The “Oleka Planifica” Platform places Angola among the finalists of “Innovation Initiatives on Early and Unplanned Pregnancy” at the Youth Connekt Africa Summit 2022
Angola was among the six finalists of “Innovation Initiatives on Early and Unplanned Pregnancy”, a challenge launched by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for Eastern and Southern Africa. The presentation and awarding of the best projects in this competition took place between the 13th and 16th of last October, during the Youth Connekt Africa Summit 2022, in Kigali, Rwanda.
“Oleka Planifica” did not win the prize for “Innovation Initiatives on Early and Unplanned Pregnancy”, awarded to the FemConnect (South Africa) and Inspirelearn (Malawi) projects, but it was a big protagonist during the Youth Connekt Africa Summit 2022. The technological platform created by Angolan youth drew attention for its ability to provide real-time and up-to-date data on the sexual and reproductive health information needs of communities and schools in the country.
Prior to traveling to Kigali, all the finalists in the competition launched by UNFPA for Eastern and Southern Africa participated in a Hacklab on Early and Unplanned Pregnancy and in an online Bootcamp in September 2022.
OLEKA PLANIFICA is a Platform created by two Angolan UNFPA interns recently graduated in Demography, Martins Hosse and João Augusto Domingos. Their invention aims to use of Quantum GIS (Geographic Information System) to enable real-time mapping of schools and provide updated information for communities on sexual and reproductive health information. Access to information and the platform is conceived by the young students to promote youth awareness and empowerment through workshops, lectures and training.
Martins Hosse and João Augusto Domingos developped the platform to advocate for public institutions to use bring quantitative and qualitative data to influence the decision making by public institutions. Currently Angola still shows difficulties in evidence generation and database management. The target audience are Public Institutions such as: Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education, as well as other International Organizations of the United Nations System and beyond.The Project also intends to produce a mapping of secondary schools and communities to bring up-to-date data on Sexual and Reproductive Health needs.
The award ceremony was attended by Lydia Zigomo, UNFPA Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa. The agency leader reaffirmed the organization's commitment to empower young people in the region with knowledge and skills that allow them to make the best possible choices for themselves.
“Your innovative solutions inspire us and will undoubtedly make a difference in the lives of young women and girls and in society as a whole”, commented Lydia Zigomo at the time. Also according to the UNFPA Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, initiatives of this caliber “have the potential to generate jobs for innovators and also for other young people” in the communities. “This is the economic empowerment that we want to develop together”, she concluded, with visible enthusiasm.
The presentation of the Angolan project “Oleka Planifica” and the other finalists of the UNFPA initiative was one of the highlights of the Youth Connekt Africa Summit 2022, which brought together thousands of young people from all over the continent, under the motto "Accelerating Investments in Youth - Resilient Youth, Resilient Africa".
Youth Connekt Africa Hub is a pan-African platform that seeks to empower young people by improving their knowledge, experiences and skills, while investing in their ideas, innovations and initiatives for Africa to make progress in harnessing its demographic dividends by 2030.
