Hilma — tech for impact, is an NGO founded by Israeli hi-tech executives in 2018 to establish Israel as a world leader in social-impact entrepreneurship. Hilma develops social-tech solutions in Israel by recruiting talented young people (high-school graduates) to a volunteer-based program through National Service. These selected youngsters go through a two-year technological leadership program to learn software programming. During the program, they develop innovative software-based applications and solutions in the fields of welfare, education, and healthcare.
Hilma promotes technological training for populations that are under-represented in the Israeli hi-tech industry. The core populations of their developers are talented young people who do not enlist in the army. This includes young women, minorities, people with disabilities, and ultra-Orthodox Jews. Functioning as Unit 8200 of the National Service in Israel, Hilma is the lead generator for social technology innovation in civil society.
85% of Hilma’s coders are women. Since 2018, Hilma has trained over 85 young women, 30 of whom graduated from their 2-year service this past August. 40% of their graduates began studying for an academic degree in Computer Science and the rest are taking their first steps in the hi-tech industry as full-time web developers.
Hilma coders are developing apps for social welfare organizations, hospitals, schools, etc., that would not otherwise be able to identify the solution nor fund the development. This way, they empower not only the disadvantaged and the disabled who use the technological solutions, but also the social service providers in Israel.
Since August 2018, Hilma has developed 50 technological solutions for the target populations of NGOs and government ministries, including hospitals (e.g. ALYN, Hadassah), schools for kids with special needs, NGOs, Yad Vashem, The Ministry of Education, The Ministry of Welfare, etc.
One example of a program developed by Hilma is VanGo, a shuttle management system for children with special needs, providing safe arrival from pickup to destination.
VanGo was developed for the NGO Krembo Wings and is supported by the Jewish Federation of Detroit. Thanks to this donation, thousands of children with special needs attending Krembo Wings will be safely transported to and from their programs. The application was already deployed in the Krembo Jerusalem branch and will soon be extended to all other branches. Managing a shuttle system for children with disabilities is particularly challenging, with each passenger having his or her own special needs.
VanGo provides information on each of the passenger’s personal needs and monitors the location of the transportation.
The system provides real-time updates to the passengers and alerts them when they should be ready for pick up, as well as giving route updates for the parents and managers. Everyone can be at peace, knowing where the passengers are at all stages of the trip.