the hub team is the core task force and first contact point for every [action-learning journey](action-learning journey) (ALJ). the hub team is arguably the most essential factor in a given journey, because they are the access to the locality and the point of initiation for the rest of what will be organised. core responsibilities include:
- local stakeholder engagement and onboarding
- discovering, naming and communicating the ALJ aspect
- event page
- product specification
- capacity requirements & offerings
- funding distribution agreements Am solomon Salifu, Hub lead for Tamale Hub TAMALE-HUB)NORTHBITS) PROJECTS:
- GROUP 1
Team Name
SmartHatch 2. Location/Community Observed
Tamale Metropolitan Area, Northern Region, Ghana
3. Local Problem Discovered
Poultry hatcheries in Tamale still use manual record-keeping for egg batches, incubation data, and chick delivery. This leads to inaccurate records, low transparency, and difficulty verifying chick origin, affecting farmers, hatchery operators, and buyers.
4. Fit with ‘Regenerative’ Theme
Digitizing hatching data restores trust, reduces waste, improves hatch success, and strengthens the local poultry ecosystem. It supports a more transparent, sustainable, and self-improving agricultural system.
5. Initial Solution Idea
SmartHatch: A MERN + Cardano blockchain system with a web dashboard for hatcheries and a mobile app for farmers and buyers. It enables tamper-proof records, QR verification, and smart contract-based automated payments.
GROUP 2: Team Name WASH-Watch Innovators
2 Location/Community Observed 3 Focus: Rural and Peri-urban Communities across Ghana that rely on small, often seasonal, water bodies and have decentralized waste management systems.
- What local problem did you discover?
The core problem is the lack of transparency and proactivity in managing water body degradation and sanitation services, specifically: Reactive Maintenance: Water bodies (e.g., dams, dugouts, reservoirs) suffer from chronic, undetected siltation and microbial contamination (often faecal). Rural users only realize the water is unsafe when it becomes visibly polluted or is abruptly closed, leading to prolonged water scarcity and health risks. • Lack of Accountability: Service providers tasked with cleaning or improving sanitation lack a data-backed, immutable mechanism to verify the quality and success of their work, leading to inefficient resource spending and recurrent problems. 4 The primary people affected are the local community residents who depend on these sources for daily life, and the municipal authorities who struggle to enforce compliance and ensure service quality.
- How does this fit the “regenerative” theme? The current system is extractive (using the resource until it fails). Our solution is regenerative because it focuses on restoring the health and integrity of the natural water resource and establishing a self-sustaining management looр. Restoration: By providing real-time, predictive alerts on sedimentation and contamination, we enable interventions before the water body is critically damaged. This allows for scheduled, targeted maintenance and restoring its capacity to safely serve the community. Renewal & Trust: The use of Cardano Blockchain and tokenization creates an immutable, auditable record of water quality metrics and service verification transactions. This transparency renews the social contract around environmental stewardship and creates a sustainable, self-financed cycle of data-driven care.
5 Initial Solution Idea: WASH-Watch
A Data-Verified, Decentralized WASH Management System Our solution establishes a complete, regenerative economy for WASH services using the Cardano Stack. Introducing the WASH-Token (WASH): A native token on Cardano designed to serve as the medium of exchange and incentive within the WASHWatch ecosystem. 2 IoT & Oracle Layer (The Edge): Low-cost sensors monitor water parameters (turbidity, pH, level). Sensor data is routed through a trusted Oracle before being securely written to the Cardano Ledger. 3 Smart Contracts & Tokenomics (Cardano Stack): We deploy Smart Contracts using Cardano SDKs to govern all transactions and logic: Data Contracts: Stores the immutable sensor data. • Service Contracts: Defines the required Quality of Service (QoS) threshold for maintenance work (e.g., turbidity must drop by 60% and remain stable for 48 hours). Payment & Incentive Contracts: Manages the WASH Token distribution for all ecosystem activities. 4 Automated Service Verification & Payment (Trustless Loop): • Technicians are required to stake a small amount of WASH payment to the technician, including their initial stake. If the QoS is not met, the payment is held, and the staked WASH for participating in data verification (e.g., manually confirming a sensor reading, or reporting an issue through the dApp). This encourages active local participation and ownership, driving the regenerative cycle.
6 User Interface (dApp): A simple Mobile/Web dApp allows all stakeholders to view the live, $WASH Token-verified data and track service payment transactions.
GROUP 3: CATS Hackathon: Problem Discovery Submission (Draft)
1. Team Name: Landtify
2. Location/Community Observed: Tamale Metropolitan Area, Northern Region, Ghana
3. What local problem did you discover?
There is widespread land ownership fraud and double-selling of parcels, caused by non-digital, fragmented, and manual land allocation practices at the sub-divisional and paramount chief levels. Chiefs issue allocation letters without any central database, and many lands are never registered with the Lands Commission. As a result, multiple buyers unknowingly purchase the same land, leading to disputes, community tensions, financial loss, and long litigation cases.
Who is affected: First-time land buyers, families, chiefs’ secretaries, surveyors, community land administrators, and real estate developers.
4. How does this fit the “regenerative” theme?
Fixing this issue restores trust, transparency, and harmony within the land ecosystem. It also renews local confidence in traditional land authorities by combining indigenous land stewardship with modern verification tools. By digitizing records, the community reduces wasteful processes, minimizes conflicts, and creates a foundation for sustainable development.
5. Initial Solution Idea
A blockchain-based land verification system where each parcel of land is represented as a unique digital asset (NFT). Chiefs and authorized secretaries can issue, verify, and transfer ownership records, while buyers can check land authenticity before purchase. This creates a transparent, tamper-proof local registry that links identity to land ownership, reduces fraud, and supports future integration with the Lands Commission.
GROUP 4: Rental Finder App/USSD
Introduction
Accessing rental rooms, stores, office spaces, or houses in Tamale has become increasingly difficult. Information is scattered across different platforms: some landlords use WhatsApp, others use TikTok, and many rely on agents who charge high fees. Most people still move from place to place searching manually. Currently, there is no trusted and centralized platform that displays available rental facilities, their prices, and locations.
Who does it affect?
This challenge affects: Students, Workers, Families, Businesses, New residents, Landlords and agents (who struggle to connect with potential tenants quickly).
Better Use of Existing Housing Resources
Many rooms, stores, office spaces, and houses in Tamale remain vacant or underutilized simply because people cannot easily find them.
A Rental Finder App/USSD system will:
· Help tenants discover available rooms or houses quickly
· Enable landlords to advertise vacancies easily
Reduces Stress, Time, and Cost of Searching for Rooms
Currently, people walk long distances or visit multiple communities in search of suitable accommodation. Many rely heavily on agents, which adds cost.
This leads to waste of, Time, Transportation money, Energy
Strengthens Community Connections
By connecting landlords, caretakers, and tenants on a single platform, the system will:
· Promote trust
· Build collaboration
· Reduce exploitation by middlemen
· Support fair housing access
Encourages Sustainable Urban Development in Tamale
With accurate rental data:
· Housing demand can be understood
· Future development can be planned more effectively
· Overcrowding and informal settlements may be reduced
Promotes Digital Inclusion
Including a USSD option ensures that even people without smartphones or internet access can benefit. This supports:
· Low-income households
· Students
· Rural migrants
· Vulnerable groups
Conclusion
The Rental Finder App/USSD system is regenerative because it enhances the use of housing resources, reduces waste and stress, strengthens community ties, improves city planning, and ensures equal access to vital rental information for everyone.
GROUP 5:
- Team Name
BlockCert Tamale
- Location / Community Observed
Tamale, Northern Region – Ghana (Also reflects issues experienced across universities, training centers, and professional institutions nationwide.)
- What local problem did you discover?
Many institutions in Ghana still issue paper-based certificates that are easy to forge, damage, or lose. Employers, scholarship boards, training centres, and government agencies struggle to verify authenticity, leading to:
Fake certificates circulating in the job market
Delays in recruitment and admissions
Loss of trust between institutions and the public
Financial and reputational damage to organisations
This problem affects students, job seekers, employers, educational institutions, and regulators across Ghana.
- How does this fit the “regenerative” theme?
A secure and verifiable digital certificate system restores trust in education and employment processes, reduces waste, and revitalizes local institutions by:
Cutting down massive paper use to support environmental sustainability
Eliminating repeated printing and transportation of documents
Strengthening transparency and accountability in the certification ecosystem
Creating a long-term digital infrastructure that institutions can reuse and build upon
Empowering young people with trusted credentials that improve access to jobs and training
By moving from fragile paper systems to tamper-proof digital records, communities regenerate trust and efficiency.
- Initial Solution Idea
A Blockchain-based Certificate Verification System integrated with IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) to securely store and validate academic and professional certificates. This solution ensures certificates cannot be forged, damaged, or altered, while reducing paper waste and promoting transparent, regenerative digital systems.
Key features:
Each certificate is uploaded to IPFS and assigned a unique hash
The hash is permanently recorded on a blockchain ledger
Employers and institutions can verify authenticity instantly using a QR code or unique link
Students own a secure digital wallet that stores all their credentials
Tamper-proof, low-cost, and accessible on mobile devices