Data & Information Systems including Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)
Data & Information Systems
including Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)
Data and Information Systems
Millennium Promise uses innovative Information and Communications Technology (ICT) applications to contribute to the improvement of lives of people in poor rural areas by providing capacity building and technical assistance to governments and decision makers. MP also facilitate access to real-time data and information at the local, national and regional levels that incorporate spatial dimension for a better planning of SDG-based sectorial interventions, to track progress and accelerate interventions as needed to achieve local development.
To do so MP combines the rigor of scientific research with the impact of effective policy to design reliable sustainable models of ICT and technological innovations in health, agriculture, agribusiness and water management, energy and development, which can be implemented in sub-Saharan Africa.
MP adapts the ICT-based multi-sectoral and integrated M&E systems platform to SDGs, supports and builds the capacity of government M&E departments at national and sub-national levels to develop M&E Systems responsive to specific needs and conditions.
MP has also developed new ICT-based planning and monitoring tools, baseline assessment and monitoring methodologies and technologies for planning, and implementation of local development and governance systems in West and Central Africa. MP helps multiple governments develop and institutionalize modern “real-time” tools for data gathering, aggregation, visualization and analysis for the planning and monitoring of territorial decentralization and decision-making. MP develops special expertise in the nexus of sustainable investment and extractive industries to ensure that countries and communities benefit from their resources.
We leverage on expertise and recent knowledge in the use of open mobile and web-based tools for data collection, organization, analysis and visualization to provide accurate answers to the questions:
- How many infrastructures, how equipped, functional and managed are they?
- Where are located the infrastructures, how close are they to the populations (access)?
- What to do in terms of extension and coverage to improve population’s access?
- What will it take to achieve the targets?
With more than 5.3 billion mobile phone subscribers worldwide, the information and technology revolution has transformed our way of life and is the driving force for economic development in the world today. More than 360 million subscribers live in sub-Saharan Africa alone.
Millennium Promise is working to integrate mobile technology into all sectors of its work. The first step was to increase mobile phone network access by ensuring 80% of all households are within two kilometers of cellular range and providing basic data connectivity to key institutions including schools, clinics and ICT kiosks.
The effects are extraordinary. Schools that once sent students home when the sun went down due to lack of electricity can now connect to the Internet and to other schools through solar panels, energy-efficient computers and wireless 3G access. Pastoralists in nomadic communities use their phones to check local market prices and decide whether to bring their livestock for sale. This was possible through partnerships with Ericsson and regional GSM operators that have helped expand and strengthen GSM network coverage.
MPA has also introduced mobile phone-based health (mHealth) services to improve the delivery and efficiency of community- and clinic-based health services. ICT programs are supporting MVP interventions including ChildCount+, which is used for example in Sauri, Kenya, to register and systematically track 10,000 children under the age of five for malnutrition and illnesses.
Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E)
We ensure that there are comprehensive and robust Monitoring and Evaluation (M & E) systems in place that effectively track the progress of the complex integrated rural development projects managed and/or supported by Millennium Promise such as the Millennium Villages Project
(MVP), the Sustainable Villages Project
(SVP) and the Sustainable Districts Program
(SDP).
Our M & E system captures real-time performance data that will routinely help to improve program operations. It will also include survey data based on SDG targets and indicators. Its tools, protocols and methodologies are being developed based on the best practice assessments from the MVP’s 10-year period of carrying out monitoring and evaluation activities.
Our work falls into the following major areas of concentration:
Progress Monitoring:
development of an open source-based performance-monitoring platform, called DHIS2 [https://www.dhis2.org/] being widely adopted in more than 45 countries, mostly in Africa. The software has proven to be better synchronized with regard to data collection, aggregation and visualization – allowing for real-time creation of SDG indicator dashboards.
Data Management & Analysis:
MP’s database includes both quantitative and qualitative data that are collected from all sector interventions and programs. The data are linked to SDG indicators and also includes other performance monitoring indicators.
Technical Assistance.
Our M & E team has multidisciplinary expertise and experience to provide technical assistance in other countries by developing M & E systems for the implementation of their M & E activities using methodologies and tools to adapt to the SDG-era monitoring & evaluation frameworks.
Evaluation:
we conduct an objective evaluation at the end of each project, using household survey modules that measure more than 80 SDG indicators.
