Kimetrica Deploys Survey Teams to Six Countries

Kampala, Uganda, 01 May 2008
Under contracts with Catholic Relief Services, the Gates Foundation, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Kimetrica has deployed survey teams to Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. Godfrey Eretu, Kimetrica’s Survey Team Manager, said that over 6,000 farmer households will be interviewed to establish a baseline understanding of the economic and livelihood status of cassava farmers. Kimetrica’s teams are using a unique sampling tool, developed by Kimetrica, which uses advanced GIS techniques to create gridded maps, based on a convergence of demographic, biophysical and programmatic characteristics that target survey locations. The results of this work, said Mr. Eretu, will be used to measure the impact of development projects aimed at mitigating the impact of cassava disease and improve the livelihoods and income of farmers in the East and Central Africa Region.

Managing Information is a Focus of Kimetrica’s Statistics Team

Accra, Ghana, 16 April 2008
Kimetrica continues to advance improved management of national statistics in the developing world. As part of its OECD contract to conduct training on microdata management, Kimetrica staff conducted training sessions in Mozambique and Ghana during May 2008. Margaret Mwangi, Kimetrica’s lead trainer, said that the adoption of the Microdata Management Toolkit was accelerating quickly as countries understand the power of the tool in helping to organize and share national statistics. In Accra, Ms. Mwangi noted that countries that never before had the means to share their important national statistics with policy makers, development professionals, and researchers now are sharing information via the internet and within an easy to manage system. Training sessions are planned in several Africa countries in the coming months.

Kimetrica Somalia re-opens its Office, as Security in Mogadishu Improves

Mogadishu, Somalia, 06 February 2008
Kimetrica International Limited and Kimetrica Somalia are pleased to announce that our Mogadishu office has re-opened, following much improved security conditions in the city. Our staff are all safe and back in the office, said AH Shirwa, Kimetrica’s Somalia Manager. We are now focused on assisting international organizations in monitoring the implementation of their humanitarian programmes, conducting assessments and providing M&E services. While the situation in Mogadishu remains tense with some fighting taking place, we feel confident we can assist the humanitarian community as we have people on the ground across Mogadishu and Somalia. Kimetrica Somalia is the only specialized consulting firms on the ground in Somalia at this time, and our aim is to help the humanitarian community improve relief targeting and overall humanitarian assistance activities, said Dr. Shirwa.

Kimetrica Staff conduct Microdata Management Training for Sri Lanka’s Department of Census and Statistics

Colombo, Sri Lanka, 25 January 2008
Kimetrica staff conducted a workshop in Colombo, Sri Lanka to train key staff in the Department of Census and Statistics in the use of OECD’s Microdata Management Toolkit. Sri Lanka, like many countries, has a wealth of survey data that could be extraordinarily useful in developing national policies and development programmes. Until now, they had no way to organize or disseminate the data. Following the workshop, the Government of Sri Lanka intends to develop a website to allow users to query, review and download microdata and metadata. Kimetrica staff may return later in the year to help the department fully deploy its data resources using the Microdata Toolkit application.

Kimetrica Support to Social Protection in Zambia

Lusaka, Zambia, 24 - 29 January 2008
With very limited budgets available for social protection in many African countries, the critical policy question is this. How can programmes identify and reach the poorest of the poor? In Zambia this is a very topical issue, as plans are afoot to scale up some small social protection pilot projects. In late January, Kimetrica assisted a University of Maastricht training workshop on targeting social protection in Zambia. We provided training in methods for evaluating different targeting methods. We also presented the results of a large Kimetrica study that provides policy guidance to the Government of Zambia on the best targeting options. The study was based on an extensive survey, methodological development, and computer modelling. We used simulation modelling techniques to assess the costs, accuracy and impacts of 15 distinct types of targeting.

Household & Community Survey's to Support Scaling up of CARE's Social Protection Programme in Zambia

Lusaka, Zambia, 22 September 2007
As part of a Kimetrica study to better understand and model the targeting of social protection programmes in Zambia, a Kimetrica team is conducting household and community surveys in three provinces. The data from these surveys, combined with secondary information, is intended to inform decision making and the development of decision support models for the targeting of social protection - such as cash based initiatives - among vulnerable households in Zambia. As this is one of the first studies of its kind, it is hoped that the effort will better inform other cash based humanitarian initiatives across Africa.

Survey of Oxfam’s Hunger Safety Net Programme in Turkana, Kenya

Nairobi, Kenya, 21 August 2007
In support of DFID’s Safety Net Programme in Kenya, Kimetrica’s Field Survey team is currently undertaking sample surveys in northern Kenya of households and communities benefiting from Oxfam GB’s Social SafetyNet Programme. The primary goal of this activity includes assessing the relative cost-effectiveness, technical performance, implementing agency and partner capacity, linkages to complementing programmes, beneficiary satisfaction, use of transfers and impact with regard to poverty reduction. The project will make recommendations to DFID, Oxfam GB and the Kenya Food Security Meeting on its contribution to the evolving social protection system.

Indigenous Vegetation Workshop held in Bamako, Mali

Bamako, Mali, 21 June 2007
As part of its Indigenous Vegetation Project activity, Kimetrica staff are holding a series of stakeholder workshops in Mali, Kenya and Botswana to discuss the project’s database and database application functionality.  The goal is introduce to the Indigenous Vegetation network partners the database, data sharing and networking tools being developed by Kimetrica and solicit user feedback to ensure that the overall database application design elements capture the needs of users.   Following these workshops, the final database tool kit will be launched.  As a data archive and information sharing initiative, it is hoped that improved access to scientific and local knowledge of indigenous vegetation, will help to support improved conservation and development activities
Please contact info@kimetrica.org for more information.

New Training Service Launched

Nairobi, Kenya, 12 June 2007
Kimetrica has launched a multi-media training for organizations that want to beef up communications, media, marketing and donor relations skills.
We provide you with training directly from our website to your workstation, saving you time and money. Each course is tailored just for your organization, giving you the skills you most need, without wasting time on irrelevant information. It's easy. Just sign up for our profiling survey. The survey results show us and you where we can help. No more soggy buffet lunches. No more expensive hotel retreats. You can work our multimedia training courses into your busy schedule and take it at your own pace.
Please contact info@kimetrica.org for more information.

Kimetrica Somalia Undertakes Humanitarian Relief Impact Surveys

Mogadishu, Somalia, 18 April 2007
Kimetrica Somalia’s monitoring and assessment team has undertaken a comprehensive impact survey of drought and war affected households in Gedo and Hiran Regions. A.H. Shirwa, Kimetrica’s Country Director, is focusing the survey on communities where the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations implemented relief activities over the last several years. The survey includes community and household interviews. It is one of the first quantitative assessments of humanitarian relief in these regions. The survey is expected to take 20 days and is supported by FAO.
Please contact info@kimetrica.org for more information.

Estimating Populations at Risk

Washington DC, 15 December 2006 .
Kimetrica staff demonstrated its new population at risk software in Washington, DC and Nairobi, Kenya in December 2006. As a real-time example of risk analysis, the Demographic Data Manager quickly estimated the populations affected by the floods that have displaced thousands in Kenya and Somalia. The Demographic Data Manager is a user-friendly tool that allows you to map and estimate that population of any area. It was developed under contract with USAID.

Support to Emergency Operations

Nairobi, Kenya 18 September 2006
Catholic Relief Services Kenya implemented an innovative cash voucher program for drought-affected families in Kenya using an integrated management and M&E system developed by Kimetrica. A final evaluation of this pilot activity showed that the M&E system improved targeting and overall project impact.

R&D: Non Profit Financials

Nairobi, Kenya 24 October 2006
If your current tools are not providing real-time and accurate management information, Kimetrica can help you to enhance your current system or adopt new tools so that you have answers to your management questions at your fingertips.