This project was developed as the result of the Innovation challenge For more data on labor informality hackathon, organized by Datalat, PNUD Ecuador, UN Women Ecuador, and the International Labour Organization.
Figure 1.- Logo of the Kolekti project.
The hackathon
The Innovation challenge For more data on labor informality hackathon searched for a technological solution to collect labor informality data in Ecuador. In the first stage of this challenge, there were 39 proposals from 80 interdisciplinary teams.
Then, three finalists teams were selected to create a prototype of the idea for one month.
Our solution
Kolekti was meant to be a friendly and innovative webpage that gathered information from workers in labor informality and employers, creating a community where all people could interact with each other and generating suitable work opportunities.
In this way, we created a different way to collect and share data. Kolekti’s architecture was based on two main data management schemes: Open Data and Data Privacy. The information would not only be available to everyone and give valuable insight, but it would also be protected, it would be anonymous and the people who voluntarily share their data, will receive a lot of benefits. These advantages included access to courses, events, informative blogs, a job portal, and a forum. The only thing we asked from the users in return was their employment status information.
Our solution was able to present reliable and up-to date information about the labor situation in Ecuador, and at the same time, it created a community in which people can learn, meet other people, solve their doubts and maybe even motivate themselves enough to start their own businesses.
With this technological solution we were the winners of this hackathon .
In addition, our project was selected to be presented at the YouthLead Innovation Festival, organized by the United Nations offices.
This event gathered innovative youth-led solutions for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Kolekti was part of the Digital Technology Session of this event.
Additional information
If you want to check out our webpage, it is available at this link. Also, this blog in Spanish has a detailed explanation of the challenge.