(Credit: DAL Blog)

For the past few weeks, teams from 15 countries across Latin America have been submitting technology projects for the Desarrollando America Latina initiative, or DAL.  Now in its fourth year, DAL uses technology and open data to find solutions to common problems in the region on issues such as health, education, transport and the environment.

This year DAL ran an app challenge. Programmers, designers, civil society organizations and those with an interest in leveraging technology formed multidisciplinary teams and worked together over three weeks to build smartphone apps with a social focus. The winning projects will be decided over the coming weeks and the engine room is excited to be part of the jury.

We are also pleased to announce that Desarrollando America Latina and the engine room have teamed up to offer a special prize within DAL this year. The engine room, through its Matchbox project, will provide tech support and advice to projects that are working on accountability and transparency in the region. If you or your team are interested in applying, click here for more information. The application round closes on November 29.

We will be blogging and tweeting about the DAL finalists, so keep an eye open for updates both here and on our twitter feed.