How Islamic Relief developed a real-time programme data system

In January, Islamic Relief Worldwide launched a digitalised solution to help country office staff manage project data and MEAL which will change how we work for the better.

Our Global Programme Impact & MEAL System (GPMS) is now live throughout 27 countries, marking a significant moment in organisation-wide collaboration.

The system enables colleagues in the field to more easily report project updates, manage data and track project lifecycles. The information is then immediately available to other Islamic Relief staff around the world, reducing admin and freeing up time to more directly support the communities we serve.

The design, development and launch of this global system has been the culmination of a three-year project involving stakeholders at all levels of Islamic Relief in a truly collaborative approach.

Throughout it all, our overarching anchor was to ensure the new system was designed from the ground up – BY and FOR our colleagues on the ground, first and foremost.

We are delighted with the final result. The GPMS facilitates:

• project management, risk/issue and delivery/activity tracking, including number of people reached
• offline and online longitudinal (case management) data collection
• MEAL (monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning) activity tracking (for example, indicators and learning)
• consistent data and information with the flexibility to meet different country contexts and needs
• flexible and configurable disaggregated and aggregated data analysis and reporting to help inform decision making
• multiple languages – initially English, French and Arabic
• integration with other platforms, such as financial systems, to avoid duplication and maximise data visibility.

Years of collaboration – and this is only the beginning

The GPMS is built on the ActivityInfo platform. We chose ActivityInfo after reviewing around 30 different platforms against our requirements list and solution matrix, taking into account existing internal solutions as well as external ones.

We were extremely challenging in our requirements because we knew that we needed a global system and one that functioned independently in 27 countries, while still, of course, being linked. The entire ActivityInfo team have been absolutely amazing – we could not have asked for better support from day one. It was never about the sale for them; whenever there was something that “wasn’t possible” they always found an alternative solution. This is real partnership in the truest sense of the word. It has never faltered, and here we are still singing their praises three years in. They have been an integral part of our design and implementation journey.

The launch of the GPMS is only the beginning. We have lots of additional functionality planned for the future, not only to help us in the management and reporting of our project and MEAL data and information, but also to support us to continuously improve the quality and accountability of our interventions to the people we serve.

This project would not have been possible without the unwavering support, dedication and commitment of our country and local office staff around the world. They have been there at every step – participating in the initial design and requirement workshops, testing the system through the pilot stage, participating in regional orientation workshops and committing to the onboarding and launch process.

I would also like to acknowledge the hard work of my wonderful colleagues in the GPMS Project Team – Juwairiyah Khurram, Assem Kassim, Muhammad Sadiq Rohei and Ganesh Bahadur Thapa – it’s been inspiring working with you all to deliver this ground-breaking initiative for Islamic Relief. And of course, not least, Islamic Relief’s senior management team for their unwavering support, and commitment to drive this project through. From the bottom right to the very top, this really has been a collaborative effort.

The scope of what systems like this can achieve for our organisation and the communities we serve is truly inspiring, and we hope this is only the start of our digitalisation journey at Islamic Relief.