Gucci's Chime For Change announces winners for ChimeHack 4

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Jun 12, 2017

Global campaign Chime For Change announced on Sunday the winners of ChimeHack 4, the two-day hackathon hosted by Chime For Change, Gucci, Global Citizen, Facebook and Kleiner Perkins.
 

The fourth edition of the event built on Chime For Change's mission to create tech-driven solutions for gender equality. This year, 250 hackers were challenged to develop solutions to reach school-aged refugee girls with quality education while they are unable to access formal schooling.
 
The seven winning teams, which were selected from 50 entries, include, PictHerEsque, an augmented reality app that addresses the language barrier for refugee girls on the move; Madeleine, a chatbot that anonymously provides reproduction health education and support for middle school-aged refugee girls; Mama, an app that connects health care professionals with young refugee mothers in their native language; Grow Together, a web app that connects refugee girls with mentors; Sheacher, an app and SMS service to make education and emergency resources easily accessible to young refugee girls; Dash, an app that aggregates information about local schools and education providers to help refugee girls on the move; and EmpowerPods, a solution that creates and connects a community of refugee girls to help continue their education.

Ads

Each winning team received a $5,000 cash prize and a secondary prize. PictHerEsque received tickets to the 2017 Global Citizen Festival. Madeleine, which was sponsored by Facebook, received VR headsets, and Hearst Magazine-sponsored app Grow Together received incubation at the Hearst San Francisco office.
 
“Working closely everyday with entrepreneurs, engineers, and business leaders in the technology industry, I see that there are endless possibilities to transform lives through new innovations and technological advancements,” said Juliet de Baubigny, Kleiner Perkins Senior Partner. “Kleiner Perkins is proud to support Chime For Change through the ChimeHack series, and we thank all of this year's hackers for committing their time, expertise, and fresh ideas to help build a better future for refugee girls.”
 
ChimeHack was launched in 2013 by Chime For Change, Gucci’s initiative with Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Salma Hayek Pinault created to unite and strengthen the voices speaking out for girls and women around the world.

ChimeHack 4 was held at the Facebook headquarters at Menlo Park, California. The hackathon kicked off with welcome remarks from the Host Committee comprised of Gucci CMO Robert Triefus and Facebook VP of Social Good Naomi Gleit, and included a panel discussion with experts that discussed the issues behind this year’s challenge. Gleit moderated the panel that included Patty Alleman, Senior Gender and Development Specialist, UNICEF; Leticia Pfeffer, Senior Coordinator, Global Policy and Advocacy, Global Citizen; and Musimbi Kanyoro, President and CEO, Global Fund for Women.
 
Gucci also announced at the hackathon that it has joined UNICEF in founding the new Girls’ Empowerment Initiative.
 
"Gucci founded CHIME FOR CHANGE in 2013 to find innovative solutions to promote gender equality around the world, and our signature ChimeHack series is a powerful way to do this each year," said Susan Chokachi, President and CEO, Gucci America. “This year we discovered many creative ideas that have the potential to make a real difference in the lives of refugee girls.”