Electoral malpractices are a common occurrence during elections in Kenya. The use of electoral resources has been witnessed in elections since before the beginning of multi-party politics. The Independent Review Commission on the General Elections held in Kenya on 27th December 2007 (Kriegler report) reported that the use of state resources in partisan campaigns was witnessed in the 2007 elections and this took the form of use of high-ranking state officers and public servants in campaigns, use of government vehicles and aircraft and the use of constituency development funds for campaigns.
The Hackathon
The electoral accountability hackathon is a 48-hour virtual session dedicated to coming up with a solution to monitor the misuse of state resources during campaigns. The hackathon will be facilitated through TI-Kenya’s Media-Tech Hub.
FAQs
Phase 1: Registration / How to apply
Participants should form teams of between 2 to 4 members and apply though the online application form available on the Media-Tech Hub. The application period will commence on the 29th of March 2021 to the 11th of April 2021.
Phase 2: Notification of shortlisted participants
Applications will be evaluated by judges and successful teams will be notified on the 13th of April 2021.
Phase 3: Hacker’s conference
Successful participants will attend a virtual hackers conference on the 12th of April 2021 from 9.00 to 10.30 am where they will be notified of the judging criteria and expectations.
Phase 4: Hackathon
The hackathon will kick off on the 16th of April to the 19th of April 2021 at 23.59 pm. Teams will be required to create a team on Microsoft Teams where they will access the data sets and submit a functional prototype and a pitch.
Phase 5: Hackathon pitching session
On the 16th of April 2021, Teams will have an opportunity to pitch their projects to the panel of judges and to answer any questions they may have about their projects. Judges will select the winning prototype.
