Our project is completed in 2 november, and we are sharing the publication of the social Hackathon:
Community Plannin Marathon: The Social Hackathon in Community Planning
Here is the project's common web interface:
The Homoród-Küküllő LEADER Association is a participating partner in the international partnership project of the Erasmus+ programme called ’Social Hackathon - community-based development of the most disadvantaged small areas’.
This partnership includes 5 organisations: Association of Community Developers (Hungary) who are the project coordinators, The Host North Abaúji Community Developers Circle Association (Hungary), Voruma Arenduskeskus (Estonia), Human Reform Foundation (Romania) and ourselves, the Homoród-Küküllő LEADER Association.
The aim of the project is to acquire and establish a communal and rural development method in the partner organisation’s area that has been used effectively in Estonia to solve their local problems. The Hackathon method has become a popular event amongst Estonian people who are keen on participating actively in the alleviation of their own region’s problems. This method requires participants to present their regional problems to an audience in 3 minutes and then find partners they can find a solution to the problem with. This event is 48 hours long, so teams have to come up with a fully viable and feasible solution.
The first event of our projects was organized between 7th and 10th January 2020 in Budapest where the member organisations signed the Partnership Agreement and planned the study trip to the Hackathon event in Estonia. The months of January and February were spent on organisation of the trip to Estonia which will have ended with the Hackathon event between 12th and 14th March in county of Vörumaa.
Our trip to Estonia
We arrived in Tallinn on 9th March and shortly after our arrival we met Zsolt Bugarszki at the University of Tallin (Tallinna Ülikool), who is a professor of the university and has a good knowledge of the Hackathon events and method.
Zsolt Bugarszki gave a brief presentation of the country, society and its economic and social climate/situation.
The morning of the second day of our study trip we visited the Technopol Science and Innovation Business Center that is considered to be the Estonian Silicon Valley. This centre is mostly used by startups working in the IT sector. After touring the building, our escort, Kristina presented the Helpific project. This is an Estonian platform where people can seek help and support to create an independent life.
Later in the afternoon we returned to the University of Tallin where Zsolt Bugarszki introduced the Hackathon event to us in depth. We discussed the schedule and the main points to keep an eye on during the event.
We visited the Telliskivi district on the third day. According to our escort, this is where Hackathon was launched at the initiative of Lift99 .
Mainly social enterprises operate in this area in tastefully decorated old industrial buildings. We visited the social enterprise Mondo Crafts. This organisation deals with humanitarian aid, global education and development cooperation. They operate in several countries and help people thrive where they live. On the afternoon of our third day, we set off to Vorumaa County to attend Hackathon. After more than 3 hours of bus ride, we arrived at Vöru at 8:00 p.m., where our host was welcoming us.
On the morning of the fourth day, we had a meeting planned with our Estonian partner, however this was cancelled due to the coronavirus emergency declared in Estonia. Unfortunately, this caused the cancellation of the Hackaton event so we quickly decided to arrange our trip back home as soon as possible, as there was no point in staying any longer.
Our study trip to Estonia was thus not complete, but it was not in vain. The partnership decided to continue the project and to learn about this method in practice online. This is currently being organised.
