Regardless of which city we live in, there are civic issues that surround us. It’s a pity that only a handful of us actually voice our opinions and even lesser lend a helping hand to combat such problems in the society. We could also chalk it upto a lack of proper learning platforms for purposes of awareness and skill building. However, that is due to change with the upcoming Islamabad Civic Hackathon.
The Event
Islamabad Civic Hackathon follows successful Hackathons held in Lahore and Peshawar. It offers a united front for those ingenious minds with solutions to the seemingly little problems in our society. The 3-day event at NUST SEECS, Islamabad is meant for all and sundry willing to change the city for the better with creativity and innovation.
The Agenda
The participants will be organised in various teams for the sake of creating prototypes which can solve existing civic issues. They will have the support of domain experts in the government and proper mentoring will assist them to fine-tune their ideas, if need be. Oh, and there’s free meals to be enjoyed along the way; thanks to the sponsors for offering this all free of cost.
The Schedule
The 3-day event is to last from February 20th to the 22nd. Participants will be grouped together in various teams on the first evening from 5.30pm to 9.30pm. The following day is meant for Ideation & Design which is scheduled from 9am to 9pm. Coding & Demos as well as prizes for winners will follow on the final day from 9am to 9pm. If you wish to partake in the event, you must apply on CodeForPakistan website by the 8th of February.
The Sponsors
The organisations assisting to bring you this exciting event include: Code for Pakistan and Open Islamabad; in association with, The Nest I/O, NUST, Knowledge City, P@SHA, Invest2Innovate, FAST-NU, Hacks/Hackers Pakistan, Alif Ailaan, Cogilent Solutions, Jumpstart, Brightspyre, SpeechofPak, Code for America and the Planning Commission.
The Organisers
Code for Pakistan is a non-profit organisation that seeks to enhance the quality of life of Pakistanis with positive changes to the civic ecosystem. It aims to rebuild trust in civic institutions by bringing together domain experts in the government and tech developers outside it.
Such civic engagement can bridge the gap between government and the citizens which makes the process much simpler. Code for Pakistan has achieved numbers that speak for the relentless effort that has gone into this: 2 Civic Innovation Labs, 3 Civic Hackathons, 12 Graduated Fellows and 88 Github Repositories.
This is something good, propakistani have finally shared an event before it actually happened. Normally news here are like, a bloggers meetup happened in some city yesterday and here are photos. :-)