Girls in AI Bulgaria — Digital National Alliance and UNICEF's National Teens in AI Hackathons

Teens in AI is a global initiative launched at the UN's 2018 "AI for Good" summit to diversify who builds AI; Bulgaria's Digital National Alliance (DNA) became the national host from October 2021, branding its local chapter "Girls in AI Bulgaria" with backing from UNICEF Bulgaria.
DNA organised back-to-back hackathons (October 2021, March 2022), moving online during COVID-19 restrictions to reach children from underserved regions and minority communities across Bulgaria, aged 12-18.
Results: more than 100 children with a range of prior technical experience developed close to 20 AI-based projects addressing UN Sustainable Development Goals, evaluated by an international jury; UNICEF Bulgaria's representative framed the effort around not letting "half of the world's talent" be excluded from AI.
Caveat: public information does not report post-event skill assessments or long-term outcome tracking, and the most detailed public results date to the initial 2021-2022 hackathons rather than a documented ongoing yearly cadence.

Read the full analysis: https://digital-skills-jobs.europa.eu/en/inspiration/good-practices/teens-ai-bulgaria-inspiring-teens-explore-careers-tech-and-ai