KABUL (SW): A young lot of Afghan engineers are busy preparing a number of indigenous apps/ software that would improve service delivery to their country mates in the near future.
Ideas for these softwares were conceived during the 3rd Annual Afghanistan Innovation Lab held in Kabul in March. Sponsored by the USAID, Internews and Tech Nation, a three-day session was organized for the purpose to brainstorm ideas for public welfare softwares. Technology gigs gathered in the capital to present their ideas and win the task to develop the softwares.
The concept of technology innovation lab was first introduced in Afghanistan in 2012 by Internews. iLabs expose civil society organizations to the possibilities of information communications technologies (ICTs) and increase the awareness of the technical community about the social issues facing the country.
The focus of this year’s lab was more on the problem identification part in the society rather than on how innovative, new and sophisticated the technological solution is. iNobat app targeted the passport department, e-Education app provided alternate methods of providing education to rural areas and theFarkhunda app provided solutions to enhance the existing incident reporting methods in the country.
Atiqullah Amiri, faculty of computer sciences student at the Kabul University, and his group bagged the opportunity for their “iNobat زما نوبت/ نوبت من ” app/ software that would help people apply for the passports in a more organized and easy manner. Amiri hoped the program would not only reduce the workload for passport office and other public departments but would save people’s time by providing them an alternative for long wait outside these offices.
“The “iNobat” can be used on smart phones and personal computers, it is an affordable and swift solution for our people who loose time and energy while waiting outside passport offices” Amiri told SW.
Another idea that earned the approval for a program deals with internet searches. Syed Shah Fazil, a university lecturer and his group presented the idea to provide a compact searching program to the student community. “e-Educationځواب ويونکی، جواب دهنده” would be developed keeping an eye on the needs of students.
Ummer Mansoor Ansari, head of the Tech Nation, one of the sponsors, told SW that the ideas were approved considering the public demand and market value of it. He said much would defend on the hard work of program developers and their supporters to make it work.
