It is an exciting time at IMA DRC as we are coming to fully understand what is possible with our new method of data collection. As we begin to process the data we have collected in Nyanga Health Zone, new ways of communicating our findings are coming to light. One of the great things about our method of using Open Data Kit (ODK) software on Android cell phones to collect data is that we can now take our work to a new level of transparency and accountability. As mentioned in previous posts, we used the cell phones to capture GPS coordinates of every household that we distributed to as well as photos. We have now combined this data into an interactive map. By clicking on a point on the map the viewer can see the name of the recipient, a photo of the recipient and/or the net, and the number of nets installed in that household. This type of communication has never been achieved before in bed net distributions and we believe that it is not only setting a new standard for IMA, but the bed net community at large.

IMA is different than many NGOs in that we enjoy communicating our successes and challenges with the donor community. We take pride in the work we do and we want to share it with the world! As we proceed to distribute bed nets and collect data for the other 8 health zones in Kasai Occidental Province, we will continue to populate this map so that our donors and the IMA community can see first hand where their contributions are going – directly to the people they were intended for.