FDL Africa Programme Schedule
Pre-production
Sep – Dec 2026
Recruitment opens w/c 04 Oct. Concept memo development, Benchworks data readiness game and data confirmation through Oct-Nov. Funding agreement; faculty search and assignment; selection and contracting; infrastructure set-up; onboarding materials. Cohort announced before the December shutdown.
Sprint block 1
Stages 1 and 2
Mon 11 Jan – Fri 5 Feb 2027
4 weeks
Week 1 foundation model onboarding and baseline skills. Week 2 baselines and feature extraction. Week 3 temporal data and segmentation. Week 4 multimodal fusion, fine-tuning, and the first review gate.
Incubation
Mon 8 Feb – Fri 19 Feb 2027
2 weeks
Deliberately low-intensity and asynchronous. Ramadan begins 8 Feb. Faculty review, data consolidation, and scoping of each team’s Stage 3 target.
Sprint block 2
Stage 3
Mon 22 Feb – Fri 19 Mar 2027
4 weeks
Weeks 1–2 build, morning sessions only. No activity 9–10 Mar for Eid. Week 3 validation with the beneficiary. Week 4 demo week.
Impact and close
Mon 22 – Wed 31 Mar 2027
Results aggregation, publication of open outputs, partner communications. All expenditure complete by 31 Mar 2027.
Post-programme
Apr – Jun 2027
Minimal and separately resourced: conference showcase and paper submission.