The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) India and TechGig have teamed up to launch a hackathon — Crack the Code to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence. This hackathon is being organised with the aim of strengthening efforts to raise awareness and find solutions against gender based violence (GBV). Candidates interested in the hackathin can visit the official website — techgig.com — to apply.
To eradicate this growing problem, the Government of India with a focus on establishing One Stop Centres (OSCs) across states for those who are in distress and survivors of violence to avail counseling, medico-legal support and support from police all under one roof.
Through this hackathon, the authorities aim toto address key problems, knowledge gaps and increase access to services for persons with disabilities experiencing gender based violence. It aims to provide anonymous, safe and timely access to those at risk of gender based violence in humanitarian situations; and mitigating technology facilitated gender based violence.
To do so, the hackathon will crowdsource ideas that experts believe are impactful and innovative. These will then be turned into prototypes for scaling up. The programme will be conducted in three phases — phase 1 for relevant idea submissions, phase 2 for selection and mentoring of ideas for prototyping and lastly, phase 3 to announce the winners.
This competition is open for individuals, women-led teams, techpreneurs, civil societies, startups, research groups, and people with diverse lived experiences. They are invited to submit ideas and solutions to make public spaces, workplaces, homes, and society equal, equitable and inclusive.
A total of 54 registrations will be accepted in which the team size is limited to five people. Interested candidates have time till November 25. Candidates should remember that their team will be eligible only if their proposed innovation/ idea are contributing to one of the following identified challenges: (i) responding to needs and concerns of persons with disabilities while accessing GBV services and support systems; (ii) addressing technology facilitated gender based violence; and (iii) strengthening GBV services and support systems during humanitarian crises, natural calamities and public health emergencies.
The winning team of the hackathon will be awarded Rs 1,50,000, and Rs 1,00,000 and Rs 50,000 will be awarded to the first and second runner-ups respectively.