By Eric Ojo
African Development Bank (AfDB) has harped on the importance of the newly launched Remote Appraisal, Supervision, Monitoring and Evaluation (RASME) initiative in Sudan.
RASME, a new data collection tool, was which inaugurated by the AfDB in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital city, in November last year, is aimed at making data collection easier and faster.
The digital platform will make work easier for government officials, project implementing units, development partners and African Development Bank operations staff, who are often required to collect data on bank-funded projects.
The launch took place on the sidelines of a three-day training workshop for stakeholders of bank projects. The bank’s chief regional IT coordinator for East Africa, Francis Kohoue, coordinated the workshop, together with bank consultant Gaspard Dodo and IT officer Ibrahim Mohamed.
The platform also makes it possible to collect field data remotely throughout a project lifecycle. It uses such electronic devices as smartphones, tablets and laptops to generate information in various digital formats. These include texts, images, figures and videos.
AfDB’s country manager in Sudan, Mary Monyau reiterated the importance of RASME in portfolio management, adding that the tool plays a very critical role in achieving envisaged projects outcomes.
“Effective portfolio management, anchored on reliable, accessible, and timely data, is fundamental for attaining project results. RASME is a key element in achieving the desired operational excellence in portfolio management”, she said.
Monyau added that RASME would provide task managers, project coordinators, monitoring and evaluation units and partners in the field with a systematic methodology for collecting data that can be verified using geo-location and timestamps, stored securely, and analyzed.
Similarly, other participants said the tool would be beneficial in the face of travel restrictions necessitated by Covid-19. The bank’s country programme officer in Sudan, Maurice Wanyama noted that RASME will be useful in any pandemic context, such as Covid-19, where traveling to project sites may be limited.
The tool, according to him, will benefit projects in remote sites with security challenges, rough terrains, or other logistic constraints.
Many participants lauded the timing of the training. The director of international financial institutions in Sudan’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Alamin Abuelgasim Adam, said the RASME training has come at the right time when they are experiencing challenges in the collection of information in some parts of the country due to insecurity.
“The Government of Sudan has embraced technology and will adopt the tool. Through this tool, the government can obtain information about projects promptly. Through the new tool, monitoring and evaluation will be improved”, he added.
Before RASME, project data was collected manually with physical presence at project sites necessary.
The monitoring and evaluation officer of the Education System and Skills Development project financed by the AfDB, Suada Mohamed Elsayed described RASME as a user-friendly tool that combines all options for data collection, analysis and reporting.
The bank is currently implementing RASME in 14 African countries. It plans to extend the platform to other countries to support stakeholders in preparing projects more effectively, tracking progress, and evaluating their impact on beneficiary communities openly and transparently.