Youth and adolescents face significant challenges in their endeavour to access innovation and technology platforms. These challenges are related to discrimination based on gender, and age, among other cross-cutting issues. Despite the tremendous growth of innovation and technology, the youth, adolescents, and women have been excluded from accessing these platforms, with their reputations questioned based on their age and gender as a result of harmful socio-cultural stereotypes. These barriers do not only hinder women, youth, and adolescents from accessing innovation and technology but also shrink their voice and agency in contributing towards the gender equality agenda and ending the gendered digital divide.

While technology and innovation have great potential to spearhead and accelerate more transformative and inclusive development and community mobilisation, it is also threatened by an array of barriers, including access to infrastructure and technology, cyber security threats and attacks, rural-urban digital divide, digital literacy and awareness,  participation, and discrimination.