UNESCO India-Africa Hackathon to tackle common challenges faced by India, Africa underway: MoE officials

NEW DELHI: A 36-hour long hackathon that brings together students, educators, teachers, and the research community of India and its African partners to tackle the common challenges faced by their countries is underway in Noida, according to Ministry of Education (MoE) officials.

The countries participating in the "Unesco-India-Africa (UIA) Hackathon" which began on Tuesday, include Bostwana, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Togo, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

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"The hackathon aims to offer unique opportunities to all participating African and guest countries and India to forward their economic development through collaboration in education, science and technology, exchange of thoughtful leadership, work and collaboration on projects involving varied skilled individuals to develop cross-country bonds and learn from each other's strengths and also get acquainted with each other's culture, values and work ethics," a senior MoE official said.

"This hackathon is designed to enable students, educators, teachers, and the research community to build technical skills, entrepreneurial spirit, and professional competencies with a lens on digital creativity and cooperation to mobilize the world. Collaboration of the student teams working together to solve shared problems opens the doors to cultural assimilation by introducing students and their mentors to methods, values and viewpoints different from their own," the official said.

The themes of the Hackathon are---Education, Energy, Agriculture, Health and Hygiene, Drinking water and Sanitation, which are in line with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). "In order to address gender equality and women empowerment – each country was requested to nominate at least 50 pc women and 50 pc men coders that will take part in the hackathon. Also, each team formation will include mix of men and women coders that will ensure equal opportunities for everyone," the official said.