UPDATES: UN Envoy Hails Young Innovators for Steering Change

Winning hacker team 'Put It On' celebrates. After announcement at Kampala Sheraton yesterday

The UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Youth, Ahmad Alhewandi has hailed youths in Uganda and across the globe for their collective efforts to create change through technology.
Mr. Alhewandi was Thursday awarding the participating teams in the concluded UNFPA Hackathon to create sexual-reproductive health solutions for young people.
The 3-day hackathon held at Sheraton Kampala Hotel brought together youth innovators from all over the world.

“UN champions global citizenship and this hacking challenge qualifies you all for being global citizens” Alhedawi told participants.
He also added that the process of bringing hackers together was as equal as the product itself.
The team that emerged as winners of the challenge was ‘Put It On’ who developed a Quiz App to solve the problem of sexual myths and avail information to youths.

Mr. Ahmad Alhewadi (2nd Left) and the panel of judges listen to presentations

The App named ‘TriGivia’ will have an incentive of free internet data after someone has done the quiz. It’s a double benefit since the young people get accurate information regarding sexual-reproductive health and also be able to get free MBs.
ChimpReports spoke to Lorna Maria and Alexandru Lebedav members of Team Put It On. They told us that they plan to partner with telecom companies since this App entirely dependent on their service.
The team will also look to market the product through social media platforms.
“This means a lot to us. That we came from different parts of the world and in few days became a team. So it’s not just winning but also the network we’ve created” Lorna told us.
UNFPA will take on The TriGivia App prototype for more development before it’s implemented and rolled out world over as a product.
The 7 teams pitched their prototypes in a 5 minute presentation and demo before a panel of judges. This was followed by queries from the panel.
Results were generated from a mass online vote and panel recommendation.
Team Olympians of Tulumbe (App to report sexual harassment) and Team Ashika (Game App to connect children and parents) emerged as 1st and 2nd Runners-Up respectively.
Ms Ahunna Eziakonwa-Onochie the UN Resident Coordinator in Uganda said the youths are the torch bearers of UN’s new development agenda.
“This hackathon is testimony that you can influence change no matter irrespective of your position.” she added.

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