About
The Last Mile Mobile Solutions project was dreamt up while waiting to board a plane in San Paulo. Busy contemplating what was going to be playing as the in-flight movie, Otto happened on an insight: If airline passengers can walk up to a check in counter and while waiting in line, have their boarding passing printed off by a mobile staff member, why can we not use similar technologies to streamline the business processes associated with humanitarian aid?
That question opened up a Pandora’s box when he sat down with me a few days later in Canada. The next two months were spent researching, interviewing staff, and designing a solution that could potentially work. On this foundation, World Vision Canada decided to fund a project to pilot the technologies in the field – nothing theoretical, we were after actual field based data!
The quality of service being offered to beneficiaries was always going to be an important end goal. But as we worked on the problem, we recognized that the innovations we were developing, could be designed to influence greater accountability to our donors and could significantly improve on the efficiencies of our humanitarian programming.
The pilot project was run under the acronym AIDC (Automatic Identification and Data Collection) and served as our opportunity to prove the concept. A nice depiction to give you an overview of the developed systems is shown below in the following comic strip:
The AIDC pilot came to an end in November 2008. An external review of the systems by a University of Waterloo professor (and NetHope member) was conducted. This research found evidence for amazing things – like the fact that beneficiary wait times to be processed and verified for food distributions were reduced by 75%!! We’ve also seen manual errors being caught by the systems. The use of technology has actually empowered staff to have more time to connect with the very people affected by food insecurity that they are supposed to.
There was a comprehensive assessment of the systems by World Vision staff at the conclusion of the pilot project. This ended with a unanimous decision to scale up the project – starting immediately within the organization’s food programming unit (FPMG). All feeding programs over the next 60 months please! Food for Work/Food for Assets, Targeted Feeding applications (including HIV/AIDs programming, TB, Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission, Maternal-Child Health), General Feeding Programmes (including Refugee/IDP programs and Urban Vulnerable Feeding), Cash Transfers, Wet Feeding …. Yikes.
Below are some comments that came back from World Vision staff from the Learning Event:
“It is possible to do this! It’s been so exciting to see and begin to imagine how this technology could be used to revolutionize humanitarian and development programming.”
“Automation is where the whole world is moving to, having an AIDC system up and running brings a new culture of computing to the World Vision field work.”
“AIDC has led to increased and quality accountability of food aid at the FDP [Final Distribution Points] compared to the initial process of manual process of writing data thus reduced errors. Less time is also used in the whole process of food hand over to community.”
“The new technology has made it possible for beneficiaries to have photo cards and are excited about them. Members of the community are spending less time at distribution centers. This is saving them time which they can use taking care of their families and engaging in other productive activities such as farming etc.”
Let go over it one more time .. just to make sure we’re clear!
The Last Mile Mobile Solutions (LMMS) system utilizes mobile computing technologies and better humanitarian business practices in an effort to promote greater efficiencies and heighten accountability in food aid programming.
The systems are designed for application at the last mile of our humanitarian work – that point of transaction between end beneficiaries and the humanitarian agency.
By using robust mobile units with sufficient battery power for extensive time in the field, in conjuncture with innovative software designed for food aid management, we’re streamlining the processes in which aid recipients are registered in the field and the subsequent delivery of commodities to these communities. LMMS then facilitates improved analysis and reporting of food aid programs.
LMMS issues computer readable identity cards to primary beneficiaries (capable of being printed in the field).
Households are registered once into a particular food program or are transitioned into new programs using the same identity card.
The automated LMMS system supports food aid delivery to beneficiaries and strengthens control over inventory during distribution in the field. This includes improved procedures on delivery of aid through photo verification of households or proxies authorized to receive aid.
LMMS has been designed to enable real time updates to the system with automated query, analysis and reporting procedures defined.
What’s adds to the excitement is the opportunity to expand our functionality. How can we ensure that the child who received food aid today, actually benefits through better nutritional status tomorrow. If we’re not seeing that connect – we need to know there is a problem and correct it. With LMMS – we have a way of interconnecting aid with better humanitarian interventions. What’s more – humanitarianism is a global responsibility we want to connect you in Canada, India, England, wherever to people (and projects) where our collective humanitarian efforts have real and important impact. That’s the vision. Help make it a reality by supporting World Vision Canada in its efforts.