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UNICEF StartUp Lab Education Challenge 2025 – Innovate for Out-of-School Children (US$5,000 Grant)

Are you an innovator, social entrepreneur, or startup working on education solutions? UNICEF is calling for submissions to its StartUp Lab Education Challenge 2025, focused on designing tech-driven, inclusive models for out-of-school children in Ghana. This is your chance to build real-world solutions, secure funding, and help bring children back into learning pathways.

Despite progress, hundreds of thousands of primary-age children remain out of school in Ghana, especially in marginalized and underserved communities. UNICEF and its partners aim to change this by supporting inclusive, data-powered, and locally driven innovations that help identify, monitor, retain, and educate these children.
The challenge encourages low-cost, community-based solutions that tackle root causes such as poverty, disability, and rural isolation.

What’s on Offer / Benefits

  • US$ 5,000 prototype grant to help build and test your solution.
  • Mentorship from UNICEF experts and the Ghana Education Service (GES).
  • Opportunities to pilot and co-create your solution with UNICEF and national stakeholders.
  • Platform to influence national-level education systems and potentially scale your solution.

Who Can Apply (Eligibility)

  • Innovators, social entrepreneurs, startups, or NGOs working on education-related innovations.
  • Solutions must be inclusive, addressing children who remain out of school — including those with disabilities, girls, or children in remote areas.
  • Ideas need to be affordable, scalable and community-driven, ensuring long-term sustainability and alignment with national systems.
  • Must be based (or operate) in Ghana, to align with the Ghana Education Service’s role in the challenge.

Key Dates & Application

Tips for Applicants

  1. Use real data: Clearly show how many children in your target area are out of school, and explain how your innovation will reach and help them.
  2. Focus on inclusion: Highlight how your solution will cater to girls, children with disabilities, and those in rural or marginalized communities.
  3. Design for scale: Explain how your idea can grow or be adopted nationally. Propose a realistic model for scaling.
  4. Be cost-conscious: Low-cost tools and sustainable financing make your idea more attractive.
  5. Build partnerships: Show how you plan to work with schools, community groups, local governments, or education authorities.
  6. Prepare a strong prototype plan: Use the prototype grant to test with real users; outline a clear pilot plan.

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