A global force of changemakers

Providing that drones, data and AI are used both sustainably and responsibly, they can hold the key to solving many global challenges. This is the firm belief at WeRobotics, the steward of an international network of independent, locally led knowledge hubs called Flying Labs. Combining local expertise with cutting-edge technology, the labs work with civil society, government, academia, research institutes and local communities for the common social good. By stimulating knowledge sharing and collaboration between the labs, which are already in more than 40 countries across Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia-Pacific, WeRobotics supports the network’s growth and helps to co-create and connect the wider ecosystem of global partners that enables the network to thrive.

WeRobotics and the Flying Labs Network are connected by a joint mission to amplify the power of local expertise around drones, data and artificial intelligence (AI) as the solution to pressing global challenges. However, it was a deliberate choice to have two brands. “This gives the ‘local expertise’ component of our work a distinct identity, making it clear that the Flying Labs operate independently from WeRobotics,” says Amrita Lal. “This separation allows us to continually co-create the network together, guided by our core values of sharing and collaboration.”

The ‘glocalization’ model assumes that local organizations such as Flying Labs and global organizations – such as WeRobotics and the network’s partners – bring unique value to the table, according to Dania Montenegro. “Collaboration redistributes power, so that each participant can fully leverage its strengths and create lasting impact at scale together. This way, we make space for independence and interdependence, allowing us to bridge local action with a global perspective.”

Shifting the Western-centric perspective

Lal, Montenegro and Kaja Wrochna are all part of WeRobotics, contributing to and supporting Flying Labs projects around the world from a technical and/or project management perspective. They are striving to shift the traditionally academic and Western-centric perspective in the geospatial and tech sectors. “These historical inequalities have constrained the social impact potential of emerging technologies by limiting who leads in their application,” comments Lal. “Even when local experts are more qualified, they have rarely been given the opportunity to lead in the efforts affecting their own communities. But global challenges require localized, community-based solutions.” At WeRobotics, they believe that by focusing on the equitable use of emerging technologies and working with local experts to co-create the conditions necessary for them to thrive in the spaces from which they are often excluded, they can unlock new ways of thinking and working. “This will result in exponentially greater positive social impact and sustainable economic opportunity,” states Wrochna.

To achieve this, the global community needs to embrace models for social impact that place power directly in the hands of the communities they are meant to serve, she believes: “To transfer power to local communities means to transfer trust. It means building relationships with local communities not as benefactors and beneficiaries but as collaborators, allowing knowledge to flow both ways.”

Drones support participatory approaches

Drones support a shift toward more participatory, community-driven approaches all over the world, and especially in many parts of the Global South, where access to timely, high-resolution geospatial data is limited due to weak satellite coverage or a lack of local infrastructure. “Drones have become a go-to tool in modern surveying because they make data collection faster, safer and more accessible. They cut down on costs and turnaround time, plus they can reach places that are difficult or risky for people to access,” says Lal. “Moreover, preliminary workflows with drones can be facilitated without the need for a stable internet connection. When operated by local teams, drones also give practitioners full control over the data, allowing for timely, context-specific insights that align with national priorities and support faster, more informed decision-making.”

“What really sets drones apart, though, is how visible and engaging they are. You can’t fly a drone without drawing attention – and that invites curiosity, questions and often real community involvement. This is important, because for too long data has been extracted from communities by outsiders, often without meaningful local input,” comments Wrochna.

Community involvement

“When communities are involved from the start – in planning, flying, analysing and using drone data – they shift from being passive data subjects to active data producers and decision-makers. That kind of openness leads to more transparent, inclusive projects, which is a big part of their value. So drones are more than just efficient tools. They also help make data collection more inclusive, participatory and locally driven,” she continues.

“This shift builds trust, transparency and relevance,” adds Montenegro. “Community members bring invaluable local knowledge that adds depth and context to aerial data, often spotting patterns or explaining changes that wouldn’t be visible otherwise. The result is stronger, more grounded solutions and long-term ownership of outcomes. When people see themselves reflected in the data and decisions, the work becomes more meaningful, and the impact becomes more sustainable. So in many ways, drones are democratizing airspaces and making way for innovative solutions and approaches – especially in the humanitarian sector.”

There are already various examples of how the availability of drone-collected data has led to meaningful change on the ground. “By providing high-resolution and context-specific imagery, drones are enabling practitioners to observe and analyse dynamic land use practices, often common in informal settlements and along coastlines,” states Lal. “For instance, supported by a Turning Data Into Action microgrant from WeRobotics, South Africa Flying Labs conducted a project to map Johannesburg’s Alexandra township, which is prone to fire and flood-related disasters. While the project was primarily focused on mitigation and preparedness for climate change and disaster management, it was equally important to prioritize local stakeholder engagement. Additionally, the team were eager to seize the opportunity to raise awareness of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) among the locals by introducing them to the world of drones and robotics.” Beyond the network, academics are exploring the local use of drones as a tool, such as to monitor flooding and erosion in a fishing community in Ghana’s Volta Delta, and to analyse flash flood events in Kenya’s Enkare Narok river basin.

A matter of life or death

In many cases, bringing local expertise together with technology within the Flying Labs network makes a decisive difference in how a challenge is tackled – sometimes even becoming a matter of life or death. “One that always comes to mind is the work in Kenya, where Flying Labs joined forces with the Red Cross to rescue a child trapped by floodwaters,” says Lal. “In Senegal, the labs have not only supported national authorities in predicting and managing floods, but also used drones to help preserve the Holy City of Touba. In Burkina Faso, drones are applied to map and manage irrigation schemes, strengthening food security in rural communities. And in Brazil, the ‘Fight for the Forest’ project shows how mapping and monitoring can help safeguard biodiversity in fragile ecosystems. Each of these projects reminds us deeply why we do this work: because local expertise, empowered by technology, creates lasting impact.”

While drones and AI often grab attention, many communities still lack basic infrastructure. Navigating the tension between cutting-edge tools and very grounded needs sometimes calls for creative approaches, as Montenegro illustrates with an impactful example. “In 2023, we had the opportunity as Panama Flying Labs to teach women from the indigenous Ixil community in Quiché, Guatemala, about the use of drones and GIS tools as part of a ‘business model’ for the local area. It was not only the first time for most of them to interact with a computer, but not all of them knew how to write, and some of the women could speak only their native language,” she recalls. “We even used tortillas to explain the value proposition in the lean canvas, and we used clay to explain about rivers, hills and coordinates. But all the participants recognized the technology as an opportunity to bring value to their communities, to provide a service locally to international NGOs, and to collect data about their solar panels. Instead of being worried about the lack of resources, they saw the drones and the data as a new way to generate value and income.”

Diversity is a strength

With the Flying Labs network spanning over 40 countries, the wide variety of unique local issues could be seen as a hurdle to the global adoption and application of local innovations. Instead, however, the WeRobotics team regard the network’s diversity as its greatest strength. “Besides diversity of contexts, needs, priorities and challenges, it also has diversity of expertise, experience and capacity. By facilitating effective collaboration and knowledge sharing among all the Flying Labs, we help them to harness this diversity to ensure that local innovations can be adapted and applied sustainably across the Global South,” explains Lal.

This process starts with the local experts in the network designing and implementing the solutions that their communities need. They then globalize their local knowledge by connecting across borders to exchange knowledge and work together, such as through submitting stories of their activities, participating in sector expertise hubs, regional calls and retreats, and engaging in collaborative projects and programmes. “This knowledge is then localized once again when it flows back to their communities, replicable and adaptable. In this way, every Flying Lab contributes to and draws from the network’s collective knowledge, strengthening one another and their own local communities,” she continues.

International recognition

Each time a Flying Labs project takes shape, it reaffirms the team’s conviction that locally led approaches work. But some projects particularly stand out, such as when South Africa Flying Labs received international recognition for its work in Alexandra. “Seeing how they turned data into action, how community members felt ownership and how their story gained global attention – that made me incredibly proud,” says Wrochna, who had supported the project remotely. “It felt like a shared win. It reminded me that what we’re building isn’t theoretical. It’s happening – and it’s scalable. This is the kind of work that shows the strength of our glocalization model and why I remain so committed to this mission.”

Montenegro is equally passionate about the drone-related field projects. “Every time I know we can reduce the gender gap by training a woman, that we can shorten the distance for a person to receive a medical diagnosis, that our STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics, Ed.) workshops have inspired a boy from a low-income neighbourhood to continue studying, that coastal monitoring has identified mangroves that need to be protected, that we’re making life easier for biologists monitoring the nesting period of endangered sea turtles – then it’s impossible not to get excited, not to be inspired, and not to want to continue giving everything to my work,” she declares.

Embedding equality and inclusion

The longer-term aim is for Flying Labs to be at the forefront of inspiring the local development and adoption of emerging technologies such as AI, robotics and advanced drones – always anchored in ethical data practices that put communities first. “In five years’ time, I imagine the Flying Labs network as a self-sustaining community where every Lab is thriving locally while actively contributing to and benefiting from the collective intelligence of the network. I see stronger cross-collaboration, with existing Labs mentoring new ones, launching regional projects together and co-developing tools and methodologies that elevate everyone,” foresees Montenegro. “The result will be a vibrant ecosystem of learning and innovation, with access to world-class capacity-building, shared infrastructure and local hubs like maker spaces and incubators where talent and opportunity continue to expand.”

Most importantly, diversity, equity and inclusion will be deeply embedded in all of this. “Young people, women and indigenous communities will be leading from the front, shaping how technology is used and how decisions are made. Ultimately, rather than just a group of drone pilots or tech users, we want the Flying Labs to be seen as a global force of changemakers. In my view, that comes down to turning local knowledge, innovation and data into action to build a more resilient future,” she concludes.

Further reading

Blog posts: https://werobotics.org/blog/why-drones, https://werobotics.org/blog/how-drones-facilitate-community-engagement-co-learning-in-the-global-south and

https://werobotics.org/blog/scaling-impact-with-werobotics-glocalization-model-2

Informal settlement project in South Africa: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/eaa542bec1174a0e8e44761ea8cc5a4e

Academic research into the use of drones in Ghana (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40677-018-0108-2) and Kenya (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352938523000599)

Kenyan project in collaboration with the Red Cross: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_kmu3GEsls&ab_channel=AllAfrica

Senegal project to preserve the Holy City of Touba: https://youtu.be/01inhases0o?feature=shared

Burkina Faso project to manage and develop irrigated schemes: https://youtu.be/52J-29Q8NDQ?feature=shared

Brazilian project to preserve biodiversity: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/e273e53874ba49f3abc282c45604992a

Panama Flying Labs project to train women: https://flyinglabs.org/blog/pilotas-resilientes

About the WeRobotics team

Dania Montenegro, a Panamanian nautical engineer, shifted from the seas to the skies in 2018 through a BID LAB project that introduced her to drones and social innovation. She coordinated Panama Flying Labs (2018-2021), co-founded Cobots Lab, and later served as operations director for a DAAS company. Today, she is part of WeRobotics and mentors through regional leadership networks.

Kaja Wrochna is a surveying engineer and certified drone pilot with over a decade of experience in aerial mapping. She built CERN’s drone mapping service in 2016 and joined WeRobotics in 2020, where she co-created and now leads the Turning Data into Action programme, supporting Flying Labs worldwide in transforming drone data into meaningful insights and real-world solutions.

Amrita Karitika Lal, a GIS and geography specialist and CASA-certified drone pilot, combines technical expertise with a focus on environmental solutions. She coordinated South Pacific Flying Labs in Fiji, working with partners like the World Mosquito Program and Fiji Red Cross, before joining WeRobotics in 2020. She now supports global GIS and drone initiatives, developing resources and mentoring Flying Labs internationally.