As 2020 draws to an end we cannot but help reflect on the year which has been unlike any other in so many ways.  At Koita Foundation, we have been working with NGOs in education, livelihood and health care. While times have been challenging, we have been amazed by the resilience of our partner organizations. Their ability and agility in adapting to the new environment with the single minded focus of continuing to provide support to their beneficiaries is admirable.

We have continued to focus on identifying the right processes and business problems where NGOs and their beneficiaries would benefit by streamlining processes and using technology. The need for organizations to be lean and to work virtually has further emphasized the need for technology adoption. This not only leads to efficiency and effectiveness but also creates the pathways to scale non linearly in the future. We would like to share some snapshots of our work and some of the applications which have gone live in 2020.

Rekha Koita, Director Koita Foundation

ANTARANG FOUNDATION

Antarang Foundation ( https://antarangfoundation.org/ ) works with disadvantaged youth to deliver career guidance, develop employability skills, and link students to employment, education or training.

Building a scalable approach to engaging with thousands of Antarang alumni and collaborating with them in real-time for employment and other opportunities is a key success factor. It is also important to change the narrative, empower students, and make them more proactive in taking responsibility for their careers.

We worked with Antarang to redesign the end-to-end placement process and team organization. In addition, we  developed a Mobile platform and student app to enable current students and alumni to look for customized linkages to education, employment and training. The App is integrated with their Salesforce based placement system enabling students to view, search and apply for opportunities which have been pre-matched to their individual qualifications, skills and preferences. 

Approximately 600-700 placements have been made using the Antarang app since April 2020.

FMCH (FOUNDATION FOR MOTHER AND CHILD HEALTH)

FMCH ( https://www.fmch-india.org/ ) works to improve the lives of mothers and children in local communities by providing programmes focused on health, nutrition, education, and sustainable skills training.

One of the key considerations is ensuring consistency of interventions across field worker and adhering to visit protocol while the organization scales and works in an online/ offline mode .

We developed a comprehensive Decision Tree App for field officers who work with mothers and children.The Decision Tree has been optimized for COVID-19 needs. This FMCH app enables the field officers to:

o    Register beneficiaries

o    Review visit history and record visit data including anthropometry

o    Conduct every visit based on standard protocols and record responses

o    Send notifications to supervisors especially to highlight high risk cases

o    Create data for further analytics and research

This app has increased the efficiency of the field workers and led to a higher quality of interactions, with lower chances of missing out any key issues or high risk cases. Moreover, this has created a ‘plug and play’ model which is now being replicated by partner organizations in other regions.

MASOOM

Masoom ( https://masoomeducation.org/ ) is a unique NGO which provides education in night schools across Maharashtra and Gujarat – 85 schools covering 8,000 adult students.

Availability of real time accurate data on attendance and performance is important to improve program outcomes. We worked on a system (including a mobile application) for end-to-end management of schools and student performance.  This allows Masoom teachers and school leaders to enter live data such as attendance and student performance, and record details of education material and food distribution.

The system also provides detailed student reports on WhatsApp to both students and teachers - which enables enhanced monitoring and control of the program and enables better data driven decisions.

OTHER UPDATES

In addition, we continued to work with our other partners and start new relationships:

o    SNEHA, FMCH and Armman – we are actively working on their management reporting, analytics and donor reporting initiatives

o    Vatsa Foundation – providing support to students for higher education

o    Vidya Bhawan School (Udaipur) - established scholarship for high school girls

As we look at the future, we believe that the digital transformation is here to stay. The digital processes and tools developed for NGOs will enable delivery of higher quality of services to beneficiaries.  It make s processes more modular, replicable and enable s NGOs to scale more effectively.  COVID-19 has significantly increased the impetus for change. We are excited about the journey ahead and the possibilities.

We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to all those who have been part of our journey - our NGOs, our key technology partners including Designscape and Kandisa, advisors especially Dasra, and well-wishers. We could not have done this without all their help and support!

We end this year with a deeper sense of introspection, gratitude and hope. Wishing all of you a very Happy 2021!

Business Process Optimization

Technology Enhancement

Monitoring & Support

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