Call for Applications: UNDP Creatives4Peace Youth Online Innovation Challenge for young African creatives (fully funded trip to attend the Culture and Creative Industries Festival awarded to the winners)!

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Closing Date: 2 July 2026

Call for Applications: UNDP Creatives4Peace Youth Online Innovation Challenge for young African creatives (fully funded trip to attend the Culture and Creative Industries Festival awarded to the winners)!

Calling young African creatives!

Use culture, creativity and digital innovation to help build more peaceful and inclusive societies through the Create4Peace Youth Online Innovation Challenge.

Creatives4Peace Online Innovation Challenge Overview

UNDP invites you to apply for the Creatives4Peace Youth Online Innovation Challenge by submitting your application through the online application form provided below.

The Creatives4Peace Youth Online Innovation Challenge aims to support young Africans who are using culture and creativity as tools to promote social cohesion, dialogue, and peacebuilding. Creatives4Peace welcomes submissions from young creatives across Africa whose artistic work demonstrates how culture and creative expression can bridge divides, foster tolerance, and contribute to more inclusive and peaceful societies.

Submissions may take any artistic form, as long as it can be shared digitally/online. Selected participants will receive visibility and support, as well as the opportunity to showcase their work at the Culture and Creative Industries Festival in Cameroon.

Culture & Creative Industry Areas

Performing Arts

Projects centered on live or recorded artistic expression, including music, short films, dance, theater, spoken word, poetry, storytelling, and performance-based productions.

Gaming

Projects involving digital or physical games, board games, mobile games, video games, simulations, puzzles, interactive learning tools, and gamified experiences.

Digital Art

Projects using digital technologies to create visual, audiovisual, or interactive content, including graphic design, illustration, animation, photography, videography, digital storytelling, and multimedia production.

Fashion

Projects involving clothing, textiles, accessories, wearable design, costume design, sustainable fashion, upcycling, or fashion-related creative enterprises.

Craft and Artisan

Projects focused on handmade products, traditional/indigenous craftsmanship, artisan production, painting, design, woodworking, ceramics, jewelry, weaving, textiles, and other forms of creative making.

Selected/Winner Candidates:

Three selected candidates will receive a notification to present their work at the Culture and Creative Industries Festival in Cameroon (flights + DSA covered by UNDP) in September, along with:

The opportunity to pitch their work to private sector partners for potential collaboration or investment.
The chance to network with fellow young creatives from across the continent and diaspora, gain visibility and opportunities for further support their work.

This competition aims to support young Africans who use culture and creativity as tools to promote social cohesion, dialogue, and peacebuilding. Creatives4Peace welcomes applications from young creatives across Africa whose artistic work demonstrates how culture and creative expression can reduce divisions, foster tolerance, and contribute to more inclusive and peaceful societies.

Applications can take any artistic form, provided it can be shared online/digitally. Selected participants will receive visibility and support, as well as the opportunity to showcase their work at the Festival of Cultural and Creative Industries in Cameroon.