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Programme · Empowerment
Community Innovation Challenge
Ideas that heal. Young adults in Gosa choose a problem in their own community, and we back them to solve it. Training, mentors, and grants for the strongest proposals.
What it is
The Challenge runs over several weeks. Participants are recruited from the community, trained across a two-day bootcamp, mentored through prototyping and pitching, and then present to judges and the community. The strongest proposals receive grants.
We do not arrive with the problem list. Participants assess their own community and choose what to work on, within three tracks.
Who it is for
Free, and open to everyone in the community.
Free, and open to everyone in the community. You do not need to arrive with a team — teams are formed on the first day of the bootcamp.
- 01Aged 18 to 30
- 02Secondary school leaving certificate, minimum
- 03A member of the Gosa community
- 04Has an idea for making the community better, or is simply passionate about it
The three tracks
All three are health problems, which is why a health alliance runs an innovation challenge. Participants are not delivering health services. They are solving the problems we otherwise treat clinically.
- 01Waste management
- 02Water access
- 03Maternal and child health
How it works
- 01Recruitmentregister by phone, SMS, or in person at the Gosa liaison office
- 02Bootcamptwo days. Orientation, the tracks, problem understanding, design thinking, empathy mapping and ideation. Teams are formed.
- 03Hackathon weeksprototyping, costing, sustainability planning, pitch drafting, mentor clinics
- 04Mock ceremonya full dress rehearsal before judges
- 05Close-out ceremonyfinal presentations to judges and the community
- 06Grants and executionfunding and continued guidance for winning projects
Two things at once, every day
Every day of the programme runs a technical track and a capacity-development track together. Prototyping with resourcefulness. Costing with financial literacy. Pitch drafting with public speaking. Final deadline pressure with managing stress.
The full capacity curriculum covers teamwork and communication, creative and critical thinking, resourcefulness, financial literacy and costing, leadership and decision-making, public speaking, confidence-building, taking feedback, and time management.
Every day pairs a hard skill with a human one.
What participants get
- 01Free training on how to build your idea
- 02Mentors to guide you
- 03Cash support to develop the best ideas
- 04A certificate of participation
Events — Gosa 2026, the pilot edition
- 01Training of trainers29 July 2026
- 02Auditions3 August 2026, Anglican Church, Gosa
- 03Bootcamp6 and 7 August 2026
- 04Hackathon week one10 to 14 August 2026
- 05Hackathon week two17 to 20 August 2026
- 06Mock ceremony25 August 2026
- 07Close-out ceremony27 August 2026
What a pilot edition costs
Two million naira covers one edition: recruitment, the bootcamp, the mentorship weeks, the ceremonies and the grant pool.
- per edition
- ₦2,000,000
Partner or volunteer
Three ways to support an edition: fund it, facilitate on it, or help with the operational load of running it.