Contributors: Nicolas Mann and Marie-Laurence Archambault
Collecting quality data and keeping an updated database can be quite challenging when working in remote areas. How can organizations collect relevant, timely, and high-quality information whether they are working with 10,000 clients…. or 100,000? Most rely on extensive paperwork and labor to collect and process data from the field. Such a labor-intensive approach can be affected by human error, loss of time due to paperwork passing through many hands, and higher long-term material and human resources costs. These challenges can reduce an organization’s ability to scale quickly and effectively. Two years ago, myAgro Senegal decided to trial the use of mobile technology for program enrollment, field surveys, account audit reporting and vendor inventory monitoring. Using a mobile-to-web software called Commcare from tech company Dimagi, myAgro was able to customize an app that achieved a significant increase in efficiency. As a result, the organization integrated the mobile app and will use it to enroll an expected 5,000 smallholder farmers for the 2015-2016 growing season. myAgro’s objectives for mobile enrollment focused on:
- Decreasing the amount of time it takes to enroll each farmer
- Increasing real-time data processing for faster data-driven decision making
- Improving data quality
- Reducing human resources and enrollment materials costs (staff time, papers, pens, etc.)
App in Action
Each field agent was equipped with a basic Samsung smartphone with the enrollment app and a 3G mobile Internet connection pass. myAgro customized the app to ensure good data collection and trained field agents extensively prior to enrollment. The mobile app features include:
- Layaway calculations: the app calculates the final amount farmers needed to pay to receive their inputs and generates a summary of purchases. This allows agents quickly note each farmer’s savings goal.
- Image capture: able to capture signatures, videos and images. The app also allows each farmer to confirm their order by signing with their finger on the phone – a cool and highly popular feature in the villages.
- Synchronization: one of the most important app features is the ability to synchronize data any time there is 3G or Wi-Fi. This reduces data processing mistakes and data collection time with field agents synchronizing enrollment data with the myAgro database twice a day.
Result: 5 Minute Enrollment!
With the app, each enrollment took only 5 minutes on average. Farmers busy with harvest and reluctant to spend too much time away from their farms reported liking the efficiency and simplicity of the process. In addition, myAgro achieved:
- Improved data quality: Frequency of errors was reduced to < 3% of all enrollments
- Increased flexibility: Collecting data in real-time enabled myAgro to make data-driven decisions on how best to adjust outreach and mobilization activities.
- Improved monitoring of field agents: myAgro now has access to compiled data for each field agent, allowing the organization to better evaluate agent performance.
myAgro’s Next Steps
myAgro strives to continuously improve the mobile technology platform to make the enrollment and delivery processes as smooth and user-friendly as possible. Future activities include testing an agent-farmer engagement app, which will enable myAgro to optimize user experience for both field agents and farmers while also improving back-end systems.
Stay tuned!
