The winners of the "Explore Pohrebea" Hackathon have been announced. The event took place on 20-21 July 2023 and was conducted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Moldova, as part of the project "Resilient and inclusive markets in Moldova", funded by Switzerland.

For 36 hours, six teams worked intensively to conceptualize and develop innovative solutions to promote rural tourism, develop local businesses and provide authentic experiences for tourists.

"Explore Pohrebea was a remarkable journey, with 30 talented young people from the IT community and rural tourism enthusiasts. Together, we built bridges between technology and tradition, between innovation and authenticity. We have every reason to be confident that we have opened new perspectives for the development of rural tourism and local business in Moldova. The innovative digital ideas and solutions presented have the potential to transform the entire tourism experience, bring light to less explored places and offer travellers true, authentic adventures," said Dorin Toma, Project Manager at UNDP Moldova.

The participating teams presented the prototypes developed during the hackathon and, following the jury's evaluation, three of them were awarded prizes:

• Prize 1: Team "Go with the raft". Proposes a platform that will connect tourists with the local population. Tourists will help hosts to have a better online presence.
• Prize 2: Team “Death Trap”. Proposes a platform that customizes the offer for tourists based on a short questionnaire of preferences.
• Prize 3: Team "Lorem ipsum". Proposes a digital solution for planning holidays for tourists: accommodation, activities, and excursions. The app creates tourist itineraries.

"We are part of the same community and we are interested in improving the conditions in which we live also through collaboration: for example, the tourist arrives in Pohrebea and is welcomed by the local households and has an authentic experience and then he/she can include this household on the digital map that we aim to build: Map of your Rural Experiences", said Doina Todica, IT project coordinator, member of the "Go with the raft" team.

The winners were awarded vouchers for IT products and will be supported by a team of local mentors to further develop the proposed concepts into ready-to-use, digital platforms for the general public.

The village of Pohrebea was selected as a beneficiary locality of the project "Resilient and inclusive markets in Moldova", as part of the microcluster "Heart of Nistru", aimed at developing rural tourism. The community will benefit from assistance in specializing in rural tourism and creating a competitive tourism cluster by strengthening and expanding this local value chain.