We Have Achieved Our Theory of Change!

WeRobotics is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. Our first legal entity was incorporated in December 2015. We launched our first website in March 2016, and first operations began in June 2016.

When we took a look around our world, we saw the same problems everyone sees. Problems that feed one another, that grow exponentially and ever more complex. Natural disasters. Hungry children. Forests wrung dry and oceans dried of life. Sickness. Entire peoples left behind. War.

We saw also that across the globe, humanity was hard at work, thinking together, devising solutions, dedicating resources, taking heart in the face of what felt insurmountable, telling stories about the histories that had made us and the dreams we were yet to catch. 

The tools to contribute to solving these pressing global challenges were already there. People were already using emerging technologies, including drones. But tools needed to be put in more hands. They were accessible only in certain places and not in others, and this limited their ability to serve humanity at large — what good is it, ultimately, to save one part of the world while another is slowly destroyed? 

When it came to emerging technologies, use cases in the parts of the world often collectively referred to as the Global South remained scarce because they were too often led by foreigners who did not know the land or the people and yet made decisions about them from faraway places. Even though local experts were already abundant. This way did not work. And it was costing us all. 

Global problems manifest at the local level in different ways. The interconnectedness of our world meant that to move forward, we needed to make emerging technologies and their myriad applications accessible to local communities, and we needed to trust that the local experts in those communities were best placed to design solutions that worked and whose impact would last. Many more hands in many more places could make lighter work of the vast project of making a better world, every community guided by its deep-running wisdom and its knowledge of what it needed.

Our Theory of Change, therefore, held that by focusing on equitable use of drones, data and AI, and investing in local experts, we could unlock new ways of thinking and working that have historically been hindered, resulting in exponentially greater positive social impact and economic opportunity. This is the Power of Local, and it became our clarion call.

It is through this lens that we look back on what we have achieved — in our 10-year impact report. 

Drawing on practical examples from our work with the Flying Labs Network, we share our activities, what we discovered along the way, the impact that emerged, and the lessons we learned. We show how our successes represent significant strides towards the overall impact we intended to achieve: more sustainable and resilient local communities that are supported by local experts and actively collaborate with local, national, and global actors. 

Reflecting on the past decade, and drawing on the strong evidence generated through our work, we can now make a bold claim: our initial Theory of Change has been proven.

We invite you to read the report now, celebrate this milestone with us, and experience what the past 10 years have meant for our organization and our community. And as you do, we hope you will also look ahead with us to what comes next.

Because we are not done. In fact, we believe we are better positioned than ever to continue creating lasting social impact in the Tech4Good sector.

But first, let us pause with gratitude, to appreciate this moment for what it is: indisputable proof of the Power of Local.