AWS Breaking Barriers Challenge 2026
Date Published
Written by Graduate AI and Software Engineer Jibran Raja
The UK charity sector is under increasing pressure to do more with limited resources, even as demand for support continues to grow. The AWS Breaking Barriers Challenge was created to address this challenge by bringing technology and charities together to explore how cloud and genAI can be applied responsibly to real, high-impact problems.
Rather than focusing on theoretical innovation, the event pairs each entered team with a charity partner and challenges participants to build solutions that could realistically be taken forward beyond a hackathon.
I, along with fellow recently joined Cortex Reply Graduate Consultants Ben White and Charlotte Wilkinson, and Technical Consultant Benjamin Num, had the great opportunity to take part in this wonderful event, hosted in Manchester at the start of 2026.
Setting the tone
The event opened with a talk from Amazon CTO Werner Vogels, which framed the days ahead. A key message was clear: while genAI can significantly accelerate development, it does not remove responsibility. Engineers remain accountable for understanding how systems work, ensuring compliance and supporting what they build.
This focus on ownership, systems thinking, and the evolving role of developers provided a strong foundation for the work that followed.
Our challenge
Our team was partnered with UKind Therapy, a survivor-led organisation, supporting people recovering after domestic abuse through digital tools.
The challenge wasn’t to produce proof of concept, but to design something that could realistically support users in a sensitive context. This shaped our approach. Create something that could ensure safety, trust and clarity.
What we built
Over the course of the hackathon, we built an application that allowed users to speak to a genAI therapy agent that provided advice via a speech-to-speech model.
A high-level look:
- A user interacts with the system through voice
- An AI agent listens and responds with supportive, trauma-aware feedback
- The system monitors for signals that may indicate urgent risk
- When predefined thresholds are met, concerns can be flagged to an administrator for appropriate follow-up
From a technical perspective, we used AWS services such as Amazon Bedrock to support the AI capabilities. The architecture was designed to be scalable, modular and production-minded.
Building with constraints
During the development process, we really started to look at the constraints we were working under. Hackathons usually require you to work under pressure and very quickly. However, the opposite was true in this case, as we really needed to understand the domain's sensitivity.
Having a meaningful area of focus and a clear objective allowed us to get straight to work and limit complexities. With these constraints, we were able to make design decisions quickly and with confidence!
Final reflections
Reaching the end of the event with a working, end-to-end solution was a proud moment for our team. But more importantly is reinforced a key point discussed right at the start of the event.
When the problem is real and the mission is clear, small, focused teams can move quickly and deliver powerful solutions.
The Breaking Barriers Challenge demonstrated how cloud and genAI can help charities scale support, extend reach, and focus limited resources where they matter most. Pair these with strong ownership and real-world context, and they become enablers of meaningful change rather than shortcuts.
Visit our LinkedIn page to see photos from the event. I would encourage tech companies and charities to sign up for future events.
