Flatten the curve! What can I do as citizen?

As we told you in a previous post,Frena La Curva is the repository of citizen initiatives in Spain against the #coronavirus launched in 24 hours Social innovation and civic resilience in times of pandemic!

Since Sunday March 15 there are many groups in Latin America wanting to replicate this experience as well as in other countries in Europe. Do you want to join? Here we tell you how!

What do you need to start a platform like this?

First of all you need a team! it is recommended to have at least 4 or 5 people with the capacity to:

• 1) set up the web
• 2) select initiatives that can begin to nurture that database
• 3) write content and curate information about the virus in the country
• 4) Dissemination and communication

Technology: where do I start?

To create a new Frenalacurva in a country, the best is to continue with the editorial and visual line of the project using the visual image and the domain name, if you want…

• Discourse (https://discourse.org), a free software based on open source Ruby, Python, Redis and Docker, has been used in most of the countries. But we believe that it is good to let each country use the software they deem appropriate and where they feel most comfortable to grow, and work together.

• Once the platform is installed and following the visual identity of Frenalacurva, we can point the domain {nameofthecountry}.frenalacurva.net to the IP that country has decided to install whatever website they created. In this way, in our “home” we can put links to all the countries created.

We chose this display in the form of a forum because it was the easiest to set up and the easiest to handle for the majority of the population, who are more used to that type of system.

The developer team is available from Spain for questions or to organize collective calls, but in general each country will evolve differently depending on its needs and characteristics …

Experiences that are now underway: (March 19 12pm CET)

• Mexico and Colombia have their platforms online!
• Costa Rica, Uruguay and Argentina – have started strongly and will advance fast today!
• Brazil started yesterday and more and more people are joining
• Yesterday the groups from Peru, Ecuador, Chile and Guatemala began
• Venezuela and El Salvador about to enter

Active Involvement!

If you are willing to dedicate at least an average of 3 hours a day this week to promote this platform in your country (both technically and content generation and promoting citizen initiatives), go ahead!

If you think you don’t have enough time now, or you’re still in shock, don’t worry! The time will come when you can contribute to the dissemination phase or promote specific initiatives in your neighborhood. You just have to find the way to channel energy in these difficult times.

If you know someone crucial to promote it in your country, welcome! pass this link and contact us!

They are looking for social entrepreneurs, makers, programmers and above all, people with desire who want to put into practice, with their extra time at home, a new way of working in community https://frenalacurva.net/

What are the communication channels? How can I be part of?

Coordination is being done by telegram on two different channels, one national and one created by countries. Recommendation: if you want to be part of this movement in your country, see if there is already a people in your country and add your name! Here: shared document that we are updating with new names! or you can directly joint our telegram group!

Important: think if you are going to be able to have the time and energy, that messages to this group will not stop uploading!

Phases in “Flatten the Curve” platform:

Phases in this process and content:

• Identify people interested in replicating the model
• Support the creation of similar platforms at a technical level
• Basic and reliable information on the virus
• Citizen initiatives for cooperation and resilience
• Promotion of more citizen initiatives
• Communication and dissemination of the platform
• Impulse for prototyping social impact projects appropriate to the needs of each place and based on the experience of other countries … for example: masks, low cost respirators, food access, etc …

What is incredible and amazing in this process:

• The collaboration between different organizations
• The start of communities with the main goal to help – they are going to be key during the coronavirus crisis
• The incredibly quick test of solutions
• The feeling of working for something that really matters right now
• The hope to anticipate problems in other countries and make them to react quicker than we did