Maputo, Mozambique - The African
Development Bank has extended membership of a digital data supervision system
known as the Remote Appraisal Supervision, Monitoring, and Evaluation (RASME)
project to Mozambique.
This positions Mozambique as the sixth African country to
benefit from the tool which enhances project-related data collection in remote
areas.
RASME is a partnership of the African Development Bank and
the World Bank’s Geo-Enabling initiative for Monitoring and Supervision and
KoBoToolbox teams. The digital data gathering suite of tools being used for the
RASME project is based on the KoBoToolbox platform, an open-source ICT solution
developed by researchers affiliated with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.
The initiative uses mobile devices and personal computers to enable Bank staff
to remotely collect digital project data directly from the field in real-time.
The onset of the Covid-19 crisis has sharpened the need for remote data
collection tools.
Launching the
initiative, the Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance of Mozambique, Carla
Alexandra Louveira said, “the operationalization of RASME will strengthen the
oversight and monitoring capacity of project implementation and support a more
effective decision-making process.”
RASME, based on the
open-source KoBoToolbox platform developed by researchers affiliated with the
Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, is designed for both online and offline use in
remote areas with limited telecommunications infrastructure. The project will
strengthen data collection in often inaccessible or remote areas, including
those with security and logistical challenges to bolster monitoring and
evaluation of the Bank’s development projects. All data is stored on secured
servers.
The deployment of
RASME is driven by the African Development Bank’s Corporate IT department
(CHIS) in partnership with the World Bank’s Geo-Enabling initiative for
Monitoring and Supervision (GEMS) Team - Fragility, Conflict, and Violence
(FCV), and KoBoToolbox foundation.
The African
Development Bank’s Country Manager. Cesar Mba Abogo in his opening remarks said
"The African Development Bank is determined to support Africa to build
back boldly, but smartly, paying greater attention to quality growth. This
forces the Bank to constantly reset itself and innovate to meet the challenges
the continent faces. RASME is part of this resetting, of this spirit of
innovation that characterises our institution and that in this case is backed
by the effectiveness of this resource that we have seen in the experience of
other institutions.”
Following the
launch, project implementation staff in Mozambique received three days of in-person
training.
In November 2021,
the African Development RASME was rolled out in five countries in the Central
Africa region: Gabon, Cameroun, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and
Central African Republic (CAR).
