This is where monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) comes in. Through the correct collection and analysis of data, organizations in the development space can make important decisions without the need for risky trial and error.

The purpose of monitoring, evaluation, and learning is to apply knowledge gained from evidence and analysis to improve development outcomes and ensure accountability for the resources used to achieve them. According to GoodPush, we can make sense of the concept of MEL by breaking the words down:

• Monitoring – How you know your programs are happening the way you planned.
• Evaluation – How you know the quality is good and the children are having fun and learning.
• Learning – What can we change or do better based on the new information we have?

Evidently, focusing on regular monitoring, evaluation, and initiatives to improve programs is essential to organizations realizing the goals they set out to achieve.

Why Monitoring and Evaluation?

Whereas M&E has been conducted for many years, there have been increased efforts to put this framework into practice and connect it with organizations’ core activities, as it provides a consolidated source of information to showcase project progress and manage risk in projects for sustainable change.

Data collected for MEL provides organizations with the information necessary for risk assessment, decision support, resource management, project development, and quality assurance for continuous improvement throughout each of the project stages. Program evaluation of this nature is essential to determine if key performance indicators are in positive zones during the length of the project.

Projects in the development space are about synergy and programs and organizations learning from each other. MEL through the continuous tracking of every stage of a program, allows actors to learn from each other’s experiences and build on expertise and knowledge for other programs. The process reveals mistakes and offers paths for learning and improvements, aids in the formulation of policy and practice.

Development organizations are answerable to several stakeholders including donors, the target community, and governments, and Monitoring and Evaluation frameworks often generate reports that contribute to transparency and accountability. Often stakeholders require efficient MEL structures which can be instrumental in raising funds and influencing policy. MEL also provides a way to assess the crucial link between implementers, beneficiaries on the ground, and decision-makers.

Continuous Improvement

If development organizations conduct Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning effectively over the life of a program, then they need to quickly incorporate the lessons learned into the program’s interventions to make the program itself more effective. Not utilizing data to fuel worthwhile program interventions is a missed opportunity for organizations and the people that the organizations seek to assist.

Also important to note is the impact that timely data collection can have on the program improvement process. In the time between data collection, data analysis, and planning of the next steps, the situation on the ground in the country of interest may have developed further than the study shows. Accurate and timely data collection and reporting is imperative for donors, NGOs, and governments to assess their effectiveness and communicate their success.

Conduct Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning with GeoPoll

GeoPoll’s remote mobile survey methodology allows organizations to collect on-the-ground data from granular target populations without the need for on-site survey enumerators, it is truly remote monitoring and management made easy.

GeoPoll’s robust surveying platform and large respondent database provide actionable data that measures project process, demonstrates community attitudes and perceptions over time, and allows organizations to more effectively track the outcomes of project interventions. GeoPoll has multiple survey mode offerings that allow us to reach respondents across all SECs. For fast, cost-effective data within days, contact us today!

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In this article, we outline the various areas, from our experience, that remote surveying and data collection enhances the efforts of international development organizations, governments, local NGOs, and other partners. Click on the headings to learn more about our work, use cases, and methodologies.

Data for Humanitarian Aid and Relief

When Cyclone Idai hit Mozambique, it was difficult for aid groups to know immediate needs and areas they needed to focus on. During various Ebola outbreaks and West and Central Africa, it was also impossible to access affected areas due to lockdowns and the disease’s contagious nature. In both cases, and many more incidences of natural disaster, conflict, and disease when affected populations are cut off from the rest of the world, GeoPoll has deployed our unique remote data collection and messaging capabilities to collect on the ground data that helped aid organizations, governments and rescuers act decisively to save lives and property.  

Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning

Donors, NGOs, and governments often need to assess the effectiveness of their programs and interventions and communicate their successes. Using remote mobile surveys, such organizations can measure project processes, demonstrate community attitudes and perceptions over time, and track the outcomes of project interventions more effectively on the ground for better and timely decision-making.

Food Security and Agricultural Production

In many of the emerging markets, food security is usually a significant concern. Over the years, GeoPoll has worked with tens of development organizations to remotely track multiple types of food security data such as food prices, market operability status, crop harvest data, and frequency of meal consumption, both for emergency assessments, ongoing monitoring, and one-off analyses of specific areas or populations.

Health & Nutrition Data

Using remote on-the-ground data, organizations can monitor and improve health systems. For example, when COVID-19 struck in 2020, health and humanitarian organizations worked with GeoPoll to understand the impact on health and health systems in emerging nations. We have also helped gather sensitive health information that would have been difficult with face-to-face research.

Democracy & Governance

GeoPoll’s mobile research and engagement platform allows governments and democracy groups to reach citizens in remote areas or conflict zones quickly and safely. Organizations can administer remote surveys and educational messages to extremely specific target populations, giving them the ability to assess situations and act upon the most up-to-date information quickly. This can be useful in monitoring government services, assessing the political climate, promoting transparency such as by tracking corruption incidence, monitoring security situations, and more.

Financial Inclusion

One of the most integral steps to developing financial inclusion frameworks is gathering realities and the opinions of banked and unbanked populations. That way, organizations can track financial inclusion rates, evaluate access to financial services, research financing gaps, and track growing trends such as usage of mobile money, mobile loan usage, and more. Over time, GeoPoll has perfected its remote mobile surveying capabilities to enable financial stakeholders to gather ongoing data to measure trends or gather one-off data from specific populations on their financial needs.

Energy, Climate & Environment

Climate Change is one of the hottest topics of the Century. As the globe brainstorms ways to combat the climate and environmental degradation, it is crucial to understand the changes happening in all areas, even the remotest, how that affects essential aspects such as food security and resilience, and grassroots opinions on the course of action.

Education & Employment

In tracking education and employment changes and improvements over time, remote surveying helps gather direct feedback on education and employment from communities, teachers, students, and parents on key service delivery indicators, including absenteeism, textbook availability, student-teacher ratios, and school infrastructure. It also helps understand specific perceptions, behaviors, and knowledge to design campaigns that improve educational outcomes and obtain ongoing feedback on program interventions. Governments, the private sector and development organizations can also gather data on education levels and employment and link private sector, academic institutions, and job seekers.

GeoPoll’s International Development Research Work

GeoPoll regularly conducts international development research for United Nations agencies, NGOs, governments, humanitarian groups, and other stakeholders in the development and relief sectors. We help collect ongoing tracking data or one-time project-based data collection fast and affordably owing to our unique technology, robust database and direct integrations with mobile network operators that enable us to reach any population worldwide.

Learn more about GeoPoll’s international development and humanitarian work.

The post How Remote Surveys Enhance International Development & Aid appeared first on GeoPoll.

Scott Lansell Interview

Roxana Elliott: Thanks for speaking with me! Can you start by telling me about your background before you came to GeoPoll?

Scott Lansell: My first exposure to International Development was at USAID, where I worked in several functions culminating as a desk officer for several east European countries in the early 1990s after the Berlin wall fell. During that time I was first exposed to USAID’s mission and its operational processes along with its many implementing partners in its role leading the US’s development assistance programs across the globe. After USAID, I joined the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) where I focused on portfolio and regional management within the democracy and governance sector with focus on elections administration internationally. I then joined World Learning, focusing on civil society, governance, higher education, and workforce development, where I also led the NGO’s donor diversification team including the launch of World Learning Europe.

What drew you to GeoPoll and what are your current responsibilities?

It was clear from my prior work that being able to regularly monitor and report on the impact of the interventions underway in the international development space was crucial to long term sustainability and documentation of development impact. GeoPoll brought an innovative approach and capacity offering mobile survey research and data collection to international development implementers and donors. It brings the 21^st century into development and monitoring project success which demonstrates a way that the international community should utilize.

In addition to leading GeoPoll’s business development efforts to engage new clients and maintain our existing clients, I also oversee the program management teams that implement our international development projects – this dual role is important as it is important to understand both the business development and implementation sides ensuring that what we are offer is feasible, cost effective, and meets the objectives and expectations of each of our clients.

Why do you think research solutions such as GeoPoll’s are so important in the international development sector?

The key to a successful development project is being able to show the impact of the work and track how the intervention is received, localized and transferred to local ownership. In traditional sectors this can be dependent on deploying staff in person to gather and monitor implementation.  The challenge with this approach to impact monitoring and assessment is there can be bias, or difficulties in accessing remote efforts due to security, health crises, and logistics.  Too often the most vulnerable populations may be under-represented due to these and other limiting factors.

GeoPoll brings a capacity to undertake data collection using both high-tech and low-tech means. While we are data collection company, we’re not dependent on internet access or people who have high-end mobile devices. We can reach people from all backgrounds to have a better understanding of what those populations are feeling about interventions. We offer various approaches or modes to engage different populations – for example, when you’re reaching out to a fisherman in a village a low-tech approach is useful. Clients that come to us in the international development and relief sector are focused on the broadest populations, those who are most disenfranchised and most difficult to access. Mobile has the ability to help transcend these barriers. 

What has surprised you about GeoPoll and the projects we work on?

The speed at which we can create and deliver a solution has always impressed me.  While timelines in the development sectors can be significant, GeoPoll can respond to clients’ needs, design and offer viable solutions, and then move to implement solutions in a matter of days.  I’ve been a part of project design that offered raw data in only one week after the initial conversation with the client – this is unheard of when using more traditional approaches.

Where do you think GeoPoll will go in the future?

There is constant interest in expanding the services we offer to meet our clients’ needs.  We are constantly looking to offer new and innovative approaches and platforms. Being able to use both traditional and higher-tech solutions in conjunction with each other is unique as we are trying to meet a quickly expanding demand for technological solutions without losing traditional approaches and access to the lower socio-economic populations we serve.  We aren’t only focused on offering the latest new mobile application because the populations we often need to speak to don’t always have access to the latest technology.

How has GeoPoll adapted its solutions to COVID in the past year?

It became clear very early in 2020 that COVID-19 was becoming this generation’s largest challenge. GeoPoll’s leadership quickly determined we needed to make sure that donors and implementers could quickly access public perceptions on the pandemic and do so without putting people’s lives at risk. Beginning in March of 2020, we conducted several studies on COVID-19 and were able to collect data in multiple waves to show what mobile can bring when data must be collected remotely. We also very quickly redesigned our training and monitoring structure to ensure the safety of our call center operators, so that we can continue to offer the same quality of service to clients even when people are working remotely.

What’s a fact about yourself that people may not know right away?

I’ve always been a consumer of world history and have a tendency to look at situations and ask myself ‘Where have I seen this before and what can I learn from it?’ I also enjoy cartography – I see maps as art and have an appreciation for diversity of cultures which began very early after living overseas as a child.  I enjoy following international affairs from the perspective of not just an American but also looking at how we as a global community can and will play key roles on the international stage. No matter what I’m doing, I’m trying to play a small role in working to support global efforts to help develop self-sufficiency and make the world a better place regardless of nationality, region or culture.

The post Scott Lansell on Data Collection for International Development appeared first on GeoPoll.

Background: Somalia’s Humanitarian Need

Currently, Somalia is experiencing a humanitarian crisis where food is scarce and conflict afflicts many citizens. More than 1.5 million people are in critical need of assistance due to food insecurity, and malnutrition has exceeded the emergency threshold of two percent. There are also 2 million people in risk of violence due to living in hard-to-reach, conflict-affected areas.

Survey Methodology

The GeoPoll survey was in the field from March 27^th to March 28^th in 2019. Respondents were interviewed through voice calls on mobile phones, via Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing, or CATI. In order to facilitate this type of survey, GeoPoll recruited Somali people who were living in Kenya to be survey enumerators because they knew the local language and the context of the challenges of living in Somalia of late. These people were trained by GeoPoll staff and conducted the interviews via live calls to each of the individual respondents.

The survey was not controlled for gender yet there was a ratio of 68% male to 32% female responses, meaning that women were highly engaged with the questionnaire when consideration is given to the country in which the survey took place. Age was evenly distributed between the age groups, although the age group with the largest share of respondents was 35 years of age or older. Survey respondents were from 12 regions throughout the country, with the largest share from Banaardir. This survey had a small sample size of 91, and as such is not nationally representative, but does provide a snapshot view of the lives of some individuals in the country.

Food Insecurity in Somalia

Respondents were asked a range of questions to probe about the level of accessibility their households and communities as a whole have to food. The series of food security questions began generally when respondents were asked what the food situation was like in their community. 36% of responses indicated a lack of sufficient food—with 11% of the total responses indicating a very significant lack of food in their community. These responses reflect what has been seen in other studies on food insecurity in the country, that there are many people seriously suffering from lack of food that need assistance as soon as possible.

Next, respondents were asked about how many days, within the past 30 days, they lacked food. The survey asked respondents to quantify how many days they, or a household member, had to reduce the number of meals eaten in a day due to lack of food or money. 13% of responses indicated that every day within the past 30 days they had to ration food or money and cut back on the number of meals eaten. 11% of respondents cut back meals 15-29 days within the past 30 days, and 34% indicated 1 day to 10 days where they restricted meals.

IDPs and Safety

Violence and internal displacement are prevalent threats to people in Somalia and are a cornerstone to the humanitarian crisis in the country, especially to people living in the southern regions. To find out more about the situation, GeoPoll asked respondents about displacement and self-reported feelings of safety. First, respondents were asked if they had been forced or obliged to flee their homes recently, 41% of respondents stated that they had. Next, the respondents were asked if they had ever been either an internally displaced person or a refugee—19% of respondents had at once been either. Finally, GeoPoll asked if respondents feel safe in their homes due to the current security situation, where 33% of respondents noted that they do not feel safe. Due to the fact that the prominence of violence in Somalia is somewhat concentrated toward the south, the responses from this survey indicate the urgent need for humanitarian assistance that is impacting many of the innocent civilians affected.

Somalia Data Dashboard

Gathering information on-the-ground in Somalia, such as the above, is a crucial step in assessing the need associated with the humanitarian crisis and developing action plans for aid assistance for the inflicted. Data-driven decision making has been said to be one of the most important digital principles for development, and GeoPoll experts fully agree. GeoPoll can facilitate custom surveys in Somalia remotely and deliver real-time results quickly. Inquire about running a survey in Somalia, today.

The post GeoPoll Launches Research Services in Somalia appeared first on GeoPoll.

Findings range from information on land size and ownership of land, to water availability, food security, and usage of various mobile-based services such as mobile money and digital farming groups. Below are some highlights from the data, and you can download the full, 20-page report on farming in Kenya here.

Climate Change is a Key Challenge for Farmers

Unpredictable weather, drought and climactic changes were cited as major issues farmers in Kenya face that affect their yield and make it challenging for them to farm. Climactic changes were found to be the biggest factor affecting yield for farmers, and 27% said it was one of the key challenges they face. In addition, only 36% of farmers said that water was frequently available for farming. Respondents in counties that have gone through dry spells recently, such as Narok County and two other counties in the Rift Valley, reported lower levels of water availability than those in counties on the border with Uganda.

Insights on Mobile Phones and Farming

While GeoPoll’s panel is skewed in terms of mobile usage, as all respondents have a mobile phone and surveys are taken via SMS or other mobile-based methods, we nevertheless can glean interesting findings on how farmers are using mobile phones. GeoPoll found that, of this mobile-owning population, a high percentage own a smartphone, with 53% owning some sort of smartphone, and Android devices being by far the most popular operating system. There were some differences by gender, with females being more likely to own a basic phone with SMS and voice only. We also unsurprisingly observed that younger farmers were more likely to own smartphones than farmers in older age groups.

GeoPoll also examined usage of mobile money and other mobile services, including mobile lending and mobile banking, WhatsApp groups, and farming apps, finding that mobile banking and lending are the most popular services used by farmers in Kenya, likely driven by the prevalence of mPesa throughout the country. However, even among this mobile-owning segment of the farming population, most farmers get their information from word of mouth, with other farmers and agricultural officers combined being the biggest source of information, over social media and mobile apps.

Download the Data on Farming in Kenya

GeoPoll’s full report on Kenya’s agricultural sector and the effect of mobile technology in modern Kenya includes additional insights on upcoming trends in farming, including open-ended responses directly from farmers on what they see as the biggest trends, farm inputs, farm size, popular crop types by age, and much more. Download the full report here, and contact us if you are interested in conducting your own research with GeoPoll’s farmer panel in Kenya or any other country we operate in.

The post Data Report on Farming in Kenya and Mobile Phone Usage appeared first on GeoPoll.

During this time, a man named Patrick Meier was studying the potential of digital maps for crisis response. After the earthquake struck, he became involved in the relief efforts. SMS texts were sent out by aid organizations to inform affected people of safety procedures. Eventually, people in distress were encouraged to text a special number if they needed rescue. Patrick and other volunteers wadded through the influx of these messages and did their best to prioritize need. The responses allowed volunteers to map out where people were alive and trapped under rubble, as well as map out which hospitals and pharmacies had accessible supplies. Patrick used this information to create a digital crisis map of the scene that helped to save many lives.

Despite overwhelming efforts, there were hundreds of thousands of lives lost that year in Haiti, yet the learning experience was incredibly valuable for future crisis response. Throughout the rest of this post, we focus on a variety of best practices around SMS message communications following crisis and mobile communications platforms like GeoPoll.

Best Practices

Do not send redundant SMS messages

In any crisis situation, there can only be one leader. It is important to avoid amplifying chaos in an already hectic environment. Aid organizations can be most helpful if they partner with each other. Instead of multiple organizations blasting SMS texts with safety information, a united front should be established. The people in the affected area should only receive one message about each relevant piece of information.

Clearly identify sender

When sending safety information via SMS messages, be sure to identify who the information is coming from. Including a reputable organization name in the messages builds trust around the SMS communications, and encourages the distressed individuals to respect the information provided to them.

 Allow people to unsubscribe to alerts

Allow people to unsubscribe to SMS safety alerts. It is possible that not everyone within the radius of an affected area needs to see the alerts—and some will wish not to receive them. Provide opt-in or opt-out options for SMS blasts.

Set up a way for people to make complaints

Allow for responses to be sent back to the aid organization. During the Haiti earthquake aftermath, a new response number was eventually created for people to send in requests for help, demonstrating the importance of SMS alerts having two-way communications streams.

Although there will be a flood of incoming messages, the messages can be organized and prioritized as quickly as possible. Messages can provide the information needed to lead rescuers to exact locations for rescue missions with probable outcomes—which is much more effective than digging through fallen buildings for a chance at finding someone.

Incoming messages can also allow for a broader understanding of the state of distress. The scope of the crisis and geographic area affected by the disaster can be determined quickly through the data provided by two-way communication with the individuals in need.

Research literacy rates

Keep in mind the level of education in the affected area. If literacy rates are low, simple and straightforward language is very important for communicating. Avoid complex sentence structure and words. Use simple words in short clear sentences. With very low literacy rates, voice calls with recorded messages may be the most effective way to contact individuals.  GeoPoll offers multiple modes of mobile communication, including SMS, CATI and IVR voice calls.

Determine the correct language and dialect to use for messages

Depending on the location and radius of the affected area, there may be more than one language spoken. Make sure to speak with experts about the languages and dialects that are spoken by the people before sending messages.

Create crisis response plan before disasters occur

Be prepared for whatever may occur. Make sure to have a comprehensive plan in place before a disaster or crisis erupts and identify potential partners who can assist you. Sending mobile communications requires technology and connectivity with mobile network operators which can take months to build – platforms including GeoPoll have already-built platforms and partnerships which allow for the immediate deployment of mass communications.

Also, train all available future responders in advance. Prepare the individuals who may be pulled in to work on the aid effort with the preliminary plan of action—this includes training on who all of the relevant points of contact are, training on general procedure, and training on hierarchal communication structures.

Develop a rough guideline for crisis communication messages with team leaders beforehand. Every second counts in a crisis so have clearly communicated messages already drafted and ready to send with only momentary notice. If this planning phase is done well it can help your organization avoid mistakes when lives are at risk.

Plan to have people on-the-ground supplementing information that is sent via SMS

Information sent through SMS text is limited to a short character count. Realistically, SMS updates will only provide the individuals in need with vital information. Planning to dispatch aid workers to the area who have additional information can help organize some of the inevitable chaos spreading through a devastated area.

Do not distribute personal information gathered through the SMS aid process

Organizations often collect personal information during the aid or disaster recovery process including phone numbers and names. This data must be protected using secure procedures. Make sure to partner with trusted organizations like GeoPoll who have policies in place to ensure personal identifiable information is secure.

Moving forward

The use of technology in disaster response is fairly new, and society will learn more about the most effective ways to use SMS technology in crisis as time moves forward. In the meantime, inefficient practices are bound to accidentally arise out of necessity. This will provide additional insight into how to continue improving. However, it is important to always keep the fundamental principle of aid— “do no harm”—in the forefront of our minds throughout the learning process.

GeoPoll regularly conducts surveys that collect vital data and can send communications through one-way and two-way messaging via multiple mobile modes. Our database of over 240 million people in more than 60 emerging markets allows aid organizations to quickly reach targeted populations in specific areas, or GeoPoll can send messages to aid beneficiaries and other individuals when provided with phone numbers.

Contact us to learn more about how GeoPoll can help your organization help others.

The post Best Practices in SMS Messaging for Crisis Management appeared first on GeoPoll.

South Sudan is the newest widely recognized country in the world, and is also one of the world’s poorest countries, with over 80% of the population living on under $1 a day. According to the UNDP, 43% of the total population is severely food insecure, however the issues with food security in South Sudan are getting worse. Five years of civil war in the area has left more than half of the country completely reliant on humanitarian aid. According to the World Food Program, at the beginning of 2018 the levels of hunger and malnutrition reported were at a historic high. Although organizations like the World Food Program are working to combat the starvation, there are many challenges to face. Lack of infrastructure and political conflict in the country make it difficult and dangerous to reach communities with life-saving food. Additionally, the approaching rainy season will create more challenges for reaching the starving people in South Sudan with food aid. For these reasons, it is more important than ever to understand the issues with food security in the country.

Given GeoPoll’s experience with conducting food security and agriculture related surveys, in early June 2018 we ran a remote mobile survey to gather information that could help assess food security concerns across South Sudan. Due to high levels of illiteracy in the country, this survey was conducted using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI), in which live interviewers call mobile phones from a call center. In only three days, GeoPoll was able to collect 100 survey responses which shed light on the current food security situation in the country. While this study was exploratory in nature, the results show a high level of food insecurity and demonstrate the need to conduct further research in the area.

Survey Methodology

GeoPoll utilized CATI surveys to gather on-the-ground data on food insecurity in South Sudan. The survey ran for three days— May 31^st, June 4^th, and June 5^th—of 2018. GeoPoll was able to reach respondents in all of the 10 states of South Sudan. The questionnaire asked respondents to provide information about three different time frames—the past 7 days, the past 30 days, and the past 6 months—as well as general questions about demographics and food security in the respondent’s communities.

Results

The survey data collected indicates high food insecurity in South Sudan. Respondents largely indicated that there are limited food supplies and high food prices. The majority of food markets around the country are operational yet are struggling to provide enough provisions to feed their communities. Results suggest that increased demand for the available fare is driving prices up beyond what is affordable for the majority of the respondents: 96% of the people surveyed reported that in the past six months they have not had enough money to purchase food and other basic needs, and just under half of the respondents reported that more than 80% of their communities are lacking enough food to eat because of widespread loss of food stocks, lack of income, or lack of job opportunities.

Results highlights

Question: How many households in your community are lacking food due to widespread loss of food stocks, lack of income, or lack of livelihood opportunities? Would you say…1) more than 80 percent, 2) between 50 and 80 percent, 3) between 50 and 20 percent, 4) less than 20 percent.

Results:

Respondents overwhelmingly reported that people in their communities have insufficient quantities of food due to widespread loss of crops, low income, or low job opportunity. 47% of respondents replied that more than 80% of their communities are suffering. Only 4% of respondents could say that less than 20% of their community was struggling. The results from this study indicate that the majority citizens of South Sudan are currently struggling with hunger.

Question: In the past 30 days, how many days did your household reduce the number of meals eaten in a day due to lack of food/money? (Reply number of days from 0-30).

Results:

The majority of the individuals surveyed responded that every day within the past 30 days their household skipped meals due to lack of food sources and money. 11% of respondents reduced the number of meals exactly half of the time period. However, 13% of respondents did not report any reduction of daily meals and 12% of respondents only had to reduce daily meals once within the past thirty days.

The polarized results from this survey question could be due to a small sample size. Further research could allow for more comprehensive understanding of this topic.

Question: What is the food status like in your community? (open ended response).

Results:

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33% of responses indicate that food is currently very expensive in their community. Only 1% of the people surveyed suggest that the status of food in their community is healthy—and those respondents only see the status of food in their community as okay because they are receiving food from aid organizations.

Conclusions 

GeoPoll’s area experts are confident that food insecurity in South Sudan is likely due to on-going conflict and political instability in the country. Respondents to GeoPoll’s recent survey reaffirm that the level of food insecurity in South Sudan is widespread and significantly impacting the lives of the majority of citizens in the area. The results from this recent exploratory survey establish need for future research on food security in the region, and demonstrates that CATI is a worthwhile method for collecting such data remotely.

Due to the conflict and violence that is plaguing South Sudan, remote data collection was essential for this project. Face to face data collection would have been almost impossible. Mobile data collection through CATI was essential because it allowed for information on the country without the need to send on-the-ground researchers into remote and conflict-ridden areas of South Sudan. Fortunately, GeoPoll has vast experience in conducting food security and agriculture-related research across sub-Saharan Africa. To learn more about our experience in food security, please contact us.

The post Food Insecurity in South Sudan, A GeoPoll Study appeared first on GeoPoll.

A deeper look into the migration points to agricultural issues in sub-Saharan Africa. Challenges that plague farmers reveal potential areas for improvement in the agricultural sector. Fortunately, recent innovations in technology provide opportunities to drastically change rural lives for the better. Addressing agricultural issues through technology could potentially lead to retaining rural farming populations and a decrease in the overall poverty gap in sub-Saharan Africa.

In this post, we review challenges associated with rural farming in SSA, specific areas for improvement in agriculture, and technology’s potential for nurturing rural agriculture.

Challenges facing Rural sub-Saharan Africa

Climate change

Unlike many other places in the world, farmers in sub-Saharan Africa largely do not have irrigation sources to feed their crops with water. According to statistics published by The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 96% of agricultural land is entirely reliant on rainfall. Geological reliance on rainfall is due to the lack of economic and societal capacity to develop irrigation channels for farmers in rural SSA.

The impact of ecological reliance is further heightened by changing climates throughout the world. Increases in temperature, even if slight, are leading to crop losses. FAO explains that studies have shown wheat and maize crop losses with a change in temperature of only a degree or two. If no action is taken to combat the changing climate, FAO estimated that 20 percent of major cereal crops will be lost by 2050; thus, climate change is putting food and job security at risk throughout SSA and is influencing the shift from rural to urban.

Education

Education is more prevalent in rural sub-Saharan Africa than in the past. Data from a survey conducted by GeoPoll indicates that primary school attendance in Kenya increased 1.8% between October 2017 and June 2018. Although education levels are increasing, the education system is actually beginning to provide a disservice for rural farmers. Rural children in schools are taught formally, rather than practically. According to a report published by This education challenge encourages students to view urban life as a goal and symbol of success—which is drawing more and more young people to urban centers.

Population growth and unemployment

Population numbers in SSA are booming. According to FAO, “about 220 million rural youth will enter the working age in the next 15 years.” The increase in population has developed even more demand for too few jobs.

Research conducted by GeoPoll and other groups such as the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics has shown a lack of appropriate employment in Kenya. GeoPoll data collected monthly between October of 2017 and June of 2018 shows a 2.7% decrease in full-time employment, a 1.5% decrease in part-time employment, and a 0.9% increase in full-time self-employment. These numbers affirm that Kenyans are struggling to find and maintain sufficient work. The lack of available employment is another factor driving rural youth to seek refuge in urban centers.

Areas of Opportunity

Impact of agriculture on poverty in SSA

Despite the outlined challenges, there are many areas of opportunity in sub-Saharan Africa, and studies show that improving agricultural production in the region would have a wide impact.

Leaders at The Borgen Project have stated that, “the impact of a nation’s agricultural system is still so significant that a one percent increase in agricultural per capita GDP would actually cause a decrease in the poverty gap five times larger than a one percent increase in per capita GDP of any other area.” This demonstrates that combatting evident challenges in SSA’s agricultural sector would be the most effective avenue for lowering poverty in the region.

Mobile phones

Decreasing the poverty gap in sub-Saharan Africa is a worldwide goal. According to statistics released by The Millennium Project, over 40 percent of all Africans do not have sufficient access to food. Similarly, about one in every three people in SSA are undernourished. Luckily, new advances in technology may be helpful in alleviating some of the poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.

Farmers in SSA are increasingly connected to technology in the form of mobile phones. Access to mobile technology provides farmers with interconnectedness that was not widely available in the past, and many companies have built mobile-based solutions aimed at the agricultural industry in Africa. These include everything from payment in and insurance platforms to those that provide farmers with advice, weather information, and more over mobile.

GeoPoll uses our mobile platform to reach farmers in rural areas of SSA via multiple modes, including SMS, mobile web, and voice calls, which opens up a wide range of opportunity for connecting with and conducting research with the agricultural sector. In the past, GeoPoll has reached farmers in SSA for groups including the International Food Policy and Research Institute, who conducted a survey on maize seeds with smallholder farmers in Tanzania, and Farm Radio International, who were looking to reach banana farmers in Uganda to assess the impacts of their educational programming.

GeoPoll conducts similar survey research in hard to reach areas of the world every day, allowing our partners to reach extremely targeted groups of farmers, market traders, or consumers and gain comprehensive understanding of the problems that plague agriculture in SSA. In addition to survey research, GeoPoll can send one-way communications or set up text-in campaigns which provide valuable information on weather, crop prices, and more. To learn more about how GeoPoll can help your organization achieve international development goals like those discussed throughout this post, please contact us today to learn more about our services.

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MDD-W is an important indicator used to determine whether women between the ages of 15-49 are consuming adequate levels of micronutrients. From October 2016 – April 2017, GeoPoll conducted five rounds of SMS surveys on MDD-W. To read more about the collaboration between GeoPoll and mVAM in Malawi, be sure to check out mVAM’s latest blog post: “Trial and Error: How we found a way to monitor nutrition through SMS in Malawi.”

 (Image courtesy)

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The campaign effort is a part of the 2016-2021 USAID/Liberia Revenue Generation for Growth and Governance (RG3) project led by implementing partner DAI. RG3 supports the Government of Liberia to address the challenges of improving its tax collection system and improve a sense of accountability among taxpayers.

Utilizing GeoPoll’s database of 2.1 million mobile subscribers in Liberia, GeoPoll also conducts mobile-based surveys to support tax benchmarking analysis on taxpayer services. These surveys enable the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) and RG3 to understand the barriers to taxpayer registration, identify entry-points to mitigate or eliminate such barriers, and measure impact as a result of project interventions.

GeoPoll leverages the mobile phone to rapidly and cost-effectively target the taxpayer population in Liberia by conducting remote data collection and pushing out specific information to relevant constituents. GeoPoll will continue to conduct one-way messaging campaigns over the life of project, supporting the LRA in its outreach efforts to improve the efficiency and transparency of revenue administration.

GeoPoll’s support in Liberia builds off its Ebola-related work where one-way messaging and mobile surveying informed citizens about the epidemic, enabled them to report issues, and provided humanitarian and health officials critical information to make lifesaving decisions in real-time. During the epidemic, GeoPoll reached more than 100,000 individuals across Liberia. Our success in the region and through that work is providing the foundation for GeoPoll’s application in other governance areas that require dynamic information and engagement with citizens.

GeoPoll currently supports two other ongoing USAID projects in Liberia, the Liberia Accountability and Voice Initiative and the Liberia Media Development program.

Image courtesy of  DAI

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