Clinicians, researchers, service providers and disability organisations interested in contributing to AT EXPO AFRICA 2027 are invited to join a free webinar explaining the event’s call for papers.
The one-hour online session will take place on Wednesday, 28 October 2026 and will be delivered in both English and French.
It is intended for potential contributors who have a project, practical experience or lessons that could help improve access to assistive technology across Africa but may be uncertain about how to structure or submit their proposal.
The official AT EXPO AFRICA website confirms that the webinar will explain how to prepare a contribution for the event.
From practical experience to continental learning
AT EXPO AFRICA will take place from 3 to 5 June 2027 in Dakar, Senegal.
Presented as Africa’s first trade show and international dialogue dedicated to assistive technology, care and rehabilitation, the event is hosted by the Government of Senegal in partnership with the African Organization for the Development of Centers for People with Disabilities and ATscale, the Global Partnership for Assistive Technology.
The event aims to bring together:
- Assistive-technology users
- Organisations of persons with disabilities
- Clinicians and rehabilitation professionals
- Service providers
- Manufacturers and distributors
- Researchers and innovators
- Governments and regional bodies
- UN agencies
- Development partners and strategic donors
The webinar will focus particularly on the Implementation & Impact Stage, which is intended to showcase practical programmes, evidence-based approaches and lessons from real-world delivery.
What kinds of contributions are relevant?
The call is not limited to researchers or formal academic studies. Organisations can submit completed initiatives with demonstrated results, as well as ongoing projects that can already share useful implementation experience.
The official call identifies areas including prosthetics, orthotics and mobility; hearing and vision; and digital assistive technology. It seeks experience relating to service delivery, policy implementation, workforce development, procurement, financing, local production, innovation and sustainable scale-up.
For the African O&P community, potentially valuable submissions could include:
- Expanding prosthetic and orthotic services into rural communities
- Training and retaining African O&P professionals
- Developing sustainable outreach and follow-up models
- Introducing digital scanning, CAD and local fabrication
- Reducing device abandonment
- Improving access to paediatric orthoses
- Establishing national component and material supply chains
- Integrating O&P into public health and rehabilitation systems
- Using mobile clinics or community-based rehabilitation
- Building partnerships with organisations of persons with disabilities
- Financing prosthetic and orthotic provision
- Measuring long-term functional and participation outcomes
The emphasis should be on what was implemented, what changed, what challenges emerged and what other countries or organisations could learn from the experience.
What the webinar will cover
During the session, participants will learn:
- Which subjects and types of contributions are being sought
- What information should be included in an abstract
- How to complete the submission process
- How contributions will be assessed
- How practical experience can be presented clearly
- What must be submitted before the deadline
The organiser’s current invitation states that contributions should be submitted by 15 January 2027. Prospective applicants should verify the deadline on the live call-for-papers page when preparing their submission, as earlier published event materials displayed a previous date.
Webinar times
The webinar will take place on 28 October 2026 at:
- 11:00–12:00 GMT in Dakar
- 12:00–13:00 CET in Geneva and Paris
- 14:00–15:00 EAT in Nairobi
- 15:00–16:00 GST in the UAE and Oman
- 14:00–15:00 AST in Saudi Arabia
Participation is free, but advance registration is required.
Africa’s assistive-technology sector holds extensive experience that is rarely documented or shared beyond local programmes. This call gives CPOs, rehabilitation teams, OPDs and service organisations an opportunity to turn that experience into evidence that could influence practice, partnerships and policy across the continent.
- Register for the free call-for-papers webinar
- AT EXPO AFRICA 2027
- Call for papers and Implementation & Impact Stage
- English call-for-papers document
- Contact the organising team