Meraki

About the Project

The increasing demands of work and family responsibilities have created challenges for working parents in finding reliable childcare, tutoring, and caregiving services. Many families rely on informal channels, particularly social media, to search for suitable service providers. However, these platforms often lack proper identity verification, transparent reviews, and secure payment mechanisms, exposing users to risks such as unverified qualifications, misleading information, and fraudulent transactions. To address these challenges, Meraki was developed as a centralized digital platform that connects households with verified local babysitters, tutors, and caregivers in a secure and accessible environment. The primary objectives of Meraki are to simplify service discovery, enhance user trust, facilitate secure transactions, and create employment opportunities for skilled individuals. To achieve these objectives, the platform integrates several key functionalities, including role-based dashboards, privacy-conscious location-based service discovery, identity and qualification verification, an escrow-based payment system that releases funds upon service completion, and a review mechanism restricted to verified bookings. These functionalities provide a structured approach to managing service arrangements while promoting transparency, accountability, and security between households and service providers. The main contribution of Meraki lies in integrating provider verification, location-based service discovery, secure payment processing, and authentic user feedback within a single digital platform. Through this integration, Meraki offers a practical alternative to informal service arrangements, with the potential to improve access to reliable household services, empower local service providers through economic opportunities, and support a better work–family balance among working parents.