Youth in Work Innovation Challenge Hackathon

Self Help Africa (SHA) is an international development organization headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, dedicated to the vision of "Sustainable livelihoods and healthy lives for all in a changing climate." With over 50 years of experience working with smallholder farmers across Africa, including 25 years in Nigeria (formerly operating as United Purpose) SHA works to alleviate hunger, poverty, and social inequality, as well as mitigate the impacts of climate change through community-led, market-based, and enterprise-focused approaches.

Self Help Africa is collaborating with the World Food Programme (WFP) to implement the "Strengthening Food Systems to Promote Increased Value Chain Employment Opportunities" (Youth in Work) project for 50,000 youth and women in Sokoto State.

This initiative seeks to enhance food systems by boosting value chain employment prospects for youth, while maintaining and expanding both on-farm and off-farm job opportunities for young women and men involved in various stages of the sorghum, millet, soybean, groundnut, and horticulture value chains.

The Innovation Challenge under the Youth in Work Project is designed to identify, support, and nurture young agricultural innovators and enterprises with viable ideas to address pressing socio-economic challenges in their communities. The Innovation Challenge specifically targets high-potential, human-centered solutions designed to strengthen these local value chains and foster local enterprise growth.

The hackathon serves as a convergence point for promising young innovators, development partners, agribusiness leaders, and ecosystem stakeholders to showcase high-impact enterprise solutions in Sokoto State.