AfricaRISING brown-bag seminar - Maria Comanescu

AfricaRISING M&E: Lessons Learnt and Challenges with Real-Time CAPI Solutions

Transcript

1. AfricaRISING M&E - Lessons Learned and Challenges with Real-Time CAPI Solutions Maria Comanescu (Research Analyst, EPTD – HarvestChoice) September 28, 2013 1
2. AfricaRISING Africa Research In Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation • Funded by USAID, it aims to address global hunger and food security issues in Africa - South of Sahara. • Provide pathways out of hunger and poverty for small holder families through sustainably intensified farming systems that sufficiently improve food, nutrition, and income security, particularly for women and children, and conserve or enhance the natural resource base. 2
3. AfricaRISING – Sustainable Intensification Projects 3
4. AfricaRISING Program Objective • Increase agricultural productivity with little or no impact on the environment • Promotion of technology packages (improved seeds, fertilizers, new agric. practices) • IFPRI Monitoring & Evaluation – to evaluate how AfricaRISING program is doing • Can we really evaluate the whole program? 4
5. Objectives of M&E • Keep track of the program’s outcomes • Assess the impact of the program • Create knowledge of what works: -effectiveness -rank policy/project alternatives -eventual scale-up and external validity -identify problems in the project 5
6. AfricaRISING Baseline Modules for Malawi 8
7. Initial Plan – ODK* baseline survey in Malawi • The paper questionnaire was designed with 25 modules, approx. 1000 questions and complex skip patterns and relations • A local survey company with ODK (Open Data Kit) experience based in Zomba was contracted to conduct the survey • 30 Google Nexus tablets were borrowed from WESTAT and shipped to Malawi • Started coordinating preparatory activities 9 *ODK – Open Data Kit – Open-source data collection suite
8. Initial plan – ODK based architecture ODK – Open Data Kit 10
9. Initial Plan – Timeline • 2 weeks – programming of the ODK survey form based on the paper questionnaire • 2 week training: – 1 week – training on paper questionnaire – 1 week – training on tablets with ODK • 2 pilot days • 1 day – interviewer’s assessment • Field work starts 11
10. Once there... • We supervised the training 12
11. Once there... • Adapted the questionnaire based on feedback from enumerators 13
12. Once there... • Impressed by the archive room 14
13. ODK Challenges – addressing repeat groups items 15
14. ODK Challenges – addressing nested repeat groups items 16
15. More Challenges • ODK – ‘tall’ format export • Enumerators with various degree of experience • Logistic problems: random power outages and sporadic internet access on the tablets • Lack of printing facilities • Transportation 17
16. Outcome: SurveyCTO based architecture 18
17. Outcomes • Used SurveyCTO suite • Avg. interview duration – 3 hours • Initial timeline extended by additional 3-4 weeks • Data collection is now in process 19
18. Lessons learned... About tablet vs. paper • Tablet use adds extra cost for the hardware and programming but saves a tree • Data consistency is more reliable using tablets • Tablet programming takes time • Grasping the overall structure of the survey is easier on paper • Tablet adds a learning curve for the enumerators 20
19. Lessons learned... About Malawi 21
20. And finally... • HarvestChoice is happy to join the CAPI (Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing) family at IFPRI to share experiences regarding data collection Thank you! 22