230 likes | 361 Views
Using Web-Based Technologies for Monitoring. A Consortium. Background. Very high intensity earthquake in northern Pakistan in early October Mountainous region Low Accessibility Poor Communications Large government, donor, INGO, local NGO and individual response. Background.
E N D
Using Web-Based Technologies for Monitoring A Consortium
Background • Very high intensity earthquake in northern Pakistan in early October • Mountainous region • Low Accessibility • Poor Communications • Large government, donor, INGO, local NGO and individual response
Background • Two large problems in every such disaster • Finding out about conditions in villages • Coordinating responses • Updating conditions • Question: Can new technology help? • www.risepak.com in 2006 (winner Stockholm Challenge Award in 2007) • Similar new sites starting to come up now
Typical Information Systems • Designed for logistics and coordination within organizations (UN HIC is separate from Red Cross is separate from MSF) • Not accessible to others • Do not provide information on all villages • Do not update information from individuals outside the organization • Do not record (and make available) information at a level that allows for ex post verification by others (village vs. district)
www.risepak.com • Public information and coordination system • Step 1: Pre-load site with all available information at the village level • Step 2: Allow all agencies and individuals to update information, after basic checks • Step 3: Collate and continuously update information on damage and relief • RISEPAK is an enabling environment for self-coordination
How does www.risepak.com work? “Give and Take” portal • Take • Pre-Earthquake info on demographics, maps and distances available • Up-to-date info on access, damage and relief • Give • Send village info using phone/fax/sms/web • Help us by using pre-prepared forms or work with ISL team GIVE Info to Risepak Relief Providers Do/Gather
Why is www.risepak.com different? • Uses most recent portal technology to integrate demographic, geographical and satellite images • Searchable at village level; all info is PUBLIC • Overlaid with distances from major roads and epicenter • Continuously updated with information received via fax, phone, text-messaging and through www.risepak.com • 8 hour turnaround
What does www.risepak.com do? Examples Pre-Loaded Information on high-risk villages
What does www.risepak.com do? Examples Pre-Loaded Information: Risk and Accessibility
You can plan where to go Smaller relief-organizations may want to go to small villages close to the epicenter first (green); larger organizations to big villages close to the epicenter. To see which ones these are, go to village info
What does www.risepak.com do? Examples Information within a week
What does www.risepak.com do? Examples Information within a week
What does www.risepak.com do? Examples A Valuable Accountability Tool
What makes this portal a success? • Give and Take Village-level information • Check in frequently for updated information to help plan and coordinate relief effort • Send damage and relief reports from the field • Help ensure no village is left behind
RISEPAK successes • Vast use as a provider of information for all relief groups • Locations of villages • Maps of village areas • Updated information on 1220 of 2500 affected villages (examples here) • Received more than 1800 bulletin board posts
Risepak successes • Got relief agencies to think about data and recording relief • Smaller agencies received higher donations once they started posting • (No success with larger organizations) • Accountability and evidence-based policy came on the radar screen • And continues with the www.risepak.com reports
RISEPAK Failures: Obtaining Information • Hard to get information from relief-organizations • Boots on the ground critical • Managed to get large number of organizations to record information at the village-level • Great success with smaller organizations, no success at all with larger ones (UN, WFP do not keep such data and do not know where the relief has gone)
Risepak failures: The village as the level of data recording • “Village” is the right unit to look at • Small Variation within Villages • Easy to locate villages given names by relief agencies • Received relief and damage information on 2300 villages • BUT could match only 1220 to our database
Beyond disasters • Typical “supervision” in projects is top-down • But with wide mobile-phone usage, bottom-up reporting is far more efficient • Already happening through flickr, twitter etc. • Perhaps not a great idea for long-term reporting or for services with a public-good aspect (absenteeism of teachers, sanitation) • But probably great for short-term reporting of programs with a big private transfer such as cash-grants
Example: Cash Grants • Pre-loaded information can contain the entire beneficiary database with location and other characteristics • Any complaint/issue linked in to the beneficiary • Overall complaint data can point to specific problems (for instance, widows excluded or better delivery in one district vs. other) • Perhaps even more critical in crisis situations where large programs are executed and top-down supervision may be insufficient
Lessons Learnt • Contrary to usual perceptions this is not hard to do • Requires body of data collated before hand • Requires business model to be clarified (cannot run on volunteers for ever) • Hardest bit is getting the donors to coordinate • And be willing to make information available publicly • Probably best if mandated rather than on a volunteer basis