The Small Earth Nepal (SEN) conducted a capacity-building training on citizen science approach by training 30 Badhgar participants from Geruwa Rural Municipality on using their smart phones to document post-flood high-water marks and damages done by flood on 4th June 2026 as part of the CLASSIK project. The training aimed to enhance the technical and practical skills targeting local community leaders, Badhghars, so that they can contribute as citizen scientist to data collection for evidence-based flood risk management and relief and rebuild plans for concerned stakeholders.
During the session, participants were introduced to the concept of citizen science, role of Badghars as citizen scientists emphasizing the role of local communities in generating reliable, ground-level data for scientific research. The session also included hands-on demonstrations on using smartphones for data collection using SW Maps. The trainers guided the participants throughout the process of mobile application installation to the field data collection and geotagged photo capture. Out of 30 participants, 12 Badhgars who owned smartphones successfully learned to collect field data, marking an important step toward community-led monitoring and evidence generation through a citizen science approach. The event was a pilot of how citizen science concepts can be implemented at ground level to generate flood related data. The major lessons learnt were that the process should be integrated at local level disaster risk reduction mechanism for the sustainability of the approach. In addition, the active volunteer network should be mobilised for extensive data collection in leadership of Badghar community.
This initiative represents systematic ground-level data collection engaging Badhghars as local citizen scientists. The data collected through this approach will play a crucial role in strengthening the validation of flood extent and depth assessments in future analyses and planning purposes.
