The University of Washington's Computer Science and Engineering (UW CSE) program has received a $600K grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to continue improving ODK. Nafundi is a sub-grantee on this effort and will be responsible for providing technical assistance to Gates Foundation grantees interested in implementing mobile data collection.
There has been a rapid transition in international development from paper-based surveys to mobile data collection on smartphones and tablets. The transition is driven by the realization that open-source mobile data collection tools like ODK increase data accuracy and timeliness while reducing collection costs. Unfortunately, many organizations do not have the technical capacity needed to implement mobile data collection and Nafundi's role on this grant is to help bridge that gap.
Nafundi was named as a sub-grantee because of our proven ability to help agricultural development, public health, and environmental stewardship organizations transition to mobile data collection. The two-year grant accelerates our ongoing work building technologies that improve the lives of the underserved and we are excited to be working with the University of Washington and the Gates Foundation on this effort.
In early 2018, polio virus was detected in the sewers of Mogadishu, Somalia and the government moved quickly to vaccinate the country's children in order to prevent a potential outbreak. A vaccination campaign targeting more than 726,000 children was launched in the Banadir and Lower and Middle Shabelle regions. The campaign was carried out by some 3,500 staffers and Nafundi assisted by enabling real-time tracking of vaccination coverage using ODK. Read more.
Fayaz Jatoi is the Coordinator of the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) for Polio Eradication in Sindh, Pakistan. In this guest post, Fayaz describes why AFP surveillance is critical to polio eradication and how an SMS-based reporting system for private care provider helps. Read more.
This position has been filled. Thanks to everyone who applied! Read more.