R&D for Report Pollution – An App to Raise Environmental Awareness
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3,000
Polluted sites
In Pure Earth’s database, across more than 60 countries.
20
Years of work
Tackling pollution across countries on low and middle incomes.
The client
R&D for Good is a Netguru programme putting our innovation work behind non-governmental organisations on their digital journeys. Pure Earth, a New York non-profit cleaning up toxic pollution worldwide, was the first partner.
It is known for the Blacksmith Index of pollution-related health risk, its annual World’s Worst Pollution Problems reports, the Toxic Sites Identification Program, and a database holding more than 3,000 sites across over 60 countries.
The challengeWhat the teams actually needed
Pure Earth already had a website where people could add their pollution stories. Getting anyone to it was the problem.
Challenge 01Reach
Driving people to the website and getting the word out about it proved hard.
Challenge 02Too many steps
Taking a photograph, then finding the site, writing the story and uploading it is more effort than most people will put in.
Challenge 03A route to the authorities
People reporting pollution need somewhere that connects them to the officials who can act on it.
What we did
Photograph it, describe it, send it where it matters
The app documents and reports polluted sites that people come into direct contact with, which is a job a website was never going to do well.
Pictures, annotated
Users take and annotate photographs, describe the pollution and set out its effect on the environment and the people around it.
To Pure Earth and everyone else
A report goes to Pure Earth through the app and onward via social media — to neighbours, friends, a district, local institutions or a ministry of the environment.
Visibility as the lever
Sharing reports on social platforms alarms people and institutions about specific sites directly, which is the mechanism behind the whole thing.
A line to the ministry
The app tags the right official at the relevant environment ministry, anywhere in the world, or generates an email to them.
Netguru quote
We’ve noticed that, very often, leading NGOs that want to change the world lack digital transformation talent. It affects their effectiveness, with their voice often not reaching the right audience at the right time. While these organizations should focus on their missions, it’s crucial to provide them with the right tools and technologies that aid them in their efforts.
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What’s next