UNITAR - Franklin University Switzerland Hackathon: Food as a Nexus for Synchronic Urban and Rural Development
The rise in population growth, coupled with the strenuous demands we place on our environment, is not sustainable, and it calls for a social, economic, and cultural transformation.
We can start by looking at where we live and the livelihoods of those around us. How can we create, design, and implement systems that are inclusive, integrative, and sustainable?
Cities, the most densely populated areas on the planet, are directly tied to rural areas, yet not all systems and policies treat them as such. While the former consumes and expands at a rapid pace, the latter, in many cases, is left out and depleted of resources.
In collaboration with and under the auspices of the Open Geneva Open Innovation Festival, this hackathon focused on how to rethink and improve food as a linkage for development in rural and urban areas in developing regions.
Creative, integrative, and circular solutions/policies for strengthening rural and urban relationships can be fostered while achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Participants had the opportunity to choose from three challenges proposed by UN representatives from UN-HABITAT, UNITAR, and FAO. The UN experts also served on the jury, providing feedback on the final presentations of participants, with potential support of development for the most promising projects.
This hackathon aimed at introducing international participants to the topic of synchronic urban and rural development and engage them into the process of open innovation for bridging this nexus, under idenitified challenges by the UN partners, FAO and UN-HABITAT.
The hackathon used a blended format of content and structure, including expert presentations on the topic, methodologies of innovation development for the identified challenges and self-organised group work for the final event deliverables. In particular, the hackathon run in 3 consecutive days, leading to the participants'final presentations.
Day 1 - Wednesday 24th March
09:00 - 10:00 Welcome to the Hackathon Experts speech: Description of the challenges
10:15 - 11:00 Team building session - get to know your team
11:00 Kick-off of the Hackathon
14:30 - 15:00 Workshop: Brainstorming, from Idea to Concrete Plan by Rakhi Mehra
15:00 - 15:15 Coffee break (English & French)
15:15 - 15:45 Inspirational Workshop by founder of Es Vicis: Sustainable migration to boost rural communities by Cintia Jaime
17:45 - 18:00 Conclusion of the 1st day: recap and program for the rest of the programme
Day 2 - Thursday 25th March
08:00 - 08:30 Yoga session with Calissa Anderson 08:45 - 09:00 Café au lait break (English & French)
09:00 - 09:15 Welcome back to the 2nd day
14:00 - 15:00 Workshop: How to pitch your idea 30 minutes by Thomas Maillart
Policy (with UN experts) 30 minutes by Grace Githiri and Remy Sietchiping
15:00 - 15:15 Coffee break (English & French)
17:45 - 18:00 Conclusion of the 2nd day: recap and programme for the last day
Day 3 - Friday 26th March
08:00 - 08:30 Guided meditation session by Dr. Corinne Young
08:45 - 09:00 Café au lait break (English & French)
09:00 – 09:15 Welcome back to the final day
11:00 Deadline for submissions
14:00 - 16:00 Final presentations (5 min for each group) and feedback from UN experts
16:00 - 16:15 CLOSING OF THE HACKATHON
Hackathon is a method of open innovation practice, implying an intense, uninterrupted, period of collective problem solving. Methodologies of SDG Innovation, such as developing an idea to a concrete plan, team building and communicating effectively a meaningful solution by learning how to pitch were integrated as training to foster the participants' innovation outcomes and deliverables through the production of a few-minute demonstration of the innovation concept and its value.
The event's target audience included students, professionals and young entrepreneurs at global scale, interested in or with experience at the addressed topic. 17 individuals from 11 countries participated and formed three teams to address the three challenges presented by UNITAR, FAO and UN-HABITAT.