Call for Applications: FemFirst Lab

Apr 2026

IT for Change, with support from the International Development Research Centre and the Center for Global Digital Justice, invites applications from South and Southeast Asia to join the FemFirst Lab. This initiative is part of the Inclusive AI Research Network.

Objective

To incubate feminist AI prototypes that seek to address challenges of gender equality in a manner that is community-driven, responsive to local needs, and advances social justice and human rights.

What we offer

A 12-month incubation period for you to develop your AI prototype with:

Funding of between 10,000 and 35,000 CAD (depending on the scope of the proposed project) to develop an idea into a functional prototype, or to create an additional component for an existing prototype.
Opportunities for peer networking and wider community engagement.
Expert mentorship on feminist ethics for gender-responsive tech design.

Eligibility criteria

Prototype eligibility criteria

Maturity: We will support initiatives that possess either the basic infrastructure necessary for development (e.g., access to compute, GPUs, training datasets, talent, etc.) or a plan in place to acquire the infrastructure, to start work immediately on receipt of the grant. We will not support initiatives where the end product is a blueprint.
Level of intervention: The FemFirst Lab will support interventions that seek to do one or more of the following:
- Build a prototype that will demonstrate a functional and testable tool during the tenure of this grant.
- Improve and refine an existing model to deliver better outcomes related to gender equality.
- Develop a complementary feature or additional component for an existing model in order to strengthen gender-intentional outcomes.
- Work on developing or building models along with datasets that serve as building blocks for future AI applications, such as for Natural Language Processing or speech-to-text applications for poorly represented languages. Proposals for work that will only produce datasets will not be considered.
Open source technologies: Open source technologies must be used throughout the prototype lifecycle. We prefer applications that commit to licensing at least parts of the prototype as open, if not all, so that the broader community may benefit from the work.
Participatory approaches: Applicants must show that their prototype is being developed in a participatory manner with communities.

Team eligibility criteria

Registered legal entities (such as a university, not-for-profit organization, for-profit firm, etc.). Joint and collaborative applications between legal entities will be accepted, but only one lead entity will be contacted.
Any applying entity can be the lead in only one application, but may be involved in others.
Any applying entity may collaborate with up to two additional entities, excluding the lead entity.
We encourage applications that demonstrate interdisciplinary skill sets across areas like gender justice, engineering, and design.
The call is limited to organizations from any country in South Asia and any of the following in Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Timor-Leste.
Teams must be co-led by at least one woman or transgender/non-binary person.

How to apply

Submit your application for joining the FemFirst Lab by filling in this form. Ensure you read the detailed call carefully to ensure alignment with the project’s goals before applying. You can also refer to the application guide for an overview of the application form.

Please note that due to the high number of responses, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

The deadline to submit your application is 15 May 2026.