A Win for Locally-Led Drone Delivery!

A seasoned drone delivery expert at the Global Fund in Geneva told me that this possible success story might be a first, and they hope it gets written up. So here's the short version.

A Ugandan public health organization is regularly operating drone deliveries to reach HIV patients living on remote islands in Lake Victoria. This Ugandan organization owns the drones that deliver their essential medicines. They also fly the drones themselves and have been since 2022.?

Some context: Drone companies in the US, Germany, Australia, etc., own most cargo drone operations in Africa. These companies manufacture proprietary drone technology and typically employ full-time drone operators to oversee the life-saving deliveries. (They also risk displacing local cargo drone startups who can't compete with VC-backed foreign companies). In other words, it's practically unheard of for a local health organization to operate its own cargo drones in Africa, Asia, or Latin America, for that matter.

Can this localized approach to drone delivery be replicated? Yes! Here's how we collectively pulled off the joint project in Uganda when I served as Executive Director of WeRobotics, a social-impact organization I co-founded in 2015:

1. We repurposed and upgraded DJI's M300 drone -- one of the most reliable industrial drones on the market -- into a full-fledged cargo drone. Why? To give our partners access to affordable cargo drones that they can actually own. Our M300 cargo drone solution is fully open source.?
2. The WeRobotics Engineering Team took the lead in repurposing and upgrading the M300, after which they transferred their knowledge, skills, standard operating procedures and technologies to Uganda Flying Labs. In addition, WeR Engineering worked with the local health organization and the Flying Labs to set up the inter-island delivery corridors. They began deliveries together in 2021.?
3. In early 2022, we transferred all tech, know-how, operations, and regulatory permits from Uganda Flying Labs to the health organization, i.e., the lead partner in the project. This transfer was a joint effort between WeR Engineering, Uganda Flying Labs, and Tanzania Flying Labs. The latter provided drone certification training to staff members of the health organization.?
4. Since then, WeR Engineering spun off from WeRobotics, and I've moved on too. My former colleague Seb put it best when he messaged me yesterday:

"Just got this video from Kusu : ) They're still going strong?with regular deliveries on Lake Victoria. Amazing to see?that what we put in place has outlived us."

This project was a massive team effort over multiple years by many organizations. And it's worth noting that Philippines Flying Labs has also been using the M300 cargo drone for vaccine delivery with Pfizer and a wide range of local health partners in remote areas of the Philippines.?

How long will the Lake Victoria drone deliveries continue? I don't know, but the fact that they're still delivering today is a testament to all the hard work that has gone into this project. This operation was by far the most challenging and stressful project I worked on during my 7+ years at WeRobotics. We faced many setbacks, which says a lot given that we'd already done drone delivery projects in the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest and across remote mountains in Nepal, amongst other places worldwide.?

Thankfully, all partners in Uganda shared the same mindset regarding walking the talk on localization and shifting the power. This is a crucial reason why this project may become a success story. Congratulations to the health organization in Uganda and to everyone who was and continues to be involved.?