Strengthening Statistical and Inter-Institutional Capacities for Monitoring the Millennium

Strengthening the capacity of African countries to use mobile technologies to collect data for effective policy and decision making

Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)

An inter-regional project for 2013 – 2015 US$1,845,000

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Title: Strengthening the capacity of African countries to use mobile technologies to collect data for effective policy and decision making

Duration 24 months (2013-2015) Implementing Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) entities Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) - United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) Target Countries ECA selected member states Development National Statistics Offices in selected member states partners / Ministries/Government departments producing statistics stakeholders Non-Governmental Organization Civil Based Organizations Mobile Operators Training and Research Institutions Sub-Regional Offices African Development Bank African Union Commission Budget US$1,845,000 Objectives The objective of this project is to improve the capabilities of project countries to use mobile technology to make statistical data available and accessible to support their sustainable development agenda

2 BACKGROUND

2.1 Introduction Statistics play a crucial role in the overall development policy making process of countries by providing the evidence for setting objectives, targets and priorities. The Rio+20 outcome reiterates the role of statistics in providing evidence for setting development objectives, targets and priorities at the national and regional levels and for fitting the objectives into global frameworks. It also emphasizes the need to make statistics available and accessible to people for tracking progress and holding implementing institutions accountable. The statistics on which such evidence would be based are not always available in a timely manner in many African countries. And their reliability is not always assured. Sometimes, they are not available at all because they have not been collected by the national authorities.

1 The sixth joint conference of African Union Conference of Ministers of Economy and Finance and Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development of the Economic Commission for Africa have therefore endorsed the refocusing of ECA’s programme structure to give greater emphasis to statistics and support the generation of data in member States which will be used to make informed decisions. The compiled data will also feed into global development efforts in line with the Rio+20 outcome document’s call to regional economic commission to compile such data. .The main reasons for statistics not being collected, compiled and made available to national and global users include financial constraints, lack of adequate appreciation for the use of data for evidence-based decision making and monitoring of implementation, low of awareness of the advantage to them of their data being disseminated to the international community, inadequate human capacity and low technology base.

Due to the low technology base, most African national statistical systems use mostly manual, paper- based data collection methods for specialized surveys, which provide the bulk of statistical data. Paper-based methods involve printing of the paper questionnaires, transporting them across to the fieldworkers, and getting them back to a central location. The lengthy processes not only delay the production of data for decision making, but also require a lot of personnel for data collection and capture, thereby exacerbating the financial constraints. Due to these and other problems, computer assisted interviewing (CAI) methods are increasingly replacing pen-and-paper methods of survey data collection. The advantages of CAI methods include: automatic transfer of the survey to central database; automatic validity checks; automatic data cleaning, more control of question sequencing by the interviewer; easier to scale up (or down) and adapt for other surveys; more privacy due to the reduction in intermediate processing and cleaning, and concomitant reduction in operators involved. One of the disadvantages of CAI methods is the initial and running costs of computer hardware and related infrastructure. However, the increasing power of handheld devices such as mobile phones, tablets and personal data assistants (PDAs) has resulted in affordable CAI alternatives.

While accepting that the problems of statistical capacity are multi-faceted, this project will target the problems associated with data collection, particularly the technology issues. It will build on the lessons learned from statistical activities that are already using handheld devices for data collection and dissemination across multiple sectors, such as health, socio-economic development, agriculture, natural resource management, and disaster relief. It will also make use of the existing statistical structures in national statistical systems (NSS) to test, adapt and where necessary develop new mobile data collection systems. It seeks to ensure that NSSs are empowered to produce reliable, comprehensive, timely and integrated statistics by utilizing CAI methods on android powered devices. The android OS is being adopted because it is currently the most commonly used platform for tablets and smartphones, compared to similar platforms such as iOS and windows mobile and is supported by many different device manufacturers. The scope of the project will include developing a model data import and processing system for consolidating the collected data into a single database, based on agreed processes and data exchange mechanisms.

To build the capacity beyond the narrow scope of the National Statistical Offices (NSOs) and ensure acceptability and sustainability, it is envisaged to have most of the conceptual and methodological studies, as well as the applications that will power the systems developed in collaboration with training and research institutions (TRIs) in Africa. These institutions will be expected to develop their own research projects based on the results, thereby ensuring sustainability of the capacities being developed.

In implementing the project, specific indicators to be collected in each of the project countries will be determined during an initial scoping exercise. In doing that, the potential indicators will be grouped into three categories, namely: (i) those accepted as official statistics that are already being collected by manual processes, with a view to improving the process through the application of

2 mobile technology; (ii) those accepted as official statistics, but which are not being collected regularly, to identify why they are not being collected regularly and where the application of mobile technology might alleviate the current problems and improve their availability ; and (iii) those that are not usually classified as “official statistics”, but for which there is a recurrent need, with a view to establishing procedures for collecting them regularly using mobile technology. The system will be deployed initially in five pilot countries.

Whatever data are collected would be of no use if they are not processed and disseminated. Therefore the project necessarily includes developing interfaces to existing data processing and dissemination arrangements, and in some cases, developing and installing new components. Also, to make the data available to the international user community, an appropriate regional data dissemination platform will be installed at ECA headquarters and sub-regional offices, to receive the data from the national platforms and disseminate to regional and global users. However these dissemination aspects cannot be fully covered in one DA project. It is also necessary to roll out the systems to other countries in Africa. A follow on project is therefore being developed as Phase 2 of a comprehensive two-phase project, of which this particular project is its Phase 1.

2.2 Link to the Programme Budget

ECA This project fits well with the overall normative and analytical work of ECA under its various subprogrammes, especially those dealing with Statistics; Subregional activities for development; Macroeconomic policy; Regional integration and trade; Innovation and technology; and Social development. The project will also address all the MDGs. DESA Subprogramme 5 (Statistics)

2.3 Link to the internationally Agreed Development Goals (IADGs), including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Development Agenda The data generated from the various surveys conducted through this project can provide accurate and timely data required for compiling some of the indicators in the MDGs. Data collected on economic activities and prices will contribute to assess the progress made towards achieving Goal 1 on eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. Administrative data will contribute to improved statistics on education (Goal 2 on achieving universal primary education), child and maternal mortality (Goals 4 and 5 on reducing child mortality and improving maternal mortality). While the country-specific focus of targeted survey campaigns will be determined during the situation analysis, it is expected to include agricultural and environmental topics (Goal 7 on ensuring environmental sustainability). All the data collection campaigns will strive for both geographic and gender disaggregation, the latter contributing to monitoring the progress on Goal 3 on promoting gender equality and empowering women.

3 ANALYSIS

3.1 Problem Analysis Both the post 2015 development agenda and the Rio+20 outcome reiterate the role of statistics in providing evidence for setting development objectives, targets and priorities at the national and regional levels and for fitting the objectives into global frameworks. They also emphasize the need to make statistics available and accessible to people for tracking progress and holding implementing institutions accountable. The statistics on which such evidence would be based are not always

3 available in a timely manner in many African countries. Sometimes, they are not available at all. And their reliability is not always assured.

The effects of these factors are:  National development decisions are made with incomplete evidence that may also be outdated and unreliable, putting the quality of the decisions to question;  The people cannot adequately participate in the decision making process;  Implementation of the development activities cannot be properly monitored to adjust strategies and to hold the implementers accountable;  It is difficult for the international community to compare national development objectives and targets with global frameworks to decide on appropriate allocation of resources from development partners.

The main reason for statistics not being collected, compiled and made available to national and global users are financial constraints, lack of adequate appreciation for the use of data for evidence- based decision making and monitoring of implementation, lack of awareness of the advantage to them of their data being disseminated to the international community, lack of human capacity, and low technology base.

3.2 Stakeholder analysis and capacity assessment The major stakeholders of the project are National Statistical Offices (NSOs), National Training and Research Institutions (NTRIs), development partners and United Nations Agencies.

NSOs are responsible for compiling statistics on various socio-economic indicators about countries and making them available to both national and international users. Currently, they lack the capacity to produce timely statistics on all indicators expected of them. The use of mobile technology for data collection will reduce the errors, gaps and delays associated with paper-based methods, improving the capacity of NSOs to perform their mandated functions. The resulting improvements in efficiency will also reduce the problem of low human capacity.

NTRIs will serve as quasi consultants developing tools, concepts and methodologies to be used in the project through applied research projects jointly conceived and supervised with the NSOs and ECA staff. The project will therefore support them in creating and maintaining a network of researchers and developers, as well as identifying relevant areas of focus.

The development community, especially those working in Africa and/or on African issues, has been hampered by the dearth of reliable statistics, preferably sourced from national sources. This issue has been discussed at several forums and several proposals have been made for solutions. For example, the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) and the Center for Global Development recently (September 2012) empanelled a Data for African Development Working Group to review and discuss the disincentives, inefficiencies, systemic political and economic challenges on both the supply and demand sides of data production and use in Africa. The African Development Bank and the African Union Commission have been working with ECA to build harmonize statistics and build the capacities of member States to produce comparable statistics. In implementing this project, synergies will be built with these and similar organizations and initiatives.

United Nations organizations, especially ECA and UN Statistics Division, have constant need for statistics from Africa to inform their programmes and monitor the effectiveness of their interventions, including defining baselines for indicators of achievements. ECA also needs statistics to inform its research work in several socio-economic thematic areas. They have had to deal with

4 the perennial problem of lack of reliable and timely statistics. This project will improve the availability of data for ECA, UNSD and other UN organizations.

The incentives for these stakeholders to participate and collaborate with the project are:  NSOs: improved efficiencies to perform their mandated functions and access to new knowledge, tools and methodologies;  Policy makers: increased availability of timely data to provide evidence for development decisions and for monitoring and tracking progress during implementation;  NTRIs: opportunity to advance their research agenda in support of national development priorities, access to research results that can be used to produce papers for publication, opportunity to develop subsequent research activities based on the project results;  Development partners: opportunity to build synergy and pool resources together towards the common objective of increasing the availability of data on Africa, and enhancing comparability of African countries;  ECA, UNSD and other UN agencies: increasing the availability of data for their thematic specialists to analyze policy options.

3.3 Analysis of objectives The main objective of the project is to strengthen data collection through the use of mobile technologies by building capacities of national statistical offices and government departments in Africa for effective policy and decision making.

The development paradigm articulated by the post-2015 development agenda and the Rio+20 conference process places emphasis on inclusiveness and participation. This development paradigm increases the demand for disaggregated data and information to be collected at all levels. This project aims to improve the capacities of African countries to meet these increased demands through the increased use of mobile technologies.

This implies developing methodologies and tools for:  Automating the process of collecting data on selected indicators that have hitherto been undertaken through manual methods by NSOs and other line ministries;  Identifying scheduled statistical data products that have not been offered regularly by NSOs, determining why they have not been made available as scheduled and exploring the feasibility of collecting them using mobile technologies;  Identifying statistical data products that users have expressed a need for, but have not been on the scheduled offering of the NSOs and exploring feasibility of collecting them using mobile technologies.

Whatever data are collected by the project would be of no use if they are not processed and disseminated. Therefore the project necessarily includes developing interfaces to existing data processing and dissemination arrangements, and in some cases, developing and installing new components. Also, to make the data avail to the international user community, an appropriate regional data dissemination platform will be installed at ECA to receive the data from the national platforms and disseminate to regional and global users.

5 4 PROJECT STRATEGY: OBJECTIVES, EXPECTED ACCOMPLISHMENTS, INDICATORS OF ACHIEVEMENT AND STRATEGY a. Objectives

The objective of this project is to improve the capacity of project countries to use mobile technology to make statistical data available and accessible to support evidence-based policy making. b. Expected Accomplishments

1) Increased capacity of NSOs to work with training and research institutions to develop methodologies and systems for mobile data collection. 2) Increased capacity in project countries to develop geo-enabled data collection systems running on mobile devices.

The project will select 5 countries each in two phases to implement the activities of data collection using mobile devices. The lessons from the first phase countries will be used to modify the implementation of the second set of five countries. The selection of countries will be guided by the geographical placement of countries, language and the level of development in using ICT tools for data collection, manageable size of the country and willingness to implement mobile devises for data collection.

The exercise will be rationalized with the countries’ plan for conducting surveys. A preliminary assessment will be made in the various countries to look into when and what types of surveys are conducting during the project period. This strategy helps the project to make greater impact by aligning the project resource and the resource planned for the survey under consideration. c. Indicators of achievement

IA1.1: Number of geo-enabled mobile data collection systems adapted or developed through partnerships with training and research institutions established and functional.

IA1.2: Number of countries that have adapted project methodology and work-flow for data collection and processing.

IA2.1: Number of pilot countries using mobile devices to collect and analyse data.

IA2.2: Number of data collection campaigns undertaken as part of the project

IA2.3: Number of publications and reports attributing their data sources on the pilot countries to national and regional data collected by the project. d. Main activities

A0: Project Formulation, Management and Governance. A local staff will be retained as Programme Assistant for the duration of the project to provide day-to-day administrative support and manage the accounts. As part of the governance mechanism, the steering committee will meet annually, for a total of three meetings.

A1.1: Conduct situation analysis of target pilot countries to establish key development indicators and baseline for project implementation. Conduct extensive studies to document the current status of using mobile technologies for data collection in Africa as the basis for the selection 6 of the pilot countries and indicators to collect in each country. It will also serve to establish benchmarks as well as develop effective partnerships for the implementation of the project. The studies will also examine the existence of on-going data collection plans that can be used as case studies, the available skill sets in the NSOs to work as national counterparts for the project activities, the expertise in the countries’ research and training institutions, and the state of the mobile network infrastructure, among others.

A1.2: Organise a regional workshop to validate the indicators. One regional meeting will be held as part of the situation analysis to review the findings and agree on the indicators to be collected in each of the project countries. Selected experts from African countries will be invited to participate in the regional meeting. The regional institutions, UN agencies, individual experts, UNSD and other stakeholders including mobile/telecom operators will also be invited. ECA will identify key participants from each sub-region and stimulate the exchange of experiences and good practices. This regional workshop will also offer the opportunity for the steering Committee to meet and conclusively discuss and review the project objectives, activities, milestones and future developments.

A1.3: Establishing and managing a network of researchers, system developers and officials of NSOs into collaborative research hubs and communities of practice for knowledge exchange and peer learning. While NSOs will be the national focal institutions for implementation of the project, the conceptual work will need outside input. Such inputs usually involve hiring local consultants and contractors. In order to develop and retain expertise in the countries, and also to incubate research that will sustain the concepts, some of the conceptual work will be undertaken in collaboration with national research and training institutions (TRIs) in the form of applied research contracts, with clear time-bound deliverables. The TRIs will be constituted into a network to continuously exchange knowledge on solutions being proposed, with one of the institutions being designated to lead and coordinate the network.

A1.4: Development of concepts, methodologies and applications for geo-enabled mobile data collection systems. The use of mobile technologies for data collection is no longer very new and software tools now abound for it. As already indicated, such conceptual work will be done in collaboration with RTIs. Research contracts will be awarded to five RTIs to develop concepts, methodologies and applications. Some of the applied research work could be part of the requirements for a higher degree. In such cases, joint supervision of the project would be explored where academic expertise exists in the NSOs.

A1.5: Organizing a regional conference on mobile data collection in support of evidence-based decision making and monitoring of development outcomes (transitional). The concept of building capacity of countries will not be limited to the NSO in a narrow sense. The academic sector is an important part of the overall capacity of the country to ensure that the necessary expertise is sustained in the country. One academic conference will therefore be conducted to allow researchers and practitioners to present their findings to be peer- reviewed by specialists in the field. A conference proceeding will be produced to distribute and share the knowledge to a larger audience. This conference will be organized at the end of the first phase so that the feedback can be used to improve the second phase.

A2.1: Development of training manuals and guidelines on geo-enabled mobile data collection methods. Based on the lessons of the first phase, user manuals and guidelines will be compiled covering different aspects of using mobile technologies for data collection. These manuals will be used for scaling up the project at two levels. At the first level, the project will start with few data providers in a country before extending to others. At the second

7 level, it will be extended to other countries, including countries that are not formally in the group of project countries, using the manuals. A regional meeting will be held to validate training manuals.

A2.2: Organization of training workshops on use of geo-enabled mobile data collection systems. National workshops will be organized on the implementation of the mobile data collection project. The first set of training workshops will be for the Level 1 scaling up in the five initial pilot countries. Thereafter, training workshop will be organized in the second set of pilot countries, using project counterparts from the first set as resource persons.

A2.3: Produce advocacy booklet on the participation of sub national administrative units in data collection for evidence-based monitoring of development programmes. For the capacity developed to be sustained after the end of the project, it is important that the countries take ownership and mainstream the methodologies into their operations. Otherwise, it may be construed as a project that benefits the UN and funding partners. There is therefore a need to convince national policy makers and financial controllers to adopt and resource the methods to be introduced by the project. An advocacy booklet will be produced, which, among other topics, will deal with the advantages of the improved data collection methods, as well as the benefits to the country in making providing accurate statistics to the international community. An international consultant will be engaged to collate and compile inputs from national partners and draft advocacy booklets. Such information tools are useful to raise awareness of policy-makers and get their buy-in as well as their political and financial support to the mainstreaming of mobile technologies in data collection. The booklets will be disseminated through existing ACS channels including: e-mail distribution list, online posting, distribution through annual African statistical for a (StatCom-Africa, ASSD, FASDEV), mailing of hard copies to all interested national recipients (NSOs, Research and training centers, line ministries, regional and sub-regional organizations, etc.). Within the framework of the regular statistical development activities at ECA, the Commission will continue to monitor and render support to the implementation of the methodologies developed during the project and advocated by the booklets.

A2.4: Providing technical assistance to NSOs, selected line ministries, local government offices and community based organizations to install data collection, import, processing, and analysis platforms. As has been indicated above, the project will be integrated and mainstreamed into existing operations of the NSOs. The project therefore will necessarily include developing and installing data import and processing system in connection with the mobile data collection for consolidating data to a single database based on agreed designs, processes and data exchange mechanisms. Where the capacity and expertise exists in the participating TRIs, this will be included in their research contracts. e. Assumptions and risk management

One important aspect of this project is the reliance of the nation research and training institutions (RTIs) to undertake applied research to adapt and develop appropriate concepts, systems and methodologies for the use of mobile technologies in data collection, and the integration of the collected data into standard statistical processes. This is based on the assumption that the researchers of RTIs in the project countries have requisite expertise and interest to undertake the research. This however creates a risk that the National Statistical Offices (NSOs) may be reluctant to use systems developed locally, and in a research context. This risk will be managed by bringing the NSOs and RTIs together to work as partners from the onset of the activities in the project countries. The continuous interaction between the NSOs, RTIs and other national partners and stakeholders will also deal with the challenge of ensuring that the concepts and systems being

8 introduced can be localized. Also, the emphasis on using RTIs for the conceptual work does not preclude using individual and corporate consultants and contractors where appropriate. The expertise of the collaborating RTIs will be established jointly between with the project partners to identify areas where such external input will be required

The willingness and support from members States for “mobile data for development” initiatives is also key factor as the success is linked to their effective support in capitalizing the best practices in data collection using mobile technology. The capacity of mobile operators/carriers to provide and/or lease required services is key vector to the use of the mobile technology. The commitment of members States will be assured through advocacy and communication, and by involving all the national parties in the situation analysis at the initiation of the project. Mobile operators and internet providers will also be targeted in the advocacy and involved so that they will include the bandwidth requirements for this project in their infrastructure development planning. f. Multiplier effect and sustainability

The design of the project in two phases is aimed at extending its benefits beyond the immediate project countries. After the first phase develops concepts, systems and methodologies, the second phase will emphasize the transfer of the results to countries that were not involved in the original development, including countries that are not strictly pilot countries. Also, ECA has prepared a parallel project proposal for extra-budgetary funding to undertake complementary activities not provided for in this DA project. The major complementary activities to be implemented under the parallel extra-budgetary project include:

- Increasing the number of project countries beyond the 10 provided for in the two phases of the DA project; - Concomitantly increasing the number of handheld devices and logistical support provided for more data collection campaigns and applied research contracts to TRIs for the conceptual and methodological work, as well as more hardware and software modules for the increased number of data processing and dissemination platforms.

The Embassy of Ireland in Ethiopia has expressed interest in supporting such a project and the proposal has been submitted to the Embassy for consideration. g. Lessons learned and good practices

This project is building on lessons from several projects in Africa and elsewhere that has used mobile technologies for data collection. In 2010, the United Nations Global Pulse initiative conducted a survey on how populations perceive economic conditions during the previous year, their ability to meet their own household needs, changes they have made to their ways of life and as well as attitudes about the future. Several countries have used digital devices for data collection. Cape Verde used personal data assistants (PDAs) for its latest population and housing census (PHC), and extended their use to other surveys in the country. Sao Tome and Principe has followed the Cape Verde experience for its census. Technical support for the developments in Cape Verde came from Brazil, where the Institute for Geography and Statistics has implemented different methodological and technological innovations, among which can be mentioned the use of handheld computers equipped with GPS for data collection and using the Internet for questionnaire completion. Senegal and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are planning to use PDAs for censuses. Malawi conducted household surveys using PDAs. In 2012, Kenya started piloting a mobile application for data collection and monitoring of MDG’s achievement. FAO developed a FENIX-based Food Market Price Data Collection System Using Smartphones. Jamaica has

9 developed an electronic data collection system called “eDaCS” which utilizes portable and mobile devices to collect data. By utilizing this system the Jamaica Statistical Office replaced the paper based operation which results in the delivery of more timely data and information, improving the quality of data and information, reduction in cost of survey. Africa Rice Centre has conducted pilot exercises on rice data collection using questionnaires and tools loaded on ipad and other mobile devices. Additional lesson from the Africa Rice example is the emphasis on using researchers based in local universities for much of the methodological work, as also proposed by this project.

5 MONITORING AND EVALUATION

ECA’s Strategic Planning and Operational Quality (SPOQ) Division has developed new tools and procedures for effective monitoring and evaluation of projects. These processes require that data be systematically collected based on targets set and activities planned during the planning phases of work. Following these procedures will help to keep the work on track, and enable management to identify potential problems and make necessary adjustments to avoid them, including redistributing resources among project activities and components. As part of the monitoring of the progress, reports will be submitted for review and advice by the steering committee.

The project will be evaluated by comparing the actual project impacts against the agreed strategic plans. The focus will be on accomplishing the objectives of the project. The evaluation will be formative i.e. taking place during the life of a project or with the intention of improving the strategy or way of functioning of the project. The evaluation will be based on the indicators of achievements set for the project as follows:

IA1.1: Operational systems for collecting, transmitting and disseminating data developed. Based on the situation analysis, specific areas of focus will be identified for each of the project countries. The success of the project will depend on the existence of operational systems in those identified areas of focus. An external consultant will be engaged to review the systems developed and compare with status quo ante to ascertain level of improvement made.

IA1.2: Agreed upon concepts and methodologies for using handheld devices in data collection. The degree of acceptance of the concepts and methodologies developed will be assessed through the peer review conference and validation questionnaires to be administered during workshops.

IA2.1: Number of geo-enabled mobile data collection systems adapted or developed through partnerships with training and research institutions. As most of the concepts will be developed by RTIs, this indicator will be measured through the reports submitted by them, which will be reviewed by the NSOs using the system, and confirmed by the individual evaluation expert, who will also evaluate the durability of the RTI network.

Around 4% of the project budget will be used for evaluation of the project. ECA will coordinate these activities in close consultation with the UNSD and the steering committee. The RTIs will play an important role in the monitoring and evaluation. It will be specifically included in the terms of reference of their research contracts to provide data regularly on the status of the projects and also to collect other monitoring data. Additionally, specific evaluation experts will be recruited to review the data and prepare consolidated reports for the steering committee and the project management office.

10 6 IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS

With the new role of the sub regional offices of ECA as data centres, they will play pivotal roles in the implementation of the project. The final decisions on project countries will be based on the recommendations of the SROs, given their proximity to and direct knowledge of situations in the countries. Also, backstopping and technical assistance will be arranged through the SROs. Technical and management oversight will be provided by the African Centre for Statistics at ECA headquarters, in collaboration UNSD/DESA. UNSD will further contribute by identifying resource person(s) for the workshops and participating in them, providing information on similar initiatives in other regions of the world for comparison and best practices to adopt, providing visibility to the project through its communication strategy and providing access to the Statistical Commission for reporting on progress and results. ECA will be in charge of organizing and financing the activities, through the budget allocated to each activity. ECA and DESA will also seek the support of other partners at the global and regional level and also other stakeholder such as the UN agencies in implementing the project.

The project will include an 11-member steering committee composed of the five members of the bureau of the Statistical Commission for Africa (StatCom Africa), being the apex body for the coordination of statistical development in Africa; a representative of Cape Verde, to draw on its expertise from having implemented similar projects; a representative each of the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank, AFRISTAT and PARIS21; and a representative of Africa Rice Centre, to draw from its experience in a similar project with the use of RTIs for the methodological and conceptual work. The steering committee will meet three times: at the beginning of the project to review the final implementation plan with pilot countries; midway through the implementation to review progress and continued relevance of the detailed activities and recommend changes as may be necessary; and towards the end to review the outcome and evaluate them against the objectives.

A technical advisory committee will also be established to advise on the technical aspects of the project, including selection of indicators, methodology and technology. The initial membership will include representatives of the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, the Institute of Geography and Statistics of Brazil, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, FAO and the World Bank, with provision to coopt more members. The technical committee will conduct its business mainly through electronic media, with occasional meetings to coincide with programmed seminars and workshop, depending on fund availability from ECA’s extra-budgetary resources, rather than this project. A public sub- page will be maintained on ECA’s website for advocacy, media awareness and dissemination of all information and documents relevant to the project.

11 7 DETAILED BUDGET JUSTIFICTION ($1,845,000.00$1,821,247.22)

General Temporary Assistance A provision of $55,296 is required in support of all activities, based on the standard salary costs, version 11 applicable to Addis Ababa: - To provide general administrative support 24 work-months, G7 at $2,304 per month.

Consultants A provision of $200,424 is required to cover specialized expertise: - In support of activity 1.1: 2 work-months at $7,500 ($15,000) and $3,824 for ticket and DSA for one mission. - In support of activity 1.5: 3 work months at $7,300 ($21,900) and $7,600 for ticket and DSA for two missions. - In support of activity 2.2: 5 work months at $7,300 ($36,500) and $24,000 for ticket and DSA for five missions. - In support of activity 2.3: 2 work-months at $8,900 ($17,800). - In support of all activities: $73,800 for external monitoring and evaluation.

Expert Groups A provision of $165,000 is required for three expert groups at an average cost of $55,000 per meeting.

Travel of Staff A provision of $94,839 is required for 3 missions as follows: - In support of activity 1.2: One staff member from sub regional offices of ECA two from UNSD/New York, in addition to three staff members from ECA for the regional meeting at Praia, Cape Verde as part of the situation analysis; at the rates of $2,448 for the sub-regional office staff member, $6,562 for each of UNSD staff members and $6,389.67 for each of the three ECA staff members; for a total of $34,741. - In support of activity 1.5: At the rate of $3,385 for one staff member from each of the five sub-regional offices and two staff members from UNSD/New York each at $6,562 to contribute to the regional conference on mobile data collection; for a total of $30,049. - In support of activity 2.1: For the regional workshop on the training manuals and guidelines a total of $30,049 at the rate of $3,385 for one staff member from each of the five sub-regional offices and two staff members from UNSD/New York each at $6,562.

Workshops and Training A provision of $413,727 is required for organizing workshops and meetings: - In support of activity 1.2: consultative workshop on use of mobile technology for data collection in Praia, Cape Verde; $93,727to cover participants travel and DSA, conference package and translation and interpretation services. - In support of activity 1.3: five national workshops in the pilot countries to launch the projects and establish collaboration between NSOs and TRIs; $75,000 for five conference packages and local DSA for participants travelling from out of town. - In support of activity 1.5: regional workshop on use of mobile technology in data collection to validate findings through a peer-reviewed conference; $85,000 for 30 participants and five resource persons in selected pilot country in ECA’s North Africa sub region. - In support of activity 2.1: regional workshop to validate the training manual and guidelines; $85,000 for 30 participants and five resource persons in selected pilot country in ECA’s Central Africa sub region.

12 - In support of activity 2.2: national training workshops to prepare national partners and stakeholders for data collection fieldwork. $75,000 for conference packages and local DSA for participants travelling from out of town.

Contractual Services A provision of $817,591.00 is required for services as follows: - In support of activity 1.4: $500,000 for research contracts to TRIs in pilot countries to document the status of using mobile technologies for data collection in the study area prior to the project, and develop and adapt concepts, methodologies and tools for mobile data collection, and support data collection fieldwork. - In support of activity 2.4: $317,591 to provide logistics for data collection fieldwork, and other support for special data collection campaigns.

Equipment A provision of $ 95,000 is required for equipment as follows: - In support of activity 3.1: $95,000 for installing and/or upgrading computer servers and software to receive data from the project and integrate into standard statistical processes in five pilot countries.

General operating expenses A provision of $3,123 is required for general operating expenses in support of all activities.

13 ANNEX I: SIMPLIFIED LOGICAL FRAMEWORK

Intervention Logic Indicators Means of verification Risks/Assumptions Objective: The objective of this project is to improve the capacity of project countries to use mobile technology to make statistical data available and accessible to support evidence-based policy making.

Expected Accomplishment 1: i) Number of geo-enabled mobile data collection  Conference papers on the  Willingness of NSOs to work with Increased capacity of NSOs to work with systems adapted or developed through concepts, methodologies RTIs in developing concepts training and research institutions to develop partnerships with training and research and tools presented at the  Capacity of research and training methodologies and systems for mobile data institutions developed and functional. regional conference institutions to undertake applied collection. ii) Number of countries that have adapted  Feedback from research on mobile data collection project methodology and work-flow for data implementing NSOs and concepts and systems collection and processing. RTIs  Progress reports Main Activities for Expected Accomplishment 1: i) Conduct situation analysis of target pilot countries to establish key development indicators and baseline for project implementation. ii) Organise a regional workshop to validate the indicators coupled with a steering committee meeting to review the project objectives and milestones. iii) Establishing and managing a network of researchers, system developers and officials of NSOs into collaborative research hubs and communities of practice for knowledge exchange and peer learning. iv) Development of concepts, methodologies and applications for geo-enabled mobile data collection systems. v) Organizing a regional conference on mobile data collection in support of evidence-based decision making and monitoring of development outcomes Expected Accomplishment 2: i) Number of pilot countries using mobile  Periodic statistical reports  Willingness and support from Increased capacity in project countries to devices to collect and analyse data. from national statistical members States for “mobile data for develop geo-enabled data collection systems ii) Number of data collection campaigns agencies development” initiatives running on mobile devices. undertaken as part of the project.  Monitoring reports  Capacity of mobile operators /carriers to provide and/or lease required  Operational geo-enabled services data collection systems  Wide availability of the required  Media coverage mobile sets capable of routine data collection  Wide “coverage gap” and access to mobile networks  Effective collaboration with

14 Intervention Logic Indicators Means of verification Risks/Assumptions NSS, implementing partners, private sector and other stakeholders Main Activities for Expected Accomplishment 2: i) Development of training manuals and guidelines on geo-enabled mobile data collection methods. ii) Organization of training workshops on use of geo-enabled mobile data collection systems. iii) Produce advocacy booklet on the participation of sub national administrative units in data collection for evidence-based monitoring of development programmes iv) Providing technical assistance to NSOs, selected line ministries, local government offices and community based organizations to install data collection, processing, and analysis platforms. Other Activities: i) External evaluation ii) Project management and governance including, establishing steering and technical committees and retaining a Programme Officer and a Programme Assistant for the duration of the project.

15 ANNEX II: RESULT BASED WORK PLAN

Year 2 Expected Outcomes Activities Q2 Q3 Q4 Q2 Q3 Q4 Conduct situation analysis of target pilot countries to establish key development X indicators and baseline for project implementation. Establishing and managing a network of researchers, system developers and officials EA1: Increased capacity of NSOs of NSOs into collaborative research hubs X X X X X X to work with training and research and communities of practice for knowledge institutions to develop exchange and peer learning methodologies and systems for Development of concepts, methodologies mobile data collection. and applications for geo-enabled mobile data X collection systems Organizing a regional conference on mobile data collection in support of evidence-based X decision making and monitoring of development outcomes Development of training manuals and guidelines on geo-enabled mobile data X X collection methods Organization of training workshops on use of geo-enabled mobile data collection X X X EA2: Increased availability in systems project countries of geo-enabled Produce advocacy booklet on the data collection systems running on participation of sub national administrative X X X mobile devices. units in data collection for evidence-based monitoring of development programmes Providing technical assistance to NSOs, selected line ministries, local government offices and community based organizations X X X X X to install data collection, processing, and analysis platforms

16 ANNEX III: RESULT BASED BUDGET

Budget Split No Remarks Expected Accomplishments Main Activities Object Object . Class Code Description Amo unt EA1: Increased capacity of 604 0111 International $15,0 2 work months at $7,500 NSOs to work with training Conduct situation analysis to identify Consultant 00.00 and research institutions to target pilot countries and establish key 604 2601 Consultant Travel $3,82 Ticket and DSA for 1 mission 1.1 develop methodologies and development indicators and baseline 4.00 systems for mobile data for project implementation Sub-total $18,8 collection 24.00 608 Travel of Staff $34,7 At the rates of $2,448 for the sub- 41.00 regional office staff member, $6,562 for each of UNSD staff Organizing a regional workshop to members and $6,389.67 for each review the findings of the situation of the three ECA staff members 1.2 analysis and agree on indicators to 621 7202 Seminars and $93,7 Regional workshop collect Workshops 27.00 Sub-total $128, 468.0 0 621 7202 Seminars and $75,0 5 national workshops Establishing and managing a network Workshops 00.00 of researchers, system developers and officials of NSOs into collaborative 1.3 research hubs and communities of practice for knowledge exchange and peer learning Sub-total $75,0 00.00 1.4 Development of concepts, 612 Contractual $500, Research contracts to TRIs methodologies and applications for Services 000 working with NSOs to develop geo-enabled mobile data collection concepts, methodologies and tools, systems at $100,000 for each of five countries Sub-total $491, 047.2 2$50 0,000 17 .00 604 0111 International $21,9 3 work months Consultant 00.00 604 2601 Consultant Travel $7,60 5 missions total 10 days DSA 0.00 608 Travel of Staff $30,0 Using figures recommended for Organizing a regional conference on 49.00 PPB2014-15. Africa-to-Addis for mobile data collection in support of one person from each SRO (5 x 1.5 evidence-based decision making and 3385)+ Addis-to-NY (6834) for monitoring of development outcomes UNSD participation 621 7202 Seminars and $85,0 Workshops 00.00 Sub-total $144, 549.0 0 EA2: Increased availability in 608 Travel of Staff $30,0 Using figures recommended for project countries of geo- 49.00 PPB2014-15. Africa-to-Addis for enabled data collection one person from each SRO (5 x Development of training manuals and systems running on mobile 3385)+ Addis-to-NY (6834) for guidelines on geo-enabled mobile data devices UNSD participation 2.1 collection methods and organize a 621 7202 Seminars and $85,0 regional meeting to validate the Workshops 00.00 manuals Sub-total $115, 049.0 0 604 0111 International $36,5 Consultant 00.00 604 2601 Consultant Travel $24,0 Organization of training workshops on 00.00 2.2 use of geo-enabled mobile data 621 7202 Seminars and $75,0 collection systems Workshops 00.00 Sub-total $135, 500.0 0 2.3 Produce advocacy booklet on the 604 0111 International $17,8 participation of sub national Consultant 00.00 administrative units in data collection for evidence-based monitoring of development programmes Sub-total $17,8 00.00 18 612 Contractual $317, Services 591.0 0 618 Supplies and $95.0 Computer hardware (Servers and Providing technical assistance to Materials 00.00 computer peripherals) in five NSOs, selected line ministries, local countries government offices and community 2.4 based organizations to install data collection, import, processing, and analysis platforms Sub-total $ 412,5 91.00 602 General Technical Based on standard salary costs of $2,304 for general Assistance administrative support for 24 work-months 604 0111 International Consultant All Activities 604 2602 Travel of Expert Expert meetings of the steering committee Groups 616 Operating Expenses Sub Total Grand Total

19 ANNEX IV: ALLOTMENT REQUEST

Objec t Object class code Object description Allotment Explanation 602 General technical assistance $55,296.00 604 0111 International Consultant $165,000.00 604 2601 Consultant travel $35,424.00 604 2602 Travel of expert groups $165,000.00 608 Travel of staff $94,839.00 612 Contractual services $817,591.00 616 Operating expenses $3,123.00 Supplies and materials and furniture and 618 $ 95,000.00 equipment 621 7202 Seminars and workshops $413,727.00 $1,845,000.0 Total 0

20 ANNEX V: Country specific analysis (Ethiopia) and the corresponding DA Project

V.1: Budget breakdown Ethiopia DA Pilot countries Expert groups (Travel) $10,500.00 $165,000.00 Travel of staff - $94,839.00 Workshops, seminars and training $48,261.00 $413,727.00 International consultant $7,463.00 $165,000.00 Consultant travel - $35,424.00 Contractual services $82,000.00 $817,591 Equipment (supplies and materials) $15,000.00 $95,000.00

Operating cost -- $3,123.00 General technical assistance -- $55,296.00 Sub-total $163,224.00 $1,845,000.00 Programme support (13%) $21,219.12 -

Total budget $184,443.12 $1,845,000

Funding source The Irish DA project Government Development partners/ stakeholders Ministries/Governme Ministries/Government nt departments departments producing producing statistics statistics Non-Governmental Non-Governmental Organization Organization Civil Based Civil Based Organizations Organizations Mobile Operators and Mobile Operators Training and Research Training and Institutions in each pilot Research Institutions country

21 V.2: Revised Specific Activities A1.1: Participate in regional workshop for experience sharing: This workshop is being organized as part of the parallel main Development Account (DA) project. This regional meeting will be held as part of the situation analysis to review the findings on the status of using mobile technologies in Africa. Two participants from CSA of Ethiopia will participate in this meeting to learn from the experiences of other countries.

A1.2: Conduct situation analysis: Document the current status of using mobile technologies for data collection in the study area. This study will serve to establish benchmarks as well as develop effective national partnerships for the implementation of the project. The study will also examine the existence of on-going data collection plans that can be used as case studies, the available skill sets in counterpart organizations, and the state of the mobile network infrastructure, among others.

A1.3: Organize national workshop: This workshop intends to bring together all local implementing partners to explain their roles and agree on modalities of work. Potential local implementing partners include research and training institutions, such as Mekele University, the ICT Center of Excellence, Ministry of Communication and information Technology and Addis Ababa University. It is also intended to study the possibility of using self-reporting data providers for food prices and production statistics, given the emphasis of the Ethiopian implementation on food security. Therefore selected local grocery retailers and farmers will be included as potential implementing partners.

A1.4: Develop concepts, methodologies and applications for geo-enabled mobile data collection systems: The use of mobile technologies for data collection has already been introduced in Ethiopia; for example, CSA has used mobile technology for collecting price statistics. However, the project plan to use local retailers and farmers as self-reporting data providers introduces challenges to adapt and simplify the concepts and methodologies and customize software and applications for potentially unskilled users. As already indicated, such conceptual work will be undertaken in collaboration with national RTIs in order to develop and retain expertise in the country, and also to incubate research that will sustain the concepts after the project completion.

A1.5: Participation in regional conference on mobile data collection in support of evidence-based decision making and monitoring of development outcomes: This workshop is being organized as part of the parallel DA project and Ethiopian project partners will participate for mutual gain from the experience sharing.

A2.1: Develop training manuals and guidelines on geo-enabled mobile data collection methods: User manuals and guidelines will be compiled covering different aspects of using mobile technologies for data collection. These manuals will be used to guide the work of self reportersself- reporters in Tigray region before extending to others regions. The manuals will be developed by the partner TRIs. A regional meeting will be held to validate training manuals. Two participants from CSA will participate in this regional meeting. .

A2.2: Organize national training workshop on use of geo-enabled mobile data collection systems. The main purpose of this national workshop is to train all implementing partners including data self reporters on how to use the device to collect data and report. The training will be conducted 22 in collaboration with the partner TRIs that developed the software and manuals.

A2.3: Provide technical assistance for data collection, processing and dissemination: As has been indicated above, the project will be integrated and mainstreamed into existing operations of the CSA. Therefore, in addition to collecting data, it will necessarily include developing and testing workflow processes for reviewing the data for usability, as well as installing data import and processing system for consolidating data to a single database based on agreed designs, processes and data exchange mechanisms, where the capacity and expertise exists in the participating TRIs. The project will also explore workflow processes to ensure data retention and transmission in areas without mobile data services, possibly by using portable computers for periodic harvesting of data from the providers.

V.3: Implementation Arrangements The main implementing partner for this project is CSA, which will recommend the TRI partner(s). A joint letter of agreement will be signed between the CSA, ECA and the TRI(s) to guide the course of implementation. Based on agreement, the TRI will prepare the situation document (Activity 1.2), describing the current status of the use of mobile technologies for data collection in the study area, and propose the local partners that will serve as self- reporting data providers for the project, who will be invited to the national workshop of Activity 1.3, which will be organized jointly by ECA, CSA and the TRI. The TRI will then develop the methodologies and customize, adapt or develop new software as appropriate; prepare the training manuals; organize the training of the project implementing partners, jointly with CSA and ECA; and coordinate the data collection fieldwork. The TRI will submit bi-monthly progress reports to CSA and ECA. During the initial inception meeting, ECA, CSA and the TRI will agree on procurement arrangements, with the options of transferring the funds to CSA/TRI or retaining the funds at ECA to undertake the procurement, based on specific administrative convenience for implementation. The project will be evaluated using ECA’s tools and procedures for effective monitoring and evaluation of projects.