Jaxi translates a natural satellite we all have in common, the Moon, in the Tupi-Guarani language which comes from indigenous people with the largest geographic distribution in Brazil. The Moon was used for guidance, harvest and calendar so it was essential for food production.
During the Covid-19 crisis, supermarket companies that account for 60 billion dollars in assets in the Brazilian economy have been suffering an increasing financial loss. On the other hand, the population that injects money in this sector has been the most affected during the crisis, as it is facing financial difficulties and the poorest population is even more vulnerable. Every year, 26 million tons of food which corresponds to 10% of all food available in Brazil are wasted because of the expiration date. The expired food is incinerated or thrown away due to logistical and management problems. From that, we decided to give visibility to people and companies. People who need access to food at no cost or at a low cost, as well as companies that would be willing to make donations or sell at low cost just so as not to lose income. That would provide food for people in situations of geographical vulnerability especially the 5 million Brazilians that will go back to the Hunger Map in Covid-19 crisis. and, at the same time but not only, minimizing the losses of an important sector for the country's economy with a less waste policy.
Our project focuses on SDG number 2 zero hunger and on number 10 reduced inequality. Jaxi solves the problem through an appropriate redirection of the excessing food production that would be discarded to be donated or be sold at low cost to families in need.
We target our website to trading companies in the food sector and families in need of food.
The website hosting subscription costs 7,50 U$/year.
The creation of the algorithm to prioritize distribution to families in greatest need, maintenance and management will be by volunteers.
We found that NASA has already produced maps via a satellite that identifies areas of demographic concentration, as well as areas that are difficult to access within urban areas. If we use these maps in conjunction with the registration of people in their homes, we would be able to identify the degree of food vulnerability in that region and properly offer donations or products with low cost. These donations and products would be offered by local and national supermarket chains that would be registered on our platform.
Jaxi solves three problems facing Brazil today.
1) Social: identity which parts of Brazil in a high population density with food vulnerability or food insecurity to provide data for public and private initiatives on the post-pandemic situation.
2) Economic: provide revenue to minimize the losses and instabilities faced by the food shops sector
3) Logistics: how to properly redirect surplus food production that would be discarded.
With a totally social objective, people could register their own homes or through social workers in community centers in local neighborhoods. The stores could also make their registration reporting their food close to expiration date and specifying if they will sell or donate their products. Jaxi provides the map to the families registered in the platform with the places where there are food at low cost or for donation. In order to avoid agglomeration, we would generate limited codes (e.g. vouchers) giving priority to low-income families within a limited period of time. The families would get the food for free or by paying in the food shops. If we get a lot of families registered in the platform as well as food suppliers, we would share the data base to public and private initiatives to put efforts to help the families in need in these vulnerable areas.
The production of the site and map would be done within 1 month from partner programmers in which we contacted. We would use pre-provided resources from NASA to develop a new graphical and visual interface that demonstrates the place where people with food needs are found during the COVID-19 crisis. During this period we would be investing in marketing to attract companies, explaining the benefits of joining the site (minimizing losses, social action, future loyalty of potential customers). People would be contacted to register the website through social media, emailing and texting with the data base available from social initiatives and community activities already existing in their communities.
Today in Brazil, we have more than 80 thousand stores. In a not ideal scenario, if they reached at least 0.1%, this would be already 80 stores and on a scale of growth for the next two months of 5% would be 344 affiliates. If each one serves 10 consumers daily, that would be more than 100 thousand people impacted in 3 months. Considering an ideal scenario, this number could be even higher which demonstrates the feasibility of the project.
We are the six members team involved in voluntary initiatives focused on SDG impacts. Most of the members met as an individual participant in the challenge (4 out of 6). The diversity of experiences and knowledge brought synergy even though we didn't have a software developer.
At first, we did an individual study on the SDGs and when we exchanged ideas we realized that everyone had SDG 2 and SDG 10 in common as being the most latent problems in Brazil, but also in the world at the present time. We realized that the distribution of food and its poor management in supermarkets were the reason for a great waste of food.
We used Trello to organize tasks to each member.
We centered the families in need of food in the design thinking methodology and we used brainstorm to choose the best ideas. We used SWOT analysis and Lean Canvas to identify better our solution
Meanwhile, most of the people were facing problems in accessing quality food and entering a situation of vulnerability. For this reason, we decided to use NASA's geospatial mapping capabilities using satellites that provide information on population density and poverty.
However, data on households and how these people were affected in a pandemic scenario would be needed. For this reason, we made a questionnaire on Google and launched it on social networks (Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram) to find out how people were affected during Covid-19. Much of it was affected in relation to income (expenses increased, but the salary decreased). In addition, companies also faced a problem with food management that would be discarded due to the lack of adequate logistics.
We realized that they could create a website to redirect people in need to the market that offers it at a low cost. For that, we would need a developer, but nobody on the team has experience in the area. So, within our abilities, we made the website prototype, we thought about the structure, the policy, the marketing strategy, the costs and the prototype of the website.
We also applied a survey during the Hackaton in which 339 people responded and 91.4% confirmed the need to create a website like this, which shows that there is a demand.
We structured this into a complete social project that are committed to establish partnerships with developers who would be interested in moving the project forward.