Villgro, one of the world’s largest social enterprise incubators, has partnered with the Family Planning Association of India (FPAI) to launch an Innovation challenge for individuals and startups to find technological solutions in the Sexual, Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) space. The best innovative solution will get an opportunity to showcase their technology to the global audience and will also receive a cash prize of INR 3.5 lakh.
FPAI is a civil society organization in India that offers services in 18 states and Union territories of India with a key focus on sexual and reproductive health. Their main objective is to support the community’s development and wellbeing.Â
The Innovation Challenge will facilitate the co-creation of technology-based solutions that will enable more young people to demand information and services pertaining to sexuality education, modern contraception, and reproductive healthcare.- said Dr. Kalpana Apte, Secretary General, FPA India
The innovation challenge is focused on youth who are working to find technical solutions for the challenges faced in the sexual and reproductive health space. The participants must address the five problem areas in the SRHR space.
These problem areas include technology-driven solutions for multilingual comprehensive sex education, affordable solutions for early diagnosis of pregnancy, eco-friendly disposing of sanitary napkins, early diagnosis of PCOS among young girls, ovulation monitoring and management solutions. The innovation of awareness solutions can be based on mobile apps/AI/VR/AR/NLP/video or chatbot.
India lags behind many countries in development of infrastructure to deal with sexual and reproductive health problems. With the innovation ecosystem we have seen in the startup space in India, we expect disruptive solutions in SRH and also provide a platform for many entrepreneurs and innovators to convert their ideas into sustainable business models. â said Srinivasan Ramanujam, CEO, Villgro
A group of 15 innovators would be selected for the immersion program offered by Villgro. The immersion program will consist of webinars and interactions with industry experts and youth volunteers of FPAI, proper mentorship on identifying and converting ideas into business solutions. The program would help the innovators to connect with incubators for funding and would provide rapid prototyping support to create pilot prototype solutions.Â
Young people often lack necessary information to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights. Technology offers vast opportunities for awareness and provides the right solutions. The innovation challenge will help in dealing with the challenges in the sexual and reproductive health space and act as an opportunity for innovators to convert their ideas into business solutions.
