1. M & E Working Group Meeting: New Technology Applications in M & E Wireless Data Entry & Wireless Data Transmission from Mobile Devices to Web Virginia Lamprecht, USAID David C. Cantor, Macro International

2. ARC Albania 2004 Child Survival / Flex Fund Project Area Project Area: Diber Prefecture, Albania Diber Prefecture, Albania Beneficiary Population: WRA (15-49) 55,417 MRA (15-59) 68,717 Children <5 19,950

3. Flex Fund Questionnaire Flex Fund questionnaire borrowed from DHS and KPC questionnaires The Baseline Questionnaire had 11 sections and 215 fields Many Boolean fields Approximately 50 calculated fields FF Interviews took between 10 – 30 minutes

4. Training Paper and Electronic Questionnaires

5. Additional Functionality using Handhelds for Surveys or M & E Sampling Information can be preloaded from Excel Spreadsheet for data management Intervals between events can be calculated in months from pop- up calendar dates entered GPS enabled handhelds can capture GIS coordinates directly into the data form Voice Recording (audio notes) can be associated and saved with each questionnaire record Pictures can be included in Data Entry Form Post interview HTML data check template used to improve data quality

6. Rugged Terrain - 4 Wheel Drive Vehicles Needed for Fieldwork

7. Mapping the Village

8. Locating the Households within the Village

9. Data Collection on Handhelds 30 Cluster Sample (10 per District) 3 Districts 3 Teams per District 9 Pocket PC’s 6 Days of Field Work 660 Targeted Respondents Data backed up nightly onto SD cards Data copied back to master database upon return to HQ

10. Data Synchronization

11. Pocket PC Battery Recharge

12. Evaluation of Handheld Pilot Response Rate and Data Quality Comparable Supervisors and Interviewers Enthusiastic Users not intimidated by Technology Elimination of Office Entry from Paper Saved Time and Money Cleaned Data set produced in 3-4 days

13. Feasibility of Adding Wireless Transmission Potential Benefits ◦ Texting collected form data back to central server requires no web connection, only phone connection ◦ Two way transmission allows program changes to be dispatched back to each Smartphone ◦ Ongoing Monitoring Activities can be tracked in Real Time ◦ Speed - Rugged Terrain, Political Boundaries, Avoided

14. General Trends Since 2004 Flex Fund Mobile Data Collection Pilot Standalone PDAs less common Move to integrated Smart Phones 50% of the global population now has cell phones Exponential growth of Text Messaging Growth in Windows Mobile and Palm OS type SmartPhones

15. Trends in Cell Phone Use in Africa May, 2007: 200 Million Subscribers May, 2008: 282 Million Subscribers* Africa has only 35 million fixed phone lines Mobile operators will invest $50 Billlion in Sub-Saharan Africa in the next 5 years resulting in 90% potential coverage Bandwidth, Govt. Policy, taxes, licensing fees, regulatory issues could slow growth According to GSMA, Global Trade Body for the Mobile Industry, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)

16. Transmit Completed Cases to Web Server and Program Updates Back to Mobile Devices

17. Smart Phone Demo Data Entry on the Smartphone Sent (Texted) to Server View Server activity back at Macro HQ Server receives new data dispatches and transmits back any new program updates Server passes data directly into a web (Access/SQL) database Aggregated updated report data (or mapped data) can then be viewed via the web Aggregated updated report data (or mapped data) can then be viewed via the web