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Digital Platform for Happy Childhood Association
HCA Web is the official digital platform for the Happy Childhood Association, a nonprofit based in El Atteuf, Ghardaïa, Algeria. The platform supports the association’s mission to care for children in need by providing a digital space for sharing projects,events and managing member interactions. I led the backend development using Django, building a secure, scalable REST API to power all site functionality.
Link: hca-web.vercel.app
Key Features
- Custom User System for administrators, volunteers, and donors
- Event Listings API for showcasing ongoing initiatives
- Secure Authentication and role-based access with DRF and JWT
- Auto-generated API docs using DRF Spectacular or Swagger
- Robust Admin Dashboard for site management
Technologies Used
- Python / Django – Backend framework
- Django REST Framework (DRF) – REST API structure
- JWT Authentication – For secure user sessions
- PostgreSQL – Relational DB for donations and project data hosted on Render
- Cloudinary - for media storage
- DRF Spectacular / Swagger – Auto-generated, shareable API documentation
- Next.js (Front-End) – By teammate, consuming REST API
My Role & Contributions
- Designed the entire backend architecture from scratch
- Built secure, versioned APIs for users, donations, and project management
- Integrated authentication and permissions, including admin-only and writer-only routes
- Created API schema documentation for seamless front-end integration
- Ensured the backend was clean, maintainable, and production-ready
Challenges & Learnings
- Implementing multi-role access (admin, donor, volunteer)
- Coordinating live frontend-backend integration using real endpoints
- Addressing Algerian localization needs (dates, currencies, Arabic support if any)
- chosing the right platform for hosting for future scaling
- Structuring models to support future features
Outcome
- Full-stack app live at hca-web.vercel.app
- Backend designed to support future features like newsletter APIs, chat, or mobile integration
- Demonstrates real-world experience in building APIs for social impact organization