The Remote Appraisal, Supervision, Monitoring and Evaluation (RASME) initiative was launched in Kenya recently. Kenya now joins 31 other regional member countries where RASME has already been launched.
The digital tool collects geo-localised data from the field using mobile devices, thereby strengthening project supervision. Data are securely stored centrally for easy access and review by authorised stakeholders.
The launch, which took place in Nairobi on 4 March, was followed by a training from 5-7 March, in which 100 participants including Bank staff, representatives from the National Treasury and government ministries, executing agencies as well as World Bank staff learned to use the tool.
RASME is a collaborative effort between the Bank Group, the World Bank's Geo-Enabling for Monitoring and Supervision platform, and KoBoToolbox Foundation, a non- governmental organisation affiliated with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, providing for real-time geo-tagged data collection and review. The reliability of the remotely collected data coupled with its reviewability anywhere help improve Bank's project monitoring and evaluation. This will facilitate effective project implementation for the Bank, for its regional member countries, and for other development partners.
In her opening remarks, Eva Ruganzu, Bank's Project Implementation Support Manager, representing the Director-General for East Africa, Nnenna Nwabufo, observed that collaboration among the Bank, government agencies, and partner institutions was growing to improve the footprint of development objectives in Kenya, which has been one of the largest beneficiary countries of Bank resources for many years. Its ever-growing portfolio is aligned with the government's prioritised investments.
"This RASME programme, which comes as an additional instrument, will undoubtedly help us in this important task of development project implementation and monitoring," she said.
During his keynote address, Michael Kahiti, Director of Planning and Head of the Africa Division at the National Treasury, Kenya, was clearly enthusiastic. Commending the RASME, he thanked the Bank for deploying the initiative for project supervision and monitoring of its active portfolio in Kenya, which is currently valued at $3.98 billion.
"RASME is the key that will cause us to see the results of our project faster, since it is data driven." He further added: "Where there is (digital) data there is the truth; we will be able to get a clear picture of the progress of our development projects. We look forward to working together to make RASME a success," he said.
At the two-day training session, participants learned to use RASME's data collection and review tools. Many described the platform as pragmatic and well thought out. "It is practical; it will make our monitoring of projects easier, and it's an addition to the tools we already have in our institutions. The best part is that data collection can be done even when the gadgets are offline," said Jerome Mwanzia, Project Manager of Bank- funded Green Zones Development Support Project of the Kenya Forest Service.
Tabitha Njenga from the Office of the Auditor General sees the RASME tool as efficient and a time-saver. "The training has demonstrated that you can get real time data by collaborating with colleagues in the field. You can fill in data from where you are, and you can monitor data from where you are. It is also user-friendly," she observed.
