Community Foundation matches Techies with Charities for Social Good

19 Apr 2019

Techies in Residence, a Community Foundation programme has announced six new tech and charity partners for its next round.

One of the partnerships between Derry~Londonderry based charity Our Future Foyle and illustration and design agency Us Folk, will develop an online toolkit for families and members of the public dealing with issues relating to the suicide search and recovery process on the River Foyle.
Mel Carroll of Us Folk said, “One of our award winning illustrators who has a background in producing comics with a particular focus on grief, will produce the visual content for this online platform which has a focus on self care. This is extremely sensitive subject matter and we are delighted to have been trusted as the partner for the project delivery.”

Other tech partners working on the programme are Damgeo, the Creative Workers Cooperative, Zoo Creative and Metadeck and the charities selected to participate are Centred Soul, Include Youth and Proud, PPR (Participation & the Practice of Rights), Foyle Parents & Friends Association and Advice NI.

Techies in Residence, funded by Comic Relief and delivered in partnership with Innovate NI, is in its fourth year and matches local charities and social enterprises with digital technology partners. Participants collaborate to build new digital products that have direct benefit for people and communities in Northern Ireland. Previous successful partnerships include Parenting NI, who launched an information and support app for parents in 2018 with tech provider Kippie CIC; uHub who built an end user app which aims to support people with their mental health, help reduce pressure on statutory services and promote links between the user and their local community and voluntary organisations and Mencap NI, who developed a virtual reality app to support and prepare those with learning difficulties to navigate everyday situations.
Paul Braithwaite, the Community Foundation’s Head of Innovation & Voice said:

“The credibility and momentum that Techies in Residence has built up over the past four years, demonstrates that there is an ongoing need for tech for good projects. It gives social enterprises and charities a platform to look at issues in a new way and apply an end user focused methodology to solving them.

“We enjoyed a high level of interest in participation from techies and charities again this year and I look forward to seeing the results of this cohort’s work as they identify digital solutions for a range of social issues.”

The partnerships will deliver the following outcomes:

Centred Soul & Damgeo will develop a digital platform to enable people experiencing peri-natal mental illness and birth trauma to connect and communicate with each-other in a safe space;Include Youth along with Proud and Damgeo will design an inspiring web application for young people that can drive self-sufficiency and promotes independence and ownership of wellbeing and employment status;PPR (Participation & the Practice of Rights) and the Creative Workers Cooperative will work together to turn PPR’s existing housing rights complaints system into an online application which enables self-management, collective action and scaling;Foyle Parents & Friends Association & Zoo Creative to develop an app to allow people with disabilities to independently explore Derry’s walls and city centreAdvice NI and Metadeck will create a spending tracking tool to help people manage their money better and know where to get debt advice should they need it