The IJC named the winners of the hackathon Solutions for Inclusion
On June 25, the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) named the winners of the hackathon Solutions for Inclusion. During the event that took place on June 23-25, 2023 in Chisinau, the participants had the mission to develop tools, platforms and/or applications that will promote inclusion and diversity, thus increasing the chances of involving socially vulnerable and marginalized groups in public life.
On the last day of the hackathon, the 13 teams entered in the contest presented their project ideas to members of the jury, who then named three winning teams. They are:
- The team National Association of Community Mediators from Moldova aimed to solve the problems of socio-economic inclusion of Roma by creating and developing an interactive digital platform for the Roma community.
- The team Equal Access for All set the goal of collecting, processing and analytically visualizing data on accessibility in public institutions in Moldova. The team will develop an interactive platform, which will contain three applications and a map of the accessibility of public buildings in the country.
- The team My Friend aimed to bring up notions of inclusion and to familiarize the public with the language of acceptance. Based on the ABC of Equality, the team will create digitally transformed illustrations.
The members of the jury were:
- Milica PESIC, Executive Director, Media Diversity Institute, London
- Miruna MUSCAN, Product Assistant at Code for Romania / Commit Global
- Victor KOROLI, Executive Director of the public association INFONET Alliance
- Ghenadie GORINCIOI, Managing Director, Software Mind Moldova
- Marcela DILION, Program Manager, Keystone Moldova
Teams will receive grants of 7,000 euros each for the further development and implementation of projects. Projects will be improved and finalized with the help of several mentors.
The hackathon Solutions for Inclusion focused on identifying innovative and accessible solutions that meet the pressing needs of socially vulnerable and marginalized groups.
A total of 19 teams registered for the event. Based on the project ideas with which they entered the contest, the IJC conducted a preselection, and 13 teams were admitted for participation, with a total number of about 50 participants. They represent non-governmental organizations active in the field of human rights, in whose work inclusion, diversity and civic involvement are key principles – IT developers, programmers, journalists, community leaders, active citizens promoters of inclusion, diversity, tolerance and human rights.
During the hackathon, local and international experts and mentors provided teams with advice and expertise to develop project ideas.
The event was organized as part of the project “Building social cohesion in Moldova through promoting inclusion and diminishing discrimination”, carried out by the Independent Journalism Center as part of the program “Joint Initiative for Equal Opportunities – Phase II”, implemented with the support of the Government of Switzerland.
