Hack The Goals is a worldwide movement of hackathons organised by Enabel, the Belgian development agency. The hackathons enable citizens to discuss, reflect on and identify innovative solutions for real life problems that help advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In this first edition, the participating countries were Belgium, Morocco, Niger, Palestinian Territory, Senegal and Uganda. In each country a jury of professional experts selected the winning idea in their national competition. The winning national teams then participated in the international award ceremony in Brussels, last Friday. The winner was announced during this closing event in the presence of the Belgian minister of development cooperation and digital agenda, Alexander De Croo.

During the day, a Digital for Development knowledge sharing event was organised, where attendants could learn about the results and impact of digital technology in development cooperation. They could also discover specific digital innovations such as e-learning and mobile money. In the afternoon, Close the Gap’s Communication Director Julie de Bergeyck gave an update on Close the Gap’s D4D-Be programme and the accompanying kindling.beplatform, which took on a whole new look and feel on Monday 12th November.

In the evening, the actual award ceremony took place. Minister Alexander De Croo announced the winner, which received 5000€ to further develop their digital innovative idea. The winner of this edition of Hack the Goals was Niger. The team developed a mobile phone application that provides information and games, to make the application attractive, on a range of topics related to sexual and reproductive health.