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No. In order to avoid moral hazard and because of the spacial resolution of free satellite images, we do not assess individually plots. Watchers give a common answer for multiple plots that are close to each other (less than 2km for example). So plots are gathered in a group and watchers assess group by group.

IBISA is crop agnostic, for multiple reason: serious droughts affect to some extent all crops, local farmers often do multi cropping, and watchers are asked to assess the anomaly (the difference with the average) whatever the crops. So, watchers do not need to know the type of crop that grows in the field.

An assessment takes approximately 15 minutes per month. We have build a dedicated tool for that, where watchers have access to data and the answer form.

Watchers can use whatever they consider relevant to do their mission. IBISA encourages them to use different tools and provide feedback on these tools. Having said that, IBISA has developed a platform that primarily use two main sources: 1- European Commission JRC that operates a global observatory of drought, flood, earthquakes and miscellaneous natural catastrophes.

A watcher is NOT required to go the field. A watcher assesses remotely using all information available through internet, and mainly satellite images. For now, IBISA crowd-watching is still in development. During this development phase, watchers need to be knowledgeable in Earth Observation, and able to analyse images autonomously.

The objective is to incentive watchers and reward them based on the quality of their answers. At the moment, since IBISA is still in development, and we are looking for volunteers wishing to participate in pro-bono and help us improve the crowd watching logic.

If you want to volunteer as a watcher, please contact us at maria@ibisa.network