Tech-savvy youth gear up for software challenge

Young Rwandans who will be able to come up with software applications aimed at enhancing public service delivery are set to win cash prizes that go up to $5,000 (Rwf 3.5 million) in a newly launched competition by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Speaking at the launch of the competition on Thursday in Kacyiru, Kigali , the UN resident coordinator, Lamin Manneh, said they were focusing on how to apply innovation in improving people’s daily livelihoods. “As an emerging economy, we are focusing on applying innovations to improve livelihoods and opportunities provided by mobile technology,” he said. UNDP, which is organising the competition in partnershio with the Ministry for Youth and ICT (MYICT) and Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), wants the youth to develop software that can be downloaded on mobile phones and be used by citizens for continuous feedback to authorities on the level of public service delivery. The information gathered from the software will be analysed by RGB and shared with the relevant government institutions for action, as well as inform research and policy. Jean Philbert Nsengimana, the Youth and ICT minister urged the youth to take advantage of the opportunity to help grow country’s economy. “Don’t look at the $5,000 cash prize. The benefits could be much more if you looked at public satisfaction with services delivered using your software,” he told the youth. The winner will walk away with $5,000, the first-runners up with $2,000 while the second-runners up will take home $1,500. Applicants have up to 28th November this year to present their projects to the organisers.

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Tech-savvy youth gear up for software challenge