Youth social innovation during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines: a quantitative and qualitative descriptive analyses from a crowdsourcing open call and online hackathon

Abstract

IntroductionYoung people have played a pivotal role as part of the COVID-19 response, including developing health messages and social innovations. Social innovation in health engages multiple stakeholders in linking social change and health improvement. The study examined the feasibility of youth ideas and innovations to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic using quantitative and qualitative descriptive analyses.MethodsIn partnership with the WHO, academic institutions, youth organisations and civil society groups, we conducted a crowdsourcing open call among Filipino youth (15–30 years old) using a structured Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases/Social Innovation in Health Initiative process. The open call had three categories: youth voices to cocreate the post-COVID-19 world (entries were texts, images, videos and music), youth-led COVID-19 social innovations, and youth-led social innovations not related to COVID-19. Each submission was evaluated by three independent judges. Finalists were selected in each of the categories alongside four grand winners. All finalists were invited to attend a 1 day online civic hackathon.ResultsWe received a total of 113 entries (youth voices to cocreate the post-COVID world=76; youth-led COVID-19 social innovations=17; youth-led social innovations not related to COVID-19=20). Twelve entries focused on youth mental health during the pandemic. The online hackathon provided the participants mentorship for further development of their ideas. Finalists were able to produce draft health communication campaigns and improved social innovations.ConclusionMany Filipino youth created exceptional entries in response to the open call. This suggests the feasibility of including youth voices in strategic planning processes. A global youth social innovation call is recommended.

Fostering an Innovation Culture in the Education Sector: A Scoping Review and Bibliometric Analysis of Hackathon Research

“…More than half (24/41) of the publications in this academic discipline were published from 2020–2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic. One emerging variation is the online hackathon event, which became more popular because of the school closures (Franco et al, 2022 ; Happonen et al, 2021 ; Ulitin et al, 2022 ). These studies retrofitted these innovation contests and social gatherings to transform them into remote hackathons.…”

“…For example, Garcia ( 2022 ) defined hackathons as “ intensive, time-bound events where participants in multidisciplinary teams collaborate and develop innovative solutions to real-world problems ”. The origin of hackathons may be from the technology sector, but they are also now being conducted in education (Affia et al, 2022 ; Pakpour et al, 2022 ; Steglich et al, 2021 ), business (Flores et al, 2020 ; Leemet et al, 2021 ; Valença et al, 2020 ), health (Ulitin et al, 2022 ), and other disciplines (Crook et al, 2022 ; Johnson & Robinson, 2014 ). This expansion recruited a wide range of professionals and talents, bringing domain experts into project teams.…”

Supply chain solutions for essential medicine availability during COVID-19 pandemic

“…The 12 projects developed by students were taken through the program to develop their innovative ideas through a mentorship program. This study is from an LMIC cognizance of the response rate to participate in hackathon programs as it is observed that in Philippines a crowdsourcing hackathon program for health-care solutions development has attracted over 100 students (Ulitin et al , 2022). To argue the sample size, Warner and Guo(2017) investigated factors that discourage students from participating in hackathons: discomfort, competition and fair on not having experience.…”

“…This current study documents various solutions developed by the students from humanitarian logistics and the supply chain in health care to ensure service delivery during a global pandemic. In contrast, a study done in Philippines regarding an open call to participate in an online hackathon on social innovation attracted 113 responses in various domains, including mental health (Ulitin et al , 2022). These are summarized in Table 2.…”

Social innovation in health: concepts and practice

“…The study protocol from Li et al examines the effectiveness of a community-engaged social innovation to increase uptake of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among sexual minorities in China 31. Crowdsourcing open calls from Malaysia,32 the Philippines,33 Nigeria,34 Ghana35 and the Americas28 identified social innovations using SIHI regional networks. Crowdsourcing has a group of people solve all or part of a problem, then implements or shares solutions with the public 36.…”