PSI Pakistan in collaboration with National Incubation Center Karachi organized the ‘Make Space Hackathon’ – a 48-hour long online competition.
The two day competition began at 6:00pm on Friday and adjourned at 6:00pm on Sunday, August 8 2021. The aim of the competition was to empower people with a passion for impact and change in creating solutions to make Family Planning more accessible to people in Pakistan.
More than 200 applications were received from all over Pakistan, out of which 45 teams were shortlisted to pitch their solution on one of the four following Challenge Sets: Family Planning Awareness for Newlyweds, Counseling and Accessibility, Advocacy – Negative and Positive Advocates, Male Engagement.
After the initial idea pitching phase, 14 teams have been taken forward to the final assessment on the solution of the problem set. The top four winning teams selected by a panel of independent judges have been awarded a seed grant of Rs 525000. The four winning teams are: Bridge the Gap – Rs 300000, Baithak – Rs 150000, Expert Outreach Rs 75000, Team Spirit Rs 50000 respectively.
The first position holder team Bridge The Gap’s idea is to launch an authentic, free, and user-friendly mobile application that consists of information on contraceptive methods for both men and women, geo-fencing of free clinics pinned in clinics section, tele-health phone numbers incorporation, and a manual on Life Skills Based Education.
To ensure this, PSI Pakistan collaborated with NICK for the “Make Space Hackathon” to empower people with a passion for impact and change in creating solutions to improve Family planning uptake among people in Pakistan. shared – Ayesha Leghari Country Director, PSI Pakistan
“Population growth has become a national emergency for the country. The major objective of this project is to open a dialogue session without any restraints for the highly sensitive topic. The reason that Pakistan is struggling to demonstrate economic growth relative to neighboring countries like India and Bangladesh is mainly driven by population growth” – said Omar Abedin
While shedding some light on the economic prosperity of the country, Ayesha Leghari country director of PSI Pakistan says, “if you want a country to grow, it is important to look at the root cause, which is the population crisis.”
“Pakistan has a population of 207 million with a 2.4% population growth rate. By 2050 the population is estimated to be 300 million which is an alarming situation. 300 million inhabiting the same space and resources. With rapid urbanization, Pakistan is already facing power shortage, water scarcity, education crisis, health crises and food security issues”, says Leghari while stating the facts about the population crisis that the country is and will be facing if we do not solve this issue
