KABUL (SW): Twenty young Afghan women showcased the mobile apps they have built through a two months long hands-on training and capacity building program.
Development Skills (“App Development Training”) project was executed by TechNation, a Kabul-based technology and entrepreneurship support company in Kabul, Afghanistan between July 7, 2015 and December 15, 2015. The project was co-financed by UNESCO Afghanistan Country Office and TechNation.
The apps include;
1. AfghanCraft, 2. Afghan Kutub, 3. Asan Reservation, 4. AfghanTaxi, 5. Asan Jobs, 6. DueDate, 7. FIHOSP, 8. Hujj Rahnuma, 9. Afghan Online Shop, 10. Khana, 11. iFarmer, 12. MyDeal, 13. Restaurant Finder (RestoYab), 14. Roghtia, 15. Pashto Lexicon, 16. Zafran, 17. ChallengeMe, 18. RateRank, 19. ElectricBill, 20. Offline Cancour
According to a communiqué, the project was intended to build technical capacity of women in technology in Afghanistan, specifically in mobile apps development, in both Android and iOS platforms.
The project compensated for the shortcomings of out-dated university curricula by refining and enhancing the skills of twenty nine (29) Kabul-based youths, who are in their final years, or fresh graduates, of computer science degree programs.
This project helped increase their employability by improving skills required by the job market or launching their own startup businesses, it noted.
The message further said this training provided them with the most current technological knowledge, experience and marketable skills, enabling them to create relevant products capable of finding a place in the market. This AfghanCraft app makes it possible for people across the world to buy Afghan Handicrafts by allowing handicraft businesses to display and sell products through the app.
Afghan Kutub in an educational app that provides access to various books online. The app provides several categories of books, including educational curriculum of Afghan schools, literature, novels, science, engineer and technology.
As a non-English speaking country, and because of the low literacy rate in Afghanistan, where majority of food items and medicine are exported from other countries, people do not realize the edibles are expired. Store keepers do not have an easy way to identify the expired items to trash them, thus people sometimes use expired food which causes health issues.
The DueDate app provides citizens manage expiration date and trash any items that are expired at home or in the stores by entering expiration details of the items in the app and it would prompt you when the items are close to expiration date.
Roghtia app provides health related services for citizens of Afghanistan. This mobile app is a virtual doctor for people who do not have access to health facilities, especially those living in rural Afghanistan.
The Pashto Lexicon is an educational app that provides word meaning from English to Pashto and vice versa. This app will, particularly, help translators, students, academics and people creating online content in their work and to create local content, books and reading material for over 60 million Pashto speaking people of Afghanistan and abroad.
Zafran is creating a portal where visitors can learn about various aspects of Saffron and its business.
Saffron provides a unique alternative to poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, and everyday more and more people start cultivating saffron instead. Yet, the challenge is that they do not have access to information on how to grow, cultivate and harvest the agricultural product.
On the other hand, women who cultivate Saffron often do not find better market for their products, and would sell them with low price.
This app helps them find the right market for their products.
ENDS
