Winners develop app for sex education
The winning team, known as ‘Be Wise,” developed an application by the same name, which can be used by teenagers and adolescents to seek answers to issues such as peer pressure, teenage pregnancies, dating, depression and sex education. Ms. Dorothea Mischo (the director of NBII) can be seen on the far right posing with the participants who were awarded with various internet facilities and prepaid data bundles, by Telecom Namibia through TN mobile.
The hackathon was held late in June and the results announced earlier this month.
Leonard Imene, the NBII Mobile Lab Coordinator, explained that the Women Hackathon was organised specifically for women who had been outnumbered by males during other mobile hackathons in the past.
Heikeh Coerecius from the Namibia Business Innovation Institute said the three participating teams started the competition with a brief to design mobile applications that would solve local societal challenges.
Imene explained: “Most of the participants are software developers who were required to design a prototype of an application within two days. The overall objective was to connect them to institutions whose primary function was aligned with the purpose of the applications they developed. The teams will be expected to finalise their applications through NBII Mobile Lab, in collaboration with the identified relevant institutions.”
The winning team, known as ‘Be Wise,” developed an application by the same name, which can be used by teenagers and adolescents to seek answers to difficult or embarrassing questions which they could not pose to their parents or other family members. Topics in this application include issues such as peer pressure, teenage pregnancies, dating, depression and sex education. The second group developed the ‘KOKO’ application that lists scholarships, grants and vacancy opportunities for users to apply to.
Other supporting events that proceeded the coding session were the android developer training for beginners, which was focused on equipping non-developers with basic android developing skills. An Innovation Workshop was also held to inspire the participants in terms of business skills.
The participants consisted of 20 women who worked together in 3 groups, and who were all awarded with various internet facilities and prepaid data bundles, which were sponsored by Telecom Namibia through TN mobile.
