At present the achieved and still expected outcomes of the project are:

• To maintainsupport to users that implement the VICI crop Insurance product in Ethiopia.
• Caterfor the required product maintenance and knowledge transfer from ITC to VITO (previously to Mekelle University).
• Theabove process will be combined with the creation of digital support services through TerraScope (the VITO managed DIAS).
• Re-purposethe use of the developed drought-monitoring models to focus on insuring the perils of “delay of season-start” and “false starts”.
• Re-purposethe use of the developed drought-monitoring models to create a ‘next generation’ drought monitoring service that provides locally accurate semi-quantitative impact assessments
• To createthrough a versatile App, one’s ability to capture ground-inventories of farmers assessments regarding suffered yield-gaps.

In 2020 lots of delay in progress occurred, because 1: fieldwork could not commence (together with JICA-ICIP) due to COVID-19, and 2: the availability of proper Sentinel-3 NDVI-imagery remained pending till early 2021. In addition, late-2020, the political/security situation in Ethiopia erupted. Note: all these aspects warranted us to restructure the Pilot (partners and activities).

• Technical producer’s manual on how VICI was created and is being maintained (this manual will have a restricted circulation because VICI was partly paid for by private partners).
  [completed and shared with VITO].
• Updated ILWIS-GeoNetcast toolboxes to capture NDVI-data through GeoNetcast and process them specifically for VICI.
  [completed; posted on: https://52north.org/software/software-projects/ilwis/]
• An improved map of Crop Production Zones covering Ethiopia, with reference tables on growing seasons (10-day resolution) and tables on VICI trigger and exit thresholds (NDVI-based; 10-day resolution, by CPSZ).
  [completed; posted on https://dikke.itc.utwente.nl:5001/sharing/TnLUMyC6W [1]].
• Webinar recordings to train and inform the trainers in "What is VICI", including many specific details on insurance aspects.
  [compleded; posted on: https://dikke.itc.utwente.nl:5001/sharing/wEaEfIBme].
• A “field-survey App” with support to users, who are keen in creating (i) benchmark datasets on perils and yields gaps, (ii) monitoring the temporal variability of specific perils, and (iii) validating assessments by the VICI-based drought and insurance models.
  [Status Jan 2022: detailed model specification are in place; App-construction remains pending].
• To cater the recently specified requirements from other Sub-Saharan countries concerning improved quantitative drought monitoring and drought-insurance needs:
• To transfer the 2nd generation drought monitoring (and insurance) NDVI-interpretation procedures from ITC/UT (knowledge provider) to VITO (service provider).
• To create a delivery chain to provide drought monitoring products through a VITO-operated DIAS (Terrascope) to clients (will be client specific and on a country-by-country basis).
• To upgrade the drought monitoring tool from assessing pre-defined seasons, to a more fluid season-specification approach; the assessment period can thus also focus on variability in the onset and end of growing seasons and on the length of e.g. a dry-season.

• Primary data are freely available from the Copernicus Global Land Service or "operational" (Short Time Access) through Eumetsat with updates at 10day intervals.
• Processed data for drought monitoring will (in the near future) become available on a client-by-client basis, through TerraScope, the DIAS operated by VITO.
• All other documents etc. will become available as shown above (various FTP sites/directories, or soon through social media).

Our pilot, VICI is a geodata-driven risk-mitigation (insurance) product. It targets smallholder farmers in Ethiopia (rainfed
agriculture). It aims to remove hesitation by farmers to purchase agricultural inputs.

VICI protects farmers against shocks caused by the peril “drought”. It uses branchless banking technology and is at present
sold in Ethiopia in combination with credit provision. VICI is fully aligned to the Rural Finance Strategy of ATA (Agricultural
Transformation Agency).

VICI validation through farmers stated impacts experienced at field level (for any experienced peril), versus yield gap estimates suffered (by peril), versus VICI-assessments and %-payments estimates of VICI to cover the peril "drought" will hopefully all become possible through the support of the IIASA App.

VICI as a ‘systematic and synergetic’ approach, it provides financial inclusion, it stimulates agricultural investment, it brokers
sustainable production methods and it provides risk transfer tools.

Recently, VICI was presented through a webinar for ICIP (index-based crop insurance project) and Kifiya staff. This resulted in another 3-4 years commitment by JICA (Japanese International Cooperation Agency) to support and promote VICI. This format worked well and it is likely, this will be the format for stakeholders/partners consultations in the near future. Thanks to the JICA ICIP project - 7,400 farmers were informed about the VICI insurance product and 1,115 farmers took up insurance in 2020 in the Oromia region of Ethiopia.

Transferring to VITO the means to re-create VICI-like tools and to monitor drought through VICI-derived logic, plus to create the means to VITO to create clint-specific services through TerraScope, will open-up the now well-proven method to other regions where drought is creating impacts on rural economies.

Impact on the EO community at large

• Impact: Awareness that a business model is operational in Ethiopia (and therefore can be implemented anywhere anytime too) to quantitatively capture and assess in a spatial-dynamic matter, anomalies like drought, and to insure the exposure of a field (farmer) to this peril using free Copernicus data. The VICI method is not country specific nor crop specific, very low cost, void of human meddling, and scalable.
• This pilot will strengthen the need for and availability of platform and sensor independent Index data like NDVI, plus the need for their free and fast distribution through GeoNetCast channels as the need of processing, distribution, and archiving services offered through a DIAS.

Team members attended a workshop on the collection of in situ data and GDPR compliance (use of the PIA software). Concerns were voiced that informing in the field, e.g. in Ethiopia, each potential farmer to interview on GDPR-compliance rules, will have strong time (timing)-restrictions and be counter-productive. Checking GDPR aspects at central, regional and local levels (from ministry to farmers’ unions/cooperatives) may suit compliance discussions way better. It will also match present-day operational aspects with national counterparts better (a "must"), and get through them, specifics on GDPR compliance (and approvals). This approach will typically differ by country and depends on current legislation and data-sharing policies.

This still needs to be discussed with our pilot partners and users.