Designing at the service of rural territory

Resumo

This article provides the results of the final project developed to obtain the title as Industrial Designers of the National University of Colombia in Bogota. As designers we have found an opportunity to solve Service Design issues related to food waste while working hand in hand with the Archdiocesan Food Bank of Bogotá, which was founded eighteen years ago with the aim to join the academy thus private and public sector, with non-profit organizations that serve to vulnerable populations by collecting, selecting and distributing food, goods and services, donated or purchased. We believe organizations like these have a huge potential to guarantee food security for the Colombian population by reducing waste and reaching quality food to those in need. That's why as a result for this project we have developed ideas of improvement to be implemented on the actual service of PREA (“Programa de Recolección de Excedentes Agrícolas”, Collection of Agricultural Surpluses Program), one of many the programs that belongs to the Food Bank previously mentioned. During the whole process we have realized that through design there are many possibilities to make these services and programs more "usable", simple and replicable. The full implementation of this project could create new bridges between stakeholders of the food industry and food banks, so they would all be involved on a circular and sustainable economy. The design process includes research, co-creation with the food bank team, use of creative tools and many field work days. This project not only consists of a diagnose of the major areas of weakness of the service, but also provides a guide portrayed in a blueprint, to improve specific areas of the service and highlight the phases that require more attention from the bank directors.