Girl power at UNDP's Beijing 'hackathon' event

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‍Dozens of young Chinese coding aficionados took part in a two-day hackathon event organized by UNDP China in cooperation with iamtheCODE over the weekend in Beijing.

The event was held in an effort to “decode” the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to a UNDP statement.

A majority of the participants were female in keeping with UNDP’s agenda of engaging women and girls on the SDGs through technology and innovation.

The participants at the hackathon discuss about their respective tasks. /CGTN Photo

The participants – with different skill sets ranging from coding, app-building and data analysis – were divided into three groups. The groups were each given a specific topic to address: Education, gender equality and climate.

Their task was to create a code and develop an actual product related to their specific codes.

At the end of the 48 hours, each of teams came up with three unique products: A platform to help migrant worker’s children to go to school; a mobile app for domestic violence victims to discuss their issues anonymously; and another app that use phone sensors to detect potential wastage of energy.

Some of the participants pose for a group photo after the hackathon event. /UNDP China Photo

Inspiring women through tech

The event was also a part of the "iamtheCODE" program, which has set a goal to inspire a million females to become professional software engineers by 2030.

"It's not OK that girls can't code," Huang Hui, a Beijing University graduate, told CGTN, "The world should be diversified, instead of being trapped in all kinds of stereotypes."

Her ideas could be seen through the product created at the event. For instance, the anti-domestic violence app was designed with female users in mind. The logo looked like a butterfly, and the color scheme highlighted latest fashion, particularly appealing to women.

A team leader explains the anti-domestic violence app at a hackathon event in UN Beijing compound on August 8, 2017. /iamtheCODE Photo

The goal of the app is also to protect victims of domestic violence (who are mostly women), offering them a private space to encourage each other to stand up and face the crime.

"I've been coding as a professional for about two years, and I love it," said Xie Haiyan, software developer at ThoughtWorks.

When asked about her favorite programming language, she answered "JavaScript" with no hesitation. "It's so flexible. Some people may say that's a weakness. But I say it's the beauty of it," she explained.

Xie poses for a photo in front of a "iamtheCODE" poster. /CGTN Photo‍

Not everyone in the teams was good at coding. Yet they all found their own way to contribute to the project.

"I had never been part of a team that develops consumer products," said Xiao Rushui, an oceanology research student at Ocean University in China, adding "all the marketing and product-related things are refreshing to me."

She said a team of girls makes it possible for non-professionals like her to work seamlessly with everyone else. "It can be hard to survive if the team was composed mainly of guys," Xiao added.