Accompanying the digitisation process of monitoring and evaluating the project for the economic and social empowerment of women in SAHEL

Title DESFERS – Economic and Social Development of Women through Renewable Energies in the Sahel

Location Mali, Niger, Senegal

Lead partner Plan International España

Partner Plan International Sénégal, Plan International Mali, CARE International Niger, CARE International Mali, Fondazione ACRA, Ministère de la Femme du Mali e Ministère de la Femme du Niger.

Funding  EU Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) – Women and Sustainable Energy’ initiative

 

Context 

The Sahel is a vast semi-arid region of Africa that separates the Sahara Desert from the tropical savannahs. Spanning 10 countries, including Niger, Mali and Senegal, it is a land torn between opportunities and challenges. Political insecurity and environmental problems threaten the Sahel’s potential for rapid growth. Nevertheless, the Sahel is one of the youngest regions in the world, with women accounting for around 50 per cent of the population. Investing in women’s education and vocational training could bring significant economic prosperity.

The project “Women’s Economic and Social Development through Renewable Energy in the Sahel” – DESFERS aims to facilitate the development of women’s economic and social empowerment and entrepreneurship in rural areas of Senegal, Niger and Mali.

Through a multi-sectoral approach, including access to micro-credit and renewable energies, the project is proposed as an alternative model to stimulate women’s contribution to the economic life of rural households and villages.

 

General Objective

The M&E and Impact Assessment Unit was involved to carry out an accompanying service to the monitoring process focused on the digitisation of data collection tools. ARCO also provided the project team with an interactive dashboard containing a set of indicators and KPIs in order to monitor the progress of project activities. In this way, the project staff is able to have real-time information on the progress of the intervention thanks to a digital, intuitive and easy-to-access tool. Finally, ARCO carried out the final project evaluation.

The lessons learnt identified at the end of the evaluation process will benefit the implementation of future projects aimed at reducing the social, cultural and economic inequalities that affect women’s well-being in SAHEL.

 

Our contribution

ARCO created a digitisation process of tools for the collection of data relevant for the management of micro-enterprises as well as for the monitoring and evaluation of the project in the three countries involved in DESFERS. The process consisted of two phases:

During the first phase, Researchers developed project data collection tools in digital format on the KoBo Toolbox platform. These tools allow the field staff to enter collected information in the same platform. The specific features of the KoBo Toolbox platform allow the data collection tools to be used on all devices – mobile phones, computers, tablets – in both online and offline modes.

The second phase consists in structuring an effective reporting tool with intuitive data visualisation. ARCO has, in fact, designed a dashboard – an analytical report – with the Excel programme of the Microsoft Office package composed of graphs and tables designed to consult aggregated data on project activities and geolocalisation of points of interest.

In order to create this tool, Researchers carried out a preliminary analysis to define a set of use cases that the report should fulfil. The final objective of identifying use cases is thus to allow users quicker access to the information most relevant to each one: for example, the project manager in Niger can directly access information on activities in his or her country, while the programme coordinator has access to an overview of the projects in the three countries.

In addition to the partnership, the project also involved 12 local associations: AMADER (Mali), ANPER (Niger), Fondation Schneider Electric, GIZ, CNES (Niger), CERER (Sénégal), AER (Mali), the Ministries of Vocational and Technical Training of Senegal, Mali and Niger, the University Carlos III and the Alliance Mondiale pour les Foyers Améliorés. Project activities were implemented in:

  • 4 areas of Senegal : Ziguinchor, Sédhiou, Kolda et Kaolack
  • 4 areas of Mali : Barouéli, Macina, Kita et Niono.
  • 4 regions of Niger : Maradi, Dosso, Tillabéry et Zinder.

Following the digitisation of M&E tools, ARCO carried out the finale evaluation of the project.

Read more on the M&E and Impact Evaluation Unit