ETHPrague 2024

Designing Culture-Sensitive Hackathons for Empowering African Youth with Ethereum
06-01, 12:30–12:55 (Europe/Prague), Leaf Stage

Hackathons can potentially promote youth digital empowerment in Africa. But their design tends to follow the European and North American perspectives. Research has shown the key role of cultural aspects such as temporal awareness and temporal structure in fostering innovation du


Hackathons can potentially promote youth digital empowerment in Africa. But their design tends to follow the European and North American perspectives. Research has shown the key role of cultural aspects such as temporal awareness and temporal structure in fostering innovation during hackathons. Our project questions the status quo and seeks to investigate the approaches to designing culture-sensitive hackathons for empowering African youth within the Ethereum ecosystem. The results will contribute to the practical design of Ethereum hackathons and to the academic conversation around temporality and innovation.

Abena is the founder of ETHAccra and part-time academic researcher. She graduated with a master’s degree in information systems from the University of Liechtenstein with magna cum laude. Her core research interest lies at the intersection of technology, the creative economy and society.