Maputo – Kelven Rubalaine, born in Mocuba District, Zambezia Province, 21 years old, fourth year student of the Computer Engineering course, at the Zambezi University, in the city of Beira, is part of the Pro-G, the winning group of the Maputo Marketplace Hackathon held from May to August 2021.

“It was a unique experience! It was the first time we worked together as a group. When we heard about the contest, we actually had only 72 hours to improve the prototype and business plan. We live in Beira, where we study and work remotely due to our status as students. It was the first time I participated in an equal competition and luckily the first time we won as a group. We've never been so keen to present something like when we were at the Maputo Marketplace.”

The youths from Pro-G, a group of four students from the fourth year of the Computer Engineering course at Zambezi University, developed a solution (BhazaraAqui) that enables the online marketing of Agricultural Products to Sellers within the markets in Maputo city, which has already been delivered to the UEM Innovation Center, one of the UNDP's strategic partners in this initiative.

BhazaraAqui allows sellers to create virtual representations of stalls so that citizens can shop online and receive products without leaving their home. In addition to being able to be installed on Android, iOS and Windows mobile devices and Windows desktop, macOS, linux, the application was designed to reach a universe of more than 1,088,000 inhabitants/residents according to the 2017 census, 63 markets within the city of Maputo and 3,000 sellers within markets.

“The fact that UNDP and its partners have chosen our proposal, greatly valued our work. Winning the hackathon has greatly improved our confidence”, told Kelven Rubalaine.

Pro-G was not the only group that competed for the Maputo Marketplace. The contest involved 50 teams of young programmers and designers from the city of Maputo and Beira who had to strictly follow the six phases of the technological contest.

“Hackathons stimulate knowledge and creativity in young people. We learned that it is not enough for a solution to be a solution, it must be profitable and sustainable so that it does not become a problem”, highlighted André Xerinza, ACS Group.

For André Xerinza, from ACS group, runner-up at Maputo Marketplace Hackathon, “UNDP should continue to support these experiences because they are an opportunity for young people from different areas to meet and develop solutions for concrete needs in rural communities and as you can see, also in urban areas.”

“After our participation in the Maputo Marketplace Hackathon we are no longer the same! Today we have a clear vision of the procedures behind the development of an application or a software. We noticed a great involvement of the competing groups that worked hard to be able to develop a unique model that would solve the posed problem. The implementation of the agile methodology ensured that during the event, the focus was not lost and this has awakened in the team the importance of some aspects that go beyond writing the code, such as the prototyping of the intended solution.”

UNDP, through the “Strategic Plan for COVID-19 Response”, financed the event of a technological nature – the hackathon that took place at the UEM Innovation Space, implemented by the Innovation Space of the Eduardo Mondlane University, with the collaboration of three partners, namely the Maputo Municipal Council (CMM), National Association of Municipalities of Mozambique (ANAMM) and the Commission of Market Sellers.

“This type of event helps young people to discover their potential beyond the theoretical. It helps young people to challenge their abilities and creativity to bring concrete answers to concrete problems”,  stressed Professor Doctor Luis Neves, Director of the Information Technology Center of the Eduardo Mondlane University (CIUEM).

According to Professor Doctor Luis Neves, Director of the Information Technology Center of the Eduardo Mondlane University (CIUEM) where the Innovation Center of that University is located, “the partnership with UNDP in this particular initiative was important because it gave young programmers, yet students, the opportunity to show what they have learned in the training and more than that, to carry theoretical knowledge into practice. The advantage of hackathons is that they help young people activate the practical component and challenge young people to add value to their work culture that requires creativity skills, not only technical, but also those of living in a group. Above all, in group work, hackatons raise the need for union, knowledge sharing and information.”

For Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, the origin (university) of the students does not matter. The only thing that matters is that they come with concrete solutions to concrete problems. The University is interested in the entire network resulting from the interaction between students that can evolve into mature and ready-to-use solutions for communities.

UNDP's Strategic Plan for COVID-19 Response supports the government in creating institutional mechanisms to mitigate the risks arising from the pandemic, strengthening the creation of connectivity, the involvement of citizens and the strengthening of local response capacity. All three components are interlinked and aim to enhance government capacity at all levels for emergency, using a comprehensive, information-oriented government approach.

UNDP understands that the Hackathon constituted a space for exchanging experiences, sharing knowledge, with the ultimate objective of contributing to greater effectiveness and efficiency in the supply of agricultural goods and services within the city of Maputo. The Hackathon also aimed to promote the UNDP's commitment to youth, innovation and the establishment of partnerships in a decade of action towards the Sustainable Development Goals.