At the closing and award giving ceremony of the “Digital Khichuri Challenge 2017” on October 30, youths of Dhaka city vowed to work together to promote peace, tolerance and cultural diversity in Bangladesh.
The three-day long creative competition, organised by The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), recognizes innovative solutions by youths for ensuring diversity and peace, considering the pluralism in Bangladesh. This years competition, the second edition of Digital Khichuri, was supported by Facebook, Microsoft and the ICT Division of the Government of Bangladesh.
A special jury announced three winning ideas for the Digital Khichuri Challenge 2017, selected as per public voting on the Digital Khichuri Facebook page.
Team “Bonsai” was picked as the winner for coming up with Anu-Bot, an automated online messenger app that listens to the problems of juveniles and offers solutions to manage anger and stress. The first runner-up was “Jagoron”, for their idea to ensure public safety, and the second runner-up was “Shey Tara”, for their idea to empower rural women through ICT skills training.
The three winning teams have received $5,000 to transform their plans into actions, guided by mentors and coaches.
Addressing the event as chief guest, State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak extended his ministry's support by assuring physical space for the winners to continue their work on the ideas.
"Today's youths are the architects of tomorrow's Digital Bangladesh. The current government is always keen to invest in youth and took initiatives, like startup, to bring out different innovative ideas from them using digital tools. Our partnership with UNDP in this regard will continue in future," said Palak.
“All the brilliant ideas, coming from the brightest minds tell us how important it is to create a platform like Digital Khichuri. This is also important to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 16 -Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions,” said Kyoko Yokosuka, acting country director, UNDP Bangladesh, while addressing the closing event.
Among others Sheela Tasneem Haq, advisor political government, UNDP, also spoke at the event.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
