Reginald Lyakurwa from Longido District taking pictures with the tablet during one of his coordination visits to the Maisha Bora programme activities. 

You can read the full article on: https://social.shorthand.com/MaishaBoraTZA/ngE04c6yrf/the-wows-and-woes-of-mande-technology

In June 2016 BTC launched a mobile monitoring system based on the free and open source solutions offered by Kobo Toolbox. The tools allow BTC and their local government partners to collect monitoring data using an application on their tablets, aggregate all the data on the Kobo Toolbox server and export them directly to any of their preferred analysis tools: Excel, QGIS or Tableau Public.

The first results look promising. Mathias Lardinois, programme coordinator explains: “We are collecting rich and reliable data, we limit the time spent on data collection and analysis, minimize data entry errors and we ensure a fast flow of information from the field to the office. Basically these tools help us to take better decisions based on reliable information from the field.”  

“Putting in place the technology is the relatively easy part. We are investing a lot of time in training our partners in the use of the tablets and making sure they can all keep up with the technology” says Toon Driesen, junior assistant for BTC . By setting up data collection campaigns together with their programme partners and sharing knowledge and experiences with organizations outside the Maisha Bora programme, BTC also contributes to a local community of practice.

Mathias & Toon finally give some advice to other development actors who want to set-up their own M&E system:

• Think about an integrated ICT4D approach. Make sure you can integrate and preferable synchronize your M&E system with your other (existing) tools for e.g. communication and programme management.
• The success and adoption of your tools depend on your primary users. Invest sufficient time in training and include your partners and users in every step of the design and implementation process.
• Don’t get too focused on data. It’s not about the amount of data you collect, but the ability of your organization to take meaningful decisions based on reliable data. Don’t ignore the stories behind the figures. 

BTC’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed. On 28 February 2017 Mathias Lardinois is invited to represent Maisha Bora at the 2nd Aid & Development Africa Summit in Nairobi, Kenya in a panel discussion on mobile innovations to support community resilience.  Find out more on the conference: http://africa.aidforum.org/   

Some useful links:

• http://digitalprinciples.org/ : 9 principles that will guide you for integrating best practices in technology-enabled programmes
• http://www.kobotoolbox.org/ : create your free hosted account at Kobo Toolbox and start collecting data using mobile phones or tablets.