MineFreeUkraine

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

300,000 square kilometres of Ukrainian land (equivalent to almost the entire area of Germany) are contaminated by mines and explosives, as a result of large-scale military invasion. Full demining of affected territories will take many years and billions of dollars to complete, but the rapid and effective demining of critical infrastructure and agricultural land in the coming months can play a critical role in the socio-economic recovery of Ukraine.

Ukraine is one of the leading exporters of agricultural produce including #1 in Sunflower Oil (46% of Global exports) and #3 in Rapeseed (20% of Global exports). Many of the world’s major international corporations, particularly in the food sector depend on these supplies. At present, it is estimated that 30% of agricultural land in Ukraine will not be cultivated this year due to occupation, military operations, mines and lack of fuel. This will have a significant impact on food markets for years to come, including potential significant food shortages in the near term.

It is expected that major financial organisations and international corporations shall become a source of significant financial support intended to both expedite the socio-economic recovery of Ukraine itself, as well as help resolve global food-shortages and restore vital supply chains and markets that these organisations and their businesses depend on. Every dollar invested in demining today will save hundreds and thousands of dollars of economic damages in the coming years.

Our Mission: Help rapid socio-economic recovery and rebuilding of Ukraine from the horrors and destruction inflicted by the large-scale invasion. Providing lifesaving information to the citizens today and capturing information that will enter into the history books of tomorrow.

The proposed information management and DeFi platform will form an integral part of a major 5-year programme that will be carried out in close collaboration with the State Emergency Services of Ukraine to deploy a systemic solution for rapid large-scale humanitarian demining of Ukraine that will also include recruitment and training programme for demining personnel, as well as the development and deployment of autonomous demining equipment.

Specifically, as part of the proposed project we will develop and deploy a comprehensive information system for reporting, collection of data, planning of demining operations, removal of threats and clearance of contaminated land, as well as certification of cleared territories for civilian use.

The envisioned reporting and information management system will comprise three main components:

1. Mobile application for civilian crowd-sourced reporting, mapping and tagging of suspicious objects, including remains of machinery, ammunition, mines or suspected mines, as well as potential human remains, or military personnel-related item

The submitted reports will be accompanied by automatically generated geolocation information that would dramatically simplify the collection and assimilation of relevant information. The reports will be identified by the user’s mobile number providing a mechanism for authentication, security, protection against misuse, as well as mechanism for potential communication with the reporting user. 

The mobile application will also include educational material that will inform the public about the extent of affected territories, presence of potential threats and instructions pertaining to the safe conduct in affected areas. Users will be able to check whether particular locations are safe for civilian activity and will receive automated alerts in case of proximity to zones of danger.

The users will further receive an acknowledgement of their submissions and the subsequent updates on the status of their reported locations, providing incentive for active reporting of suspected objects. 

1. Centralised database for management of geospatial and contextual data, including an interface for reception and approval of incoming reports as well as an interface for planning and deployment of demining operation

1. Mobile application for use by demining professionals for in-field mission planning, reporting and certification of cleared territories

Furthermore, the system will provide an infrastructure for blockchain-based distributed financing of humanitarian demining action, where the international community and the general public will be invited to engage and contribute financial support of the demining action. Specifically, platform will provide the following functionality

• Collection of philanthropic donations in support of humanitarian demining action
• Reporting of up-to-date information regarding the progress of the demining operations
• Donors, including global financial institutions, international corporations, as well as the general public will be able to to financially support the demining of a specific area of land, as well as track the progress of the demining action
• In the case of agricultural land, field boundaries will be provided that will allow for the support of demining action of a specific field, and subsequent tracking of agricultural activity on that field
• Local communities and farmers will be able to engage the international community and the general public to mobilise financial support for local demining action
• Donors will be able to engage directly with the land owners provided the consent of the owners
• Accountability and transparency reports on the use of finances

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

The proposed system will showcase a quality Dapp with rapidly scalable adoption and immense socio-economic significance and will position Cardano as a leader in impact and government blockchain applications. The system will demonstrate effective integration with existing National Government Systems, including GICHD Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) and Digitalisation of Public Services of Ukraine (DIA). The system will further demonstrate a strong use case for impact DeFi infrastructure.

The envisioned system will significantly improve the efficacy of humanitarian demining action in Ukraine, reduce the risk of further loss of life, increase confidence of the population and the agricultural professionals in particular, and accelerate the socio-economic recovery of Ukraine. It will allow for effective coordination between multiple state-funded and private demining operators, as well as provide an additional source of financial support for demining action.

Furthermore, the proposed system will increase the awareness of the public to the threats of mines and military conflict-related debris, provide a platform for discrimination of educational material and best practices for conduct and rules of personal safety in the danger zones, where many Ukrainian civilians are now forced to carry out their everyday activities.

The system will further maximise visibility, accountability and transparency of the nation-wide humanitarian demining action that will increase the confidence of the potential donors in the efficacy and positive impact of their support, thus helping the mobilisation of the required financial resources.

The mobile interface for demining personnel will help streamline reporting and certification of cleared territories by reducing the heavy load of existing pen-and-paper reporting methodology.

The broader scope of our 5-year programme is aiming at reaching the rate of 20 ha per day per team for clearance of agricultural land by the end of the first year of operations. Our objective over the entire 5-year period is to make a significant contribution to the clearing of 300,000 ha of agricultural land that will unlock EUR 100M worth of annual agricultural production, or equivalent to 3.2MT of wheat sufficient to feed 40 million people.

We aspire to work with the leading global experts in humanitarian demining, such as GICHD (https://www.gichd.org/en/) to extend the scope of the project beyond the current conflict in Ukraine and provide technological infrastructure for humanitarian demining action worldwide.

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

Type of risk: Administrative

Description of risk: The envisioned system will have a large number of heterogeneous stakeholders and users from professional services and public officials to members of the military and the general public. Stakeholder management will present a major challenge.

Effect of risk: The wide adoption of the system may be impeded if the respective expectations of all relevant stakeholders are taken into consideration.

Mitigation methods: The system will be developed in collaboration with professional product managers and UX/UI designers, as well as in close contact with all relevant stakeholders. Detailed testing with all classes of users will be regularly conducted.

Type of risk: Security

Description of risk: The system should be secured against a range of misuse, interference and malignant attacks.

Effect of risk: Some information contained by the system can present security risks, or can be exploited by malignant actors. Misuse, spam and hacking attacks can have a wide range of detrimental effects that would ultimately lead to loss of confidence and failure of wide range adoption by both the professional services and the general public.

Mitigation methods: Careful attention will be given to the security and authentication mechanisms, message encryption, as well as user management and protection against hacking attacks.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

The work is ongoing in close collaboration with the State Emergency Services of Ukraine and three development teams focusing on system architecture, UI and UX and the MineFree mobile application. The version 1.0 of MineFree application has been officially released: https://www.minefree.info/

WP1 Month 0 - Month 2 Mobile application for civilian users (MVP released, development ongoing)

1. User management and authentication
2. Reporting of suspected objects

• Camera workflow
• Tagging workflow
• Submission MobileDev+BackEnd

1. Display map of threats
2. Alerts and feedback workflow MobileDev+BackEnd
3. Educational content

Focus of this proposal:

WP2 Month 1 - Month 3 System operator interface 

1. Geospatial database setup
2. Processing and assimilation of reported data
3. Review of submitted reports

• View report
• Edit report
• Approve/Reject report
• Update database

1. Planning and scheduling of demining operations

• Assignment of priorities
• Management of teams and schedules
• Submission of request to demining units

WP3 Month 2 - Month 4 Mobile application for in-field demining operations

1. User management and authentication
2. Mission planning
3. Mission reporting
4. Site certification
5. Reporting documents workflow

WP4 Month 3 - Month 5 Beta deployment and in-field testing

1. Internal deployment and testing
2. Limited beta deployment and testing
3. Public deployment and testing

WP5 Month 2 - Month 6 DeFi infrastructure for humanitarian demining action

1. Ledger for site management
2. Smart contract of site humanitarian demining
3. MineFree utility token as a Cardano native token
4. Backend integration
5. Web platform for MineFree DeFi support of humanitarian demining action

More details of the envisioned mobile application and web platform can be found in the attached UI/UX design document.

Deliverables

• D1 MineFree mobile app deployed
• D2 MineFree operator interface deployed
• D3 MineFree field operator mobile app deployed
• D4 Web platform for DeFi support of humanitarian action deployed
• D5 End-to-end reporting to certification process demonstrated on MineFree platform
• D6 Cardano certified Dapp
• D7 Integration with proof of fact system

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

Initial funding has been secured by the Free Ukraine Humanitarian Fund and version 1.0 of MineFree mobile application has been released. We are seeking complementary funding to advance and expedite development for Work Packages 2-5 in order to deploy a comprehensive information system for reporting, collection of data, planning and financing of demining operations, removal of threats and clearance of contaminated land, as well as certification of cleared territories for civilian use.

Challenge funds requested: $128,000

WP1 Mobile application for civilian users: $10,000

Version 1.0 of MineFree app, including approximately 1000 hours of software development, funded by Free Ukraine Fund and released for Android and iOS. Additional 200 hours at $50 per hour is estimated for version 2.0 including the following deliverables

• UX/UI optimisation
• Offline caching development
• Map navigation optimisation
• Submission of demining requests for agricultural land

WP2 System operator interface: $28,000

We estimate 560 hours of software development at an hourly rate of $50 for the following deliverables:

• UX/UI design
• Web app development
• Integration with DSNS and GICHD IMSMA
• Integration with backend and MineFree mobile app
• Quality assurance
• App store deployment

WP3 Mobile application for in-field demining operations: $28,000

We estimate 560 hours of software development at an hourly rate of $50 for the following deliverables:

• UX/UI design
• Smartphone and tablet app development
• Offline caching development
• Backend integration
• Quality assurance

WP4 Beta deployment and in-field testing: $12,000

We estimate 240 hours of testing activities, including field testing at an hourly rate of $50

WP5 DeFi infrastructure for humanitarian demining action: $25,000

We estimate 500 hours of software development at an hourly rate of $50.

• Blockchain development
• MineFree token minted as a Cardano native token
• Web development for MineFree DeFi platform
• Backend integration
• Quality assurance

Project management, legal, accounting, travel, marketing and communications: $25,000

We estimate 200 hours in project management and related activities at an hourly rate of $50, as well as the following additional costs

• Platform infrastructure and hosting costs - $10,000
• Travel of the duration of the project - $5,000

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

MineFreeUA core team comprises experts with extensive international business, financial and technological development experience spanning multiple core fields including Geo-Information Systems, Digital Agriculture and Remote Sensing.

The development will be carried out in close collaboration with the professional demining team of The State Emergency Services of Ukraine (https://dsns.gov.ua/en) and with the direct endorsement of the official advisor and a former deputy minister at the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs Anton Gerashanko (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Herashchenko).

• Ganna Lysenko is senior financial expert with hands-on experience in banking, commodity trading, credit and price risk management, and compliance. She is the President of a Swiss-based Free Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (https://freeukraine.ch/). She started her career at Ernst & Young and KPMG and later joined the IMF (World bank) for a corporate governance project in the banking sector. She was a member of the Board of Directors overseeing audit and compliance in a top tier bank. She successfully managed financial software implementation at Columbus IT (IBM partner). In 2021, Ganna obtained her EMBA at Geneva University with specialisation in commodity trading with honours. https://www.linkedin.com/in/annalysenko/

• Yosef Akhtman is a technologist and founder with in-depth expertise in Geo-Information Systems, Remote Sensing, and Machine Learning. He is the founder of Gamma Earth, a research company founded in 2020 and focused on development of advanced Earth Observation and remote sensing technologies for applications in environmental monitoring, precision farming and recently demining of agricultural land. Previously, he founded and led Gamaya – a Swiss startup in the field of precision agriculture. https://www.linkedin.com/in/akhtman/

• Vadim Lysenko is the Treasurer of Swiss-based Free Ukraine Humanitarian Fund. He is an experienced Marketing & Product Manager with comprehensive experience in directing all facets of marketing and product strategy, business development and customer management within data analytics, commodity trading as well as FMCG. https://www.linkedin.com/in/vadymlysenko/

The project will be implemented by Ukraine-based design and software development agencies:

• Design UX/UI mobile: Axicube https://axicube.io/
• Design UX/UI operator interface: Eleken https://www.eleken.co/
• Software Web/GIS/Mobile development: Onix Systems: https://onix-systems.com/
• Cordano blockchain and DeFi: Zpoken https://zpoken.io/

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

The envisioned system forms one part of an extensive 5-year programme described in the project description. Multiple additional components of the project, as well as future stages of development may benefit significantly from the support of Cordano community. We will therefor consider seeking such support as the project develops.

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

The MineFree mobile application for reporting of mines and suspicious objects will be officially released to the general public and widely publicised in collaboration with the State emergency Services of Ukraine. The release will be accompanied by a wide publicity and educational campaign.

Progress of the development of the project will be measured by:

• Github commits for each sprint (2 weeks)
• Reports and deliverables at each milestone (WP1-WP6)
• Releases of web and mobile applications
• Onboarded users and user feedback
• User engagement and the number of suspicious objects reported
• Relevant information pertaining to the extent of affected areas and the progress of demining efforts will be made public in coordination with the Ukrainian authorities

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

Progress of the project will be measured by:

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

The proposal was inspired by the excellent OpenLitterMap project (https://openlittermap.com/) developed and maintained by Sean Lynch and already supported by the Cardano community. The project has benefited from the advice and guidance of Sean over the early stages of development and further collaboration between the projects is envisioned.