Share for Care. Communication Technologies and Social Inclusion for Empowerment in Guayaquil, Ecuador

This paper presents the main deliverable of Improving Access to Resources at Reduced Risk for Urban Areas with Strong Informal Settlements (IMPARAR), a project belonging to the realm of social innovation and development. IMPARAR aims at promoting social development and inclusion in the deprived neighborhoods of Guayaquil (Ecuador) by increasing citizen accessibility to public resources and services. Living conditions in informal settlements present several challenges, such as the lack of community management strategies, especially regarding access to services and risk prevention. Key determinants for such challenges are the poor communication between local communities and public administration, and the lack of territorial data in informal contests. To address these challenges as output of IMPARAR, we designed Share for Care, a two-way communication-intervention system, which is a composed solution characterized by a Digital Tool System and a Community-Based Organization. Share for Care is designed to support the communitarian and collaborative work of the population, by means of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). In the paper, the features of the system as well as the participatory approach adopted along the whole IMPARAR project are described. By combining communication technologies with policies of inclusion and social mobilization, Share for Care is designed to provide benefits to both public administrations and local communities.