Capacity Building ICT4D IHD Monitoring and Evaluation Youth

"Creating Value through ICT4D Partnerships: NGOs, Government and the Private Sector Innovating Together"

March 27–29, 2012

CRS held another event to explore how information and communications technology can be used for development (ICT4D). The fourth of its kind, the gathering was held in Kigali, Rwanda, in March 2012 and focused on "Creating Value through ICT4D Partnerships: NGOs, Government and the Private Sector Innovating Together." It followed previous events in Kenya, the USA and Zambia in 2010 and 2011 and drew more than 170 CRS staff, solution providers, other development practitioners, donors and local media. The video below provides an overview of the conference.


Day 1: External Perspectives

Plenary

  • Opening remarks (Jennifer Nazaire, Country Representative, CRS Rwanda)
  • Introduction and welcome (Dorothy Madison-Seck, Regional Director, CRS Central Africa Regional Office)
  • ICT in Agriculture at the World Bank (Cory Belden, Consultant, Agriculture and Rural Development, The World Bank Group)
  • Welcome (Carol Bothwell, Chief Knowledge Officer, CRS)
  • Information & Communications Technology (ICT) in Rwanda (Honorable Dr. Ignace Gatare, Honorable Minister of ICT Ministry in the President's Office)

Presentations

Participants spent the day in brief but intensive sessions, learning from providers about the projects and solutions being implemented throughout Central Africa and other regions.

Day 2: CRS' Experiences with ICT4D

Plenary

Presentations

Conference participants spent the second day learning about the successes, issues and lessons learned from CRS' ICT4D experiences from the past year. They heard about the steps taken to implement the ICT4D strategy and how the portfolio has evolved, and then learned from CRS staff how specific solutions are being used in country programs.

Day 3: Master Classes: Hands-On Practice

Plenary

CRS project portfolio and pipeline (CRS/Accenture Development Partnerships, Pei Ni Ong)

Master Classes

Participants had a hands-on opportunity to apply the learning that they gained during the first two days of the conference. They worked with CRS staff members who have implemented the solutions.

The master classes were mostly hands-on sessions, with few PowerPoint presentations. For information about the solutions that were discussed, please see the presentations for day 2.

  • Making a survey on your phone (DataDyne, Yusuf Ibrahim)
  • Using GIS and GPS in my project (CRS, Kathryn Ramirez)
  • Using polls in Esoko (Esoko, Patrice Aye)
  • Using ESRI platform for mapping (ESRI, Kaspar Kundert)
  • Using iFormBuilder for surveys (Zerion, Chris Reichart)
  • Using Farmbook for business planning (CRS, Shaun Ferris, and TechnoBrain, Nandan Golpalakrishna)
  • Using community case management for vulnerable children (D-Tree, Marije Geldof)
  • Using Agilix for distance learning in your project (CRS, Gretchen Regehr)
  • Using FrontlineSMS (FrontlineSMS, Sharon Langevin)
  • Using video, publishing, blogs & Wordpress (CRS, Mariane Mathia)
  • Linking your farmers to input suppliers (IFDC, Patrice Annequin)
  • Setting up a form and collecting your data (CRS, Or Dashevsky)
  • Using ICT in monitoring and evaluation (CRS, Peter Mureithi)
  • CommCare demo and future directions with CRS (community case management) (Dimagi, Neal Lesh)