Justdiggit Joins the CASSINI Hackathon in the Netherlands with Two Challenges

Justdiggit, an organisation dedicated to regreening Africa, will join the 6th CASSINI Hackathon in the Netherlands as a challenge provider, offering participants the chance to tackle critical issues related to agriculture, water conservation, and environmental sustainability. This hackathon, initiated by the European Union and its space program, brings together individuals from diverse backgrounds to tackle pressing global challenges using European space technologies.

Digging Into Innovation: Challenges from Justdiggit

Justdiggit’s participation in the CASSINI Hackathon brings two significant challenges to the forefront:

Regreen App Development 

Justdiggit is developing the Regreen app, an educational tool for African smallholder farmers. The app aims to teach farmers improved agricultural practices in an engaging manner, focusing on enhancing crop yields, water retention, and soil erosion reduction. While Justdiggit currently utilises remote sensing data, including UAV and satellite imagery, to monitor their projects, the challenge they face is scaling the use of this data. They seek innovative solutions to make satellite data more accessible, understandable, transparent, and valuable for individual smallholder farmers.

Water Harvesting Practices

Justdiggit promotes water harvesting practices like Fanya Juu and Fanya Chini trenches, which capture runoff water to improve soil moisture, prevent erosion, and mitigate downstream flooding. The challenge lies in utilising satellite data effectively to plan, site, and construct these trenches for farmers. While various digital elevation data sources are available, incorporating local topographic features that might not be correctly captured in the data is a complex task. Justdiggit seeks solutions that can present the insights gained from these datasets in a practical and easy-to-understand manner for smallholder farmers.

Justdiggit’s Environmental Impact

Justdiggit is on a mission to regreen Africa within the next decade in collaboration with millions of farmers and concerned individuals. Their approach centres on restoring degraded land and reviving vegetation, ultimately contributing to cooling down the planet. With a remarkable track record of restoring 300,000 hectares and bringing back over 9 million trees, Justdiggit has built a grassroots movement aimed at accelerating and scaling up their efforts. They use the power of communication to inspire, educate, and empower subsistence farmers and pastoralists in Africa, encouraging them to regreen their own land and improve their livelihoods. Justdiggit’s work has a profound impact on the environment and the livelihoods of African communities.

Earlier this month, Sander de Haas, CTO of Justgiggit, shared their experience of using space data for international development and humanitarian aid:

Join the 6th CASSINI Hackathon in the Netherlands:

The CASSINI Hackathons take place simultaneously in 11 different countries. The 6th edition is scheduled for November 3-5, with events happening both in Amersfoort and online in the Netherlands. In Amersfoort, this exceptional event is co-organised by dotSPACE foundation and Royal Haskoning DHV. For your convenience, we’ve arranged accommodations for on-site participants at the Stayokay Hostel in Soest.

During the hackathon, participants will receive comprehensive support, including team formation, project planning, mentoring, and access to development tools, APIs, and relevant datasets. Workshops and tech talks will enhance participants’ skills and knowledge.\

Click here to visit the official page of the 6th CASSINI Hackathon in the Netherlands

How to Participate

If you’re passionate about space technologies, international development, and humanitarian activities and want to take on the challenges posed by Justdiggit, here’s how you can participate:

• The hackathon is open to students, entrepreneurs, engineers, designers, researchers, and anyone interested in space technologies.
• Participants must be 18 or older and reside in an EU Member State, Norway, Switzerland, or Iceland.
• Teams should consist of at least 3 members and can have a maximum of 8.
• If you don’t have a team, you can register as an individual and form teams later.
• You can participate fully online if you prefer.
• To register, visit TAIKAI and complete the registration form. The deadline for registration is October 26, 2023.

FAQ: Everything you need to know about CASSINI Hackathon 

Click here to visit the official page of the 6th CASSINI Hackathon in the Netherlands

Featured image credit: Freepik