Competition to find solutions to COVID-19 problems launched by UNICEF, Oman Tech Fund

Oman Sunday 14/June/2020 16:15 PM
By: Times News Service

Muscat: 140 technology developers from Oman and the rest of the MENA region are taking part in a competition organised by UNICEF and the Oman Tech Fund to help find solutions to helping people work better and overcome the challenges caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The Youth Technology Challenge will see these developers organised into teams to come up with programmes that improve e-learning, skill development, access to work, mentoring and career guidance, tools for entrepreneurs, and access to physical and mental health services. Tech developers from around the world were welcome to attend, but priority for admission into the competition was given to developers in the Middle East and North Africa.

The YTC, a virtual challenge that began on 11 June, and spanned 48 hours, saw these developers divided into teams of 50, over a 48-hour span. Their product aside, all of these teams also have to come up with a video that explains their idea, by 14 June. The 12 best innovations will be selected by a judging panel on the 15th, with the winners of the competition announced on the 16th.

“We hope these outcomes will help ensure every young person reaches their true potential, as set out in Oman’s Vision 2040 and the Sustainable Development Goals” said Lana Al Wreikat, UNICEF representative to Oman. “I’d also like to thank the mentors and judges from Sultan Qaboos University, the Education Council, the ministers, and the National Youth Commission, who are supporting us by donating their valuable time and expertise.”

The event is the first of its kind in Oman under the United Nations’ Generation Unlimited partnership, which looks at providing solutions and motivation to young people to help them achieve their potential. It emphasises the exchange of knowledge so that young people can understand what works to help them achieve success in the modern world, and share these ideas with others.

“Young people across the region came together to create tech-based solutions to problems we are facing during the COVID-19 crisis, and improve access to education, training, employment and health services,” Al Wreikat added. “This challenge also marks the first initiative under the GenU partnership in Oman.”

OTF has allocated about $2.6 million (OMR 1 million) to develop youth-related innovation products to tackle the ongoing crisis. Of the 12 shortlisted finalists, three will be selected as winners after evaluation from the judges, which also includes a Q&A with them.

The winners on 16 June will be able to meet with OTF to receive funding for their projects, and enter into the fund’s accelerator programmes that help grow these projects further and help set up full-fledged companies that’ll help expand their reach and impact.

“We have an impressive turnout for this very first OTF-UNICEF challenge and I am equally impressed by the quality of ideas submitted,” said Talal Al Rahbi, the chairman of the OTF Board of Directors. “I very much see that as an opportunity for Oman to foster innovative platforms that will have an impact at local, regional and international level.”

Yousuf Al Harthy, the OTF chief executive officer, added: “COVID-19 has fundamentally shifted the way we interact with each other. But there is no doubt that we can harness technology to develop impactful solutions to the problems this virus has created both in the immediate and the longer term."