FAO and Fertitecnica Colfiorito partner for the Social Hackathon Umbria 2021 and call for digital solutions to answer sustainable development challenges

FAO and Fertitecnica Colfiorito partner for the Social Hackathon Umbria 2021 and call for digital solutions to answer sustainable development challenges - DEADLINE EXTENDED (11th June)

After a one-year break due to the pandemic, the Social Hackathon Umbria is back and celebrating its fifth anniversary with a major digital co-creation event focused on the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. The organization of the event is shared by FAO and Fertitecnica Colfiorito as well as  the  European Grants International Academy Srl (EGInA Srl), a training agency and consultancy company in the field of European funding as the event promoter.

The initiative has been carried out over the last four years involving an increasing number of participants (from 80 in 2016 to more than 160 in 2019) who have benefited from various training, capacity building and networking activities carried out over a 3-4 month period.Thanks to the Memorandum of Understanding signed with Fertitecnica Colfiorito, FAO is actively contributing to the organisation of the hackathon, in particular through the identification of the four Sustainable Development Goals on the basis of which the #zerohunger, #zerowaste, #zeroimpact and #zeroignorance challenges were designed.

Building on the shared aim with Colfiorito of promoting the access of small farmers to the market, where economic conditions, social disadvantage and poor access to knowledge are obstacles that they cannot overcome alone, FAO will actively participate in the event through its presence on the jury as well as in the promotion of the projects that will win the title of "Best Project for Sustainable Development".

´Our peer-to-peer collaboration with FAO aims at promoting growth for everyone based
on the creation of value, structured in the following 4 points: cause related marketing, to empower the trade in selected products coming from developing countries; research and innovation; knowledge sharing in order to develop the capabilities of small producers as well as promotion and communication, to raise awareness on food loss and waste issues.´ says Alessio Miliani, General Manager of Colfiorito, who adds `We’ve always recognized the major role that young people play in the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals and we want to encourage their impact. This social hackathon is a perfect platform for them to speak up and make their contribution´.               

The Social Hackathon in Umbria (SHU) foresees 4 intensive days of Hackathon, Workshops, Exhibitions and Laboratories, with 4 main challenges to develop the digital skills of young people and adults through training and 10 side events on 1-4 July 2020 in the Colfiorito Natural Park, a unique protected natural area and illustrative example of numerous sustainable development practices of the Umbria Region. 

´Differently from the majority of the hackathons, which are usually addressed to IT experts and base their marketing strategy on the availability of cash prizes or the access to business acceleration programmes, a Social Hackathon is characterized by the collaboration of people who have a lower level of digital skills but are nevertheless all willing to enhance their digital and transversal skills to contribute to the development of a digital solution at social impact´ explains Annamaria Pastore, FAO partnerships officer that initiated the collaboration with Colfiorito in 2016.  The SHU 2020 is an event of the #hackAD project, a digital training programme of the ´Foligno Social Hackademy Lab´, funded through the Erasmus+ 2014-2020  “Social Hackademy –#hackAD” programme, in collaboration with other digital competence centres from Croatia, France and Greece, as well as two EU NGOs for the promotion of digital skills and the valorisation of public libraries. The Social Hackademy Lab has already selected and involved over 100 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in the participation at a capacity-building programme for the development of their digital and transversal competences.

For this specific event, the Social Hackademy project has elected the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN Agenda 2030 as the main framework for the identification of relevant social challenges to be addressed at local level with the active engagement of Civil Society Organizations. ´These goals represent universal, transformational, and inclusive tendencies that reflect major development challenges for humankind and that are at the core of FAO´s mandate´ says Erik VanIngen, FAO digital adviser and member of the jury. ´Through our joint work, we are working towards the achievement of the SDGs to secure sustainable, peaceful and prosperous livelihoods for everyone, now and for the future generations´, he adds.

Find more information about the challenges and the SDGs they cover here. 

The call for ideas of digital co-creation for the implementation of innovative digital solutions aimed at promoting and facilitating the achievement of the Agenda 2030 SDGs has now been officially launched and is open to local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) including NGOs, non-profit associations, and any other type of public and private organization (including informal groups of young people under 35 years of age) that works for or supports the third sector and the society in general.

Learn more about how to participate and the programme here

Fill out the registration form here

Modalities of participation 

Applicants can propose any sort of digital solution that is relevant to their internal and/or external needs and that respects the following selection criteria:

•social relevance: is the digital project relevant to at least one of the challenges proposed by the Social Hackathon Umbria?

•local community impact: will the digital solution have an impact on the CSO development and/or on the quality of services provided to disadvantaged target groups?

•Social Hackademy adequacy: is the project idea in line with the skills and knowledge acquired during the #hackAD training? Is it possible to develop it during the 48 hours of hackathon?

For each area, the two most relevant ideas developed by teams of up to 8 members and led by an experienced team manager will be selected and during the 48 hours of the hackathon, will create a pitch, prototype or product to present in front of an international jury for the award of a digital prize with a commercial value of €100.

Deadline for the applications has been extended to the 11th of June 2021.

Learn more about the whole SHU initiative here

For more information, contact [email protected]

To keep up to date with all the news of #SHU2021, follow SHU Facebook page and Instagram profile