Hack the Camp

How can we improve living conditions for refugees? How can they access reliable information on their legal status? What kind of opportunities are available or can be created for refugees? How can we tap on the many skills that moving populations bring with them? How can populations in transit and local populations come closer and develop an intercultural dialogue?

These are some of the challenges that Hack the Camp (#HackTheCamp) will attempt to address. Impact Hub Athens, the Onassis Cultural Center and the U.S. Embassy in Athens are joining forces for Hack the Camp, a two-part hackathon on refugee and integration challenges.

#Who

Programmers, designers, social entrepreneurs, humanitarian workers, educators, artists and other interested professionals are invited to work together and find sustainable and scalable solutions for and with refugees and migrants in Greece. Migrant and refugee populations are also invited to participate in the process, voice their concerns, and share their knowledge and expertise.  

The hackathon is addressed to people with and without technological skills, and the outcomes can include mobile applications and technology solutions, as well as ideas for non-technology products and services, or cultural and educational platforms. Interested participants can apply as individuals and find partners during the launch event of the hackathon; or they can apply as teams. The hackathon follows a Critical Engineering approach, i.e. finding and “making” a solution to a real world challenge that aims at effecting social change.

#MeetTheHackers

Hack the Camp will be comprised of two events: the Meet the Hackers event will be held on October 21-22, 2016, at Diplareios School, where selected experts will announce the challenges and the methodology of the event, participants will form teams and start brainstorming. Starting from that weekend, and for the next six weeks, the teams will have the opportunity to meet as their schedules allow. They will have access to the Greek and international mentors of the hackathon, who will offer tech skills and advice to teams that need it. Impact Hub Athens will provide space for teams to meet and connect with their mentors. The resulting teams will be able to submit their updated concepts before November 22nd, when the review process begins.

#HackTheCamp

The main Hack the Camp event will take place December 2-4, 2016, at Impact Hub Athens, where the selected participants will prototype their idea and develop it into a sustainable solution, with the help of mentors. During the final day of Hack the Camp, the teams will present their projects and a Judging Panel of experts will decide on the top three teams/hacks. The winners will receive monetary awards, as well as free incubation services at Impact Hub. The teams and hack projects will be judged based on the following criteria: impact, user experience and presentation, sustainability, innovation, and reusability.

Hackathon solutions and outcomes will focus primarily on the refugee and migrant populations currently in Greece, and aid organizations offering services to refugees. Some of the solutions may apply to other groups as well, including long-term migrants and local populations that will benefit of intercultural understanding.

#OpenSource

It is our intention to share all code and other digital assets on the HackTheCamp organization at GitHub, using open licenses, to enable solutions to be developed outside the hackathon event itself, to maximize the benefit to the NGO sector and to form the basis of a community of tech peacebuilders.

#Supporters

Two international organizations with long experience in humanitarian-related hackathons will act as consultants, facilitators and moderators at the events. Creative Associates from the U.S. and International Alert from the UK will be the main facilitators of Hack the Camp.

Hack the Camp is also supported by Microsoft.

Apply now at http://hack-the-camp.eventbrite.com/ until October 13th.

Useful Info:

Hack the Camp: Meet the Hackers

When: October 21-22

Where: Diplareios School, Plateia Theatrou 3, 10552, Athens

Hack the Camp

When: December 2-4

Where: Impact Hub Athens, Karaiskaki 28, 10554, Athens