- Alfred Fornah
TOP AGRICULTURAL & ENVIRONMENTAL SIERRA LEONE SOLUTIONS WIN $9K!
Two days of collaboration between 31 of the brightest coders and developers in Sierra Leone brain-storming to come up with user-friendly, climate smart and innovative solutions addressing key data and service challenges in our Agriculture and Environment sectors climaxed with three teams winning a total of $9,000 - a massive $2,000 each for their innovative solutions, with runners up each winning $1,000!
On Friday 21st September 2018, eleven teams pitched their solutions to an expert panel including Andre Laperriere, executive director of Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) and Victor Ohurougu from the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD) at Radisson Blu Mammy Yoko Hotel Freetown.
Meanwhile the keynote speech from Minister of Information, Mohammed Rado Swaray, promises a shift from Sierra Leone's ranking seventh from the bottom in the Open Data Barometer:
"One of the presidents top priotities is a war on environmental issues and agriculture - from upland and wetland farms to forest and coastal communities harvesting woodlands and oceans - must play a key role in improving our environment for our national development"
The three teams win $2,000 each for their solutions and the chance to make them a reality with mentoring from GODAN and GPSDD to further refine their prototypes.
Environment category winner
Creative Minds E wash connect who win $2K for their innovative mobile and web based app offering an awareness raising platform with the ability to report illegal environmental activity such as logging, sand-mining or dumped trash and schedule an inspection or collection
Runner Up - TECH builders $1K
Agriculture category winner
Agric Salone from Limkokwing University of Creative Technology who win $2K for their mobile and web based app providing real time information for farmers helping boost productivity and market access with live market prices and locations.
Runner Up - Top High $1K
Poultry category winner
Living Green who win $2K for their Poultry Advisor mobile and web based app providing vital warning of disease outbreaks, information on diseases and treatments and translated into local languages
Runner Up - Agric Salone $1K
The Sierra Leone Agriculture and Environment Open Data Hackathon was delivered by a multi-agency task force led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Sierra Leone Environmental Protection Agency, Statistics Sierra Leone, Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN), the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD), and Right to Access Information Commission.
