• What we do
  • The People
  • About Us
  • Why Innovation Africa
  • Contact Us
Innovation AfricaCreating the Future Today
  • Feature Articles
  • Innovation
  • Agriculture
  • ICT
  • Technology
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Health
  • Store
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • Feature Articles
  • Innovation
  • Agriculture
  • ICT
  • Technology
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Health
  • Store
  • Contact Us
  • Does Technology Make Monitoring and Evaluation More or Less Efficient?

    July 5, 2015 Editor 0

    ictandme

    “The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”

    This quote, attributed to Bill Gates, refers to how technology works to complement good systems, not replace them. During break-out sessions at the recent ICTforAg Conference, we discussed why this is also true of the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICT) and monitoring and evaluation (M&E). ICTs – most notably smart phones and tablets – are often used as a more efficient means to obtain and analyze project data. Although M&E is often seen as a driver for the use of ICTs, there are still many challenges for organizations to realize the full potential of ICT in M&E.

    It’s Not Just About Technology

    Panelists Ben Jacques-Leslie from the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL), Katherine Scaife Diaz from TechnoServe, and Michael Reiter from FINTRAC presented on their organizations’ history of integrating ICT into M&E. Each presenter touched on the imperative of working better and more efficiently. This spurred an interest in more efficiency in data collection, which has been addressed through the use of ICTs.

    Technologies such as satellite imagery have been piloted to more accurately and efficiently measure yield, while current point of sale technology could improve the accuracy of input costs estimates and commodity sales prices.

    But the question that remained in everyone’s minds was: Is efficiency and confidence in data collection achieved through technology, or is it more a function of using sound M&E systems? Mr. Jacques-Leslie argued that there is currently little evidence that technology actually improves data quality and that this is something that JPAL intends to study.

    Going back to that Gates quote, which Katherine Scaife Diaz shared at the beginning of the session, no amount of technology can work around inefficient M&E systems. Technology applied to an inefficient system will only magnify the problem.

    Data Collection Methods & The Human Element

    Although the disdain for paper-based data collection was palpable in the room, I saw many heads nodding when a participant noted that paper might still be the best data collection method in places where there simply isn’t the infrastructure and experience to support the use of ICTs. If technology use is appropriate – and data collection becomes more efficient as a result – can decision-makers really make full use of all the data? And in this scenario, what is truly efficient? Is it spending less time collecting the same amount of data or collecting even more data with the newfound time?

    If it is the latter, does that mean it’s time for the development sector to embrace advanced algorithms that use development data to create simple triggers to help decision makers, thus removing much of the human analysis element? Does the sector have sufficient trust in the current quality of data to move in that direction?

    Data quality is of utmost importance to M&E, but ensuring data quality continues to be a struggle within the sector. The group explored many technology-based ideas to increase data quality and participant tracking, including biometric data collection (iris scanning, finger print scanning) and technology enabled systems to identify outlier data.

    Unfortunately, many of these solutions have yet to be developed, are cost-prohibitive, or are fraught with data privacy concerns. As a result, the human element surfaced again. Many of us agreed that data is only as good as the skills of the person collecting it. Some enumerators have higher capacity than others, yet system-wide data quality checks rarely account for this. Could data quality be improved through the use of reputation-based data verification systems that focus data quality checks on lower capacity enumerators while giving higher capacity enumerators more leeway?

    Unquestionably, ICT has the potential to transform the efficiency and usefulness of data collection, as well as boosting organizational confidence in data collected through M&E systems. But it also has the potential to create inefficiencies if applied in inefficient operations where human capacity and technological infrastructure is low.

    Garrett Schiche is a Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Advisor at Lutheran World Relief

    Go to SourceReprinted from ICTWorks

    Related Posts

    • Managing Famine Risk in Africa
    • Is Africa ready to climb the value chain in agriculture?Is Africa ready to climb the value chain in agriculture?
    • Global partnerships are critical to advance the control of Neglected Zoonotic Diseases: The case of the Global Alliance for Rabies Control.Global partnerships are critical to advance the control of Neglected Zoonotic Diseases: The case of the Global Alliance for Rabies Control.
    • Don’t Get Defensive: Communication Tips for the VigilantDon’t Get Defensive: Communication Tips for the Vigilant
    • KNOWLEDGE PROTECTION IN KNOWLEDGE-INTENSIVE BUSINESS SERVICES
    • When One Man’s Idea Becomes Everyone’s Idea
    Sovrn
    Share

    Categories: ICT

    Ethiopia innovation platform meeting reports document progress and partnerships Major step for implantable drug-delivery device

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.

Subscribe to our stories


 

Recent Posts

  • SL Crowd Green Solutions September 21, 2020
  • Digital transformation in the banking sector: surveys exploration and analytics August 3, 2020
  • Why Let Others Disrupt You? Take the Smart Self-Disruption Journey! August 3, 2020
  • 5 Tips for Crowdfunding During the Pandemic August 3, 2020
  • innovation + africa; +639 new citations August 3, 2020

Categories

Archives

Popular Post-All time

  • A review on biomass-based... 0.9k views
  • Can blockchain disrupt ge... 682 views
  • Prize-winning projects pr... 678 views
  • Apply Now: $500,000 for Y... 605 views
  • Test Your Value Propositi... 533 views

Recent Posts

  • SL Crowd Green Solutions
  • Digital transformation in the banking sector: surveys exploration and analytics
  • Why Let Others Disrupt You? Take the Smart Self-Disruption Journey!
  • 5 Tips for Crowdfunding During the Pandemic
  • innovation + africa; +639 new citations
  • SME Innovation: 10 Priorities for Support Post-COVID-19 
  • Africa RISING Annual Progress Report 2018 – 2019 now available
  • Fodder beet feed supplementation delivers dairy success for Ethiopian farmers
  • Using theory of change for outcome-oriented research
  • Africa RISING partners publish soil fertility management guidebook

Tag Cloud

    africa African Agriculture Business Business model Business_Finance Company Crowdsourcing data Development East Africa economics Education Entrepreneur entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship ethiopia ghana Health_Medical_Pharma ict Information technology Innovation kenya knowledge Knowledge Management Leadership marketing mobile Mobile phone nigeria Open innovation Organization Research rwanda science Science and technology studies social enterprise social entrepreneurship south africa Strategic management strategy tanzania Technology Technology_Internet uganda

Categories

Archives

  • A review on biomass-based hydrogen production for renewable energy supply 0.9k views
  • Can blockchain disrupt gender inequality? 682 views
  • Prize-winning projects promote healthier eating, smarter crop investments 678 views
  • Apply Now: $500,000 for Your Big Data Innovations in Agriculture 605 views
  • Test Your Value Proposition: Supercharge Lean Startup and CustDev Principles 533 views

Copyright © 2005-2020 Innovation Africa Theme created by PWT. Powered by WordPress.org