Jawabu App is a smartphone app that empowers individuals and organizations to monitor and manage tree planting initiatives. The fundamental value proposition offered is the ability to geo-tag a tree.
Problem Statement
Global warming is a pertinent issue presenting an existential threat to life on earth. The last few decades have seen rampant severe and unpredictable weather conditions ranging from drought, El Nino, polar vortexes, heat waves, La Nina, hurricanes, and tornadoes, among others.
These adverse conditions have necessitated concerted efforts towards mitigating the impacts of climate change. Tree planting and afforestation have been some of the low-cost and practical measures being embraced in Kenya and around the globe. However, measuring its success has not been easy. Most people plant trees, but there’s no sufficient monitoring and tracking. In this breath, we seek to empower humanity with a tool to track, monitor, and manage tree planting activities. We also seek to encourage people to shift from tree planting to tree nurturing.
Solution
Jawabu App provides a platform for individuals and organizations to geo-tag planted trees, track their progress, manage tree planting initiatives, and provide a platform to engage, inform, and mobilize resources.
The app is available as a smartphone app downloadable from the android Playstore, and the backend is accessible via a browser over the internet.
Geo tagging: This feature enables one to pick the exact geographic position to the nearest latitude and longitude. The precision provided allows one to track the progress of a tree over time. It also provides accurate data regarding trees planted and their success rate. This feature also connects the people/organizations and the trees. A Google map indicating the number and location of the trees planted is populated and updated over time, making it easy to monitor their progress and encourage targeted interventions.
Tree planting management: The app allows persons and organizations to create projects, set targets, and briefly describe the project. The details of the description section include location, the objective of the tree planting initiative, and the individuals behind it. Once tagging is done, the app provides real-time data of the trees planted against the target. This makes it possible to track progress and monitor the input of all stakeholders in a specific project.
Donate: The platform allows users to donate trees towards a tree planting project or to individuals to celebrate special events and occasions. The donations are in the form of money for which the Enviro wild team ensures the trees are planted and geo-tagged. The details are then shared with the respective entities
Unique Value
The value created is far-reaching and will significantly enrich conservation efforts through;
Informing and sensitizing the masses: The public will be made aware of tree planting initiatives in their locality. The app also educates on nurturing trees and conserving the environment.
Advocate for tree planting: Provision of stats on the top individuals/organizations to plant trees over a specific time and per project. This sort of ranking helps encourage more interventions on an individual and organizational level to plant trees.
Mobilize resources towards tree planting: Through the donate feature, resources are crowdsourced for tree planting projects.
Big data: The data captured through the platform will be availed to individuals, organizations, and the government to be mined. This will be an excellent resource for research, decision support and planning.
Written by Keith Korir, Software Engineer and Coordinator, Enviro Wild