This document summarises the learning from Rainforest Alliance's Hybrid Community-Based Monitoring pilot project. The goal of this 3-year project was to design and develop a Hybrid Community-based Monitoring System (HCMS) that combines GPS and remote sensing with on-the-ground data from the key landscape stakeholders for data management and reporting at a landscape level.

The Smart Assurance project supported by the ISEAL Innovations Fund until July 2024 developed and tested a new type of oversight process that combines the use of satellite data, analytical methods, and ground verification supported by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs or drones) with assessment practices to provide enhanced oversight both at scale and with a new level of granularity.

This user manual has been created as part of the Tech4Communities: Hybrid Community-based Monitoring system (HCMS) project. The project seeks to create a hybrid “remote” and “on the ground” monitoring and evaluation programme to support data gathering and management at a landscape level.