Accelerating Afforestation through Digital Transformation with CATCH Foundation

By Ketul

Updated 30 Oct, 2024

7 min read

In 2016, the CATCH Foundation began its journey as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission, aiming to create urban dense forests across India to make cities greener. By 2023, CATCH had developed a vast network of eco-warriors and planted over 45 forests in Gujarat alone. However, as their operations expanded, the foundation faced significant challenges in scaling its efforts and maintaining transparency with stakeholders.

These operational challenges slowed their potential for growth. The need for real-time project updates, effective communication between field teams and administrators, and demonstrating impact to stakeholders became critical. This led CATCH to partner with Mission Sustainability to digitally transform their processes and showcase their afforestation projects more effectively.

Objective

The key objectives of this collaboration were:

Enhancing transparency with stakeholders, including CSR partners and donors.
Improving internal efficiency to streamline operations and scale the organization.
Increasing stakeholder engagement through a digital transformation of CATCH’s processes.

Expanding partnerships and collaborations through improved branding and impact tracking.

Challenges

Despite starting its urban dense forest projects in 2019, the CATCH Foundation struggled to keep up with its pace of expansion. Several operational challenges emerged:

1. Lack of Trust and Transparency:

CATCH was unable to provide stakeholders—CSR partners, donors, and volunteers—with real-time updates on afforestation projects. This lack of visibility created transparency issues and made it difficult to engage new partners.

2. Operational Inefficiencies:

Delays in communication between the administrative and field teams (Paryavaran Rakshak) led to project execution delays. Without a digital infrastructure, it became harder to coordinate and execute fieldwork efficiently.

3. Limited Growth Potential:

Without a proper platform to showcase impact, CATCH struggled to secure larger partnerships or government support. This made it challenging for the organization to scale and expand to other cities.

The Solution

Mission Sustainability provided CATCH Foundation with a full digital transformation, beginning with implementing a custom-built Afforestation Impact Tracking Platform (AITP).

1. Afforestation Impact Tracking Platform (AITP):

Mission Sustainability developed the AITP using Next.js, React, Strapi, NeonDB, and Vercel. The platform was designed to provide real-time project updates, photos, and videos to CSR partners, sponsors, and volunteers. This significantly increased transparency, allowing stakeholders to see how their contributions were making a tangible impact on the ground. The platform allowed CATCH to share over 21,000 images monthly from their project sites, ensuring complete visibility for all ongoing projects.
Watch the detailed video overview of the AITP here

2. Organizational Restructuring:

Mission Sustainability reorganized CATCH’s operational structure, creating clear responsibilities for field and administrative teams (Paryavaran Rakshak). Real-time updates from field teams were fed directly into the AITP, which streamlined communication and ensured faster decision-making.

3. Enhanced Digital Presence and Branding:

Mission Sustainability revamped CATCH’s website to display real-time project updates, the types of species planted, project locations, and forest density data. Social media strategies were also enhanced to engage more stakeholders, with over 250 posts and 25 videos showcasing CATCH’s work.

4. Strategic Partnership Expansion:

With the help of Mission Sustainability’s improved branding and transparency features, CATCH expanded its network of CSR partners and collaborators. They developed a custom presentation for government agencies and larger corporations, which led to the formation of 80+ new partnerships.

Results

The collaboration between the CATCH Foundation and Mission Sustainability brought measurable, tangible results:

1. Doubling Afforestation Efforts:

Within a year of the platform’s launch, CATCH Foundation doubled the number of trees it planted—from 1,17,000 to over 2,34,000. Furthermore, they expanded to 17 new cities, creating 24 dense urban forests.

2. Increased Transparency and Stakeholder Trust:

With the new AITP, CATCH provided real-time updates on 30+ active projects. The system generated 21,000+ photos from the field every month, improving the trust between stakeholders and the foundation.

3. Expanded Partnerships:

The implementation of the AITP, combined with strategic outreach efforts, resulted in CATCH gaining 80+ new CSR collaborators and drawing attention from both government and private sector organizations.

4. Enhanced Digital Growth and Brand Amplification:

With the increased visibility of their impact, CATCH’s digital presence grew significantly. They gained over 1,600 LinkedIn followers (up from 80), had a 30% increase in website traffic, and secured 25 new partnership leads each month.

Key Metrics

Trees Grown: 1,17,000 to 2,34,000 (2X increase)
New Forests: 24 dense forests across 17 cities
CSR Collaborators: 80+ new partnerships
LinkedIn Followers: 1,600+ (from 80)
Website Traffic: 30% increase, 1,200+ visitors monthly
Photos Collected: 21,000+ photos per month
Live Projects: 30+ projects with real-time updates

Conclusion

The CATCH Foundation’s collaboration with Mission Sustainability led to a transformative impact on both operational efficiency and environmental outcomes. By implementing the Afforestation Impact Tracking Platform, CATCH could scale its efforts, improve transparency, and engage stakeholders in a meaningful way.

This case study demonstrates how digital tools can be leveraged to solve real-world environmental challenges, helping organizations like CATCH expand their mission to create greener, more sustainable cities across India.

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Accelerating Afforestation through Digital Transformation with CATCH Foundation

Contents

Objective