M&E

EMIT: Mobile Monitoring and Evaluation

Posted by kdetolly on Apr 28, 2010

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EMIT: Mobile Monitoring and Evaluation data sheet 3935 Views

System Description

EMIT is an application that allows facilitators to capture field data on cellphones and submit it via GPRS to a centralised database. Surveys are customised and data is monitored, verified and prepared for analysis in real time. Read more here.

From Pilot to National

The pilot was performed with the Community Media Trust (CMT), who used EMIT as a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) tool to capture information on their HIV prevention and treatment literacy sessions in clinics, their training programme and open day events held in public spaces in communities where they work. CMT had been struggling with long turnaround times:

Website URL: 
http://www.emitmobile.co.za
Organization involved in the project?: 
Cell-Life
Project goals: 

EMIT is an application that allows facilitators to capture field data on cellphones and submit it via GPRS to a centralised database. Surveys are customised and data is monitored, verified and prepared for analysis in real time.

Brief description of the project: 

A national roll-out of EMIT as a mobile-based data monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system revealed a clear trend of lower costs, greater accuracy and a faster turnaround time on reporting. With proper training and widespread buy-in, fieldworkers used EMIT with successfully and managers found it an efficient and effective monitoring tool.

 

Target audience: 

Field workers in mobile health. 

How EMIT works - flowchart
Mobile Tools Used: 
EMIT
Length of Project (in months) : 
28
Status: 
Ongoing
What worked well? : 

Training was easier than expected as the fieldworkers were already competent cell-phone users.

The data capturing system allowed for real-time access where CMT management could see submissions in real time and make follow up calls to the clinics to ensure their fieldworkers were in fact on duty.

A few organisations had ill-defined organisational processes, making it hard to implement a solution that had little existing foundation. In specific cases it was important to analyse existing processes and re-engineer processes that were redundant. This was done by having workshops and interviews with relevant parties to try and come up with a better defined process that could not only be auditable by funders but logical to the M&E manager. This was very successful as it allowed Cell-Life to analyse organisations and customize the technology accordingly.

What did not work? What were the challenges?: 

In terms of the sector, there is a great need for broad-based IT skills as training is still required at most of the partner NGOs. For this reason, training has become a core part of the EMIT product offering.

The lack of network coverage in certain rural areas meant that data capturers had to go to areas with network coverage in order to send their collected forms.

There are challenges involved in the provision of cellphones. Clear policies for cellphone usage are necessary to try and reduce loss. In the near future, the EMIT application will be compatible with all Java enabled cell-phones, meaning that most facilitators will be able to use their personal cellphones, minimizing the cost of providing handsets and the management thereof.

Countries: 
South Africa
Last Name: 
de Tolly
First Name: 
Katherine
City: 
Cape Town
State/Province: 
Western Cape
Country: 
South Africa
Email: 
katherine@cell-life.org 


 




  
Put up a Billboard and ask the Community: Using Mobile Tech for Program Monitoring and Evaluation 


Posted by admin on Oct 31, 2009


Guest post by Christine Martin, Tufts University.


The potential for mobile technology to impact development has been researched and reported on in areas ranging from job matching services to financial inclusion.  More and more development agencies are adopting mobile communications in their programmes in innovative ways. However, there is a lack of research on how mobile technology is being used to monitor and evaluate programs in the field.

    

            

                            

        







 

        
      
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