TIDI, Trinity College Dublin 8 th November 2013

1. TIDI, Trinity College Dublin 8th November 2013 Innovative ICT to achieve impact

2. About Concern Worldwide Concern Worldwide is an international humanitarian organisation dedicated to working with the world’s poorest people to transform their lives. Founded in Ireland in 1968 Projects in 25 of the world’s poorest countries • In 2012 our programmes reached 16.5 million people in 25 countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean • 3 key areas: • Hunger • Health • Emergencies Innovative ICT to achieve impact

3. About Concern Worldwide • 3,200+ staff worldwide • Marketing offices in 3 northern hemisphere countries: Ireland, the UK & the US • Annual budget of €153.6 million (2012) Innovative ICT to achieve impact

4. How money is spent (2011 figures) Innovative ICT to achieve impact

5. Where Concern works Innovative ICT to achieve impact

6. ICT in Concern Innovative ICT to achieve impact • The importance of technology is highlighted in Concern’s 2011 - 2015 Strategy • Our goal is to ensure Concern Worldwide continues to use ICT in innovative ways not just to make the working lives of our staff easier but for our Programme Participants by using technology in our development programmes. • Through our ICT4 Development initiative, these aims will be delivered by the Concern IT department in collaboration with our field offices. • Concern’s dedication to the innovative use of ICT was highlighted last year when the Organisation was presented with a Special Recognition Award at 2012 ICT Excellence Awards.

7. Our technology Innovative ICT to achieve impact • Support user base of 2200+ in over 80 sites – all requiring connectivity. • 14 IT Staff in Dublin with a further 30 overseas • Connectivity has dramatically improved but still a big issue. • All core line-of-business systems hosted in our Datacentre in Camden Street. • Global standards are essential and the less we host in-field without impeding our field staff the better. • Key vendors are Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, EMC, HP. • Email our most important communications tool – Office 365. • VoIP telephony and cost effective communication essential - Skype used globally. • Deploying collaborative tools – Yammer, Microsoft Lync and new generation videoconferencing technology Vidyo

8. ICT for Development (ICT4D) Innovative ICT to achieve impact ICT4D is a general term referring to the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) within the fields of socioeconomic development, international development and human rights. The basic hypothesis behind the approach is that more and better information and communication furthers the development of a society - be this to improve income, education, health, security, or any other aspect of human development. At Concern Worldwide, we believe that directly applying information technology approaches to our programming will assist us with our goal to eliminate hunger and make poverty history.

9. ICT for Development (ICT4D) In order to identify ICT4D initiatives in country, a survey was issued to all fields in 2012. The key areas that emerged as potential ICT4D projects and formed our strategy were: • Digital Data Gathering (DDG) • Beneficiary Management Information System (including cash) • Mobile Information Systems • Mapping and GIS • Green Technology / Solar solutions Project and support team were established in order to develop expertise in these areas and to implement technology where appropriate Innovative ICT to achieve impact

10. Digital Data Gathering (DDG) Working in 25 countries, Concern implements a broad spectrum of urgent humanitarian relief, long-term development and educational programmes. Monitoring and reporting on the progress of each programme is amongst the biggest challenges the charity faces as it carries out over 150 surveys a year. Concern piloted DDG in Malawi in 2011 as part of an Accenture funded project, Conservation Agriculture (CA) project which involved using mobile hand-held devices to survey farmers involved in CA from land preparation, seeding, managing and harvesting. Based on the success of the pilot DDG was taken on as the solution of choice to monitor the CA project in Malawi and Zambia. Advantages of the technology are: Faster access to data Data available online Data collated in one place Quality improvements GPS / mapping available The DDG system consists of hardware (mobile phone, tablet) and software (offline client application and cloud database back-end). To provide this end to end solution Concern works with a Dublin based Technology Company called PSI Mobile. Innovative ICT to achieve impact

11. Digital Data Gathering Innovative ICT to achieve impact The innovative use of DDG have provided a substantial benefits when used by Concern in a number of different contexts: Emergencies: An emergency cholera response survey was quickly built to capture data about a cholera outbreak in Sierra Leone in September 2012.  The speed and accuracy of data collected identified the precise intervention that would have the greatest impact on the emergency. Livelihoods: Farmers in Lilongwe, Malawi, whose activities were being monitored with DDG, had a yield worth approximately €70, a significant increase and more than those in two other nearby districts. Health: DDG has been used to quickly and accurately collect and analyse data on the level of malnourishment among children in the remote, unstable Darfur region of Sudan.

12. Digital Data Gathering Innovative ICT to achieve impact Since the pilot was considered a success, Concern has subsequently rolled the system out to 18 countries. More the 350 devices are in place with approximately 50,000 surveys conducted. We will continue to scale up the project over the coming years. The hardware used (7” tablet) in the DDG project is also used in Concern education programs. We use it to run an application called Electronic Early Grade Reading Assessment (E-EGRA) which we currently use in Haiti (in 6 more countries in 2013) to calculate the literacy rate of young children. The results are used to devise an appropriate curriculum. In 2012 the same technology was rolled out to Concern’s on-street fundraising teams across Ireland and the UK. In March of this year the Digital Data Gathering project was submitted to the ICT Excellence Awards 2013. We made the shortlist of 5 in the mobile project of the year category.

13. Beneficiary Relationship Management Basic calculations estimate in 2010 alone Concern worldwide had between 10 and 13 million ‘occasions of service’ with direct beneficiaries. Tracking this amount of activity is very time consuming, repetitive and prone to errors. A system to speed up the registration process of beneficiaries using technology which can be integrated between emergencies and longer term programming will bring huge advantages to Concern. Concern’s ICT4D team are building a beneficiary relationship management system to be piloted in Haiti. The Return to Neighbourhoods (RTN) project requires beneficiaries to register and receive photo ID cards. All interactions with the beneficiary must be tracked, examples include; assignment of house, rent payments, training course attendance and cash distribution. The system is an extension of the DDG system providing a web front end to manage the project with data collection capabilities. The project is due to go live in DRC, Malawi and Zambia early next year. Innovative ICT to achieve impact

14. Mobile Information Systems Innovative ICT to achieve impact According to the Financial Times (March 2013) “Mobile phone subscriptions have risen to 475m from 90m in sub-Saharan Africa within seven years”. This is a almost half of the entire population which according to the UN is 900 million. With a company based in Kenya called Frontline SMS, Concern utilises mobile phones and their online SMS based system to communicate with beneficiaries. Examples of this include: Concerns Innovations for MNCH programme in Malawi is using information and communications technologies to connect pregnant women, caretakers and children to health workers, thereby giving them immediate access to personalized health advice, tips and appointment reminders by phone. The solutions consists of a patient management systems which is linked with the patients mobile phone number. Clinic reminders and more importantly information on how to care for themselves is sent using SMS. Disaster / Risk information sent via SMS to people living in costal areas of India. Information on severe weather can be sent to thousands of people in a matter of minutes. In Niger market price for maize can be sent to a farmer wishing to secure the best price. Simply by texting a free number they will receive an SMS from Concern. Concern get pricing information from other farmers.

15. Mobile Money Concern is regarded as one of leading iNGOsin the world using mobile cash for projects. In 2012, we were invited to become founding members of the ‘Better Than Cash’ alliance with USAID. Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are implementing more and more services over the phone networks. We see this in particular with regards mobile payment and information services. Their system is will work on the most basic of cell phone and uses SMS type technology. Concern has adopted this process in order to transfer cash to the poor people of Malawi, Kenya and Niger (among others). In Niger: 2,390 phones and sim-cards activated with ZAP accounts distributed to all beneficiaries. 350 solar chargers distributed to groups of six women. 401,374 Euro distributed to 2,390 women over the 5 month hunger period, April – August 2010. This method of delivering aid is hugely beneficial to everyone involved as it is quick for Concern, easy to access for the beneficiary and enables them to spend the money in their local markets therefore stimulating local economies. Innovative ICT to achieve impact

16. Mapping and Geographical Information Systems Innovative ICT to achieve impact Global Positioning Systems (GPS) use satellite signals to record coordinates that identify a unique location anywhere on the planet. Global Information Systems (GIS) use this information to produce graphical representations. The information can be collected using any GPS enabled device and provide management with detailed informatics (information rich diagrams). Information usually focuses on the 3Ws (Where, What and When something happens) and uses can be wide ranging, from mapping well locations to sharing real time emergency information. Every survey Concern conducts using DDG captures GPS co-ordinates which allows us to map activities, identify issues using heat maps and present a graphical depiction of where Concern works. Concern has bought the ESRI product called ARC GIS for all mapping requirements and are building the necessary skills to support the utilisation of the system in all Concern programs.

17. Examples of Maps in Concern (Farmer locations Zambia) Innovative ICT to achieve impact

18. Examples of Maps in Concern (water points Tanzania) Innovative ICT to achieve impact

19. Examples of Maps in Concern (FIM Somalia) Innovative ICT to achieve impact

20. Green Technology In many of the countries Concern works in, power and electricity can be a serious issue. Concern is regarded as a leader in the usage of solar technology. Concern has implemented large scale community lighting projects in Haiti and Liberia. In many cases these lighting solutions also provide mobile phone charging points. In 2011 Concern established a relationship with an Australian company to develop a hand held solar light for €5. The company is called Flexiway Solar Solutions. Thousands of lights have so far been distributed in Liberia and Sierra Leone. During 2011 and 2012 Concern carried out a carbon footprint report in its Head Office, UK, Malawi and Zambia. The plan is to conduct this exercise in all countries of operation by the end of 2014 and implement methods to reduce emissions. Innovative ICT to achieve impact

21. Overview of Concern clean technology projects Innovative ICT to achieve impact

22. Thank You! Innovative ICT to achieve impact