2016 ICT4D Conference

GOAL Uganda is implementing a randomized control trial (RCT) evaluation of an intervention designed to strengthen health service provision and citizen ownership. Central to the Accountability Can Transform Health (ACT Health) program is the development of Citizen's Report Cards (CRC) to provide information on the status of service delivery based on responses from households and health workers (confirmed with secondary source data). The CRCs are shared in interface meetings, where community members and health workers develop action plans identifying priority actions to improve health and health services. These elements are the foundation of a factorial design RCT. We distinguish the first and second processes (information and mobilization) from the third (interface meetings) to test their independent and combined impacts. The complete intervention combines all components ("information and mobilization plus interface"). This evaluation is taking place across 96 control and 282 intervention health facilities in Uganda from 2014 to 2016.

Increasingly, development interventions and public service programs are a blend of art and science. The strategic introduction of technology has great potential to creatively bridge the world of development art and implementation science. We have theories about the importance of information and communication. We also have theories about the role that technology can play. By May 2016, GOAL Uganda will have very preliminary findings from the midline evaluation of the ACT Health program. If information proves a critical component of the success of the methodology, technological innovations that reduce the cost of collecting, analyzing and storing information will be critical to scalability.