Mozambique has been added as a member of the digital data supervision system known as the Remote Appraisal Supervision, Monitoring and Evaluation (Rasme) project, making it the sixth African country to benefit from the tool that enhances project-related data collection in remote areas.

The project will strengthen data collection in often inaccessible or remote areas, including those with security and logistical challenges, to bolster monitoring and evaluation of development finance institution the African Development Bank's (AfDB's) development projects. All data is stored on secured servers.

The initiative uses mobile devices and personal computers to enable AfDB staff to remotely collect digital project data directly from the field in real-time.

The onset of the Covid-19 crisis has sharpened the need for remote data collection tools.

Rasme is a partnership of the AfDB and the World Bank’s Geo-Enabling initiative for Monitoring and Supervision (GEMS) and KoBoToolbox teams.

The digital data gathering suite of tools being used for the Rasme project is based on the KoBoToolbox platform, which is an open-source information and communications technology solution developed by researchers affiliated with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.

“The operationalisation of Rasme will strengthen the oversight and monitoring capacity of project implementation and support a more effective decision-making process,” says Mozambique Economy and Finance Deputy Minister Carla Alexandra Louveira.

“The [AfDB] is determined to support Africa to build back boldly, but smartly, paying greater attention to quality growth. This forces the [AfDB] to constantly reset itself and innovate to meet the challenges the continent faces. Rasme is part of this resetting, of this spirit of innovation that characterises our institution and that in this case is backed by the effectiveness of this resource that we have seen in the experience of other institutions,” adds AfDB Mozambique country manager Cesar Mba Abogo.

The deployment of Rasme is driven by the AfDB’s corporate information technology department in partnership with the World Bank’s GEMS Team; Fragility, Conflict and Violence and the KoBoToolbox Foundation.