On February 1-3, 2013, Digital Democracy is hosting a Hackathon in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, inviting local and international developers & designers to address these questions. Focused on supporting the life-saving work of Haitian women’s organization KOFAVIV, the hackathon will help them expand their services to survivors of rape & gender-based violence across Haiti.
How are Haitian women organizing to address and prevent rape and sexual violence? How can critical services be extended to survivors across the country? What is the role that technologists, designers & data wizards can play in strengthening the capacity of Haitian technologists & community organizers?
Made possible thanks to the Abundance Foundation and ESIH (Ecole Supérieure d’Infotronique d’Haïti), and with facilitation of Willow Brugh of Geeks Without Bounds, the Hackathon is focused on developing tools to help scale the impact of our current systems in two areas, resulting in outputs that will dramatically improve the work of our partners.
WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF THE HACKATHON?
1) EXPAND THE 572 CALL CENTER TO NATIONAL SERVICE
Last fall, KOFAVIV launched Haiti’s first Emergency Response Hotline for Gender Based Violence (GBV). In May, 2012, the hotline transitioned to 24 hour service and currently provides women survivors of violence free access to information on services for medical, legal and psychosocial care in Port-au-Prince. In order for the Call Center to serve national clients, operators need easy access to a map of resources outside of the Port-au-Prince area.
Output:
• Build a web platform to map/aggregate information on service providers throughout the country. Skills in SMS, GIS, and Drupal are especially useful.
2) BETTER VISUALIZE DATA
Since 2010, Dd has worked with local partners to develop a cloud-based database to digitize information on incidents of violence. The system currently includes 50+ points of data on over 1,000 reports of rape and domestic violence in Haiti between 2010 and 2012. KOFAVIV is seeking to improve their ability to use data to advocate for increased security for Haitian women & girls.
Output:
• Identify new trends in existing data and develop creative ways to visualize data for advocacy and outreach. Skills in design, big data, and community engagement especially useful.
HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?
If you or someone you know has skills in the following and would be interested in participating, please submit an application here (bit.ly/PaPhack). Specifically, we’re looking for participants skilled in:
- Mapping / GIS
Participation in the Hackathon includes travel, lodging, food and transport in country. All logistics taken care of by Digital Democracy. Sponsoring an international participant ($5,000) covers the cost of that participant plus helps cover the overall costs of the event. For some exceptional candidates, partial or full scholarships may be available. For more information on participants, please email Haiti Program Director Emilie Reiser – Ereiser(at)digital-democracy(dot)org.
2. Spread the word!
Help us promote the Hackathon – share this link with folks who you think would be a great fit.
3. Become a Sponsor!
Help make the Hackathon possible. We are looking for additional financial and promotional sponsors. To discuss potential sponsorship, contact Executive Director Emily Jacobi – ejacobi(at)digital-democracy(dot)org.