Autarky (economic empowerment)

Autarky is powered by diversity, which is the powerhouse of an interested and engaged community of users from all walks of life. This diversity breaks down social barriers by enabling citizens and refugees to interact as equally empowered participants in mutually beneficial, non-monetary exchanges. Points are awarded at a universal per-hour value. We are actively driving digital literacy and equipping refugees and other fragile state individuals with durable skills needed to stay apace with the changing and advancing job market, even during economic downturns like the recession caused by COVID-19. Autarky simultaneously provides an expansive network of productive users from around the world to ensure equality and mutuality. Because these digital hubs are managed by refugees, who present rare entrepreneurial opportunities, which can ultimately transform stagnant communities into places of opportunity and growth as well as developing fragile states to developing countries from the inside out.

Forcibly displaced people - a total of 67 million worldwide - are comprised of 27 million stateless refugees and the other half of internally displaced persons, and only one percent of this population has ever been able to relocate with work-permits. These refugees often spend 17 years segregated in camps, lack necessary support to learn the host countries language, and have found it impossible to work as countries have set up bureaucratic barriers to prevent legal employment. Almost two thirds of refugees are active mobile phone users, and 86% of Syrian refugees have access to smartphones. According to a study conducted by GSMA and the UN, literacy and digital skills are the key barriers to mobile phone ownership for these refugees, and thousands of refugees have enrolled in online courses. Mobile phones are oftentimes the only way to communicate as a lifeline and the unfortunately the only bright light that identifies them in the world. Digital identity is essential for accessing basic services and a prerequisite for socio-economic development. As refugees relocate from country to country, their legal identification is forgotten, lost, or destroyed, and in rare cases are left as a single folder of crumpled and lifeless paper.

Autarky is an alternative economic platform that uses a simple and secured mobile application to improve the lives of society's most vulnerable and facilitate evermore connection among humans everywhere. Home is a feeling of safety and security, and Autarky ensures that refugees have a familiar, harmonious, and tolerant community. Studies have shown that innumerable psychological benefits arise from the feeling of adding value to ones community and nurturing meaningful connections. 

Autarky works two ways. One, the mobile app will offer and facilitate decentralized, non-monetary transactions by using a points system to make all users start from the ground up. This automatically evens the playing field, and makes all users (whether refugee or citizen) equal in terms of skills and wealth. Two, Autarky can provide an hour of low cost solar energy to charge mobile devices via a partner in return for an hour of service provided by refugees. 

From skilled consultancy, computer science classes, to syrian cooking recipes, refugees and citizens can offer each other various skills and values inorder to economically empower each other to become productive once more. 

Refugees are often targeted with the rise of xenophobic nationalism and white supremacy perpetuating a fear of “outsiders” which threatens united humanity. Integration into the economic, cultural, and social spheres are the most effective ways of rehabilitating refugees & marginalized communities. 

After interviewing multiple UNHCR officers, they all stated that even whilst in camps, refugees want to resume normal lives, make connections, feel productive and valuable — and most of all, to feel a sense of belonging in their new communities. Currently, this talent is being wasted in the bureaucratic backwaters of organizations which can't process papers fast enough to match the rate at which people are arriving. These individuals are forced into poverty, despite having monetizable skills and talents

Work environment is one of the best places to meet others and equip labor market skills. To solve refugees unemployment rates as well as curating a comforting community, Autarky provides a inclusive digital free market system that not only provides them with a chance to feel productive and offer their talent, but a plus of a community of users to ensure equality and mutual connections. 

In the face of the pandemic, low skilled refugees are at risk through the looming recession and as cases peak once again. However, our app enables refugees come at the forefront of these technological advancements and equip them with appropriate and demanding job market skills, resources, and networks to access more opportunities and a like-minded community. Because we are transitioning the digital market to a safe and secure platform, there will also be a drastic decrease of the spread of COVID-19 in cramped refugee camps, as many will find all their resources at the tips of their fingers.

Our application is unique and is a new dimension on its own in this growing migration crisis. Not many have taken an effort to expand on pre-existing technologies and advance towards more multi-functional and multi-disciplinary work to both provide an inclusive community as well as drive digital literacy in refugees. Unlike Chatterbox, a language skill app primarily for refugees, only those with proper credentials and experience of teaching are qualified on the app. We, however, recognize that not all refugees have the proper skills to teach and might have differing passions, that's why our app is aimed to include a diverse skillset and allow anyone to advance.  

Our solution is powered as a new application on pre-existing technology, and more specifically is simplified to be a mobile or web application for quick adaptions and easy access on all types of devices that exist. Our solutions focus on how we can take advantage of mass proliferation of one tool in order to provide tools in a single stretch on a finger, and from anywhere in the world. Refugees and equivalent individuals have limited access to new technology, and we want to enable ways to innovate with what's already largely available. 

Our solution utilizes a widely accepted and used technology: phones and laptops. Our apps will be easy to download, light on storage, and return data through our service exchange of energy. 

Currently we are in the concept phase and are advancing towards developing prototypes and beta versions of the app. We are looking for skilled developers to help us out and a large audience of refugees to give feedback on ways to strengthen our app by the next year. In five years, we hope to advance our app to a fully functional and fully available application on most used devices like Apple and Android. We are hoping of scaling our community to 500 active refugees and 300 active civilians in the next five years on the app. 

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One of the first and most important barriers is proper and efficient development of the application. We are need of highly skilled developers to build the app in order for us to begin testing and release the beta version to a select experimental group comprised of refugees and civilians. In terms of marketing, we might need partnerships to advance the outreach and engagement of our application. 

The solve community has an incredibly diverse group of individuals from various backgrounds, who can provide us with possible networks to humanitarian, civic, and service partnerships inorder to increase impact and cover more refugees looking for work. The MITSolve community also has many strong developers and experienced technical leads to help structure the app more pronounced. 

This is a single run concept development; however, I am working towards gathering a team and establishing ourselves as a nonprofit soon. 

One

Alia is a senior at Brashier Middle College and is working towards obtaining an AA in Arts and Sciences at her local community college. A recovering Chicagoan, now living in the South, Alia has experienced prejudice, discrimination, and racism in a predominantly extreme, right-winged Caucasian state. Overcoming these obstacles, Alia founded The Libertas Tribune as a means to drive political literacy in young, under-served, minority teens. Her experience with journalism and communications has set her podcast, Azadi, at high listenership and is known notably for it's insight and resourcefulness in political activism provided by incredible young guest panelists. Much of Alia's work has been recognized for it's extensive background of developing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and conducting herself as an advocate for gender-equality, humanity, and political participation as a Women Deliver Young Leader. Currently, Alia is developing an alternative economic app alongside writing a dynamic economic empowerment book for refugees under the mentorship of Professor Koester of Georgetown University. She is also conducting original behavioral economics research under Professor Gallo of Cambridge as a Horizon Scholar, while leading a team of 50+ as a executive lead researcher for her project proposal 'refugee security' under CVT at Harvard. Alia is a prospective political science major and hopes to bring youth at the forefront of political change and civic engagement through her intensive and unique approach in teaching politics. 

Women Delivers and CVT at Harvard

I'd like to break barriers that are preventing me from advancing our app into tangible action. Despite my little computer science and developmental skills, as a Solver I will be enabled to receive peer and expert review and help to scale the work in about 9 months time. This fits perfect with the timeline of my goals and where I see the application in 1 year. MITSolve can play a pivotal role in the lives of refugees and the evergrowing migration crisis by scaling work that is humanitarian and does not need to receive much funding; which is exactly why my application qualifies for the program. 

Once again the partnering goals are to help expose as many refugees and asylum seekers to the app, inorder to grow its community hub and drive the digital market from the ground. Inorder to do so, if I could work with closely with the UNHCR, OCHA, InterAction, MIRR Alliance, etc I would be able to gain immense feedback and distribute according to the needs of refugees themselves. 

It would be an honor to partner with MITLab and other Solve members to collaborate and gain insight on ways we can add valuable features to our application on pre-existing tech, and if there is new technology we can articulate towards. Like specified above, I would require support in building the software and gaining feedback. 

Our application is the best fit for the Andan Prize as it thrives to bridge barriers and include refugees in the economics spectrum of the world that is expanding as quick as we speak. As technology is at the forefront of advancing daily, we place refugees at the front as well and lead them to a more skilled, digitally active, and confident selves. Our goal is simple: we want to empower refugees in both socially and economic terms. Our application allows refugees to be in an inclusive, safe, and comforting community hub online as well as making them equal economic participants in a point-system exchange market. Our app equips refugees with demanding market skills, language skills of host countries, a lifestyle, a equal voice, a way to resume their lives and have an identity once again. 

Our app is made by a young girl who wishes to see the world through a gender-equal lens. This Women Deliver Young Leader has ensured that even our application would encourage young refugee girls and women to be at the forefront of our advancing tool. As we are data driven, we will keep track of the gender ratio and aim to create a even ground in the digital market, where women have a workspace to feel equal in for the very first time in history. 

Our application is the best fit for the GM Prize as it thrives to bridge barriers and include refugees in the economics spectrum of the world that is expanding as quick as we speak. As technology is at the forefront of advancing daily, we place refugees at the front as well and lead them to a more skilled, digitally active, and confident selves. Our goal is simple: we want to empower refugees in both socially and economic terms. Our application allows refugees to be in an inclusive, safe, and comforting community hub online as well as making them equal economic participants in a point-system exchange market. Our app equips refugees with demanding market skills, language skills of host countries, a lifestyle, a equal voice, a way to resume their lives and have an identity once again. 

We qualify for the Gulbenkian Award for Adult Literacy as our application on pre-existing technology aims to drive digital literacy in refugees. As Adults refugees have lost their jobs in the face of civil crisis, we aim to make them productive and empowered individuals at the forefront of advancing technological revolution. Our app will equip them with demanding labor market skills, communicative, empower cognitive advancements, and full understanding of how to evaluate online resources and trustworthiness at the tips of their fingers. 

Our application is the best fit for the AI for Humanity as it thrives to bridge barriers and include refugees in the economics spectrum of the world that is expanding as quick as we speak. As technology is at the forefront of advancing daily, we place refugees at the front as well and lead them to a more skilled, digitally active, and confident selves. Our goal is simple: we want to empower refugees in both socially and economic terms. Our application allows refugees to be in an inclusive, safe, and comforting community hub online as well as making them equal economic participants in a point-system exchange market. Our app equips refugees with demanding market skills, language skills of host countries, a lifestyle, a equal voice, a way to resume their lives and have an identity once again. We are looking forward to incorporating AI and deep machine learning to make our application as easy accessible as possible by refugees, and by doing so we will be able to preserve the identity and cultures of these individuals who have been made to flee their homes. Our beneficial development enables social dialogue between refugees and civilians. Our application will aim for well-being, respect for autonomy, protection of privacy and security, equity, diversity through the community hubs, solidarity, democratic participation, responsibility, and prudence.