Mobile Services that Empower Vulnerable Communities
Food Monitoring System (FMS)
Madagascar
RANDRIANASOLO Fidy Nirina
Commodity Manager CRS.MG
March 20, 2013
ICT4D Conference
Accra, Ghana
Plan of presentation:
- Project Background
- Context and issues in food management
- ICT4D solution
- Keys of successes
- Challenges
- What we learned
Project Background
GOAL: Reduce food insecurity in 98.500
households by 2014
• SO1: Improve the nutrition and health status
of 96.000 children under five
• SO2:Improve livelihood conditions of 82.000
food insecure households
• SO3:Strengthen resilience of 592
communities
• Cross – Cutting : Gender, Environmental
management, Governance and Partnership
• Intervention Zones: 592 Communities, in 112
communes, 21 Districts, and 7 Regions in
Madagascar
• Consortium 04 INGOs: CRS-ADRA-CARE-LOL
• Implementing Partners: 5 Dioceses, and 15
Social Protection Centers
FOOD DISTRIBUTION ACTIVITIES
 27,170 MT food for distribution
ADRA
31%
CRS
38%
CARE
16%
LOL
15%
 Three sectors concerned: Mother
and Child Health (MCH) under SO1;
Food for Assets (FFA) and Safenet
for Urban areas under SO3;
Four types of food for direct
distribution
Summary for CRS food distribution:
Context
* Food delivery serving the most
vulnerable families in remote
and landlocked areas
* Worked with Implementing
partners (local NGOs)
* Committed with local carriers
* Supply chain managed from 3
main warehouses to sites
* Challenges to monitor the supply
chain and quality of program
indecisive
* Decision making difficult due to the
lateness(more than one month) or
inaccurate of information from the
field
* Challenges in communication
between main office and field staff
ICT4D Solution: Implementation of Food Monitoring
System(FMS) with Human Network International (HNI)
Keys successes
 Roll-out with all staff involved, and gave
them capacity in drafting/sending message
by SMS
Systematic communication with field staff
through administrator
 Permanente checking of FMS to monitor
the movement of food, and distribution
 Data analysis to help management team
for systematic information and/or decision
 Summarize data for editing report
required by the donor
Internal Control System
Challenges
Datasenders have access
reports based on dashboard
information
FMS is a data collection system,
and needs to be linked with
other database used by M&E/
procurement.
For Compliance issues, need to
perform end-use checking to
confirm that data is really
accurate and well documented.
Need good supervision
Lessons Learned
Service delivery improved :
Quick response in case of threat
Canal of communication
available with field staff
 Quality of reports improved:
Involvement of technicians and
support team
 Appropriate decision made:
information available in one day,
and detailed for decision making
Sustainability strategy
Implementing Partners
including local NGO
trained to use it.
Use of the system to
collect data in various
activities: End-use
Checking at recipients level,
Warning system for emergency
program, Monitoring of local
market price, Monitoring of
actions in environment issues
Share our experiences on
it in large diffusion
As a reminder…
Food Monitoring System or FMS is a tool
based on the use of SMS and internet
and that can help to increase
efficiency, provide timely and accurate
data to improve decision making in
term of food distribution:
 Increases our capacity to monitor our
activities, the quality of report to
donors, and the service delivery to
beneficiary
 Helps for decision making
 Enhances the impact in the life of
recipients that we serve focus of our
mission