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MANILA, Philippines – A local government transparency portal, a drive for women’s economic empowerment, sustainable fisheries and a program to turn garbage into cash; these were a few of the ideas that stood out from 50 crowdsourced “hacks” to push social progress forward.
The concept behind #HackSociety is similar to the idea of life hacks or clever solutions to everyday things.
“We realized that we have all been thinking of the buzz of internet and technology and we’ve been enjoying the benefits of Facebook all the while complaining about slow speed internet speeds, but there’s a lot to be solved,” Gemma Bagayaua-Mendoza, Rappler’s head of research.
“The problems we face are daunting and they can’t be solved by a single solution or one institution so it was hard to decide where to start…but then we realized the community wants to do good so we figured why not involve them and crowdsource,” she explained.
After weeks of crowdsourcing and curating different hacks, subject matter experts chose the ideas that stood out at Rappler’s 2016 Social Good Summit held on Saturday, September 24.
Beyond recognition, the groups behind the hacks will also receive incubation support for their ideas startup Incubator, Impact Hub Manila.
Here are the ideas that stood out in each of the 5 areas of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Accountability and governance
TASK (Transparency and Accountability in the Sangguniang Kabataan Project) – Composed of 3 young Filipinos working both in government and civil society groups, including the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Budget Management (DBM).
The group estimates that for next year alone, the national government will be allotting around P48.7 billon for youth development projects channeled through LGUs to be governed by the Sangguniang Kabataan or SK which was recently brought back by the SK reform law.
The group aims to create an online portal that pushes transparency to ensure that the P48.7 billion doesn’t get lost in corruption. It will also be integrated with the current government portal.
The portal will detail SK’s programs, budget, and serve as both a monitoring and reporting tool to allow SK officials to detail their various projects.
The team will partner with DILG, DBM, and the National Youth Commission. It aims to launch the portal by June of 2017.
Environment and disasters
Junk and the Bin stalk – The group aims to tackle the problem of waste accumulation by giving households a financial incentive to segregate trash.
The problem is that the average household in the country generates between 5 to 7 kilograms of waste daily, the group pointed out.
The financial incentive follows the model of junkshops that give money for trash. Aside from the money, the group also plans to set up a rewards program for participating households that can be used to redeem special items from the groups’ partnering companies.
A household’s total points will be tracked through a special segregation trash bin given them through a mobile app.
Education and jobs
AMIGA Philippines – A successful livelihood program initiated by students of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB) that has benefitted a group of 30 housewives in Humanityville in Calauan, Laguna, a government relocation site.
The program features a simple book-keeping system called “KaliwaKanan Cash Accounting System or KKASH that helps housewives understand the basics of accounting.
On June 1 to 3 of this year, they also held a program called ENACTUS that tackled agribusiness entrepreneurship, food security, and women’s rights issues.
Within 6 months through a cooperative model, it plans to give out financial loans to small groupings of AMIGA Filipina beneficiaries to help them grow their businesses.
The proceeds from 5%-6% interest from these loans will then be used to back the program further and make it financially sustainable.
It also aims to engage between 30-100 more AMIGA participants by the end of the year.
Food, agriculture and poverty alleviation
Barangay Aquaponics – A group that promotes an agricultural technique that cultivates plant products in water infused with nutrition through the conventional aquaculture method.
The project aims to partner with, and train, poor barangays in Metro Manila to cultivate crops that they can sell to nearby restaurants and similar establishments.
Once they have enough barangay partners, they will connect the produce of these barangays with restaurants to provide them with fresh ingredients.
Peace and development
Instead of picking just one idea from a number of good ones the Office of Presidential Adviser to the Peace Process (OPPAP) decided to incorporate all of them in the ongoing peace process with the National Democratic Front (NDF), the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
“We hacked the process because there were a lot of participants and we are proud to announce that all the pitches or hacks that groups made will be included and supported by the OPPAP,” said Patmei B. Ruivivar of the OPPAP.
These hacks included: a radio and youth peace camp that will be held from Mindanao to Metro Manila, pitched by the Balay Rehabilitation Center; The Firefly brigade, a group of bikers who want to create a mobile app targeted at bikers who promote peace; and teaching peace education through the National Service Training Program (NSTP), pitched by Bayan + I.
Ruivivar added that OPPAP would present these proposals to the panel that is going to Oslo, Norway on October 6-10 for the next round of peace talks between the government and the NDF. – Rappler.com
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