End Sexual Violence in Conflict Hack
29 May 2014 10:34 AM
Hackathon to design technical solutions
to help combat sexual violence in conflict.
As part of the Fringe at the Global Summit to End
Sexual Violence in Conflict, the FCO is working with the Dutch Embassy in
London, MakeSense and Chayn to host an End Sexual
Violence in Conflict Hack event, or “hackathon”. This will
bring together coders and developers to produce digital tools supporting the 4
aims of the summit:
- To improve
investigations/documentation of sexual violence in conflict;
- To provide greater support and
assistance and reparation for survivors, including child survivors, of sexual
violence;
- To ensure sexual and gender based
violence responses and the promotion of gender equality are fully integrated in
all peace and security efforts, including security and justice sector reform;
and
- To improve international strategic
co-ordination.
Over 3 days, competitors at the hackathon will
work with experts on sexual violence in conflict, including survivors, NGO
representatives and diplomats, to generate ideas for the most useful technical
solutions. They will then work in teams to turn these into prototypes to
present to a high-profile judging panel.
This is the second hackathon hosted by the FCO,
following one in January 2014 which produced apps including a heatmap analysing
the UK’s international relations, and an android application providing
customizable alerts from the FCO travel alert page. Outside the FCO, the
government called on the tech industry to use flood data as part of the recent
#Floodhack, organised by Tech City UK to aid public responses to flooding in
the UK. Other examples of tools which have emerged from hackathons include the
Facebook “Like” button and Chat function, which emerged from an
internal company hackathon.
Visit the End Sexual
Violence in Conflict Hack website to find out more about the
hackathon, and to apply to participate. Or if you’re attending the
Fringe, please visit the hackathon area to see the competitors in action.