SHG Data Management System - Digital Platform for Programme Management

Partner: Tearfund Ireland | Deliverable: Custom-built, secure data management platform | Live system: http://196.188.187.254/

Background

Tearfund Ireland runs one of Ethiopia's largest Self-Help Group (SHG) programs, which involves small groups saving money and lending to each other in a manner similar to savings and loans. The groups form clusters and federations, able to pursue common objectives, such as advocacy, building training centers, or providing services. Such programs create enormous amounts of data: individual beneficiaries, activities on the level of individual groups, clusters and federations, and complicated reporting procedures to their donors and partners.

The challenge

Managing beneficiaries, SHGs, federations, and reporting through spreadsheets becomes impractical at such scale. Manual fragmented record keeping hinders understanding of the current situation, increases reporting cycle times, and creates risks of inaccuracy and information security breaches, despite the main goal being making more informed decisions to positively influence the members on the ground.

Our approach

Le'hager implemented a customized SHG Data Management System capable of handling the whole structure of Tearfund Ireland's program in a single centralized, secure system:

• Centralized data on the program structure — beneficiaries, SHGs, federations, and their relationships in one system instead of separate spreadsheets

• Real-time dashboards — real-time view on the current state of the program, replacing static backward-looking reports

• Automated reporting — reporting tools allowing to eliminate manual report compilation work and decrease errors

• Impact tracking — systematic approach to track impacts along the SHG to federations hierarchy

• Designed for scale and reality — solution architecture able to deal with thousands of groups, and realistic representation of SHGs and federations operation on the ground in Ethiopia

Impact

The system allowed Tearfund Ireland's Ethiopia program to move from spreadsheets to an advanced centralized platform – giving the program teams a secure, real-time tool to manage the beneficiaries and groups, eliminating manual reporting and enabling fast, data driven decisions. The case shows the capability of Le'hager not only in advocacy and communications work but also in development of custom web platforms, automation and reporting dashboards which allow development and civil society organizations to digitize their operations end to end, from grant proposals to the necessary digital systems to manage and report on that grant.