Mobile Technology

This Land is Not for Sale: Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure in Tanzania

November 4, 2016November 24, 2016 by Jaynie Whinnery Leave a comment

In East Africa it is more common to see land marked as “not for sale,” rather than “for sale.” People put up these signs because it’s the main way for them to safeguard their property without formal land rights. If landowners don’t have proof of their property rights, they could fall victim to bad land transfers or even land grabbing.

The CARE team in Tanzania is working to make it easier for families to claim their land rights with our Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure (MAST) solution. MAST is an open source application used on smartphones to help individuals claim their land rights. The technology is inexpensive and 3 times faster than traditional GPS methods!

The CARE Scale by Design Accelerator and Challenge aims to showcase innovative programs like MAST. We spoke with team members Jane Mgone and Thabit Masoud about what it’s been like to participate in the Accelerator so far. How is it helping them tackle the biggest barriers to scaling the innovation?

“It’s really helping us to think through what it would look like to scale and how to design for scale,” Jane said.

While the Accelerator has pointed a spotlight on land issues in Tanzania, unfortunately, the funding for this small pilot in 3 villages has ended for CARE. Another organization is picking up the pilot but will only be reaching about 40 more villages, which remains just a scratch on the surface. How do we keep this promising innovation from the metaphorical graveyard of abandoned pilots?

Whitney Adams, Senior Advisor for Design and Innovation, reflects that this isn’t an uncommon story. “Unfortunately, organizations like CARE are constrained by available donor funding and sometimes promising innovations simply don’t have their next donor or path to scale lined up. The project has to end and staff move on to the next job. We hope the Accelerator will help teams think about the big picture from the beginning. How do we scale outside this one project? What would a realistic business model look like at scale?”

Instead of relying on donors or the public sector to pay for scale, the team is considering a business model to make MAST self-sustaining. Can the service be sold directly to landowners? Our current estimate puts the cost around $30 per plot. But what if we could get it down to $10 per plot? Would we have a customer and a sustainable innovation then?

Jane and Thabit have been sharing concepts and ideas learned throughout the Accelerator with their colleagues. What is the key thing they want you to know about what they’ve learned? “We really need to think outside the box, aside from doing traditional work.” Jane wants to know, “How can we have a greater impact? How can we do something that the people really want and need, something that can spread like wildfire throughout the world?”

Meet the Teams: Core To Care: Get the Land Right

April 28, 2016 by Stephanie Carey Yeargan Leave a comment

Through the Mobile Application to Secure Tenure (MAST) project, CARE Tanzania has piloted a participatory and innovative approach to measure land plots through a mobile application technology. The software was developed by the private US company Cloudburst and was piloted in three villages, funded by USAID. The project was introduced to government officials both at the national and the local level before implementation. Over a period of 3 weeks the application mapped 910 land plots and the same number of Certificates of Customary Rights of Occupancy (CCROs) were issued to villagers. Out of these 31% were issued to individual women. Another 3% was co-owned by women and 13% was issued to couples. The remaining 53% was for men. These percentages of land being accessed by women are much higher than the national average of land titles owned by women (around 20%). This provides evidence that land registration can be executed in a relatively short period of time in a way that takes into account land rights of women. The sofware application simplifies the land registration process; it is an easy-to-use, open-source smartphone application that facilitates mapping by trained young villagers (girls and boys) verification by village land adjudication committees. It is also low cost, transparent and time effective. The methodology is five times faster than manual mapping and three times faster than the methodology which uses conventional GPS technology. Watch this video to learn more!

Jane Mgone | Coordinator, Knowledge Sharing and Learning | CARE Tanzania

Jane Mgone started with CARE in 2014 and currently Learning plays a key role in supporting CARE to achieve its new business model by 2020 through enhancing knowledge sharing and learning so that CARE can be more innovative and improve communication. As a coordinator, she is at the center of communication and information lines within the organization and interfaces with other departments to improve the use of modern technology and software as well as to conduct research regarding learning methodologies, best practices, and innovative opportunities. Jane has received a Masters of International Relations from the University of Leicester, and she has over five years of experience in the Department Sector with a focus on knowledge management and communications.

Mustapha Issa | Program Coordinator | CARE Tanzania

Mustapha Issa started working with CARE in 2015 and works coordinating initial project mobilization with the Government of Tanzania (GoT) and other stakeholders. As Program Coordinator, he is responsible for conducting outreach and public awareness related to land rights, organizing training courses, and building capacity with regard to the key land laws and legal processes related to the formalization of land rights in the Iringa district. He is an engineer and environmentalist with five years of experience in Geographic Information System (GIS) and land surveying.

Thabit Masoud | Director Technical Unit, Natural Resources and Climate Change | CARE Tanzania

Thabit Masoud is a forester with MS degree in Conservation Biology from the University of Kent and Canterbury. Thabit has coordinated various projects and programs cultivating forest conservation and development thinking and has over 20 years of experience working with government and for CARE in overseeing and coordinating natural resources management projects and programs, with a more recent focus on community based adaptation and resilience against climate shock.

Shelina Mallozzi | Deputy Country Director | CARE Tanzania

Shelina started with CARE in 2014 and has an extensive background in program management for leading pharmaceutical companies such as Bayer and Novo Nordisk and most recently served as the technical writer for a local Tanzania NGO that was awarded two programs from USAID and CDC. Shelina has a Bachelors in Biology from Harvard and a Master’s in Business Management/ Public Health from Yale.

Paul Daniëls | Country Director | CARE Tanzania

Paul Daniels, a Dutch national, started his international career as a Junior Professional Officer with the United Nations Works and Relief Agency (UNRWA) in the Middle East and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Mexico. He has a bachelor degree in Business Economics of the University of Brabant and a Master Degree in Development Economics of the University of Amsterdam. After his tenure with the UN he started working for international NGOs. He was a Coordinator for cross border Rural Development Programming in Afghanistan with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), being based in Peshawar. He also served as a Deputy Director for IRC in the same location. Subsequently he became IRC’s Country Director in Georgia and Vienna, Austria. The Vienna program was a resettlement program for Bosnian and Iranian refugees to the US. Following his tenure with IRC he joined UMNCOR as a Country Director in Armenia, where he was instrumental in setting up a local micro-finance organization, AREGAK, with a portfolio of 6 million dollars. From UMCOR he went to work for Mercy Corps in Lebanon and then joined CARE as Program Director for Somalia, being based in Nairobi, Kenya. During this assignment he was forced to close all CARE’s operations in South/Central Somalia because of threats by the Al-Shebab movement. After three years he was appointed to Program Director in Sudan just before the separation of North and South Sudan. Since July 2012 he is the Country Director of CARE in Tanzania. His two adult children are or have been working as officers for international NGOs in the Republic of Georgia and Libya. While in Kenya his family adopted a 2-year old who is now attending school in Dar es Salaam. During his tenure with CARE in Tanzania he worked with his team on a new strategy for the Tanzania office, WEZESHA, which is based on the CPR recommendations, in line with the CI strategy and focuses on women empowerment and climate change adaptation.

Meet the Teams: CHAT! Contraception

April 22, 2016August 29, 2018 by Stephanie Carey Yeargan 1 Comment

Chat! Contraception, an integrated behavior change communication (BCC) package, was created in 2015 and aims to improve the health of garment factory workers though empowering young women to make informed, healthy, sexual choices, access reliable reproductive health services, and prevent unplanned pregnancies. Improving the health of workers and preventing unplanned pregnancies also has benefits for factory management, as in turn, workers will take fewer sick days and are more likely to continue working at the factory for longer—both significant factors for productivity. Chat! Contraception harnesses the reality of young urban women in Cambodia, integrating both entertainment and technology to achieve its goals. The concept adopts an innovative, three-pronged approach, to “Inform, Engage, and Challenge.”

Julia Battle | SRMHR Advisor | CARE Cambodia

With over 12 years of diverse global health experience in the governmental, non-profit, academic, and private sectors, Julia Battle spent five years in Tanzania, planning and overseeing evidence-based, innovative reproductive, maternal and newborn health programs before relocating to Cambodia in 2015 to take on a Technical Advisor role. Her accomplishments include designing and implementing effective programs, managing diverse staff, conducting rigorous evaluations, building strategic partnerships, and writing various publications and proposals. Her passion and technical expertise is in sexual, reproductive, maternal, and newborn health, with a particular interest in applying evidence to increase quality and access to essential health care at both the community- and facility- levels.

Julia holds a BA in Philosophy from the George Washington University and an MPH in Global Health (Community Health) from Emory University.

Supraja Suresh | Apparel & Garment Sector Projects Advisor | CARE Cambodia

Supraja Suresh joined CARE Cambodia in April 2015. In her current role she develops and manages relationships with retailers, industry bodies, other stakeholders and advises the factory team on implementation design and training. With a strong background in Sustainability Management, Quality, and Corporate Communications, Supraja has previously managed capacity building and safety programs in garment factories in India and Bangladesh. She is also fluent in five languages, including Tamil and Telugu.

Chenda Net | Project Manager | CARE Cambodia

Chenda joined CARE Cambodia in 2015 and is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the package in the

garment factories, including work planning, budgeting, and managing the local NGO partner. She also led review and revision of the Khmer materials. She finished her postgraduate work in health and international development at Flinders University

and has a background in physiotherapy and women’s sexual & reproductive health.

Maly Man | Senior Program Officer | CARE Cambodia

Maly joined CARE Cambodia in 2013 and is the master trainer who facilitated the field testing and training-of-trainers for all aspects of the package, manages factory relationships, and provides regular monitoring and supervision in the factories. Her responsibilities

include overseeing the delivery of diversity training by sub grantees and localpartners, and monitoring impact and

innovation, particularly in garment factories with CARE and other key stakeholders. Maly has over a decade of

experience training in various settings including communities and local schools throughout Cambodia.

Jenny Conrad | Communications Advisor | CARE Cambodia

Jenny joined CARE Cambodia in 2013, She is responsible for sharing program successes, increasing brand visibility in Cambodia, and managing the Country Office’s online presence. This

includes managing a team of communications and knowledge management staff and regular support to program

teams. Jenny provided input on the design of the Chat! Contraception package and materials to ensure these met donor branding requirements and has developed a potential social media strategy for Chat! Contraception.

With a BA in English from the University of Bristol, Jenny also served as a freelance writer previously and an editor in various roles specializing in communications for NGOs and social enterprises.

pull from linkedin

Tanya Barnfield | Program Director for the Socially Marginalised Women Program | CARE Cambodia

Tanya Barnfield joined CARE Cambodia in May 2012 and is responsible for the Socially Marginalised Women program, which focuses on rural people and urban migrants who have limited productive resources and lack social protection, especially women. She has the overall responsibility for the development, implementation and management of the program and its projects. Projects include working with young women in business, strengthening access to maternal and child health services and ending violence against women and girls. Tanya developed the vision for the Chat! Contraception package.

Originally from Warwickshire, UK, Tanya has worked throughout Asia for over a decade. She has a strong background in program management and has managed humanitarian and development programs in Sri Lanka and Indonesia.