EcoHack Africa 2018, organised by AfricaGen, is the first Pan-African green economy blockchain hackathon that will bring together 100 programmers, economists, and environmentalists from around the globe to congregate in Kigali, Rwanda. Their objective is to build an open-sourced blockchain based green economy platform for Africa – the Sahara Marketplace.

The Sahara Marketplace will be a one-stop centre for individual farmers, entrepreneurs, cooperatives and institutions to raise funds for agriculture or ecosystem services through carbon credits, crowdfunding, and grants from individuals, businesses, multinationals and aid organisations.

The hackathon is co-organised by AfricaGen, the Rwandan Ministry of Youth, KLAB and Rwanda ICT chamber, with technical collaboration with the Rwandan Ministry of Environment. It aims to create a real-life blockchain application building experience to encourage the creation of a blockchain industry in Rwanda and in Africa. Africa gets about 3% of the $35 Billion carbon credit market, while India and China get about 70% of the total. This platform aims to bring more of that money to Africa, as an alternative and in addition to traditional development financing. Increasing Africa’s share of carbon credits from 3% to 10% would bring in $2.5 Billion in much-needed financing for the continent’s most vulnerable population.

The hackathon will use “NYANDUNGU URBAN WETLAND ECO-TOURISM PARK” as the main case study to build the platform. The Nyandungu Park is a project to restore a degraded wetland in Rwanda capital Kigali and transform it into an eco-tourism park. The park is owned and developed by Rwanda Environment Management Agency.

The hackathon will also work on solutions for two of Africa’s most ambitious ecological projects: – “Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative” (GGWSSI) which aims to restore the rapidly deserting lands around the Sahara desert, and form a barrier against further desertification; – “the AFR100” initiative which seeks to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land throughout Africa.

The event has gained the support of the Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC), the leading association for the blockchain ecosystem. Sandra Ro, CEO of GBBC, said: “EcoHack Africa 2018 and its Sahara Marketplace are excellent initiatives, helping educate the African youth on the latest technological advancements in blockchain and its practical implementation. As the influence of Blockchain spreads, we’re delighted to see more initiatives established across the globe that are designed to educate and empower people.”

About YouthConnekt Africa

The sixth edition of YouthConnekt Africa (YCA) will take place between October 8-18, 2018 at Kigali Convention Centre with the theme: “Connekting Youth for Continental Transformation”. Launched in 2012 in Rwanda, YouthConnekt Africa has emerged as a high-impact solution for African countries to realise the demographic dividend. YouthConnekt has been embraced for its innovative design and implementation providing youth with the skills, networks and information needed to scale their initiatives and gain meaningful employment. To date, six countries have already launched YouthConnekt and many others are in the process of emulating the model. Africa’s greatest resource is arguably its nearly 420 million youth. Yet, this tremendous asset is relatively untapped largely due to limited access to education, health services mentorship, finance, employment opportunities required to meaningfully participate in the continent’s socio-economic transformation and realise the demographic dividend.

About AfricaGen

AfricaGen is a Pan-African youth do-tank organisation with the ambitious objective of mobilising 1 million Africans for the development of the continent through technology and innovation. AfricaGen focuses on open collaboration in order to build home-grown solutions in the most efficient way possible.

For more information, please contact:

AfricaGen Website: www.africagen.com

Email: info@africagen.com

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