We have just launched the latest version of our Impact Tracker Technology catalogue!
In an effort to keep up to date with the rapid developments in the Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) sector and to deliver a usable and valuable source to our peers, this catalogue has undergone some updates.
After its launch in October 2014, the ITT catalogue has been garnering significant attention from the developers and ICT4D enthusiasts. Our team has worked with the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) to roll out a pilot evaluation using various data collection tools. We have also been using some of the products within our own organisation in the monitoring and evaluation of our Wonder Women program. With each one of these experiences as well as conversations with ICT4D enthusiasts, our understanding of the sector grows and so does our perspective in assessing the technology.
This round of updates reflects what we have learned over the past year. As the playing field keeps expanding we have to keep the needs of our core audience - small to medium enterprises and NGOs – in mind when selecting and ranking the tools. We feel that the most important features for smaller organisations are the ease of use, cost-performance, and capacity to scale up. Hence, the largest change comes from consolidating the existing five categories into three, which gives a more meaningful weight distribution among the three most relevant categories: Usability, Affordability and Scalability.
Another key change is that the assessment of Affordability scoring is now based on the cost-effectiveness of a defined portfolio of key features a typical small-medium organisation would require, instead of the most economic pricing structure. We have developed clearly-defined requirements that we believe best represent the needs of the target audience and rated the pricing packages of each tool against this requirement.
Finally, we've added a new category called 'Data Analysis and Visualisation Tools'. The applications in this section take your collected data a step further by presenting it in easily digestible and interactive live dashboards. While this category is a highly competitive playing field with many sophisticated applications available, we have made our selections based on affordability and simplicity of interface, to ensure that the essential functionalities are accessible to the smaller organisations.
We understand that the changes in the assessment affect the technology scores and recommendations, and with the dynamic growth of the ICT4D, more changes are likely to come in the future. By continuing to closely follow and test the future developments in the ICT4D sector we hope to become a go-to source for NGOs, research organisations, aid agencies and social enterprises that are looking for a set of tools that could help optimise their program learning and enabling them to create bigger impact.
We are always keen to hear your opinions including positive and critical comments. Please share your feedback through this page.
