The Ethiopia Office of the African Development Bank Group recently held a refresher training on the Remote Appraisal, Supervision, Monitoring and Evaluation (RASME) software, a tool supported by the Bank. Conducted from 17-18 November at the Bank's Ethiopia country office in Addis Ababa, the training brought together about 20 project implementation staff, including project coordinators and monitoring and evaluation specialists, supporting the Bank's transport and agriculture projects. Participants received hands-on instruction in using RASME to enhance project data collection in remote areas.

Launched at the Bank Group in 2021, the RASME tool, is a collaboration of the Bank Group's IT Department, the World Bank's Geo-Enabling Initiative for Monitoring and Supervision, and KoBoToolbox Foundation, a non-governmental organization affiliated with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.

Abebe Worku, African Development Bank Senior Information Technology Officer led the training. He welcomed participants saying, "RASME is a very important tool available for use by PIUs to help in data collection and analysis in both online and offline mode to support monitoring and evaluation of Bank-financed projects," Worku said. "Data collection can be made using mobile devices from remote locations where connectivity is a challenge or even unavailable."

The two days of sessions focused on providing conceptual knowledge and practical experience to effectively deploy RASME to enhance data-driven decision-making within the Bank-financed projects. Participants created individual RASME accounts, designed sector-specific questionnaires, and practiced interpreting various data sets. At the end of the training, participants received certificates of participation.

"This training has provided me with the hands-on practice which will enhance my ability to use the RASME platform effectively while in the field supervising projects," one participant said.

Another participant from the Ethiopian Roads Administration project implementation team said, "This training has been timely for me. Now I will be able to immediately transfer what I've learned to the project that I'm currently involved in."

RASME enables project implementation units and Bank staff to compile project information directly from the field using a smartphone, tablet, laptop or drones and satellites. The data can be compiled in text, video, graphics or even as survey responses. RASME can be integrated with the Bank's internal platforms as well as government monitoring and evaluation platforms to generate live dashboards.