scott ruddick director, integrated support services meda
TRANSCRIPT
Tanzania Background
Mobile system for Tanzania
Pakistan Background
Mobile System for Pakistan
Pakistan Challenges
Next steps
MEDA is the logistics contractor of the Tanzania National Voucher Scheme (TNVS)
TNVS aims to increase accessibility of bed nets by targeting pregnant women and infants
the most vulnerable groups to malaria
MEDA implements TNVS alongside a public-private partnership
Over 5000 wholesalers and shops participate
Millions of vouchers are redeemed across the country
Effectively managing TNVS requires access to constantly changing data
Great opportunity to apply mobile technology!
MEDA collaborated with PeaceWorks (software contractor)
Developed MEDA Tanzania’s mobile system, comprised of three components:
1. Net orders
2. Shop sign up
3. Monitoring of net deliveries
Shops order nets by placing phone calls directly to the net manufacturer
Manufacturer’s HQ requires a call centre to manage incoming orders
Intervention: Shops use mobiles to SMS net orders
Benefit: Access to net orders in real-time
Field staff record location and contact information and submits paper copies
At least one month lag until the data is available and it is often inconsistent
Intervention: Field staff use mobile forms to record shop information (sends via SMS)
Benefit: Increases the accuracy of the data
SMS: “1199, Nzota’s shop, Waziri Nzota,
25578832,25578832, -3.23672,
35.20340”
Real-time access to accurate data on shops
Mobile System
The manufacturer’s delivery staff call or SMS to confirm daily deliveries
Deliveries are not systematically matched to orders
Intervention: SMS with delivery data is sent to the system
Benefit: Deliveries can be matched with orders
MEDA is piloting the use of SMS reporting and information dissemination.
This system, built on the UNICEF RapidSMS frameworks, allows MEDA to use the text feature on mobile phones to both collect data from it’s clients ( for reporting on results) and to broadcast information to clients.
Here are some of the features of our new SMS system
USER MANAGEMENT•Ability to add and edit the users who will both receive and by able to send messages. • The Active or Dormant feature allows us to temporarily suspend a user’s account ( e.g. if they are away on leave)• Can create user groups, then assign them to one or more, to allow for batch messaging, and also as a mechanism to sort incoming messages• Assign them to specific locations to allow for geographical sorting of messages
MESSAGE SEND•Ability to send to 1. Whole list of users 2. Individual users or 3. Create Groups of users to send messages.• When you select a user to send a message to, the grey circle beside their name changes to a green check mark, so you know before you hit send who the message is going to. • Autodialer feature builds in pre-created messages and send them out at programmed times ( e.g. sends out a reminder to all Sales Agents when it is time for them to • Standard Message is one that pre-populates a set message... so you pick the name of the message and it sets the body text. This is to be used when we have standard messages that we send regularly, to • Custom Message is, as the name suggests, a feature that allows us on the laptop to compose and send out an SMS message.
REPORTS•Run reports by a variety of parameters – user, by start and stop date, by a variety of pre-configured reports ( e.g. we can set up the system to configure a variety of reports, such as Non Submission, different value chains, etc)•Outputs in three formats – on screen, CSV and PDF•This does not replace the web-based dashboard
MESSAGE LOG•A running tally of all messages received and sent.•Lists receipt/sent time and date; number received/sent from; and the message.
MEDA has a new software created that allows us to create electronic surveys on a net book or PDA, for our in the field M & E staff to use in data collection during interviews and focus groups.
As entries are made in the field by the interviewer, it automatically creates a file that is exported, either via the Internet if there is a connection or by downloading it, to a database. It exports in .csv, so it can be used in a variety of software systems including Excel and Access.