| Project name | FANAL |
|---|---|
| Product demo | TBA |
| Video demo | TBA |
| Dissemination level | Public |
| Version | 0.2 / 20200522 |
| Text License | Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 |
| Contact form | Form |
| Status | Work in progress |
Did you know that the services for the marginalized and homeless are numerous, but poorly networked and hardly represented digitally? In the DACH region alone, over a quarter of a million people are homeless. The FANAL provides the portal to bring together the demand and supply of help. In contrast to other information portals, we concentrate on providing the right information quickly and easily, depending on what is essential for survival. We are a team of entrepreneurs for whom commitment for socially disadvantaged people is a matter of the heart. Essentially, we are the Yelp for the marginalized and our vision is to digitally communicate offers of help and drastically shorten information paths.
In spite of the immense welfare in the DACH countries, a not negligible number of marginalized people live with us. We want to reach out to them to lead a life in dignity and become part of our society. According to estimates, 237,000 people are homeless in Germany, around 13,900 in Austria and no reliable figures exist for Switzerland. The forgotten members of society have also arrived in the 21st century, but the digital world has not waited for them. Many of the marginalized have a mobile phone or smartphone to keep in touch with the outside world. We want to help them to find their way through the information jungle of offers of help and to bring together supply and demand for help.
The FANAL is a platform that collects offers of help for the homeless and other marginalized people on a basis that is as easy to understand and as technically undemanding as possible. These are presented in an easily understandable way (among other things on a map), needs and demand are surveyed and simple communication from help providers to those in need is provided.
The most suitable organizational form for our project is the association (Switzerland, "Verein"). The initiators will found and accompany the association after successful motivation of like-minded people.
We count on the active support of volunteers from our environment and the development community. Many social projects that were started in the course of the COVID 19 pandemic, e.g. in one of the many online hackathons, can be turned to a good cause during the pandemic.
The initiators will support the project according to their possibilities with personnel and work. We will also inspire our network for the project and look for contributors.
The FANAL is a non-profit project. Expense allowances are paid where necessary. We hope for a first small financing from a network for social projects and will try to place our project in a suitable place.
The FANAL uses easy-to-use technology that works on all end devices. Platform-specific applications or entertainment-intensive technologies are not suitable for contacting the target group. We rely on easily accessible and available open source technology and keep our own developments open source as well. We invite the developer community to participate in the project, each according to their skills and resources.
First of all, we want to provide a dedicated information map with offers for marginalized people (emergency sleeping places, food distribution, contact points). In a second phase we will create an information portal on the offers. In the third phase we want to provide a needs assessment in which concrete aids can be listed (e.g. sleeping mats, shoes, hygiene articles).
| Version planned | Content |
|---|---|
| 0.1 | Website and overview map of the offers |
| 0.2 | Catalogue of offers |
| 0.3 | Contact form for needs (advertised by suppliers) |
| 1.0 | Communication function, mental health services |
| 2.0 | Online credentials for proof of entitlement (local check-in) |
We are looking forward to any support. For inquiries about the project, please contact us via the contact form (click here).