The global GovStack Women in GovTech Challenge (WiGTC) returns for its third cohort, building on the success of its previous editions that together trained 319 women from over 50 countries. Building on this growing network of digital innovators, the 2026 edition takes the Challenge a step further — empowering women to go beyond service design and develop full digital service prototypes.
In partnership with the World Bank, the DPI Safeguards Initiative (stewarded by the UN Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies and UNDP), and academic partner UCL IIPP and communication partner GovInsider, WiGTC 2026 offers a hands-on journey to design and build inclusive, citizen-centric digital government services using the GovStack approach and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Safeguards. Women professionals from diverse backgrounds are invited to join as mentees or mentors to learn, collaborate, and lead the next generation of GovTech innovation.
What’s New in This Cohort
- Potentially Work on Real Implementation Use Cases: Participants will have the chance to pick ongoing, real-world digital government implementations to base their prototypes on.
- Pitch to Ecosystem Partners: During Demo Day, teams will have the chance to pitch their functional prototypes to ecosystem partners, potentially creating opportunities for their solutions to be selected for pilot implementation.
- Open-Source Prototype Listing in the GovStack Library: Teams can choose to open-source their prototypes. Open-licensed solutions will be featured in the GovStack Library, making them accessible to the global GovTech community.
Program Highlights
- Capacity Building: Comprehensive training on the GovStack building block approach, safe and inclusive Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) through the Universal DPI Safeguards Framework and best practices for digital service design.
- Mentorship: Tailored guidance from a diverse pool of female technical mentors.
- Collaboration: Teamwork on real-world use cases, supported by facilitators.
- Prototype Opportunities: Teams will create prototypes which they will pitch during a Demo Day that may be selected by international partners for further development after the Challenge.
- Showcase Opportunities: Presentation of top solutions at an international high-level event i.e. WSIS 2026 in Geneva.
Key Dates
- Applications Launch: 3 November 2025 (at DPI Summit)
- Application Deadline: 7 December 2025
- Participant Confirmations: 15 January 2026
- Training Period: February – March 2026 (6 weeks)
- Demo Day: End of March 2026
Participants will engage in:
- Weekly lectures and office hours across 6 weeks.
- Team-based assignments leading to a final pitch.
- E-learnings powered by atingi.
- Mentoring sessions and dedicated technical support.
- Team-based prototype development with mentorship support
- Potentially work on Real-world Use cases proposed by global partners
- Exposure to GovStack experts and international networks
What Participants will Gain:
- Mastery of interoperable and reusable software components, GovStack Building Blocks principles and agile service design.
- Potential experience working on real implementation use cases.
- A comprehensive understanding of DPI Safeguards and the centrality of safeguards into service design and delivery.
- Access to an international community of digital leaders.
- Recognition through certificates and opportunities to showcase solutions globally.
The WiGTC amplifies its focus on gender equality and digital leadership, offering a platform for women to drive innovation in public service delivery.
You can register via the following link: https://govstack.global/govstack-women-in-govtech-challenge-wigtc-2026/
