The Indonesian governmentās rollout of a digital tool for monitoring community nutritional status did not get the warm welcome it had hoped for. Users found the tool ā which goes by the Bahasa acronym e-PPGBM ā useful, but implementation had stalled. UN Global Pulse Jakarta collaborated with UNICEF Indonesia and the Indonesian Ministry of Health to identify where the gaps lay in implementation, what caused them, and how to rectify them.
The team used quantitative and qualitative methods to understand the user experience at every level. The problems turned out to be limited staff, differing data collection standards and technological issues. Solutions included standardising data collection templates, with a function to alert users to anomalies in the data, along with an online Q&A platform, all of which should provide insights for tackling nutritional issues.
Our impact
Indonesians in monitored communities should enjoy better health and nutrition as a result of health officials and others being able to use the e-PPGBM application
The technological pay-offs were much broader. The projectās recommendations have been used to improve the Digital Transformation Office’s and Ministry of Healthās operations and future programs. The project not only improved functionality of one application, it caused partners to rethink the applicationsā design and uncovered wider systemic issues, like data governance and sharing protocols. The process unveiled significant gaps, such as the lack of data about vulnerable groups like people with disabilities. Continuing discussions with partners should transform the way data is used and lead to better, data-driven decision-making in the health sector.
Our lessons
- Data-driven technology can affect health monitoring at a systemic level.
- There must be an effective feedback loop within the organization to translate user experiences into system improvements.
- There is a need for better data governance methods.