'Hacker Girls' wins hackathon to combat gender-based violence

The 'Hacker Girls' team finished top in the three-day technology camp- 'The Hackathon to Combat Gender Based Violence', winning USD 5,000 as the prize money today.
The team, Nidhiya V Raj and Surya Remanan, won the first prize for its idea of a 'Suraksha Band' that would help authorities to monitor unsafe migration and human trafficking, a press release from the US Consulate said.
The 'Nanhe Kadam' team ended runners-up in the competition, which began on Monday, it said adding the two teams were incorporated into the six-month "Accelerator Programme" run by US-based 'Geeks Without Bounds (GWB).'
The teams were judged on the basis of usability, sustainability, innovation and presentation skills, it said.

The event, organised by the US Consulate in partnership with GWB and Bangalore-based 'The Bachchao Project', was designed to develop solutions to existing gender-based violence and trafficking issues through technological interventions, the release said.
Led by women tech experts from the US, the event brought together domain and technology specialists, civil society activists and young coders from all over the country, it said.

Some of the solutions included data collection from
newspapers, anonymous discussion forums, web portals connecting victims to services, online FIR registration against child abuse, migrant worker job portals and building community support systems for survivors of domestic violence.

US Consul General, Craig Hall, met participants to discuss some of the innovative ideas they proposed and encouraged their efforts on the first day of the event, the release said.
Greg Pardo, Assistant Public Affairs Officer of US Consulate, Kolkata, said, "technology can be a powerful force that opens exciting opportunities. I hope that solutions from this Hackathon will help civil society and non-profit organisations better achieve their missions and collaborate with other stakeholders."
Lisha Sterling, Executive Director of GWB, said "This Hackathon has been extremely successful on a number of levels. I am very impressed about how the participants have engaged with the issues, worked through difficult technical problems around privacy and consent and developed prototypes for solid tools to support existing work in gender based violence prevention.