Smart-phone drives performance and enhances WASH services delivery in communities in Nigeria

The deployment of mobile technology has helped to transform data/evidence gathering in programme management and tracking results under the “Federal Government of Nigeria – UNICEF” Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) programme in Nigeria. UNICEF has demonstrated the use of smartphonebased real-time reporting to incite improved programme performance management and accountability. Smart-reporting involved Local Government Area (LGA) level coordinated planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting of results by field facilitators using mobile-app supported templates and online tools. This system, within the short time has improved the quality of planning and target setting; fostered greater accountability amongst team members; improved performance of staff and effective use of financial resources and other logistics and demonstrated greater attainment of results. The results so far clearly demonstrate the viability of the Smart-reporting system to improve accountability, advance the management and delivery of WASH programme results with potential for wider scale-up across the country.