Congratulations to our lockdown winners!

Over the last couple of months, hundreds of thousands of Kiwi kids were engaged in learning from home because schools and code clubs were closed. This also meant that events scheduled for TechWeek 2020 were unable to go ahead as planned during May.

At Digital Future Aotearoa, we saw this as an opportunity to move online with our annual She Can Code programme by encouraging young girls across Aotearoa into creating a project from home. This year we decided to use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to address social needs like access to education, clean water, medicine and food, with a focus on climate action and environmental protection. We wanted to get our youth thinking about ways they can solve the very real problems faced by their communities.

By drawing on the Sustainable Development Goals as a guide the girls prototyped solutions to these problems and submitted them using different forms of media. We wanted to make sure the project was accessible to all, and emphasised the use and application of computer science concepts and design processes to create and solve as opposed to physical devices or the implementation of code to design a product.

Here is a look at some of the amazing submissions we received:

Based in mangere bridge and from our years 5-8 category, odette chose Sustainable development goal #14; life below water and developed an amazing robotic sieving device to clean up the water ways in her community!

Why did you choose your specific Sustainable Development Goal and why do you think it's important for people to care about the Sustainable Development Goals? 

I chose life below water because during lockdown we went on loads of bike rides and I saw the amount of washed up plastic after a king tide and I was really shocked at how much it was and I know about what happens to our fish and birds if they eat it thinking it is food. Lockdown helped me a lot with being able to focus in on the problem/s in my own community (and the opportunities for change). I learned so much from the empathise stage of the process where you learn about all of the UN sustainability development goals, I hadn't really thought about some of them because I hadn't experienced them as problems personally so it really opened up my mind to the experiences of girls across the world. Everyone needs to learn about them because they have a place in your life no matter what you do. 

What inspired you to participate in the She Can Code project for 2020 and what did you enjoy most when creating your project?

My mum found the She Can Code project for 2020 online because she knew lockdown was going to be an opportunity for my sister (she found her a photography course) and I to grow in our passions. I've always loved science and technology and problem solving and making mistakes and trying again. For me it's the fun stuff of learning. I enjoyed making both of my prototypes (the fail and the success), I loved sharing my brainwaves with my family who would probe me more by asking questions to make me think about the next problem I needed to solve around the design etc. 

What advice do you have for other young girls wanting to participate next year or start prototyping?

Do it! You can't go wrong because even when you make a mistake you learn from it straight away and it makes you better the next time. It was the best thing to participate in, it will open your mind to the world and help you become a better problem solver and you might find your 'thing'. 

Mishika Chawla

Based in papatoetoe and from our years 5-8 category, Mishika created a beautiful informative poster to highlight her chosen Sustainable development goal #5; gender equality

Why did you choose your specific Sustainable Development Goal and why do you think it's important for people to care about the Sustainable Development Goals? 

I would often ask my Mum a lot of questions about why women sports are not so visible on TV Channels and why some girls find it hard to get their education completed.

Mum would always tell me that there is a lot of difference in ways certain families treat their kids and it’s not because of the love however it could be due to various reasons like poverty, lack of understanding etc.

Hence when I got to know about She Can Code and read all the Goals, I chose Gender Inequality as it was something I wanted to know more about.

And everyone should understand that the Sustainable Goals are very important for they help a nation become better.

What inspired you to participate in the She Can Code project for 2020 and what did you enjoy most when creating your project?

Mum used to take me to the library for The Code Club as it helps me learn a lot, however it does not happen right now and she saw this online and encouraged me to participate.

We didn’t know what to expect and found it a lot of fun learning new things.

What advice do you have for other young girls wanting to participate next year or learn more about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals?

My advice would be to choose a topic that they really like and enjoy the whole process.

Jaime Rea Ruiterman & Vera Mende

Based in pukekohe and from our years 9-13 category, jaime and vera chose Sustainable development goal #7; affordable & clean energy. they worked together over lockdown to develop a prototype of a car that uses renewable energy and presented it to us using slides and an awesome website they made.

Why did you choose your specific Sustainable Development Goal and why do you think it's important for people to care about the Sustainable Development Goals? 

We chose our goal (which was about creating affordable and clean energy) because Aotearoa has mostly got really good environmentally-friendly energy in our homes and buildings, but unfortunately, not with transport. So we started thinking about what it would be like if Aotearoa had completely eco-friendly energy systems - in both homes and in cars or other types of transport. We think that it's really important that people care and act on the Sustainable Development Goals because we love our Earth and helping to solve and improve parts of our Earth, including using the Sustainable Development Goals, could also help to save it.

What inspired you to participate in the She Can Code project for 2020 and what did you enjoy most when creating your project?

We're really lucky at our school, because one of the subjects we do is coding. During lockdown, our coding teacher shared the link with us and we decided to join up with She Can Code, because it looked really fun, and our coding teacher had said that it was an amazing opportunity. We enjoyed being able to still communicate over the isolation period, even though we were in separate bubbles. It was also really cool, because at school the two of us don't always hang out together, so doing the project helped us to know each other better.

What advice do you have for other young girls wanting to participate next year or learn more about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals?

Dare to dream and try your best to make that dream come true. When the going gets tough, keep trying, because sometimes it does get hard. It takes true courage to make a change and challenging yourself is all part of doing that. Also, research about what is happening in the world, and look at solutions that are already out there. Sometimes, you don't need to create something entirely new - you may just be able to improve on an already existing product.

We look forward to becoming part of the world, helping to change it and spreading the word. Thank you for starting us off She Can Code, we hope that we will be able to embark on our journey through the world of woman and coding, with challenges put there by She Can Code.

Abigail Franklin

Based in dunedin and from our years 9-13 category, abigail chose Sustainable development goal #6; clean water and sanitation. she worked hard over lockdown researching how she could solve the issue of access to clean water. Abigail designed an affordable and easy to use water filter using charcoal and cotton and presented it to us using google slides.

Why did you choose your specific Sustainable Development Goal and why do you think it's important for people to care about the Sustainable Development Goals? 

I chose the Clean Water and Sanitation because I knew that it is a big problem in the world, and that not everyone has access to clean water.

What inspired you to participate in the She Can Code project for 2020 and what did you enjoy most when creating your project?

 It seemed like the kind of thing that I am interested in, and I think it is a good idea to let young girls do something just for them.

What advice do you have for other young girls wanting to participate next year or learn more about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals?

For all the girls next year: Do something that you are passionate about, and don't give up after a setback.

Ava Heath Williams

Based in Christchurch and from our years 9-13 category, Ava chose Sustainable development goal #3; good health and wellbeing. ava developed an informative and fun scratch game to demonstrate good health and safety practices in a global pandemic!

Why did you choose your specific Sustainable Development Goal and why do you think it's important for people to care about the Sustainable Development Goals? 

I chose Good Health and Well-Being as it is an incredibly relevant issue for people all over the world right now. COVID is everywhere! If people engage with the Sustainable Development Goals we can all work together to build a better future.

What inspired you to participate in the She Can Code project for 2020 and what did you enjoy most when creating your project?

I got into the She Can Code project as I was in lockdown and driving Mum nuts! Having something to create definitely helped keep everyone sane. What I enjoyed most was making something in my bedroom that could potentially reach people all over the world.

What advice do you have for other young girls wanting to participate next year or start prototyping?

Just get started! The fun thing about creating is that there's no rules or right way of doing things. Sometimes your disasters end up being the basis for your next brilliant idea.

To have a go playing Ava’s Covid-19 game please visit scratch.mit.edu