Challenge 6 is a perfect fit for our solution. With the experience of some members within our group who are currently volunteers in NGOs (Non-governmental organizations), we saw a possibility of working with ODS number 2, which talks mainly about malnutrition and sustainable agriculture. To face this challenge, we decided to develop a platform, which will show NGOs' present needs, allowing the user to contribute to their cause. For the NGO, we’ll process all the donations, manage their demand and find the best deals in the market, allowing them to focus on their what really matters: their causes. Our main goal is to connect donors, NGOs, retailers and farmers, uniting the world on fighting big causes, especially those related to fighting hunger and ensuring food security.
Our idea originated from a major problem we observed here in Curitiba - Brazil: fundamental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were having problems with the reduction in the number of donations they were receiving. The pandemic struck them hard, and with them, the vulnerable populations that depend on their services fell at risk of grave consequences. We noticed that this was not a problem that was created by the pandemic, it only became more apparent and intense with it. Fundamentally, most people want to help, but do not know to whom to give. When they do, the logistical hurdles that must be overcome in order to donate may be so great, that donating on an individual basis becomes highly inefficient.
Due to a couple of our members being involved in the activities of some local humanitarian NGOs, we had the insider information that small, local and highly active NGOs generally depend on a restricted group of highly loyal donors. Donors that, in both pandemic as well as normal times, must brave the world and invest their time in order to simply donate. Our idea was: why not unite these groups into large giving communities and assume the logistics of donating? That way, no NGO would be at risk of insufficient resource mobilization and all would retain their independence, with their faithful donors being able to continue giving, but without any of the hassle of having to look for the best prices and taking their contributions to the local organizations by their own means.
With the NASA Space Apps COVID-19 Challenge “SDGs and COVID-19”, we saw the opportunity to work with SDG number 2: “Zero Hunger”, by helping NGOs to increase the amount of donations they could receive, therefore helping more people in need. Additionally, we also saw the opportunity to act on SDG number 3: “Good Health and Well-Being” according to the growth of our solution.
So how did we go about planning the way in which our idea would come into practice? Well, starting from the viewpoint of the individual donor: we would offer a platform on which he/she could choose NGOs to donate to, seeing their current needs and contributing to buying such specific items and resources. For example, should a local NGO dedicated to feeding the homeless population have a demand for foodstuffs, they could announce such a need on our platform in order for the individual donors to become aware of the urgent situation. Once aware, they would use our platform to donate, we would aggregate their individual donations into a massive investment and look for the best prices possible for acquiring the needed foodstuffs. Once bought, we would look for the best possible shipping options and take such logistical hardships out of the NGO’s responsibilities, allowing them to focus purely on their mission and the use of the donated resources.
We intend on using NASA GMAO weather data in synergy with UN-Habitat socio-demographic data related to general SDGs to the ends of determining urgent-need and at-risk regions. Once these are determined, we plan on searching for active NGOs in the area in order to give our donor communities the opportunity to contribute to local relief and well-being initiatives. In these regions we also plan on undertaking the logistical challenges of finding the best deals and transporting the acquired materials, allowing even small, native organizations to have a sustainable and stable business model.
The tools that will be used to develop the system are: Android app: html, css, js, ts, jsx, java (React Native). IOS app: html, css, js, ts, jsx, Objective-C (React Native). Website: html, css, js, ts, jsx (ReactJS). Services: - App/Website driven: js / ts / jsx (NODEJS) - External data consumer: java (SPRING). To manage all our services, we will use a linux server with command line interfaces (CLI). Our databases will be built with postgressql. All data exchange will be encrypted and secured using asymmetric cryptography.
Check out our prototype: https://xd.adobe.com/view/326bdf29-5d39-4cb5-55bc-40aedfb59784-445a/?fullscreen&hints=off
https://fluid.nccs.nasa.gov/reanalysis/
NASA > NCCS > Extreme Merra-2 (Climate Statistics) (https://fluid.nccs.nasa.gov/reanalysis/extreme_merra2/)(editado)
Arcgis > UN-Habitat > Basic services 1990-2018 (https://urban-data-guo-un-habitat.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/access-to-basic-services-by-population-between-1990-2018-4th-feb-2020/data?orderBy=County)