A community engagement workshop took place in Ocean View on 17 July, 2024 to (a) introduce the new iNethi app to the community that allows OV Krone Vouchers to be exchanged digitally, (b) to explore rewards for tasks in the community and (c) discuss idea of a community store that supports Krone. There were 11 participants who were recruited via WhatsApp, and word of mouth.
We dived straight into showing the community the new inethi app with integrated Krone wallet. We started the workshop explaining how the new inethi app works including how to create login, setup a wallet and send and receive Krone. Each participant brought their own smartphone and we helped each participant install the app and get a wallet setup. Once their wallet was setup we sent each participant 50 Krone to start testing sending Krone to other participants.
We noted that some of the older participants, struggled using the phone to setup usernames and passwords on the iNethi app and were reminded that digital literacy is still an aspect to think through for the older generation in this community. Some members may need younger, more digitally literate family members to help with setting up an app. By the end of the workshop we had most of the participants able to send Krone between each other from the app on their phones.
We also used this workshop to explore rewards for different tasks and came up with a universal reward that is roughly 10 Krone for each hour of work or 10 Krone for a specific unit of work like a bag of recycling. Here are the ideas from participants:
- Weed a garden (1hour)
- Yard cleaning (1 hour)
- Washing windows (1 hour)
- Cleaning municipal bins (1 hour)
- Recycling plastic, cans and glass (1 recycling bag)
- Helping deliver goods to elderly (per trip)
- Soup kitchen – cleaning pots, prepare vegetables, help with crowd control (1 hour)
We also did a brainstorm on what items could be kept in a local Krone store. Here are the items that came from participants: Bread, Milk, Peanut butter, Jam, Sugar, Salt, Oil, Eggs, 2min noodles, maize meal, rice, jungle oats, margarine, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, dry beans, soya meal, dry pasta, canned beef, pilchards, tea, coffee, toilet paper, sanitary pads, deodorant, soap, washing powder, baby formula. We will finalize this list in October and open the store for Krone use in November
At the end of the workshop, Ganief shared an exciting AI aquaponics food project he is working on in partnership with University of Cape Town. The system makes use of AI to ensure all the right growing conditions for the plants in an environmentally controlled tent. The dream is for many community members to grow their own food and also potentially trade this food using the Krone system
