Latifa was one of the five finalists who presented their projects before the panel yesterday in Kigali, as part of the ongoing Transform Africa Summit.
This year’s problem for application was to identify opportunities in any sector and suggest solution that can allow Africans to collaborate, interact and trade.
Presenting her project, Latifa said that Niger counts 37% of road accidents in the region of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
She said that it is also difficult to provide first aid as people in charge do not easily establish where the accident took place or it takes long time to reach the scene of accident.
She said that it happens that locals reach the victims without having skills of how they could help to save their lives.
“Imagine being nearby a person who is in critical conditions due to injuries but you are unable to give them first aid. That is why I developed an app dubbed SARO which can be installed in a telephone or computer. The app is capable of taking a photo or video and sends it to people who can provide first aid. They can easily establish the scene of accident and provide first aid through people on the scene,” she explained.
Latifa explained that the app only allows a person to send a newly taken photo or video which are also original.
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Three girls who presented outstanding projects were awarded with different prizes.
Latifa was awarded with Rwf3 million and will attend International Conference on the ticket of Smart Africa and will also attend the European Development Days 2018 Conference slated in June in Brussels, Belgium.
Among the awardees also include, Christelle Mazimpaka, the 2018 Ms Geek Rwanda and the third in Ms Geek Africa. She received Rwf1 million and allowed to attend one international conference on the ticket of Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA).
The second is Ndèye Fatou Mboup from Senegal who received Rwf2 million.
Among the five finalists were other two Rwandans Alida Umurungi and Sylvie Mahoro.
Speaking to IGIHE, the head of Girls in ICT which organised the competition, Lucy Mbabazi said that they had received 200 applications.
“We received 200 applications and selected 10 projects. Last week, we trained them on better organize their projects. Then, we selected five best projects,” she said.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of Youth, Rosemary Mbabazi said that the initiative aims to promote girls capabilities to generate solutions that can change lives of their communities.
She said it is very important to involve young people so that they can own their development agenda.
Mbabazi added that women are innovators and the platform is giving them opportunities to explore their potential beyond.
“Strategically and logically, we could not do anything much without involving women, especially girls because the future is in the hands of technology, and if we are talking that the future is in the hand of technology, you cannot leave out women,” she noted.
This year’s Ms Geek Africa is the second edition, but Girls in ICT in Rwanda are celebrating the 5th anniversary of Ms. Geek.
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