I am now happy to report that considerable progress has been made on this front. We now have a secure viable working online system, that allows us and going forward 'trusted third parties' to enter in details of people in genuine need of help into a central database. We record by household, where they are, using GPS co ordinates, who is in a given household with photo copies of ID's where possible (that are ONLY for our use and used to know and be able to show to people who genuinely need to know, who it is we are giving help to) when they received help and what that help was. We now have a dedicated 'data entry' person on the team helping us with this. The advantages of such a system, compared with the 'record keeping' used in our first COSH delivery run that consisted of handwritten lists that in reality were of next to no use to anyone, are too many to list in here given the time constraints we are working under.So far attempts to push forward with 'record keeping' have not yet provided gains that justify the time and other things lost from these attempts.
One example of the benefits can be seen here. We now have a live online interactive public map showing , where, with an obfuscated precision (for public viewing, internally precision is higher), households are that are need of help and have not yet got any are (red dots), households that have had help but over a week since they received such last(orange dots) and households that have had help within the last week (green dots). If you click on a dot then you will get details on how many people are in that household (this should be broken down by adults/ children / babies) and if they have received help, when that last was and some kind of image as to what that help was. This currently is a picture of the 'packet' we used on that given run. Over time we hope to provide ever increasing bespoke help to households and have an image of that for display here and internal use. So on the map as it stands now you can click on a green dot and will see the image for the 'packet' we used on last Thursday's delivery. If you click on the orange dot you will see the 'packet' we used on the delivery on the 18th April
Now the data that is in this system is not complete. This is a system we have built within a week and that we have implemented in that same week even we were building it even as we continued to get help out to people who need it as well. The data that is in there and can be seen on this map is however real. Real people in real need getting real help. Over time you should be able to see the dots increase and colours change as we continue with our efforts, all in real time. As soon as something is entered, be it new household in need or a delivery made, this will be reflected on the map.
Dreaming forward a bit this system has been structured so that it can potentially be used by multiple organisations, any organisation that is trying to get help to those that need it as a result of the current crisis. Such organisation can be given a login in to the system that will allow them to enter who they are helping and what help they have given and when, whereby they only see 'their' data. COSH will remain able to see all data. Then things like the dots on the map can show which organisation added the household in need and which last delivered help, when and what. If you are involved in such an organisation or know of such and think that our systems might help you in your efforts then please do reach out to us. Will share what we have built with anyone seeking to help others through this crisis.
Going forward we will be looking to add 'trusted third parties' that can add new households in need. One example would be Salih at Atakara. Those of you who have been following our journey will know that historically COSH had provided funds to him to make up packets and distribute to those in need who were coming to his shop asking for such. We will not be using COSH funds in this way any more but the hope is that if people come to Salih and he judges them to have genuine need, he can then add them to our system and we in turn will automatically see an new household that has yet to have any help and seek to get them such from our 'central depot'. We have set a 'target' of 'within 48 hours' but how practical this might be remains to be seen. If we can not reach this target at least we will know that there is someone in need, yet to be helped, where and who they are and that anyone else can see this too from the public interactive map.
to come - what is going on down on the ground currently and how we are evolving our processes to try and get increasing help to increasing number in need with increasing efficacy and increasing bang for YOUR bucks that you have so generously donated so far.
update - dots on map now show green for households that have had help delivery in last 2 weeks not one
