers (LMSPs): Last Mile Service Providers are frontline actors that already work directly with women and are trusted intermediaries. These may include community-based organizations, health workers, educators, agricultural extension agents, savings groups, women’s associations, or other local service providers with established relationships and delivery capacity.
• Direct to Participant (D2P): Direct to Participant approaches reach women directly through digital channels, platforms, or services, without relying primarily on frontline intermediaries for ongoing delivery. Applications using this model should clearly explain how women will be reached, onboarded, supported, retained, and safeguarded throughout implementation.

Evaluation Criteria

Applications will be evaluated against the following four criteria. Each criterion is worth 25 points, for a total of 100 points.

Digital Technology Integration (25 points): The Accelerator seeks technology-enabled solutions that are practical, inclusive, and well suited to women’s daily realities. Strong applications will demonstrate:

• A clear rationale for the proposed digital approach and why it is appropriate for the intended users and setting
• Attention to key barriers such as connectivity, device access, affordability, literacy, language, disability inclusion, and participant support
• Responsible use of AI if applicable, including appropriate human oversight
• A clear explanation of how the proposed technology will improve women’s meaningful access, confidence, safety, and/or use of digital solutions to drive improved health and nutrition, income and resiliency, and children’s education

Inclusive Design and Safe Use (25 points): The Accelerator will support only those solutions that are clearly women-centered. Applications should demonstrate how women’s realities, priorities, and risks have informed program design and how those considerations will remain central throughout implementation. Strong applications will show how the proposed solution accounts for:

• Privacy, safety, and security
• Limited time, shared devices, low connectivity, and affordability constraints
• Literacy, language diversity, and disability inclusion
• Social norms and gatekeepers that affect women’s ability to participate

Applicants must also describe how they will identify, prevent, and respond to risks of gender-based violence, including technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TF-GBV), as well as risks related to fraud, harassment, or retaliation linked to women’s participation in the program.

Partnership Networks (25 points): Applications must demonstrate strong partnerships with government, private sector, and/or non-profit organizations that support women participants at scale. These partnerships should play a meaningful role in outreach, onboarding, trust-building, service delivery, participant support, and sustainability. Non-profits should clearly articulate sustainability models. Applicants should clearly describe:

• The role of each key partner
• Each partner’s contribution to delivery, scale, or participant support
• How the partnership structure strengthens the overall feasibility and sustainability of the proposed approach

Credible Pathway to Scale (25 points): Applications must present a credible and well-supported pathway to reaching at least 50,000 women users during the 18-month grant period. Proposals must describe evidence that the intervention works and is cost-effective compared with alternatives. Strong applications will include:

• Evidence of prior implementation, readiness, or operational capacity
• A clear roadmap of how women users will be reached and retained at scale
• Realistic assumptions regarding adoption and continued use
• A cost-conscious and feasible implementation model
• A credible strategy for sustainability, replication, or continued growth after grant completion

Eligibility

Eligible entities for this initiative include:

• Nonprofit and Civil Society Organizations, including registered nonprofits and charities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and community-based organizations
• Mission-Driven For-Profit Organizations: For-profit entities that have a clear public-benefit mission aligned with the goals of the RFP are eligible. Funding cannot be used for core commercial product development, customer acquisition, or general business operations.
• Consortia, Partnerships, & Collaborative Proposals: Proposals may be submitted through partnerships and other collaborative arrangements. In such cases, one lead organization must serve as the primary applicant and submit the proposal, with partner organizations included as sub-grantees.
• Academic institutions

The following entities are not eligible:

• Individuals and organizations classified as individuals for U.S. tax purposes
• Government agencies or departments
• Multilateral and Bilateral institutions as prime applicants, although they may participate as sub-grantees

Note:

• An organization may submit only one application as a prime applicant. However, organizations may participate in multiple applications as secondary partners.
• A subsidiary, affiliate, or country office may submit a separate application only if it is a legally registered entity with independent authority to contract, receive and manage funds, and implement the proposed award.
• Prime recipients may issue subawards to consortium members or implementation partners but may not subaward more than 50% of the total award amount without prior written approval.

Award Information

• Awards under Accelerator Round 2 are expected to range from USD 500,000 to USD 1,000,000 for an 18-month period of performance
• Final award amounts will depend on the strength of the proposed approach, the credibility of the pathway to scale, the reasonableness of the proposed budget, and the applicant’s demonstrated capacity to deliver
• The SheConnects Digital Accelerator: Africa reserves the right to make multiple awards, negotiate budget levels, implementation scope, or workplans, request revisions or clarifications from applicants, or make no awards under this solicitation

Important: Proposals that solely or primarily ask for devices, equipment, buildings, and support for creating digital literacy curriculum will not be eligible.

Proposal Submission Instructions

Applicants must submit a complete proposal package consisting of the following materials:

• Technical application
• Detailed Budget and budget narrative (template provided in application)
• Proof of organizational registration
• Proposal in English only

Evaluation and Selection Process

Proposals will undergo an initial screening for eligibility, completeness, and responsiveness to this RFP. Proposals that pass this stage will be evaluated against the criteria described in Section 4, the overall strength of the technical approach, and the feasibility and reasonableness of the proposed budget. Selected proposals may advance to due diligence and final funding consideration.

As part of the review process, the SheConnects Digital Accelerator: Africa may:

• Request clarifications or additional documentation
• Invite selected applicants to participate in follow-up discussions
• Request revisions to program design, workplans, or budgets
• Conduct further assessment prior to final award decisions

Procurement Schedule

• RFA Release: May 20, 2026
• Information Session: June 3, 2026 (recording available)
• Deadline for Questions: June 10, 2026 – Questions may be submitted to contact@SCDAccelerator.org
• Application Deadline: July 8, 2026 at 11:59 PM EDT
• Anticipated Notification of Selected Applicants: mid-August 2026
• Anticipated Award Start: January 2027

Proposal Response Template

In addition to collecting basic organizational information, applicants will need to answer:

1. Program Summary: Define the problem statement and solution, describing why this solution fulfills the overall mission of this RFA. (500 words)
2. Digital Technology Integration: Describe the proposed digital technology and a clear rationale for why it is appropriate for the intended users and setting, an explanation of how the technology addresses key barriers to adoption, and a description of how the technology improves women’s meaningful access, confidence, safety, and/or use of digital solutions to drive improved health and nutrition, income and resiliency, and children’s education. (2000 words)
3. Inclusive Design: Provide a description of how women’s realities have informed the program design, an explanation of how the design accommodates constraints (limited time, shared devices, low connectivity, affordability), and an account of how social norms affecting women’s participation are considered. (2000 words)
4. Safeguarding, Risk Mitigation, and Participant Protection: Include an account of how the design addresses privacy, safety, and security, as well as how you will prevent gender-based violence (including technology-facilitated GBV), fraud, and backlash. (1000 words)
5. Community Partnership Networks: Provide a list of key partners and their role or contribution and an explanation of how partnerships strengthen the feasibility and sustainability of the proposed approach. (1000 words)
6. Evidence of Scale Pathway and Sustainability: Describe evidence of prior implementation, organizational readiness, or operational capacity, a clear roadmap for how at least 50,000 women users will be reached and retained within 18 months, and a sustainability strategy describing how benefits, services, or the model will continue after grant completion. (1000 words)
7. MEL Approach: Describe your high-level monitoring, evaluation, and learning plan with outcome indicators and MEL capacity. (500 words)
8. Detailed Budget and Budget Narrative (template and upload link)
9. Acknowledgment of Gates Foundation Open Access Policy compliance (checkbox)

Click here to apply

For More Information: Visit the Official SheConnects Digital Accelerator Page