Last year, we reported that there was an Apps4Africa Climate Competition for software developers in Africa to create applications for mobile phones and computers to help communities cope with the impact of climate change. A brainstorming session for the competition was held at the Co-Creation Hub (CcHub to help climate change experts interact with technologists to think up creative tools and ideas to build for the competition . The competition encompasses three regions of Africa, and the first two regions — East Africa and West and Central Africa — competed late last year. The results of the Southern Africa competition, which lasts through March 21, will be announced in April.
The State Department and Appfrica International, the software development company that ran the contests from its offices in Uganda and the United States, screened the entries to make sure they addressed climate change adaptation, and then sent the relevant submissions to five independent judges. The winning applications were chosen based on their technical ingenuity and their ability to have a measurable impact on climate change adaptation.
Second place went to the Eco-fund Forum, a Web-based app from Senegal that helps communities share successful strategies for adapting to local impacts of climate change. The third-prize winner was Farmerline, a mobile and Web-based app that will help farmers in rural Ghana obtain information they need to increase yields in the face of changes in the growing season and climate variability.
The top three winners in each region received cash prizes, and private partners are contributing follow-on support.