A three-day Disability Inclusive Hackathon (DI-Hack) has been held to develop suitable technologies to achieve Digital Inclusion for Vulnerable Groups.

The three-day hackathon organized by Inclusive Tech Group (ITG) is a Not-for-Profit Organisation (NPO) registered in Ghana under the theme “Independent Living for Persons with Disabilities-The role of Technology”.

The programme brought together young innovators and persons with disabilities (PWDs) from the Western, Central, Greater Accra, Eastern, Ashanti, Upper West, Upper East, and Volta regions of Ghana.

The Executive Director of ITG, Dr. Millicent Agangiba indicated that DI-Hack was initiated on the back of findings from a 4-year long empirical research she conducted seeking to enhance digital accessibility for persons with disabilities in Ghana.

She explained that the research showed that the involvement of persons with disabilities in the development of assistive technologies and devices yields better accessible products. To this end, technocrats, co-creating solutions with PWDs will result in accessible and workable solutions.

Through the hackathon, ITG intends to get more PWDs involved in the tech space and promote the development of local assistive technologies.

The hackathon also seeks to create greater awareness among technocrats on the needs of PWDs, foster social inclusion and set young people on the path of entrepreneurship.

Dr. Millicent Agangiba indicated that aside from the innovations, some persons without disabilities get to have PWDs friends for the first time, and others learned sign language hence the hackathon indirectly is eroding misconceptions about disabilities and fostering greater inclusiveness and integration of PWDs.

At the end of 72 hours filled with exciting experiences, Teams OraTech, Tech-Works and Azubi placed first, second and third respectively.

OraTech designed a device to convert sign language to text with a text-to-voice option to bridge the communication gap for the deaf.

The winner took home cash of Ten Thousand Ghana cedis (GHS10,000), a trophy, a medal, and a certificate plus months of available mentorship to help them implement their prototype.

Judges at the hackathon were highly impressed with the innovations and encouraged teams that did not emerge winners not to relent but keep on designing solutions to support the disability community.

The hackathon which took place from 29 Nov to 1st Dec 2022 at Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (AITI-KACE) was sponsored by Google Ghana, UNESCO, PwC, and the Institution and Engineering and Technology, and several partners with the Youth Employment Agency as the lead partner.