App Development for Gender Empowerment Platform

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was engaged by UNDP as a Local Consultant to support gender equality and women’s empowerment. The team had a task to develop a custom web application that featured an interactive map displaying important data on gender equality in the country and raising awareness about the issue.

For what projects/services did your company hire Codepixel, and what were your goals?

Our goal was to find a company that could provide us with resources to complete the development of a web application and launch within 1.5 month, which was our hard deadline. We needed full cycle development which included custom design, development, testing and subsequent maintenance.

As we worked with the fixed timeframe we also wanted the company that had the experience of implementing the waterfall approach.

How did you select Codepixel and what were the deciding factors?

We had very good cooperation with them on some of the previous projects and felt like they were the only ones who could deliver within the strict deadline, for a budget we proposed. Their team even worked outside the standard working hours and gave immense effort in order to complete each phase of the implementation plan that we set out.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The main goal of the project was to develop a custom interactive map with specially designed infographics that would provide visitors with a very unique and interesting navigation experience.

Also, this online platform is to raise awareness and continuously monitor the impact that Covid-19 has on all levels of Montenegrin society, highlighting the findings of numerous studies that indicate different realities of life of women and men in Montenegro, especially the challenges posed by the pandemic. with themselves, and among which are certainly gender-based violence.

The Gender Map of Montenegro represents an innovative approach to a complex socio-economic picture of society in various spheres. The map offers a wealth of data, analysis and other content, which enables decision makers, civil society representatives, researchers, the private sector, academia and the international community to learn more about certain social trends, but also about the problems that determine the further development of our society.

The design of this web application went through a couple of gruesome feedback sessions which featured many different stakeholders who gave their input, as the topic was very sensitive, but the final concept was produced and they were satisfactory to each of the stakeholders. Later phases included development of the front end part and creation of administration for management of the application.

How many people from the Codepixel team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Their team was led by a project manager who managed a team of 2 designers and 3 developers.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We presented the project to the general public at several conferences and via major online media in Montenegro. The feedback we received from our visitors was great and we were applauded for displaying gender equality issues in such a way that every audience is able to grasp it. Codepixel helped us a lot in terms of launching the app at the right time and handling all technical challenges that came from lots of visitors on the app within a short period of the launch.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Our communication went through group online calls and we also used online chats for faster problem solving. The project manager handled our requests to the development team exceptionally well.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Outstanding effort. They understood at the start that we have a clear hard deadline that cannot be extended and they still came through by working tirelessly. They handled issues and feedback with professionalism and expertise.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I think not.