AIDE

In Bangladesh people are not aware of the need of consultancy before taking any life changing decisions.  Starting from Legal to Psychological issues people often end up taking the wrong step or no step at all because of time availability, accessibility and budget. We are Planning to provide a platform for the expert consultants of different fields and the help seekers to get connected instantly.A secured private communication system will be provided to Help seekers and consultants to communicate based on their problem criteria and budget. A platform to consult with an expert anytime anywhere is going to change the decision making process of the people of Bangladesh for good. People suffering from any personal problems will be greatly benefited by this platform as it will be a safe and barrier free medium for them to get connected to Consultants any time. Thus improving their lifestyle.

Consultancy is essential in our daily lives. In Bangladesh most people are not aware of the  purpose of a consultant even though they face daily challenges seeking expert advice .When it comes to mental health about 50 million people are suffering  according to a 2016 survey by (NIMH&R) Mental disorders are generally not perceived as a health problem .There is a negative attitude towards treatment of those affected and treatment is not a priority in health care delivery. Every year as many as 31 million people confront with legal challenges in Bangladesh .It's difficult to approach a suitable legal advisor .People fail to acknowledge the importance of legal rights.Legal victims are concerned about their privacy and insecure of service loyalty. General people are not familiar with legal terms thus fail to categorize their crisis to  seek advisors accordingly.The contributing factor to these problems is the lack of awareness and availability of consultants.The prevalence estimate of the psychiatric estimate is prone to underestimation as majority of the patients and their parents deny because of the social stigma attached to mental disorders. Political tension ,limited legal knowledge and little technological use has made the problem more difficult to solve.

AIDE is a system that will provide a consulting platform for Lawyers and Clients ; Psychiatrists and Patients; Fresh Graduates. The system is planned to be user friendly, ensuring end-to-end security of all profiles. Users will have time efficient and cost effective access to digital consultancy .AIDE will categorize the users based on age(Adults and teenagers) and the type of problem(Anxiety & panic attacks. Bipolar disorder. Depression. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Harassment etc.) and connect them with their respective consultants. Starting from parenting to career guidance counsel Aide is willing to provide better consultancy.We sent out survey forms and statement forms ,reaching a vast pool of people, collecting responses regarding legal and psychological issues. From people's personal statements and research we narrowed down the need to possible sector for consultancy.Mental health services are virtually non-existent at primary care level Whereas mental well-being impacts everything in our lives.We are better able to cope with difficult times in our personal , professional lives and learn about stress management. AIDE will offer a platform connecting Psychiatrists and the patients  for better consultancy at the same time develop the economic situation of Bangladesh by generating income for the Consultants.

Our solution is  to provide a system with better Accessibility and Connectivity.The system will be easily accessible, User Friendly, Time and Cost efficient. using a device with a working internet connection People can connect with us Any time Anywhere.

We're planning to build

>An application for both Android and iOS

>A Web-based-Application of a centralized system to help finding crisis resources

The system will provide help seekers with a platform to consult with the experts in the fields of (not limited to) Psychological and Legal issue.It will be extended to Consultancy Platform with sub sectors :

 >Nutrition Consultation

>Tech  &IT Consultation

> Career Counseling

>Business Consultancy

>Employment and Rehabilitation Counseling for  Physically challenged person

Our system will  have two user ends

1.Help Seeker 

2. Professional Consultant (eg:Psychologist/Nutritionist/Physiotherapist)

We will connect both users through a chat window and Profile Sharing according to their problem and preference followed by options

>to Voice call,Video call and Setting up Appointment maintaining secured privacy of both user ends.

> to anonymously consult bearing in mind the privacy of the user which will be monitored thoroughly by the administration.

Service Access:Users will have to select their problem type and budget. Based on these the system will connect them with an available consultant right away.For the service seeker the user profile will be of two categories

 'General' provide with experienced ,skilled and budget friendly counseling

> 'Premium' providing  the top rated Consultants with More work experience.

 User will also have

> access to all consultancy services using a single account.

>free subscription system being verified by valid ids.

>Full control to organize their profiles. Users' history will be

saved to their account for future references(For both user ends).

>the liberty of choosing to continue with the process or not based on their satisfaction.

 >the opportunity to give feedback regarding any session.

>Appointments and self care reminders that will be delivered as push notification.

Payment Procedure:

>To download and register for profile the procedure is absolutely free of charges

>Payment is  based on hourly rate with a fixed base rate. the transactions will be made with payment gateways considering the flexibility of payment through bKash, Debit Card, Credit Card etc. 

Processes and technology:

For security and login we are planning to use Google's authentication service

allowing two-step verification.

For data storage, we plan to use Google's firebase system. To ensure authentication,reporting, fixing app crashes simultaneously there will be a dedicated team.

What makes AIDE innovative is the idea of bringing all the consultants from different fields in a single platform and the plan of execution from their own professions.

Connecting more people through a platform will effectively better the life of the individuals and  contribute a large to the socioeconomic field of Bangladesh by increasing the work rate of the consultants.

In  Bangladesh the existing situation of consultancy of any sort  is manual, neither time efficient nor easily accessible. Although there are some websites offering consultancy for psychological patients but almost all of them use chat bots as a solution and require credits. Bots are not well equipped to understand human reasoning.

AIDE is focused on breaking the barrier of time and effort of going to a consultant and making consultancy much more accessible through real time communication. Creating job opportunities for under-researched area professionals and fresh graduates. Involving more people available to communicate and work. We propose something better than bot initiated chats.

Tech enthusiasts,Youngsters, Fresh law /Business/ Engineer Graduates  can work with us remotely increasing their work experience and getting paid or have posts as interns. Their skills can contribute AIDE to become a very progressive platform to use in our daily lives. Students will be able to inquire about their field of interest and take wise decisions before starting a career.

AIDE is a completely unique approach to expert advice, problem solving and better lifestyle for the people of Bangladesh.

AIDE is willing  to provide people a service with 

• Secured identity

• Easy accessibility

• Cost effectiveness

• Time efficiency

• User Friendly interface

•  Cross platform app

• Professional advice

The ability to distinguish between choice and needs plays a vital role.People tend to feel overwhelmed by the decision-making process as the ramifications of our decisions are more significant.

In many situations we seek an expert advice from a third person or professional. But because of the lack of availability  and awareness we fail to understand “ whom” and “when” to seek.

Even for parents, they are required to make decisions for another human being, their children and the results of those decisions can dramatically change the life of the children.

We conducted  surveys and took statements that address the current drawbacks in Bangladesh. Surveys shows that people are more comfortable communicating with others when they're chatting/texting with them.Most people are not even aware of their human rights in their own country. 75% People facing mental health are not consulting any professional. People who have past records of assault cannot find any trustworthy person to talk. Woman during pregnancy suffer from depression and extreme mood swings , along with their gynecologist a Psychiatrist should also be appointed.

The importance of Psychiatrists are often neglected. Professionals tend to leave the country to have better opportunities. All of the consultancy services find it difficult to reach people . Our first hand survey clearly states the void of aide in our daily lives

https://drive.google.com/open?...

As AIDE targets to serve general people ,Professional consultants and fresh graduates .Our aim is to  provide a secure platform that will generate job opportunities.  

To have our service there is no age or sociocultural restrictions. Along with Legal and psychological consultancy we plan to add more sections :Nutrition,IT, Career,Business consultancy and rehabilitation support services for physically challenged patients. Anyone with internet access can connect with us which makes our service-seekers pool vast in number.

We are hoping to serve more than 20 thousand service seekers and consultants in one year of the establishment of our service. Along with a cooperative working team, sufficient funding and proper monitoring  we plan to achieve for about 2.5 million users within five years as we aim for larger impact.

Within the next few months our goal is to lay all the background work needed.

+Recruit and form all our teams with skillful and enthusiastic individuals.

+List down and Approach the NGOs and organizations.

+Draw out a business and event plan throughout a year.

Within the next year we will get our system ready for beta testing. And launch the final version of our system to reach approx 30thousand people and start generating revenues as soon as the service comes to the market. By hosting various events, awareness campaign, media publications we plan to put a spotlight and establish a permanent office to provide all services from a designated center within the next five years targeting around 3million users of the system. We also plan to publish a regular column section  in our daily newspaper to reach people who are not always socially connected and publish magazines to circulate educational and corporate areas.

Us working and trying to raise awareness . More people  will be involved and initiate to come up with much better ideas. An optimistic person will always have the courage to help  build confidence in others. So if we can help at least 65% person of 20.628 Million people in Dhaka. This 65% people can enrich and enlighten others creating a positive butterfly effect. Thus begins the small ripples of development.All these endeavors will of course have an impact among a heavily densely populated country of 164.7 million people, Bangladesh.

The barriers that currently exist are mostly the

• lack of awareness among the people. The stereotypical culture of Bangladesh doesn’t support the necessity of consultancy let alone consulting a psychologist.

• Insufficient funding and lack of proper revenue model. 

• The system will require a strong back-end platform of networking & security,data collection and analysis.  

• Marketing advertising drawbacks leading to network resistance.

To overcome the barriers:

We plan to host social awareness campaigns in different Educational institutions, Corporate sites ,Organizations of  Women & Children affairs with collaboration of different NGOs 

To reach more people and create a wave of impact we plan to establish a social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) platform .Also providing service seekers with a community and visual stories to share embedding a huge network.

To establish a proper revenue model we will be  forming a business team and seek collaboration from business experts. We also plan to host different cultural events , book fair, tech events consisting of programming  and developing competitions. Pitching these event plans and our project we should be able to collect enough seed money from potential sponsors or partners to kick start the service and generate revenues from it.

 The system will require a fluent back-end working team to keep up the workflow of an organization. An IT team will be in charge of networking and security along with data collection and analysis. From our tech events and competitions we plan to filter and enlarge our IT team with tech enthusiastic people from all over Bangladesh.

Currently there are 2 people working in our team who came up with the idea. As this is still a concept we are planning to expand by hiring full time and part time staffs in the near future.

Both the team members are undergraduates studying Computer Science and Engineering , Major.

As one of them is obtaining minor in Anthropology and the other obtaining minor in Marketing. With knowledge of human behavior, social and cultural anthropology we were able to identify the roots of these problems. Surely none over-generalized beliefs can be easily broken but a system of awareness can be established with better plan and business program to make people more involved.

Our other member with knowledge of marketing and economic vulnerability in Bangladesh is drawing plans to make AIDE more business efficient which will create job opportunities among youth and other professionals.

Being thoroughly involved with IEEE Student Branch (Executive Members), JAAGO Foundation , Youth Wave Student Society and organizing Social ,Technological events to Hult Prize'19 (Campus Round) we developed our management and leadership skills. As tech enthusiasts we are also connected with Association for Computing Machinery (ACM ) Society. Participated in hackathons(ie.Bracathon 3.0) as well as programming contests.

With the wide range of network and experience of working with under privileged  people to inter university programs we have a very good understanding of organizational prospects and a strong position to deliver a solution to solve the problem.

We believe our dedication to achieve something will surely make an impact.

N/A

Type of Intervention: A service to connect help seeking individuals and professional experts.

Our key resources includes:

Physical resources : Online platforms (Application,website), Office Space

Human resources: IT : Business , Public Relations, Management , Customer

Intellectual resources: Analytics Expertise, Data & Algorithm.

Financial resources: Funding. 

Customer Segmentation and Relation: 

• People in Need of Expert Advice

• Rating & Feedback System

• Customer Support

• Self Service

Distribution Channels:

• Mobile App

• Website

• Social Media

• Word of  Mouth

• Online & Offline Advertising

Value Proposition: 

 For Consultants: 

•  Income Generation 

• Flexible Work Hours

• Low Idle Time

• Additional Source of Income

• Can Work Part Time

• Feedback Option

For Customers/Service Seekers:

• Convenience

• Easy Transaction

• Minimum Waiting Time

• No Hassle of Waiting In Line

• No Hassle of Transportation

• Upfront Pricing

• Rating System

• Feedback Option

Partners & Stakeholders:

• Consultants

• Technology Partners

• Payment Gateway

• Investors

Cost Structure:

• Employee Salaries

• Technology Development 

• R&D

• Marketing

• Legal Activities

As we scale up the charges will increase.

Revenue: A 20% of all the transactions made with this platform will be charged as service wage. And revenue generated from app download and ad services. There will be a premium option for the users to connect with the top rated consultants.Brand Partnership and Advertising. 

Surplus: 60% will be reinvested in the venture and the other 40% will be repaid to the administrations.

20% Service charge from all the transactions made through the platform. 

Managing sponsorships and partnerships from relevant companies ie. Banks, Telecom Operators.

To gain financial sustainability we will be focusing on gaining more customers with time going. Manage the cash flow accordingly. 

Use long term funds focusing on long term effect. Create a chart of accounts. 

Create a structured financial plan and review it every six months or more frequently. 

Incorporate activities and services in organizations with a similar mission.

Organize Fundraiser events.

As the world is changing at a rapid pace we want to provide people with a support to have a flourishing life . A person having an optimistic mind can change the world. As we plan to work and be the Change-makers we have drafted our project AIDE to Tiger Challenge.

As our project is at Idea & Planning stage ,it is difficult to draw attention and encourage people.

Pitching this idea and implementing it will require a huge workforce team and a lot of funding.If our project is selected we can encourage more people to share this platform. With the funding provided we plan to build our infrastructure first. To reach  collaboration, sponsors, skillful team members and volunteers ;Tiger Challenge experience can help us develop an enriched portfolio.

To startup a business one should have a strategic and operational support.  Work experience and guidance from a professional can help us being more potential. We can train and hire more volunteers / workers to work with us.With an established office space, working in the spotlight cover media and publications we can make people believe our loyalty and sincerity giving them the freedom of sanity check.

In case of the project being selected it will help reach our goal at a faster pace.

We look forward to work with and have guidance from the organizations,agencies and communities mentioned below as we share the same vision:

Tiger IT : As they promote and accelerate innovative solutions and ideas that can have global impact and can provide us with full fledged technical support.

TEDx : As it's a local gathering that inspire and inform, we want speakers and activists like Sara Zaker ,Tanzeem Chowdhury to help us raise awareness and inform people about our services.

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): the lead federal agency for research on mental disorders. We can provide crisis resources to our websites from their research and encourage more people to join.

Kaan Pete Roi  : An emotional support helpline in Bangladesh.. The mission of the helpline is to alleviate feelings of despair, isolation, distress, and suicidal feelings among members of the community, through confidential listening

Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) : They have counseling and Rehabilitation department separately for physically challenged people.

Psycho-social Counseling UnitAin O Salish Kendra (ASK) :They host awareness campaign and provide support  of legal Aid , human rights , advocacy and networking.

National Trauma Counseling Center: They provide psycho-social counseling support to violence against women and children.Conduct different type’s psycho-social counseling training for Human Resource Development and Organize awareness raising program for changing mindset of the people.

WHO: As they collaborate with civil society and universities.Their limelight can help us reach a large number of people.