Banjul, The Gambia

RHoK Global December 2011

What IS RHoK?

Random Hacks of Kindness is an initiative that seeks to make the world a better place by building a community of innovation. Computer programmers, software engineers or “Hackers” as we fondly call them collaborate with subject matter experts (these are people knowledgeable in various fields and have identified problems that affect the of lives of people). This collaboration marks the beginning of a weekend of competitive coding i.e “hackathon” where the programmers develop software to respond to the challenges and crises identified.

RHoK’s model is to start by identifying, defining and refining problem definitions provided by the subject matter experts and local stakeholders. This ensures that volunteer time is focused on solving real problems using their “hacking magic” to produce software solutions. 

RHoK has hosted 3 global events to date, in 31 cities around the globe and over 3000 participants. During the RHoK 3 global event in June 2011, over 120 problems were addressed by 110 technology solutions. Solutions developed by the RHoK community have been used by organizations such as the World Bank, governments, emergency responders, and citizens.

Random Hacks of Kindness is a joint initiative of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, HP,
NASA and the World Bank.


So what REALLY goes on here?

Hackers are given a time limit to produce technology that solves the challenges the subject matter experts have brought forward. It provides a healthy competitive environment for brilliant results. The software developed will be presented to a panel of judges and prizes rewarded for the top three. Then the best part of all, these solutions are to be used for the good of the people. Hence the clever event name Random Hacks of Kindness


First Time Ever in The Gambia

Not only is RHoK 4 the first RHoK event in our dear little nation, it is also the first ever hackathon to take place, so it is certain to stir up some excitement. Allow our friendly neighborhood computer geniuses to flex their “coding muscles” and do some major good while they're at it, working on problems that range from floods, medical records, to drug dispensing and environmental issues. The Gambia is also the only country in Africa hosting a RHoK 4 event.

 

The Organizers

Balafong is an online Gambian literary magazine and community. Balafong Causes is a subsidiary of Balafong that is an attempt to make social changes on some of the issues brought up by our community members. The main aim of causes is not to be an NGO, but a meta-NGO, providing NGOs working on various causes with the tools  and platform necessary to pursue their campaigns. The services provided to NGOs by Causes range from internal CRM systems for communication and management of resources, to providing NGOs with help writing grant applications and proposals. Balafong Causes also aims to provide a feedback loop for NGOs, which allow them to quickly gauge how effective their work has been, over time. Finally Balafong Causes provides NGOs with access to our diverse community of Balafong members, who are all potential donors, NGO workers, and more. 

 

RHoK Gambia Partners

 

RHoK Gambia Sponsors

  • Unique Solutions
  • Cotton World Gambia
  • Solution Street
  • Africmed

 

 

Registration Deadline: 
Friday, December 2, 2011
Hackathon Location: 
The Gambia YMCA, Kanifing
Event Leads: 
Serign Jobe
Problems We Are Working On: 
Improved Weather Data Collection & Transmission
Management of Microfinance Records
Implement Humidity Slide Functionality with Software
Related Sponsors: 

Event Updates

Dec 8

RHoK Gambia - Summary

Published by Serign Jobe

 

RHoK Gambia which started as the first RHoK event in Africa this year before the addition of South
Africa in the latter stage of the event brought together technology experts, IT professionals
and computer programmers in the country and abroad to solve problems laid forward by institutions
currently based in The Gambia.
 
Problem definitions focused on weather reporting and microfinance. Two partners in the Gambia
meteorology department and the Gambia Women’s Finance Association (GAWFA) identified problems
within their institutions that they believed, if solved, would create a positive change that could impact
the lives of many.
 
In two days, “hackers” in four teams worked on solution provision hoping to first of all, create viable
solutions for these institutions and secondly, win first prize from The Gambia’s group of four judges.
 
After two days of very tedious work on the different problem definitions, the groups were able to
come up with solutions that were not only amazing (especially given the short time frame) but also
very practical. From the use of mobile phone technology to the creation of practical microfinance
solutions, they presented solutions that the affected institutions accepted would solve their problems
and promised to continue developing the solutions to take care of sustainability and practicability.
 
The winning team of RHoK Gambia worked on the microfinance project and were singled out for their
group coordination and task definitions in creating a very practical solution that was open to even
more growth and development. They had created an open-source solution which could be used by any
microfinance organization in the world and would continue to develop it into something even more
perfect with programmers all over the world.
 
The first RHoK event in The smiling coast has registered a huge success and has created real-time
solutions to real-time problems and has brought together a group of young experts that have promised
to continue to provide “Random Hacks of Kindness” whenever called upon to do so. A thread of
development for The Gambia and its modern technology based systems has begun with the event and
will continue to grow from it.
 
Special thanks go to the organizers, Balafong Causes, YACT, ISOC and ITAG;
 
RHoK Gambia was sponsored by Unique Solutions, Africell, Solution Street, Cotton World and Africmed.
 
Together we all made a difference. 
 
-- Latirr Carr
 

 

Read More
Dec 4

Gambia RHoKs!

Published by Serign Jobe

The Gambia kicked off its first ever RHoK event yesterday [Saturday, December 3rd]. Over 50 people attended the opening ceremony which featured short but motivating speeches from the organizers, Latirr Carr of Balafong Causes, and the organizing partners, Modou Njie of ISOC, Poncelet Ileleji of ITAG and Ousman Jammeh YACT. 

 

The minister of Youth and Sports, Hon. Sheriff Gomez gave a passionate speech about being proactive in self and community development. He also encouraged the team to organize frequent local RHoK events and sponsored a RHoKStar throphy that's to be handed down to the winning team of the next RHoK Gambia event. 

 

Subject Matter Experts were on site to talk about their problem definitions and the hackathon kicked off after that. Over 30 people stayed to participate in the hackathon. 

 

There are three teams working on Improved Weather Data Collection & Transmission, Management of Microfinance Records and Implement Humidity Slide Functionality with Software. 

 

RHoK Gambia Day 1 Pictures

 

 

 
Read More
Oct 15

Hackathon Event Location

Published by Serign Jobe

The hackathon for RHoK Banjul will be held at the following location: 

 

The Gambia YMCA,
MDI Road,
Kanifing,
The Gambia 

 

The event will start with breakfast and registration on Saturday, December 3, 2011 at 8:30 AM. The location for the reception and award ceremony will be posted soon. 

 

Read More