Techno-Social Innovation to find Solutions to Development Challenges

On the 25th of August, UNDP Sri Lanka and Dialog Ideamart launched Sri Lanka’s first social innovation hackathon titled, “HackaDev: Impact through Innovation,”
to find innovative solutions to development challenges under the three core thematic areas of Employment and Enterprise, Electronic Waste Management, and Civic Engagement. To
further explain the issues under these themes, an awareness session was also held on the same day where Mr. Asitha Kodithuwakkuge, UNDP Sri Lanka’s Livelihood and Local Economic
Development Specialist, presented the challenges found within the core area of Employment & Enterprise, while Ms. Sugandhi Samarasinghe, Project Associate of UNDP Sri Lanka’s
Environmental Sustainability and Disaster Resilience cluster, highlighted the challenges within electronic waste management. Ms. Sonali Dayaratne, Policy Specialist at UNDP Sri Lanka,
presented the core challenges of civic engagement in Sri Lanka.

Around 250 enthusiastic young people attended the event and the audience comprised of mostly of university students and developers studying IT, employees of IT companies, members
from the Dialog Ideamart ecosystem, CSO members, and individuals at large with interest in the subject.

All participants have till the 14th of September to develop ideas and solutions before submitting their proposals via the UNDP Website (www.lk.undp.org). Teams have the opportunity to
submit multiple proposals, however, only the single best idea will be selected for the HackaDev which is scheduled to be held on the 25th of September.