Facebook partners with UNDP to support youth social innovation in Sri Lanka

Facebook recently partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to support youth social innovation in Sri Lanka through the HackaDev programme.

In a media release, Yasas Vishuddhi Abeywickrama, Policy Programs Manager for Sri Lanka, Facebook stated that Facebook is committed to building an impactful developer community in Sri Lanka and believes it is important to support businesses, startups and the individuals who are driving innovation to grow and succeed. 

HackaDev is a crowd-sourcing exercise for sustainable development solutions. It is a platform that brings together youth from across Sri Lanka to design innovative solutions to a development challenge.
 
According to the statement, Facebook supported this effort considering its focus towards supporting entrepreneurs, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and the startup economy in Sri Lanka. 

More recently, Facebook also extended its support to UNDP’s ‘National Youth Dialogue on Innovation, Leadership, and Entrepreneurship’ which was held on 26 February 2020, which brought together 300 young people from across the country.