‘Social Hackathon’ allows Thai youth to experience synodality

Students from Catholic schools throughout Thailand are taking part in a “Youth Social Hackathon” that provides them with opportunities and support to create a better world following a synodal dynamic. Organized by the Catholic Education Council of Thailand with the support of partners including the Archdiocese of Bangkok and the General Secretariat of the Synod, the four-day event invites teams from 12 Catholic schools across the country to investigate issues raised by the Synod that are found in their own communities and then propose creative solutions to those problems.
The event is inspired by startup tech “hackathon weekends”, says Dr Peter Monthienvichienchai, director of LiCAS News, the Archdiocese of Bangkok’s English-language news outlet. In the tech world, “hackathons weekends” allow hackers “to develop a product that they would go and pitch for funding to venture capitalists,” he explains. “What we’re doing here at the socialhackathon is that we use a similar format, but we ask the children here to try to solve issues in their community that matter to them.”
Instead of producing a tech product, Monthienvichienchai says, the students will “take a synodal journey with the people on the fringe of society, especially in their local community, listening to what their challenges, what their sufferings are, and come to together and attack the problem; come up with a solution; and pitch for funding.” At the conclusion of hackathon, judges will award funding to the most outstanding pitches “to make their solutions come true.”
The whole point, though, says Monthienvichienchai, “is to engage youth in a way that uses their language. It uses their energy.” At the same time, “for us, it’s an exercise that we’re listening to them. It’s showing them that we trust them to not only solve a problem, but to identify the problem that matters. And then the funding is really to empower the youth to take action and make their solution a reality.”