Code for Africa AI Sandbox Seed Grant 2026 (up to $3,000)

Deadline: March 30, 2026

Applications are open for the Code for Africa AI Sandbox Seed Grant 2026. Are you part of a Human Rights Defending (HRD) organisation in Africa that wants to super-power your work using AI tools and techniques? The Digitalise Youth consortium, through Code for Africa (CfA), is offering five seed grants to civil society organisations (CSOs) based in the Sahel, as well as neighbouring countries in West and East Africa.

Through this seed grant, selected CSOs will produce an MVP or working prototype that effectively addresses critical challenges including, but not limited to, digital rights and freedom of expression, misinformation, disinformation, hate speech, and digital surveillance. Successful applicants will create or scale solutions that directly support their core missions and enhance their ability to operate safely and effectively in challenging digital environments.

Applicants should have a strong commitment to using human-centred solutions. Responsibilities for the selected participants include prototyping agile solutions, scaling existing solutions with AI, optimising performance for real-world use, integrating user feedback, and/or ensuring compliance with regional cybersecurity laws and cultural norms. Priority will be given to organisations with a strong track record of human rights defence, community engagement, and a clear commitment to ethical AI principles.

Grantees will receive support from CfA’s in-house TechLab, DataLab, and AI Sandbox, as well as its design/content teams, along with strategic support from Digitalise Youth partner institutions, ranging from policy advice and democratic governance think tanks to research support.

Focus Areas

Analysis & Monitoring Tools

• Develop/adapt/refine AI-powered discourse analysis tools to track civic conversations, hate speech patterns, and restrictions on free expression across digital platforms. Apply these tools to monitor election integrity, advocacy movements, and the spread of disinformation campaigns targeting HRDs and youth.
• Implement lightweight sentiment analysis solutions that can be adapted to different contexts including electoral discourse, gender-based violence, and censorship detection without requiring extensive computational resources.

Verification & Fact-Checking Solutions

• Create accessible AI-driven fact-checking solutions that help smaller organisations verify information, detect manipulated media, and identify misleading content relevant to human rights issues in local contexts.
• Develop practical content verification tools that community members can easily deploy to combat hate speech and political manipulation in low-connectivity environments.

Collaboration & Engagement Solutions

• Design simple, secure AI-powered solutions that enable youth civic actors and HRDs to share information and coordinate activities while maintaining digital safety.
• Create practical digital tools that facilitate grassroots organisation and community mobilisation for human rights defenders working in challenging environments.

Inclusive Access Solutions

• Develop accessible AI tools that bridge the digital divide for women and marginalised communities

Grant

• The grant will assist HRD organisations in prototyping or scaling AI solutions that directly support their core missions and enhance their ability to operate safely and effectively in challenging digital environments.
• The grant amount for the entire duration of the project is $3,000 (to support the HRD organisation’s technology team or to hire AI expertise).
• Grants will be awarded for six months, with the possibility of extension based on demonstrated progress, impact, and commitment to sustainability.

Eligibility

• Your organisation must be a registered non-profit or civil society organisation with a mandate to defend human rights in the Sahel region or neighbouring countries.
• You must have a dedicated technology team or demonstrate a clear plan to hire AI expertise to implement the proposed AI solution.
• You must provide evidence of a clear need for AI-powered tools to address specific challenges related to mis/disinformation, hate speech, or digital surveillance that your organisation faces in your human rights work.
• You must commit to ethical AI development and deployment practices, including data privacy, fairness, transparency, and accountability.
• You must demonstrate a commitment to community engagement and participatory design, ensuring that the AI solution is developed and deployed in a way that respects the needs and priorities of the communities you serve.

Application

Click here to apply

For more information, visit Code for Africa AI Sandbox Seed Grant.