Urban Dosth, MEPMA, Telangana

"Urban Dost"connects Homeless to Shelters via Citizen Participation in Telangana

“URBAN DOSTH” is an initiative of Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA), Telangana to let the citizens contribute to the cause of “Urban Homeless Shelters”. Government of Telangana has established Shelter for Urban Homeless under DAY-NULM, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Govt. of India in various ULBs. This Mobile app connects the Citizens to Homeless persons so that the Homeless find the Shelters by common citizen.

Background:

Shelters are established for Homeless in the State of Telangana. Many Citizens may find homeless persons on their way to home, work place, school, college, etc but they do not have information on where to take them or whom to be informed regarding such homeless persons. There is a need to fill this gap and provide a solution that can make Citizens part of the initiative to reach it to the real beneficiaries.

Solution:

In this era of Mobile technology every Citizen has adopted the new revolution and smart phone is being used for many commercial & personal purposes. It’s been a part of every one’s life. Hence MEPMA has developed an Android based Mobile app “URBAN DOSTH” where every citizen who has a smart phone can be a part of the initiative by reporting a Homeless person they spot nearby them. By this the reach is increased.

How it works:

Any Citizen can download “URBAN DOSTH” app from Google Play store. As they Download they can choose their ULB (Municipality) and Area from the drop down.

On user Dashboard user have option to “Capture a Homeless” by selecting the option. Mobile Camera opens and can capture the picture of the homeless.

App also takes the location from where the image is captured hence the location is geo-tagged. User can give visible remarks of the homeless such as Gender, approximate age, wounds on the body, nearby land mark, location remarks etc with his own contact information on the form so that he can be contacted in case any additional information required by the officials.

Once the user submits the form, based on the location and area from where the form is submitted, system sends the information to local concerned officer & Concerned NGO/ agency who is maintaining the shelter. Local concerned officers can act up on the same and relocate the homeless/ destitute to the nearest shelter. Also when user submits the data, app shows him the location of nearby shelters.

App also facilitates users to view the nearby shelters information such as Shelter name, area, photographs, location, type of shelter, managing person/ agency, their contact information etc based on the location of the person; app also shows the route direction to the chosen shelter from user location via Google Maps. User can also view the information of other shelters by searching with ULB name.

A cloud based dashboard will be provided to the authority at different hierarchical levels to view the requests received along with the location on map to identify them. Authority can also update and view the information on dashboard to keep track of the requests received & action taken for better effective administration.

Outcomes:

Increasing the awareness among Citizens and homeless regarding Shelters

Making citizens a part of rehabilitation process

Increasing the reach ability of the initiative

Accessible anytime and anywhere

Information at fingertips

Direct communication from citizens