DEV Challenge and the MFA

DEV Challenge is the largest championship for IT specialists in Europe. Every season we give finalists tasks that have practical meaning and improve life for ordinary people.

Cooperation with the MFA

The 17th season of the Championship was conducted in active cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition to traditional nominations such as Backend, Frontend, and Design, during this season we added a unique nomination within the Championship – Team.

The coronavirus pandemic affected everyone's life, so the Contest was held exclusively in the online format. The pandemic also significantly complicated the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, because the ministry had to help in the evacuation of citizens from abroad, as well as actively answer the questions of thousands of Ukrainians both in Ukraine and anywhere in the world.

A task from the ministry

As a part of the task, participants worked on the development of a chatbot platform. It was expected that the chatbot platform would provide comprehensive support to citizens, provide answers to frequently asked questions, and provide an ability to communicate with the administrator.

To motivate the finalists and emphasize the importance of this task, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, addressed the participants.

Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of foreign affairs of Ukraine
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues a major digital transformation. We gave the contest of the best IT specialists of Ukraine a task to develop a special chatbot platform for the ministry. It will help hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens to get answers to their questions in just a few clicks."

The outcome of the contest

As a result of the Championship, the winning team members were awarded the title "IT Ambassador of Ukraine" and received a tour to Singapore. In return, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched a chatbot @Mfa_support_bot, which is designed for 24/7 support for citizens anywhere around the globe, and a platform "DRUG".

Face the

challenge