The African Federation for Sexual Health and Rights (AFSHR) in collaboration with youth organisations, YouthLabZA and Geekulcha, will host a WomanUp hackathon, aimed at using technology to address woman's sexual health challenges.
According to the AFSHR, the hackathon will be held as part of a plenary session of the 8th African Conference on Sexual Health and Rights, which takes place between 12 to 16 February at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, under the theme: Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women and Girls in Africa.
The aim of the hackathon, notes AFSHR, is to "hack" sexual and reproductive health and rights solutions for women and girls in Africa. The #WomanUp Hackathon will be powered by the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) and will run concurrently with the main conference.
The hackathon will be facilitated by Geekulcha, which has been responsible for various hackathons throughout the country in the last few years.
"This is one of the most important Hackathons Geekulcha has ever been involved in. We will use the opportunity to drive more gender data revolution for decision-informed digital solutions. We hope to see interesting apps, or online platforms that will revolutionise how women access sexual health information, while adding value to their everyday lives," says Tiyani Nghonyama, the COO of Geekulcha.
Around 30 young tech enthusiasts, developers, designers, and entrepreneurs are expected to showcase their digital solutions, such as apps and devices that will be used to drive activism and inform women on sexual health issues such as reproductive health, domestic violence, teenage pregnancy prevention efforts, mental health related issues.
"We are also hoping to see tech which uses effective ways to help track, calculate, and chart women's menstrual and ovulation cycles. And platforms which use crowd-sourced data to give a better understanding of the greatest challenges women face in addressing their sexual health issues," he adds.
The winning teams will stand a chance of winning the latest gadgets and will receive certificates of participation.
Tessa Dooms, MD of Youth Lab and #WomanUp2018 ACSHR Conference Lead, explains: "We believe the Hackathon will give this conference the solutions oriented edge most other conferences lack - this conference will be attended by organisations that deal with the most difficult human rights issues and we want to end the conference by demonstrating African solutions to African problems."
Registration is free and those interested in entering the hackathon can apply here.
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