The African Development Bank (AfDB) has extended membership of the Remote Appraisal Supervision, Monitoring, and Evaluation (RASME) project to Mozambique.

RASME project, according to the bank, is expected to strengthen project-related data collection in remote areas in the country.

It is understood that the RASME is a partnership of the AfDB and the World Bank’s Geo-enabling initiative for monitoring and supervision and KoBoToolbox teams.

It uses mobile devices and personal computers to enable remote collection of digital project data directly from the field in real-time.

RASME is designed for both online and offline use in remote areas with limited telecommunications infrastructure.

AfDB, in a statement, said the Covid-19 crisis had sharpened the need for remote data collection tools.

‘The African Development Bank is determined to support Africa to build back boldly, but smartly, paying greater attention to quality growth’, AfDB Country Manager for Mozambique, Cesar Mba Abogo, said.

‘This forces the bank to constantly reset itself and innovate to meet the challenges the continent faces.

‘RASME is part of this resetting, of this spirit of innovation that characterises our institution and that in this case is backed by the effectiveness of this resource that we have seen in the experience of other institutions’.

AfDB also noted that all data collected with RASME is stored on secured servers. The bank also conducted a three-day in-person training for project implementation staff in Mozambique.

For his part, Mozambique’s Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance, Carla Alexandra Louveira, said, ‘The operationalisation of RASME will strengthen the oversight and monitoring capacity of project implementation and support a more effective decision-making process’.

So far, RASME has been rolled out by AfDB in five countries of Gabon, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Central African Republic (CAR).

Photo source: AfDB