Recapping what came out of EmpowerHack London 2015
by: Kristin Mathiesen
Originally published on EmpowerHack blog
Two months ago, 40 people turned up, almost 90% of them women, to take part in EmpowerHack to build solutions for women and girl refugees using technology. Through the involvement of technology, design, non-governmental organizations, and passionate citizens — 12 ideas came out that addressed challenges in accessing health, education, employment and gender-based violence.
Empowerhack is about technology and the human experience. A community working towards creating solutions to problems faced by female refugees. The original event was held in partnership with Techfugees and Chayn.
These are the exciting ideas that were created at EmpowerHack.
HABABY
The aim of this web app is to provide prenatal, natal and postnatal information to refugee women. The emphasis will be on visual communication, and there will be an anonymous message board and the option to have a live chat with a health care professional.Being pregnant or a new mother can be challenging, and also a time where women can feel very vulnerable. This app will help refugee women find the help and information they need more easily.
By Allesandro Crimi, Sarah Johnson, Dan Schuster-Beesley, Ragi Mcfadden, Rosie Brigham and Audrey Henkels.
Watch them pitch:
HERSTORY
HerStory is a sharing platform where women and girl refugees can discuss their experiences and help others by giving advice. This will make them feel empowered, connected to each other and start conversations around this important subject which is a taboo in some societies.
By Sophie Tebbets, Amna Abdullatif, Ruth Hennell, Lakshmi Adapa, Sophie Fenwick-Paul and Annabel Church.
HEALTHMATE
This web app helps users locate health services based on ailments. This will help people to quickly find the services they need for specific problem, in their own language. By Kriseldo Rabino, Steve Smith, Annika Clarke and Jack Armley.
Watch them pitch:
E/MOTION
A mobile app that lets refugee women express themselves emotionally, and allows them to anonymously connect with other women. It’s incredibly hard to leave everything you know behind, but this app lets women feel a sense of connection and hopefully less lonely.
By Delvin Varghese, Mariza Dima, Priya Joshi, Charlotte Seelet-Musgrave, Sarah Johnson, Mohamed Al Jabban and Virginia Alonso Navarro.
Watch them pitch:
BUILD YOUR OWN GENDER VIOLENCE PREVENTION TOOLKIT
This website helps NGOs interested in creating safer spaces for female refugees build a toolkit from open sources.
By Elena Silvestrini, Vipul Bhatti, Courtenay Howe and Chris Larkin.
Watch them pitch:
BEACON
Refugee families can stay connected with the help of this device in the form of a bracelet. It can be paired with a mobile phone, and the wearer can then send their GPS location to the paired mobile by simply pressing a button. Fleeing your country is incredibly distressing, and one can easily lose track of loved ones, but Beacon will make it much easier for refugees to stay in touch. By Reema Talhouk, Nataly Birbeck, Aare Puussaar and Dan Richardson.
Watch them pitch:
CODING FOR REFUGEE WOMEN
This online coding platform lets refugee women learn code together by collecting resources in arabic in one place and get women excited about learning how to code through mini exercises. They are planing to turn this into a mentoring platform as well.
By Rebecca Appleyard, Nina Regli and Merel Theisen.
Watch them pitch:
MARHABA (WELCOME)
The aim of this meetup platform, and app, is to support skill training and self-organised skills sharing amongst Syrian women and girls in refugee camps, and thereby combat loneliness and isolation. By Eva Pascoe, Karolina Janicka, Giuseppe Desan, Denise Yu, Simon Sarginson and Giovanni Natella.
Watch them pitch:
LEARN & SHARE
This skillshare platform aims to combat isolation and frustration amongst refugees by connecting them with each other and their host community, and by letting them share skills and offer services for free.
By Carolin Goethel, Eddie Jaoude, Marta Kutt, Marta Monge, Ridhi Kanteal and Malwina Stephen.
Watch them pitch:
And this is just the beginning. Stay tuned for more updates from the teams!
