Pacific Hackathon Update :
Judging in progress! We are on course to announce Pacific Hackathon winners this afternoon. Stay tuned!
Judging in Progress!
Pacific Hackathon Update :
Judging in progress! We are on course to announce Pacific Hackathon winners this afternoon. Stay tuned!
PRESS RELEASE
April 22, 2022
(For Immediate Release)
Pacific Hackathon Final Winners
Suva, Fiji (22 April 2022) – The Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society (PICISOC) in association with Pacific Island Association of NGOs (PIANGO), the European Union Funded UNDP Public Finance Management Project with supporting partners CERT NZ, Samoa Information Technology Association (SITA), Tonga Women in ICT (TWICT) and Oceania Cyber Security Centre (OCSC) kicked off the Pacific’s first-ever Hackathon to find an ICT based solution to “Amplify Pacific Voices”.
PIANGO, the regional umbrella body of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) has the challenging task to find conduits to capture voices from its 24 member Pacific countries, on various matters affecting civil society and Pacific communities as a whole. This became the objective of the hackathon and the need for that digital solution that would not only capture but convey to decision-makers at both the national and regional levels.
The event took place on the 12th and 13th of April, and culminated with over 120 participants joining virtually from across the region and beyond along with participants attending in person at the South Pacific Laucala Campus in Fiji. The event had over 18 project submissions. To support the event, PICISOC enlisted a genre of Pacific-based mentors, judges and in-country coordinators.
Prior to the main event, a mentoring session was conducted on Friday 8th, April with three main speakers, Fa’aso’otauloa Sam Saili, Dr Humphrey Obie and Emeline Siale Ilohahia. The session provided participants with the opportunity to get some tips and experiences from subject experts, and also an early opportunity to understand the “problem statement” that PIANGO had put forward as the challenge for the hackathon.
A panel of five judges over the last couple of days have met and shortlisted projects to their top five projects then continued to narrow this down to the top three finalists, ranking winners from 1st to 3rd place. Judges applauded the effort of the participants with Mrs IIolahia, Executive Director of PIANGO stating “We were certainly looking for solutions that complemented and enhanced the way we are currently operating and happy with the outcome of the judging, particularly with further insights provided by the other judges that enabled us to come to a final decision”. The winners will respectively take prize money of US 5k, US 3k, and US 2k.
The winning project ‘Talanoa’ was developed by a Samoan team of developers, Hilton So’o, Charlie Don.Reed, Billy Chan Ting, and Ainsof So’o. Mr Sam Leggett, a member of the judging panel said “Talanoa stood out due to its functionality, ease of use – user experience is very important, is people-focused linking social media platforms that people were already signed on people don’t have to take the extra step to have to register and create new accounts all the time which can sometimes be a big turn-off. Looked at how it can be sustainable through its gamification feature which would draw audiences to keep coming back to the site and receive updates”
The second winning project “Toloa” by a group of Samoan developers, Alesena Lealofi Eteuati Jr, Andre Westerland, and Chia Chen Lin, included a collaborative graph showing geographical information including a 3D model, an impressive and innovative feature. The third-place winner “Pacific Civic Society Hub” developed solely by Finau Kaufusi, a Tongan developer based out of Sydney Australia, had good functionality, and user interface, and had a recent submission feature that stood out. This feature was both impressive and nice especially when scrolling across different pages.
The finalists were contacted virtually, informing them of the results. Billy Chan Ting, a member of the winning ‘Talanoa’ team ecstatically said “One thing in the Pacific is working as one or in a team of two, but this experience allowed us to work in a team of four, which was a very different experience. We learnt a lot”. Samoa has been in COVID lockdown since mid-March. Asked about this, Billy went on to say “We haven’t seen anyone face to face since the lockdown in Samoa. Everything has been virtual.“
PICISOC President Letitia Masaea stated “this is one of many events and opportunities to come. The Pacific Hackathon has definitely brought out the hidden talents of young developers within the Pacific region. I am most impressed by the potential caliber of our Pacific IT community and their excitement to participate. We even had non-IT participants trying to come up with solutions. We have learnt alot from this event, and there’s room for improvement for the next one. We are confident that our Pacific IT community can come up with innovation, and sustainable solutions to solve our own Pacific challenges and problems.”
To learn more about the project submitted, please visit https://picisoc.devpost.com/ and look at the project gallery.
Contact: Letitia Masaea
E:picisocboard@gmail.com
Team Talanoa 
Team Toloa 
Pacific Civic Society Hub
The Pacific Hackathon 2 days event was held on the 12th and 13th of April 2022. The opening remarks came from the PICISOC Board Chair Letitia Masaea who remarked “this event is a milestone for PICISOC as it brings a new dynamic and energy to the network. Importantly, it brings together young and innovative technologists from the Pacific Islands interested in solving problems faced by Pacific Islanders.
To our participants, I can assure you that this is a unique experience for you to contribute your skills, talent and creativity to a problem that affects all of us in the Pacific. I am sure you will gain valuable experience, expert advice, new skills, and new friends in the Pacific through this event.”
Executive Director PIANGO, Ms Ilolahia in her opening remarks stated, “I am quite impressed and what has triggered me to jump on board when they (PICISOC and UNDP) invited PIANGO to participate here is the involvement of … our young women…I saw ….. some of our young women, I said Yes! this is it for me because ICT has been for a while in our region a dominated male profession and then we start to see our colleagues from the Solomon Islands who welcomed us to this programme – it is amazing and it is inspiring!”
UNDP Representative, Deputy Resident Representative Ms Yemasrach Workie in her remarks, thanked PICISOC for reaching out to its regional and global community to come together to help civil society find innovative digital solutions to amplify voices and ensure that no one is left behind.
She further stated that the very sense and objective for this hackathon is inline with UNDP’s digital strategy of 2022-2025 which aims to support countries and communities use digital technologies to get ahead of the ever evolving digital reality to accelerate work towards achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
European Union Ambassador for the Pacific and to Fiji, His Excellency Sujiro Seam officially launched the program with his keynote address stating, “It gives me great pleasure to open this first ever hackathon in the Pacific.” His Excellency Sujiro Seam in his opening remarks highlighted that digital transformation is among the top priorities of the European Union worldwide and elaborates on what the European Union try to achieve in this time and age in the Pacific. He closed his address by advising the hackathon participants to “Use technology, keep the human factor at the center but have fun!”
This hybrid event was physically attended by the European Union Ambassador for the Pacific and to Fiji, His Excellency Sujiro Seam, UNDP representative, Deputy Resident Representative Ms Yemasrach Workie, Pacific Islands Association of NGOs (PIANGO) representative, Ms Emeline Siale IIolahia plus Fiji participants at the University of the South Pacific, Japanese ICT Centre, Laucala Campus, Fiji. Other participants attended virtually.
For the remaining of day one and day 2, participants had the opportunity for question and answer session with PIANGO representative who was able to provide detailed responses to help them better understand the problem statement for the hackathon. There were more than 160 participants registered for the event with some teams from Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands and Fiji in the Pacific Islands.
In every Pacific Island event, there is always food around. Participants from the hubs did enjoy their tea breaks and lunch session.
Pacific Hackathon is made possible through the generous funding of the European Union for the UNDP’s Strengthening of Public Finance Management and Governance Project. PICISOC is honored to be a recipient of the PFM project small grant scheme to host this event.
Talofa and hello PICISOC family!
We’re 2 more days out from the start of the first ever Regional Hackathon event coordinated and hosted by PICISOC and funded by the UNDP Public Finance Management Programme. The event will be held on the 12th and 13th of April 2022.
If you are keen to participate only in the official launch of the event, on the 12th of April, 10am Fiji Time, please register using the link provided for virtual participation: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEvceGurzopH9I9Wo4IM5KNm1aJiIL7dWIi
For those who are not registered for the hackathon, ISOC live will be live streaming across all platforms including PICISOC Facebook page.
We look forward to sharing this experience with you.
Invite was sent out for Hackathon mentors with Terms of Reference attached as part of the 2 days event.
So excited that this event is taking place that the organising team equally appreciates each mentor’s time, expertise and support as we look forward to a rewarding experience working together with you in the next few days.
Be a part of history! Together, lets make this an event to remember!
Click to view Terms of Reference.
Pacific Techies are very fortunate to have great Sponsors and Partnerships gearing up for the first ever Pacific Hackathon which is organised by the PICISOC and funded by the UNDP Public Finance Management Program.
For more information, visit the Pacific Hackathon Site: https://picisoc.devpost.com/
#EU #PICISOC #UNDP #PIANGO #ISOC #PACIFICCYBERWARRIORS #PACIFICHACKATHON
