Project profile — Technological Platform for Civic Engagement and Improved Health Systems

• Congo, Democratic Republic (33.40%)
• Burkina Faso (33.30%)
• Benin (33.30%)

• Health, General: Health policy and administrative management (12110) (50.00%)
• Government And Civil Society, General: Democratic participation and civil society (15150) (50.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (principal objective)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• Nutrition (significant objective)
• ICT as a tool for development (principal objective)

The purpose of this project is to improve the health care systems for and by women and those most in need. The goal is to improve citizen engagement and to make public institutions more responsive to people’s needs and rights through a technological platform. The initiative favours targeted zones (urban and rural): (1) citizen and health officers freely expressing their opinions about their health system using new technologies, including mobile applications, text message platforms, blogs and wikis; (2) use of helpful and useable data by local institutions and by national decision makers to improve health systems and make them more democratic; (3) improved advocacy to make the health systems in the three countries better adapted to the needs of women and those most in need. The project’s activities include the following: (1) conducting social integration activities and awareness campaigns to empower the people, notably women and those most in need, in terms of using technology; (2) training local institutions so they can collect, analyze and transmit information regarding health services to the people; (3) developing technologies (mobile application for smartphones and tablets, automated information-sharing module) to allow users to express their opinions about the health system, to allow staff to register complaints and to allow decision makers to better understand the people’s needs and grievances; (4) developing a text message platform that allows people to access information on the health system’s services and access, including rights to health; (5) training and coaching non-governmental organizations and public institutions to facilitate policy dialogue in order to provide better access to health services that meet people’s needs.

The expected intermediate outcomes for this project include: (1) enhanced equitable and inclusive participation in democratic decision-making processes, especially by women and marginalized groups, through the use of technology; (2) increased use of technology by people, especially women and marginalized groups, to hold their governments to account; and (3) increased responsiveness of public institutions to the diverse needs and rights of people, especially women and marginalized groups, through the use of technology.

Results achieved as of (March 2020) include: (1) local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) finalized communication plans and prepared social integration activity plans; (2) local partner NGOs provided capacity-building training, such as a course on running social networks; training for 15 people for community surveys on collection management and mobile collection using the district’s health information software, which allowed them to use the tablets, fill out the questionnaires and save the data; and a training workshop for local outreach workers on the rights and obligations of people who use health services, involving women leaders in raising community awareness; (3) 200 community stakeholders (60% of them women) participated in social integration activities and consultation frameworks to define survey programs, communication campaigns and social activity campaigns; and (4) community surveys reached 1,267 people (847 of them women) in three health zones in northern and southern Benin.

• Proactive disclosure