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GiveDirectly was recently featured in an in-depth article in the Huffington Post. In the piece, charity evaluator Elie Hassenfeld explains why GiveDirectly has been among their top rated charities for three consecutive years: "We look for organizations where if something goes wrong, they would know about it, and they would highlight it, and they would learn from it.” We’re excited that our work and raw data sharing are furthering the conversation about transparency in aid. 

Electronic Data Collection inhibits net theft while increasing accountability.

Smartphones successfully used for data collection in DRC
 
We wrote in March of one of our net distributions in West Kasai Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in which we were using smartphones to record data from all households (255,500) receiving nets in a universal coverage mass net distribution to further improved accountability. This allowed a significant quantity of data to be captured directly in electronic form.
 
The process proved very effective overall.

• 91% of the nets distributed had data recorded electronically
• 96% of the household data records were without error

We consider this a very strong outcome.
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The potential benefits of electronic data collection (EDC) and how they applied in West Kasai are:
 
1. Acts against potential theft
Data in electronic form can be shared widely and easily so net numbers can be tracked with precision and visibly. This inhibits theft, making occurrences obvious, quickly. There was no material loss of nets in this distribution.
 
2. Improves accountability
Detailed data, at the household level, can be shared with partners demonstrating what has taken place. That was the case here.
 
3. Increases transparency
All partners, including donors and the wider public, have access to detailed data and can see what has taken place. That was the case here.
 
4. Increases data accuracy
Data can be processed more quickly and errors spotted with time for corrections to be made prior to the net distribution taking place. That was not the case here as the registration and distribution were contemporaneous.
 
5. May reduce cost
Data processing is simpler compared to paper based data.  We are waiting for final details of cost numbers to assess if costs were lower and if so by how much.
 
6. Additional data can be collected
GPS data and photos can be easily collected. That was the case here.
 
7. Reduces operational risk
As long as electronic data is backed up, the risk of data loss, compared to data in paper form, can be significantly reduced or eliminated. While the vast majority of data was accurately stored and transferred, some lessons have been learned to improve in this area.
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This was the first use of smartphone data collection in a challenging distribution environment. It is also a strong basis from which to build. It was not without problems but, importantly, demonstrated significant potential for future distributions. We have published a report, with an executive summary, that shares details of our, and our distribution partner IMA's, experience using smartphone technology for data collection and the lessons we learned.
 
We intend to use the same data collection process in the upcoming distribution of 730,000 nets, again in DRC, adjusted to apply lessons learned.
 

What role do dads play in nutrition? 

Tabulani and Themba are brothers in their early twenties. They lost their mother when they were very young and it was left up to their father to raise them; he too died suddenly several years later. Since then they have been looking after the family home, in a township outside Johannesburg, along with their older brother and younger sister.

“It is because of our parents that we are responsible and have the skills to run a house,” says Themba, as he attends to a pot of beef and potato soup cooking on a stove. “Since we were children we’ve been responsible for getting food and making sure we eat well and are healthy.”

There are thousands more stories like Tabulani and Themba’s, but they often go untold or unnoticed by the development community. The problem is that “nutrition programmes usually try to part knowledge on mothers,” says Shawn Baker, director of global development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Various social, economic and health conditions, such as HIV and Aids, and more relevantly, ebola, mean that the family as an institution is changing in its structure and function. The mother may typically be seen as the care provider, and the father as the breadwinner or absent from the home, but what happens for instance when it’s the mother who is absent from the home and cannot buy food and cook for her family?

The role of gender in nutrition was an issue raised by a member of the audience at the 1,000 Days Symposium, held by us here at GAIN back in February.

Panelists agreed that too much of the burden of malnutrition is placed on the mother’s shoulders. So what can be done and is being done to change this? The answer is a combination of innovative product solutions that encourage other members of the family to take up the role of buying the food and effective marketing strategies and efforts to influence behaviour changes.

Over the past couple of years, GAIN has partnered with academics from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on a project that analysed the impact behaviour change has on infant feed practices in Indonesia . Research showed that jelly and deep fried snacks were popular among mothers and their children aged 12-24 months. It also concluded that parents tend to lack an understanding of what constitutes a balanced and nutritious diet, and that feeding practices are influenced by family and friends. In order to encourage better practices and healthier eating, the project used marketing campaigns that were directed at other people in a mother’s social circle who might bear some responsibility for caring for her child.

“In Indonesia, when we shot campaigns with advertisers, we used fathers, grandmothers as authoritative figures that can confirm that a sort of behaviour is a good behaviour,” explains Marti Van Liere, director of maternal, infant and young child nutrition at GAIN. “People trust health workers. People also trust people that are close and around.”

Marti Van Liere says that it’s important to use advertising and mass media to establish social norms and to create an idea of what is expected of people. For instance, the use of male actors in adverts can give fathers the impression that they should be more involved in children’s nutrition. The aim “is to influence the ecosystem around the caregiver – be it a mother or father – to enable them to make the right choices,” she adds.

In Bolivia, the World Food Programme has previously sought to engage fathers in nutrition training.  It found that the majority were hesitant at first – the participants perceived the issue of infant health and nutrition to be something that should concern mothers. Like GAIN’s work in Indonesia, the focus of the workshops delivered was on promoting the importance of people in the mother’s social circle getting involved in nutrition.

The more fathers and other family members are encouraged to help out and understand the benefits their involvement can bring to their children’s nutritional wellbeing, the more their role will become a social norm.

An example of how men can be be actively involved in ensuring their children are fed properly is through the use of pre-paid complementary food cards. Olivier Kayser, managing director of Hystra, a consulting firm, authored a report, which received support and funding from GAIN, on marketing nutrition for the base of the economic pyramid. Through Hystra’s work, Kayser has found that providing families with pre-paid cards, designed to improve convenience, allowed the responsibility of buying food to fall outside of the mother’s domain.

“It was not part of the daily expense. It was an opportunity for the father to intervene in what the kids were going to eat,” says Kayser. “They were willing to get involved because it was inexpensive.”

The Life You Can Save recommends GAIN's Iodization Program 

Cesaria, waiting for her bandages to be taken off.

In 2014 The Fred Hollows Foundation and its partners performed 728,288 eye operations and treatments. One of the thousands of lives that was transformed was that of three-year-old Cesaria in Burundi. Born blind with cataracts in both eyes, her chances of survival were slim.
 
Sadly Cesaria’s story is not uncommon in Burundi. The fourth poorest nation in the world, it’s a country scarred by genocide and civil war. Our doctor on the ground told us that in his experience, cases like hers are seen as hopeless and most blind children don’t survive beyond their fifth birthday.
 
But Cesaria’s grandmother Veronica was determined to ensure the little girl got the medical care she needed.
 
In a country of over 10.3 million people Dr Levi is the only person trained to perform cataract surgery on children. He was Cesaria’s only hope.
 
Normally Dr Levi has to remove the eye patches before judging if an operation is a success, but because the adult-sized patches were too big for her, they let in light and colour under the gaps.
 
As she realised that she could see, Cesaria was peeking underneath and just couldn’t stop giggling.
 
Since having her sight-restoring operation, Cesaria has transformed into a happy, cheeky little girl. She is looking forward to going to school and has a brighter future ahead of her.
 
If you’d like to help give the gift of sight to more people like Cesaria, please go to www.hollows.org.au. Together we can end avoidable blindness.

Click here to see a video of Cesaria's journey (also one of our Team Picks below).