Aldéame, an ethical employment portal for rural areas
The countryside needs someone who loves it. Who cares for it and gives it meaning and future. The figures leave little room for doubt. 80% of the Spanish population is concentrated in just 15% of the territory because the exodus to large urban centers has only increased in recent decades.
Therefore, working to halt the depopulation of rural areas is much more than a challenge. It is a necessity. And that is the essence of the Aldéame Project, a sort of large digital employment portal for the primary sector.
The power of this idea was what recently allowed its creators to win the third prize in the Terra Creative Jam, the program promoted by Campus Terra through the Area of Valorization, Transfer and Entrepreneurship of the USC (AVTE) in collaboration with the incubator Lug Open Factory.
Aldéame is a web/app that connects companies and entrepreneurs in livestock, agriculture and forestry with people interested in working in these sectors. The portal matches the needs of some with the interests of others. It prioritizes those offers and companies demonstrating the most ethical values and behavior regarding labor, environment, and animal health and care.
Greater visibility
How does it do this? By placing the offers of companies with more responsible behavior in the top positions of the platform. In other words, by giving them greater visibility among interested parties.
But the platform goes even further. Its creators explain: «You can filter by your interests, such as accommodation or veterinary service (any company on the platform will meet certain ethical minimums). In addition, there is a star rating that users will make, with which aspects such as ethics and treatment towards other people and animals, hospitality, accessibility...»
Behind the creation of Aldéame is a group of six philosophy students who, from the very beginning, saw the need to make up for several shortcomings. On the one hand, rural areas often suffer from a lack of workforce. On the other hand, there is the absence of a platform to attend to all the people who are genuinely interested in working in sectors such as livestock, agriculture or forestry. All of this is always subject to values such as animal, environmental and labor ethics.
Sabela Leiro Silva, Lucía Ocampo Pardo, Noelia Suárez Fernández, Irene Orodea Pena, Uxío Nemiña Formoso and Icía Anllo are the promoters of Aldéame. A project with very specific future plans and objectives:
«We want to improve ethics in rural areas and make it profitable even for large companies to act in this more responsible way».
This is Aldéame, the primary sector's sustainable, responsible and efficient future.