Y’ELLO DIGITAL TALENT FOR UNIVERSITIES – 2022/2023 ACADEMIC YEAR
TERMS OF REFERENCE

1. PURPOSE
Under the patronage of the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, MTN Foundation is organizing a programming competition for universities and higher institutions of learning based in Cameroon with options in computer science and technology.

The objective of this competition is to involve the university youths in the brainstorming and research of optimal and effective solutions to the issues of development in our country.
Through this initiative, we want to encourage students with the passion for innovation to come together and unleash their creativity as well as work on development initiatives in a collaborative manner.
Registration for the competition is free and open to all public and private universities in the country. The first phase of the challenge will take place at the regional level. This will be followed by the national final, organized for the regional winners.

2. BACKGROUND
We believe in the power by the youths to build the future of our country. We are therefore putting in place initiatives to guide them in developing adequate solutions for all.
In line with Government’s policy related to the development of digital economy, this competition reflects our commitment to support technological innovation in Cameroon.
Our wish is to inspire young university students to provide concrete solutions to sustainable development issues and create business development opportunities in the digital economy space.
By competing with other young developers, participants strengthen their skills and can use this opportunity to become economically active citizens.
In addition to the immediate prizes, there are several other benefits for the participating universities such as the participation in a high-level incubation program for the winning team and collaboration with experts in the telecommunications sector.

3. THEME OF THE COMPETITION
The theme chosen for this year’s edition is the development of digital solutions in education. Distance learning has become a “must have” in education, since the closure of schools in 2020 in response to the COVID 19 pandemic.
Participants shall be expected to design digital applications to improve the distance learning experience in Cameroonian schools. The solutions can be used by both teachers and high school students, with emphasis on the online availability of local pedagogic content.
The application designed must be able to enable teachers to create virtual classrooms, record lessons, collect the work of students, share past exams and corrections. Students shall use the application to access recorded lessons and past exams, participate in online tests and knowledge assessment.
The theme of the challenge is in line with achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4: “Ensuring quality inclusive and equitable education and promoting sustainable learning opportunities for all.”
 4. DURATION OF THE HACKATHON
The competition shall run from 09 December 2022 to 10 February 2023 as per the following schedule:
– 09 December 2022: Official launch of the competition
– 09 December 2022 to 09 January 2022: Online team registration
– 16 January 2023 : Announcement of the regional finalists
– 23 to 28 January 2023: Regional finals
– 10 February 2023: National finals and awards ceremony

5. PRIZES FOR THE WINNERS
The winning teams of the Hackathon will be rewarded as follows:
– Regional Finals
o 1,000,000 FCFA for each regional winner
– National Final
o 1 st Prize: 2,500,000 XAF
o 2nd Prize: 2,000,000 XAF
o 3 rd Prize: 1,500,000 XAF
6. INCUBATION PROGRAM FOR THE WINNERS
The winners shall benefit an incubation period of 2 months, from 01 July 2023 to 01 August 2023. The incubation program for the winners will be developed in partnership with the Center for the Development of Digital Economy (CDIC) of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.
7. REGISTRATION FOR THE HACKATHON
Each university will be represented by a single team of 05 members with at least one female member.
The Team Leader shall carry out the registration for the whole team. Candidacy is by filling a form which will be available online during the application period. The Team Leader must provide an authorization to participate in the competition signed by the management of their institution.
Submission of candidacies implies acceptance of all the conditions and consent granted to MTN Foundation to manage the applicant’s staff.
Individual candidacies or those from non-students shall not be accepted. Only students who are regularly enrolled in recognized institutions of higher education and grouped in teams of 5 persons authorized by the management of such institution may participate in the competition.
8. CONTENT TO BE PROVIDED FOR EACH STAGE OF THE COMPETITION
Pre-selection online:
– The team entry form. It is available online to be filled in directly on the competition portal.
– The authorization to compete on behalf of the university, to be downloaded from the portal and signed by a competent authority of the school.
– The description of your solution (Maximum 1000 characters).
– The logo of your team. This must be original to enable you to be easily identified and distinguish you from the others.
Regional finals:
– Detailed presentation of your solution in Power Point format
– Realization of the solution via a prototype
National final:
– Presentation of a consolidated prototype
– Experimentation by members of the jury
9. RATING SCALE
– Technical suitability: 45%
– Usefulness of the solution: 25%
– Creativity: 30%
10. PARTICIPANT CONTENT ON THE HACKATHON WEBSITE
Participants are solely responsible for all content they upload to the Hackathon site. Submissions must not contain any virus, harmful code or any other malicious or damaged element.
Submissions must not contain any element that may violate the regulations in force in the field of electronic communications, respect for human rights, intellectual property and the protection of citizens.
MTN Foundation, in case it believes that content posted by a participating team violates the above regulations or rights, reserves the right to delete such content.
MTN Foundation excludes any liability over safeguarding and/or preserving the content of the participating teams on the Hackathon Site.
Participants are required to treat other participants with respect and must not engage in any conduct that could be considered as bullying, harassment, degradation, insult or other human violations with regard to any other person.
10. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
By participating in this competition and accepting the Terms, each participant hereby declares and warrants that the Submission and content of the latter is an original work and do not infringe in any way, in whole or in part, any Intellectual Property Rights of any third party.
Intellectual Property Rights include, but are not limited to ideas, concepts, know-how, data processing techniques, copyrights, patents, designs, inventions, trade secrets, software, source code and documentation, notes, memoranda and any other intellectual property rights attached to the Submission invented and/or developed by the participants in this competition.
Moral rights mean all copyrights, including accreditation and control over the future use or dissemination of the submission.
If the transfer of any of the above rights is prohibited by law, the Participant will grant the exploitation rights to the Organizer to the greatest extent permitted.
11. WARNING
By participating in this competition, the Participant agrees to be filmed and photographed as well as record any other data in connection with their participation. In addition, the Participant consents to the publication of such images, recordings and other data without their review or approval and without compensation at any time.
By participating in this conference, participants acknowledge that the event will be recorded for reference and similar use, and therefore, participants grant the organizer a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free consent to display the work of participants carried out during this competition for communication purposes, via any medium.

12. CONDITIONS
Participating teams must comply with the terms of the Hackathon and any additional rule communicated at any time by the Organiser. Submission of entries implies acceptance of all the terms stipulated herein.
These terms constitute a binding written legal agreement between MTN Foundation and the participants in this competition.
Such terms may be amended by MTN Foundation at its sole discretion and such modifications shall be effective upon publication on the Hackathon website.
Continuing participating in the competition and/or using the Hackathon Site by the participants after publication of the modifications shall imply acceptance of such modifications by the participants.
These terms shall remain in force as long as the participant is a user of the Hackathon Site or takes part in the competition.

All applications must be submitted ONLINE at:  https://mtnf-hackathon.mtn.cm/register