Implementation of a Global Citizen Science App in Community-Based Water Monitoring: Lessons Learned from the CrowdWater Experiences in Latin America

Citizen science and community-based monitoring are based on the participation of people outside research institutes in the collection and sometimes also analysis of scientific data. Most of the literature on this practice focuses on the benefits for science and society or the accuracy of the data. Recently, a few studies have stressed the need to also reflect on other aspects to prevent adverse impacts, especially when these approaches are applied in the Global South. Herein, we discuss our experiences in implementing the use of a citizen science app for hydrological data collection in community-based water monitoring in five countries in Latin America. In each country, we collaborated with a community-based water monitoring group and held workshops to describe and explain the use of the app. We learned that direct communication with users improves the use of the app but a mismatch of goals between users and scientists and technological barriers can limit the use of the app, and inclusive data management practices are required to ensure that users’ needs are met. The critical evaluation of our experiences and lessons learned contributes to methodological recommendations for better citizen science practices that are particularly useful for other (global) citizen science projects that want to collaborate with community-based monitoring groups in Latin America.