‘Theme: Living with Data’
Sub-Theme: ‘Utilizing Data to inform creativity and innovation’
On Friday April 30th, April 2021, Makerere University School of Public Health-ResilientAfrica Network (RAN) www.ranlab.org partnered with Pollicy Uganda https://pollicy.org/ to execute activities of the DataFest Kampala 2021 https://datafestkampala.com/. This engagement was guided by the Theme “Living with Data”. Together with RAN, DataFest Kampala 2021 activities were executed in collaboration with the Code for Science and Society, British Council, the Digital Human Rights Lab, Defend Defenders, Code for Africa, among other partners.
DataFest Kampala 2021 was a two-day event that which took place from the 29th- 30th of April 2021. During the Day 1 activities, RAN’s Research Officer; Mr. Anthony Ssebagereka joined other partners as a panelist speaking to the DataFest Kampala 2021 Theme. Following Day 1, the RAN side event was held at the RAN Lab Office space (physical space and virtually via Zoom) on April 30th, 2021. This was an opportunity for some of the RAN-supported innovators (5 out of the over 350 cross disciplinary supported and funded innovative solutions) to share about their innovations and how they have used Data to inform the innovation process. The 5 innovators who were engaged during the DataFest Kampala 2021 are working on solutions in the fields of Agriculture, Health, Gender-Based Violence and Education. The side event attracted cross-disciplinary innovators, researchers, Public Health Specialists, Data Scientists, Analysts, Developers, Data Enthusiasts and Civic Tech Specialists and entrepreneurs. The RAN side event was guided by the Theme ”Utilizing data to inform creativity and innovation”.
Dr. Roy William Mayega, RAN Deputy Chief of Party at this engagement shared that Uganda is struggling with several resilience challenges yet it has an internal potential as a country to harness available resources including data to solve some of the biggest challenges affecting communities. ”Let us all embrace engaging with and using data to inform the work we are doing to improve communities’ wellbeing because Data is the new fuel’’ he added.
Dr. Roy William Mayega, RAN Deputy Chief of Party addressing the participants
RAN supported Innovators who showcased their solutions during the DataFest Kampala 2021side event at RAN Lab included the following;
Centres4her is an innovation aimed at increasing access to post violence services to girls and women. Details about Centres4Her are shared and accessible on @centres4her
EzyAgric is an Information and Service delivery platform aimed at enhancing smallholder farmer’s production and Marketing activities through ICT and Community-Based Middle-Value chain actors. Details about EzyAgric are shared and accessible on @ezyagric
Akatale Fresh is an online Grocery Delivery service bringing you the freshest of your market needs affordably at the tap of a button. Details about Akatale Fresh are shared and accessible on @AkataleApp
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SafeBangle is an innovation aimed at increasing access to post violence services to girls and women. Details about SafeBangle are shared and accessible on @SafeBangle
MyLib is an interactive digital curriculum for primary-level learners that is currently available on the App and Google Play Stores. MyLib has learning materials tailored to suit the Ugandan context and has undergone review and certification by the Uganda National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC). The App is accessible both online and offline.
More About Pollicy Uganda and DataFest Kampala 2021
Pollicy Uganda is a civic technology organization working at the intersection of data, design and technology. They provide design consulting to re-engineer civic engagement and participatory processes, technology solutions for communication and research services to better understand what works within each local context. In collaboration with the Code for Science and Society, British Council, the Digital Human Rights Lab, Defend Defenders, Code for Africa, Makerere University-ResilientAfrica Network (RAN) and other partners, they hosted DataFest Kampala 2021, guided by the theme “Living with Data”. DataFest Kampala 2021 is an annual flagship event that brings together data scientists, analysts, developers, data enthusiasts and civic tech organizations to demystify, learn about, and celebrate data in the region.
Details about DataFest are shared on Twitter #DataFestKampala
More Pictures are shared here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10JpSiIYNUDIa4PciVmfuaRkLCSMobxKB