Africa's Talking Open Hackathon: Digitizing Government Services Through Africa's Talking APIs

Feb 15, 6:00 AM – 6:00 PM (UTC)

Africa's Talking Community

Africa's Talking, proudly present hackathon aimed at redefining the future of security: Join us and build government digitization solutions while exploring 2G, AI and IoT solutions. Register Today!

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About this event

Africa’s Talking are thrilled to unveil an exceptional event engineered to revolutionize the landscape of government operations: the Open Hackathon centered on devising Government Digitization Solutions, This dynamic event invites tech enthusiasts, developers, and innovators to design groundbreaking solutions aimed at enhancing developments in the tourism and culture sector. This hackathon will bring together developers, designers, entrepreneurs, and cultural enthusiasts to create innovative solutions that showcase the richness of African heritage, promote sustainable tourism practices, and deliver seamless experiences for visitors. Explore the intersection of technology, travel, and culture, and be part of shaping the future of Africa's tourism industry. 

Africa's Talking play an integral role in creating technologies that can help preserve and digitize cultural artifacts, traditions, and indigenous knowledge. These APIs, which are CPaaS and Telecommunication APIs, can be utilized by public administration systems to facilitate and promote sustainable and eco-friendly tourism, such as tools for carbon footprint tracking or responsible travel planning. Africa's Talking APIs will be at the core of our hackathon, providing tools to seamlessly integrate communication and AI-driven analytics into your solutions. Africa's Talking APIs will enable real-time SMS, Voice, ChatMobile Data, Airtime and USSD communication between citizens and tourism professionals and cultural experts to provide personalized recommendations and information to tourists. Meanwhile, Together, Africa's Talking technologies will empower participants to develop innovative, effective solutions that pave the way for innovations in the Tourism and Cultural Sector. Join us to harness these powerful APIs in our quest to revolutionize tourism and cultural settings!

Challenges:

  • Citizen Engagement & Communication – Enhancing government-to-citizen communication using SMS, USSD, and Voice APIs to deliver real-time updates, service notifications, and emergency alerts while enabling interactive feedback and inquiry systems.

  • Mobile Payments & Financial Inclusion – Facilitating seamless mobile payments for government services by integrating Africa’s Talking Payments API to enable automated billing, reminders, and secure transactions for taxes, fines, and service fees.

  • Open Data & Transparency Solutions – Increasing government transparency by using APIs to provide real-time access to public data, enabling the development of dashboards and reporting tools for tracking budgets, tenders, and project progress.

  • Smart Public Infrastructure & Utilities Management – Improving public services like water, electricity, and waste management by leveraging APIs to provide automated alerts, real-time issue reporting, and efficient service coordination.

  • Secure Digital Identity & Authentication – Strengthening security in digital government services by implementing Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), OTPs, and USSD-based verification to ensure safe and inclusive access, especially for citizens without internet connectivity.

  • E-Government Service Access & Automation – Digitizing and automating government services such as birth registration, business permits, and tax payments using Africa’s Talking APIs to reduce paperwork, streamline approvals, and improve accessibility.

Target Attendees:

  • Software Engineers: Professionals skilled in coding and software development, capable of translating complex problems into innovative software solutions.
  • Data analysts and data scientists: Data scientists and analysts who are passionate in solving day to day problems which present progressive development while addressing human challenges. 
  • Tech Innovators: Individuals or teams with a passion for leveraging technology to solve complex problems.
  • Government Employees and Officials: Their participation can help ensure that the solutions developed during the hackathon are practical, feasible, and aligned with the government's needs and processes.
  • Sector Professionals: Tourism and hospitality professionals as well as Cultural heritage experts and enthusiasts who can provide more insights on the challenges in the Tourism sector.
  • Policy Makers: Decision-makers interested in evidence-based policies to improve provision of government services.
  • Engineering Students and Academics: Young minds and scholars keen on contributing fresh ideas to the fields of government, engineering, and technology.



    Objectives:

  • Enhance the Visitor Experience: Develop innovative solutions that create engaging, immersive, and personalized experiences for visitors at cultural heritage sites, museums, and other tourist attractions.

  • Preserve and Digitize Cultural Heritage: Leverage technology to preserve and digitize cultural artifacts, traditions, and indigenous knowledge, ensuring their safekeeping and accessibility for future generations.
  • Promote Sustainable Tourism: Design solutions that foster sustainable and eco-friendly tourism practices, reducing the environmental impact and promoting responsible travel.
  • Optimize Tourism Operations: Leverage data analytics and IoT technologies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of tourism infrastructure and operations, such as traffic management, resource allocation, and service delivery.
  • Enhance Accessibility and Inclusivity: Create technologies that make cultural and tourism experiences more accessible and inclusive, catering to diverse needs and preferences of visitors.

Prizes:The winning solutions will receive cash prizes:

  • Winner: $100
  • 1st Runner-Up: $50
  • 2nd Runner-Up: $25

Agenda:

9:00 AM - 9:30 AM: Warm-Up

  • Introductions
  • Team Formation (if needed)
  • Feedback Session
  • Feature Requests

9:30 AM - 1:00 PM: Building/Hacking

  • Code on GitHub/GitLab/BitBucket
  • Deploy in Docker/Automated CI/Travis CI/Bamboo
  • Note: Additional setup may be required

1:00 PM : Lunch

1:00 PM - 5:00PM: Building Continues

  • Code on GitHub/GitLab/BitBucket
  • Deploy in Docker/Automated CI/Travis CI/Bamboo
  • Note: Additional setup may be required

5:00 PM - 7:30 PM: Demonstration and Wrap-Up

  • Teams or individuals will demo their projects for feedback or potential adoption

  • Note: Please bring your laptop

Opportunities:

  • Networking
  • Innovation
  • Access to Talent Bench (Job and Gig Opportunities)

New to Africa's Talking? Get started here.

Developer Documentation (We welcome feedback)

Submit your Idea:

Gigs:

We would love to reach out to you so that you can build for our customers, please fill out this form with details to ensure we have your details:

GIG/HACK DEVELOPER PORTFOLIO FORM

Join community channels:

Slack & WhatsApp:

  • Join Africa's Talking slack community here
  • Join Elarian Slack community here

Please follow us on Twitter handles to:

You can get our videos, recaps, and event interviews on our youtube channels, subscribe to get updates:

Africa's Talking community allows developers to learn skills for the modern-day African Developer. We are language and framework agnostic. All developers are welcome. This is where Africa's Talking developers community meets to build, learn and exchange knowledge.

We are helping software developers and businesses to bring their ideas to life through easy-to-use APIs quickly.

Would you like to partner with us? Kindly contact the Developer Experience Team.

Facilitators

  • Jackson Ngabonziza

    National Bank of Rwanda

    Software Engineer

  • Josh Venceslas

    Altech Group Rwanda

    Software Engineer

Agenda

6:00 AMWarm-up, breakfast
7:30 AMBuilding/Hacking
11:00 AMLunch
12:00 PMContinue building/coding
3:00 PM Demonstration and Wrap-Up

Hosts

  • Robert Tumaini

    Africa’s Talking

    Country Director

  • Jackson Ngabonziza

    National Bank of Rwanda

    Software Engineer

  • Josh Venceslas

    Altech Group Rwanda

    Software Engineer

Organizers

  • Bennett Benedict

    University of Dar Es Salaam

    Community Lead, 🇹🇿 Tanzania

  • Veronica Michael

    Community Lead, 🇹🇿 Tanzania

  • Josphat Mwangi

    Community Co-Lead, 🇰🇪 Kenya

  • Sheriffo Jarju

    Community Lead, 🇬🇲 The Gambia

  • Sanusi Abdulkadir

    Community Lead, 🇳🇬 Kaduna, Nigeria

  • Josh Venceslas

    Altech Group

    Community Co-Lead, 🇷🇼 Rwanda

  • David Okwii

    Sitemonki

    Community Co-Lead, 🇺🇬 Uganda

  • Cynthia Moraa

    Africastalking LTD

    WIT Community Lead 🇰🇪 Kenya

  • Roland Ganafa

    Africa'sTalking Uganda

    Community Co-Lead, 🇺🇬 Uganda

  • Stanislaus Sakwiya

    MlimiPay Limited

    Community Lead, 🇲🇼 Malawi

  • Jackson Ngabonziza

    Community Co-Lead 🇷🇼 Rwanda

  • Muhindi Asena

    Community Co-Lead, 🇰🇪 Kenya

  • Destino Alain DELLO

    FnStack

    Community Lead, Congo

  • Isophel Natwijuka

    Community Co-Lead, 🇺🇬 Uganda

  • laurence masika

    Community Lead Goma, DRC

  • Faith Ono

    Community Lead, Abuja, Nigeria