This hackathon hosted by the Ideation Social Innovation Lab was held in Nairobi and Mombasa(via satellite) between the 26th and 27th January 2017.

It is an initiative aimed at uplifting the lives of underprivileged children in Kenya by accessing them to adequate basic – government certified education through facilitation of cost friendly training for teachers in the informal sector to enhance their teaching skills.

Inadequate access to basic education predisposes affected children to a cycle of poverty that would otherwise be salvaged by education. To alleviate illiteracy, since July 2016, through the ‘Hack to teach’ competition, African tech talents are expected to design and build an ed-tech mobile platform geared towards improving the quality of basic education within the informal sector in Kenya.

While closing the workshop this year, Principal Secretary ICT, Eng. Victor Kyalo commended the hackathon for promoting innovation through technology. ICT, is an integral element of development in Kenya as it is in all emerging economies and it is important that more of our youth and citizens embrace creative work such as that demonstrated during the ‘Hack to Teach’ workshop.

The PS reiterated the government’s willingness to work with partners towards this end and encouraged the participating youth to work towards improving their skills in technologies in order to check unemployment and poverty in our country.