 has awarded mini-grants to five winners for the implementation of three-month Hackathon activities.){kind=link}
The Association for Media Development in South Sudan (AMDISS) has awarded mini-grants to five winners for the implementation of three-month Hackathon activities.
The project is being sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development through its implementing partner IREX.
Nine innovators were shortlisted to pitch their ideas at a two-day event organized by AMDISS at Grant Hotel Juba and five among them were awarded a dummy cheque worth $2,300 each to implement their activities for three months.
Mayom Mabuong won the first prize for his project to establish community information hubs in Rumbek followed by Chuol Jany and Nyakume Simon in the second place with the idea to create a farmer information team to mitigate the effects of flooding on agriculture in Mayendit and Leer Counties.
Rachel Hakim Edward won the third prize for her project, GoGo Play, which aims to enhance the entertainment sector in South Sudan and will be implemented in Juba while Onen Francis and Irra Patrick took the fourth position to distribute solar radios in Torit.
The five winner is Dube Simon who wants to empower 20 girls and women through social media storytelling.
Ms. Ayaa Irene Lokang, the Director of AMDISS, congratulated the winners and emphasized that the grant will help improve access to information in rural areas. She explained that the purpose of this competition is to help innovators come up with ideas that can address the challenges faced by the community.
Ms. Lokang warned the winners of mismanaging the funds for personal interests and urged them to use them for the community’s benefit.
“First of all, I want to start by congratulating the 5 winners. I want to tell you that, as AMDISS, we have been struggling to address most challenges in this country but we realize we cannot address all the challenges and this is why we came up with this initiative. I want to say openly that the money we give you does not belong to you but it belongs to the community,” she explained.
Darren Manning, the Director of USAID in the Office of Democracy and Governance, highlighted the importance of using innovators to solve problems in the community. He was impressed with the innovative ideas of the participants and believes that involving innovators can help identify and solve problems within communities.
“I was impressed with the innovative ideas of the participants. It indicates how important it can be when people involve innovators to identify and solve problems within their communities,” he said.
One of the winners, Chuol Jany, expressed his happiness and promised to use the grant for the benefit of the community with anticipation of a positive outcome. He said that despite the grant being small, it can help implement many activities that will transform the community.
“I am happy today to be among the winners. This money we see as very small but it can help implement many activities that will transform the community,” he expressed.
The Innovation Hackathon is a mechanism to engage communities in new programs and innovations that will also further AMDISS’s locally-led approach to the quality of independent media.