Youngsters Have Created Gender Equality Solutions for the "Coding Tomorrow" Idea Marathon

The fourth idea marathon was held online as part of "Coding Tomorrow", a Vodafone Turkey Foundation and Habitat Association joint project. The teams developed their own mobile applications in the idea marathon organized with the theme of "Gender Equality". The Mavinin Pembe Tonları (Pink Tones of Blue) team won the marathon with their "Tren (Train)" application.

Implemented by Vodafone Turkey Foundation andHabitat Association, the "Coding Tomorrow" project continues to prepare children and youth for the digital future. The fourth idea marathon organized within the project, which has reached over 210,000 children across Turkey, was held online with the theme of "Gender Equality". In the event organized with the participation of high school students, the participating teams developed new mobile application ideas for gender equality. After completing App Inventor training before the idea marathon on the website yarinikodlayanlar.com and attending training and mentoring sessions for two days, the teams developed their own mobile applications for gender equality. 5 teams of the 17 teams that applied competed in the final stage of the idea marathon.

In the competition, the Mavinin Pembe Tonları (Pink Tones of Blue) team consisting of Simge Tepeli, Gülce Çetin, Ela Tanır, and Duru İbişağaoğlu won the first place, while the Scorpions Robotics team consisting of Arda Sak and İrfan Karabacak took second place, and the Direniş Haritası (Solidarity Map) team consisting of Göktürk Büyüktuna and Emir Sürmen earned the third place.

While evaluating the ideathon, Mr. Hasan Süel, the Chair of Vodafone Turkey Foundation, stated:

"As Vodafone Turkey Foundation and Habitat Association, we eagerly continue our 'Coding Tomorrow' project, which we launched six years ago to raise generations ready for the digital future. When we were considering how to use technology for humanity's good and respond to a social need of society, we decided to do a project first to increase people's technology literacy and their tendency to use technology, starting with children. Thus, in collaboration with the Habitat Association, we started teaching our children aged 7-14 to code, the digital world language, in August 2016. With our 'Coding Tomorrow' project, we aim to contribute to raising a generation that produces, not consumes. Until today, we have given coding training to over 210,000 children in 81 provinces. With online idea marathons, we aim to help our children and youngsters find solutions to concrete social problems. In our fourth idea marathon, our students created their own mobile applications for gender equality. We congratulate each of our participants, especially the top three teams."

Mr. Sezai Hazır, the Board Chair of Habitat Association , also stated:

"We feel right happy and proud to constantly reach more children with our Coding Tomorrow project, which we implemented with the collaboration of Vodafone Turkey Foundation 5 years ago and helped over 210,000 children in Turkey's 81 provinces meet with coding. It is a source of happiness and joy, not only for us but also for our country. We continue to help our children become the most significant agents in Turkey's digitalization process, learn the digital world's language, and produce digital solutions to modern problems. As part of our project, we held a mobile application hackathon for Gender Equality to help children and youngsters learn the significance of gender equality and contribute to this field. The participating children developed mobile applications to lessen the adverse effects of gender inequality in society and again showed the importance of such applications. I would like to congratulate all our participants and winners, wishing them continued success."

"Tren (Train)" app won first place

The winner "Tren (Train)" application developed by the Mavinin Pembe Tonları (Pink Tones of Blue) team is based on the idea that we are interdependent and need to support one another when required, even though we are all in different railway wagons. Users sign in to the application by entering their age group and selecting the gender for which they want to receive information. The application allows users to share the problems they cannot tell anyone with the machinists in the application and develop solutions. After selecting their problems from the titles provided, users can also get information from professionals based on their age. Moreover, the application offers a chat section where users can talk to each other anonymously, helping them understand that others go through the same problems.

The project has reached over 210,000 children

Within the "Coding Tomorrow" project, children between 7-14 across Turkey receive theoretical and practical training by volunteer trainers on various subjects, including the introduction to programming, algorithm logic, application development, storytelling, and game development. Our training helps our children understand programming, work to bring out their creativity, create their imaginary worlds, and produce their games. As part of the "Coding Tomorrow", which has reachedover 210,000 children in 81 provinces to date, 6,6 million TRY of social value was obtained last year, and each investment of 1 TRY for the project yielded a social return of 4,4 TRY.