CRS ICT4D Conference

As adoption of ICT by development organizations becomes more widespread, a spectrum of uses have emerged. Organizations often start using mobile technology to collect data from the field and replace the inefficiencies of paper, however these organizations - especially if they have a field force - are starting to see that there is a greater need for more 'robust' tools that can help them improve their operations and performance, in addition to collecting data.
Emily Tucker, Executive Director for Grameen Foundation's TaroWorks, will moderate a panel of implementers who will share their experiences of managing their field processes using mobile technology. The panel discussion will highlight successful implementations of mobile data collection and field force management using TaroWorks tool.

The panel will include a representative of Technoserve, who will discuss how their field officers in East Africa are tracking attendance of individual coffee farmers for group trainings over time, and how that model will be expanded to multiple countries and for different value chains.

The panel will also include a representative from the Grameen Foundation's mAgriculture team, who have implemented TaroWorks across numerous agricultural producers and co-operatives globally. They will discuss their work in Latin America, on managing certifications, and tracking farmer results over time.

Emily will also highlight examples of how social enterprises like Ilumexico (a social enterprise providing solar panel equipment and financing to households throughout rural Mexico) and Honey Care Africa (a social enterprise managing beehives and honey production in Kenya) have used TaroWorks to manage field staff to manage product and customer relationships over time. These social enterprises are examples of how organizations are using mobile tools to register new customers, manage their existing customers over time, follow up with maintenance requests and track repayments.