A tech platform linking volunteers with distressed citizens during coronavirus lockdown

To help Covid-19 volunteers and task forces coordinate and communicate better, let consumers discover service providers during the lockdown period, a startup has designed DailyGET, a generic task/order communication platform.

For relief volunteers distributing daily essentials to distressed citizens, the DailyGET (DG) app has a catalogue of products. A banner/broadcast feature lets a volunteer send a customised communication with an image.

Once the DG manager app is downloaded, the volunteers could list the items they are distributing, and become discoverable in the serviceable area.

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“Citizens, too, can download the customer app, identify the volunteers in the nearby area and post their requirements to the volunteers,” explains the startup’s cofounder, Nilesh Hiray.

Lockdown relief operations by multiple citizen groups and NGOs have often been plagued by coordination issues, duplication problems and deserving people getting left out.

The app, says Hiray, addresses this problem. "Coordinators can download the app, create a list of specific tasks (grocery delivery, etc), and explore volunteers in the nearby area. Volunteers interested to deliver groceries in the created list could then be added, and tasks delegated to each one separately.”

To keep track of the tasks, volunteers could mark the status of each task such as received or completed. The coordinator could check for the order status in the list of notifications. Hiray and Anand Kulkarni had developed the platform late last year before modifying it for the lockdown needs.

Volunteers could also onboard nearby grocery shops and vegetable vendors in the area on the DG manager app, help them create their business profile and become discoverable. Customers who require groceries and vegetables can directly find these stores on the DailyGet app and post their requirements as per their needs.

Command centre module

To integrate with task forces working on relief measures, the team behind DailyGET says it is also developing a command centre module. This module will work with the service platform so that task forces working with the district and local command centres could also be integrated.

This, the founders say, would enable the authorities to coordinate any relief effort across a state. “The PDS services, subsidised medical shops, police department and rescue services can also be integrated into the platform, besides counseling, medical assistance and
queries.”