Technology for Social Good: Morgan Stanley & BREADS

It was a real pleasure to be associated with our CSR partner Morgan Stanley’s Code to Give [hackathon-for-social-good], which was kicked off on 2 June 2023 with around 1400 students of top Indian colleges participating. The aim was to use technology to provide solutions to social issues being addressed by non-profits. One of the challenges put forward by BREADS was selected for the hackathon.

BREADS’ Drug Rehabilitation Education And Mentoring (DREAM) programme is an initiative to encourage children and youth to dream beyond drugs in 10 districts of Kerala; providing awareness, counselling and rehabilitation services. Our challenge to the students was to use accessible technology to draw college students towards seeking support through counselling services. The restrictions we placed on the task made it quite the unique challenge!

On 12 June, along with Morgan Stanley’s tech team, BREADS was invited to judge the four teams shortlisted after various elimination rounds. It was indeed gratifying to watch the presentations, to see young minds tackle a major problem faced by youngsters like themselves. Within the short time frame and the challenges posed, the students did a fantastic job of not only designing a variety of possible solutions but actually demoing some of them. We were delighted with the variety of approaches that the students took, and look forward to seeing how an integration of these ideas would look when Morgan Stanley’s team takes up the challenge themselves. 

Overall, Code to Give was a great experience with great value for all those involved. It brought social issues to the table of technology, where they usually have no place, and that’s a pretty good advocacy campaign!

Well done! Morgan Stanley & the students who took part in the hackathon.