# Exploring the Risks of Green Crowdsourcing in South Africa: The Case of Dilivari
## 4 Results
### Connectivity Risks  
The study established that connectivity risks pose a significant challenge to the advancement of green crowdsourcing in South Africa. Data from the FGDs and the interviews highlighted the following security risks: compatibility, internet access, load shedding, mobile phone penetration and high data costs. Firstly, the risk associated with application compatibility is a critical aspect of connectivity in view of emerging townships and rural areas in South Africa. Townships and rural communities still bear the burden of poverty and people may not be able to afford smartphones or access the network. The FGDs highlighted the need for the development of a prototype to match market requirements. One participant stated that \"One of the challenges of some applications is incompatibility with existing norms in rural and townships. The crowdsourcing applications developed need to be cognizant of the indigenous knowledge. There is a need to align the mobile applications with the local practices and norms as this will make them compatible with the existing practices in townships and rural areas in South Africa\". The application should be piloted to enable the integration of unique aspects of green crowdsourcing applications that suit the dynamics in South Africa. The respondent highlighted that 'There is a need to integrate the current technology with the unique requirements in rural areas in Africa without different challenges like high data costs and connectivity. Furthermore, the suggested holistic approach which captures the government policy, consumer education, manufacturing is critical in ensuring that negligence in the process of green crowdsourcing will be appropriately managed'. Piloting the application is critical in the integration of user experience and user interface to meet the unique market conditions in Africa. One of the technical experts involved in the FGDs emphasised the importance of focused piloting of integration: 'From a technical standpoint', we have the concept of UX UI, which is the user experience and the user interface. So, depending on the type of application that one is trying to deliver, it's critical to be able to understand what the app does, and how does it function. So, from a standpoint of being able to deliver we've got technological frameworks like PWA, which is Progressive Web Applications that are more aligned with the Fourth Industrial Revolution'. Incorporating the unique conditions of South African townships and rural communities is crucial in last-mile technology improvements in green crowdsourcing. Internet access in townships and rural communities constitutes a major risk to South African green crowdsourcing. One of the participants of the FGDs explained 'I'm involved in retail aggregation of groceries especially in townships and the great question of network and connectivity is a challenge and that's where actually this type of app will make a huge impact so the problem is a huge challenge in townships mainly because of connectivity'. The appropriate strategy for connectivity risk management requires building collaborations and partnerships with the various role players in government, the private sector and with non-government actors. Partnerships and collaborations are critical in improving connectivity in townships and rural areas. One of the participants suggested a strategy for the management of crowdsourcing by suggesting that 'As one of the key players involved in townships and rural areas I believe partnerships between the different stakeholders is critical in improving connectivity and so forth... because there is a huge challenge in townships for instance we can't do deliveries mainly because of [poor] connectivity, security and so forth we undo deliveries and so forth'. The risk of unpredictable connectivity could be addressed by streamlining the mechanisms for the green crowdsourcing application to work offline.