Hackathon begins with national call for innovative proposals to protect girls from premature marriage

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Hackathon begins with national call for innovative proposals to protect girls from premature marriage

3:09 CAT | 17 Nov 2020

in file CoM

Guided by the motto, “Nothing About Us, Without Us”, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in partnership with FSDMOZ and ideiaLab, has launched a national hackathon for young people in search of innovative ideas to curtail premature marriage.

Mozambique has the sixth-highest rate of premature marriage in the world, affecting one in two girls under the age of 18. With that in mind, and in the spirit of bringing together new ideas and approaches, the UNFPA is looking for innovative proposals to end this harmful practice once and for all.

In a rapidly changing world, UNFPA needs dynamic solutions to meet the needs of young women and girls and provide sexual and reproductive health and rights for all.

Entrants can submit ideas based on three specific themes: community awareness and awareness of the law, male engagement, and case tracking.

“Youth is the driving force behind innovation! This hackathon puts young people at the centre – allowing them to come up with ideas and solutions to end premature unions – an extremely damaging practice that affects their lives and the future. Today alone, 33,000 girls will be married around the world, while in Mozambique the number is 130, which corresponds to five every hour. This is the time to turn commitment into action and support young people to turn their innovative ideas into reality to promote and protect the rights of girls and young women,” Andrea M. Wojnar, UNFPA Resident Representative in Mozambique, exclaims.

Hackathon details

We encourage young people, girls and boys, to take the opportunity to present their contribution in the fight to eliminate this practice.

Applications can be made through the form at the link – https://bit.ly/unioesprematurashack, until November 22, 2020.

From these, ten ideas will be selected for each of the programme challenges, and will receive further detailed guidance for subsequent phases.

Three winners will be part of the next edition of the ideate BootCamp, a Standard Bank Incubator initiative in partnership with ideaLab, and the best idea/project will attract a 72,000 meticais cash prize.

Source: IdeaLab / Press Release