Help! Guatemala needs to sell more Peanut Butter!

So I have had this idea floating around in my head for a few years now. When I was in Guatemala, the groups I was working for quite often required some expertise or service in a particular area, but either:

• Didn't know where to find this service
• Were dubious about the quality of the service
• Could not afford the price of the service

An example would have been the labels we had to design for the products the groups were selling. The "to-market" time of many of these products was extremely fast, meaning that someone had to design a package and presentation for the product in often a very short period. The design could be one by anyone from the groups themselves to someone working in the "economic ministry", many of which had dubious credentials inproduct design. Mostly the groups themselves or more importantly the customers had no input into the product design.

My thought, as I myself (not a product designer!) was trying to improve the design of a peanut butter jar and label (see right), was that there must exist literally thousands of people in the world (either locals or in other countries) that would love to try and design a peanut butter label for a group of indigenous women in Guatemala. 

Who did I have in mind? 

1. Art design students, thousands of which I am guessing create designs for mythical products that don't exist (and I am definitely including students from Guatemalan Universities in this).
2. Art design professionals, who work in an ad agency doing work where they themselves have little creative input. 

There are perhaps other obvious candidates, but none that come to mind at present. 

But how could such a connection be established? Obviously, through the internet. On a basic level, a problem would be posted, with a fee to be paid by the group (calculated by themselves, and perhaps in the future by a third party). This problem could be taken up by a number of parties (or one party that the group chose themselves), and the "winner" awarded the fee. A professor, for example, could present the problem to his students. A maximum of four competing people could design peanut butter labels within the parameters defined. 

For design professionals and professors/students, access to the internet is not usually a problem. For businesses in the non-profit world, that access is not so assured. It would require local groups to promote such an offer. But these local groups are now involved in third-world countries in several areas: Micro-loans, Internet courses, etc. It would be partnerships with these groups that could promote the service. 

How much would such a service cost? The idea of charging a fee for the service has, in my view, three advantages. One, that the business realises they are getting a service, and not something for free, which gives it more worth to them and also helps them in running the business, rather than a charity. Two, that the person providing the service is renumerated for their services. Three, that the service website has some small amount of income to allow for maintenance, etc.

It is also possible to forsee that the website itself could provide some consulting in terms of which groups receive priority for services, that not too many service requests for $0.01 are posted on the website, and perhaps in the future that certain services cost a base fee, or a standard fee. The website could also translate problems into other languages. It is envisaged that the website would fulfill a role similar to the Kiva website, helping users distinguish which services were for them. 

What services could be requested? Ideas for improving the project management of a stagnated small business, label design, product funtionality design (for example with solar systems for remote communities), website design. 

What does it need? For me, a good place to start would be with an international organisation that would be able to promote such a service. We are talking in one specific country at first, say India, with a Microcredit organisation. The website would be built and managed whereever (it would make sense to base it in a country where the team could actively promote it to universities), with a team collaborating over the web. Hopefully, after the proof-of-concept was, well, proven, other organisations involved in non-profit development could help promote the website through their own website, and on the ground with their own contacts. 

Thoughts?