Real time data can go a long way in improving IPC supervision.

It gives one an opportunity to track which community

health worker is reaching potential clients and what they are messaging and who is garnering the most effective referrals.
Baset on the data one is able to give appropriate mentoring, back stopping and even tailor trainings.

One thought about the difference between RTM and traditional monitoring is the feasibility, with
mobile devices, of getting direct feedback from participants in SBC programs on a regular basis.
In the past, we may have monitored attendance on a regular basis and conducted surveys
occasionally. Even paper feedback forms took considerable time to process, making it difficult to
adjust the content in time. With increasing access to mobile devices around the world and SMS
technology, we can obtain feedback on programming almost immediately. Has anyone used this
type of approach to get rapid feedback from participants on SBC programs?

This is a great question. Some practitioners only consider it real time if the data is visualized
instantaneously. Others define real-time monitoring as rapid (typically digital) approaches that
allow data to be available in time for programs to use it for course correction and finding
unforeseen opportunities – even if it’s days or even weeks later. One thought is that even if the
data could be visualized instantaneously, there is often a need for levels of data quality checks
and approvals. It would be a rare situation where data could be entered on a phone in the field and
instantaneously available and used. What do you think?
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I am going to throw out an opinion here.

Over time, the coined term “real-time” is likely to become passe as having processed data and
information “as soon as is needed, i.e., optimal for the purpose at hand” becomes normative and
its use becomes ubiquitous. By analogy, how often do we think of email or millennials think of
social media as ‘real-time’ communication?

@PcHewett I agree. At some point “real-time monitoring” will just become “monitoring,”
because the vast majority will be real time. What do you think is the most important driver of this
transition: widespread availability of digital/mobile technology, or demand for data and a culture
of valuing data within SBC programs? Or something else?

Good question @hhancock – again, depends on if you define RTM as instantaneous or as soon as
needed. If the latter, I think it can be done (for example with paper questionnaires) if there is a
clear process of rapid data entry and processing in a central place for interpretation and
visualization. Digital tools are certainly preferable as they reduce the processing time.
As far as internet access, a lot of mobile data collection platforms are designed for use in low
connectivity areas. Data can be collected locally without internet access, and then synced once
internet access is available. I would still consider this real time if the data is ready in time to be
used.
Hello everyone! I’m glad to join you in this discussion for the next two days. I’m curious to know
what range of experiences you’ve all had doing RTM or close to real time. If you haven’t had the
chance to implement RTM yet, how would you be interested in implementing it? What kinds of
activities do you think would benefit from this approach?

Just to add to this reflection, I worry that the demand for real-time data is not necessarily
accompanied with increased capacity to use this data for programmatic decision-making at all
levels. In M&E we hear this issue cropping up constantly, where programs are producing a lot of
data that they are not necessarily able to use. Do you think RTM data in and of itself facilitates
use of the information?
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Great starting point! I would add that administrators are not the only beneficiaries of RTM. For
community or facility-based health workers / health promoters, having immediate feedback based
on the aggregate of all others in their position provides valuable input. Does anybody have any
experiences in supporting community or facility health workers in using information for self-
monitoring and reflection?

I’m very intrigued by this discussion. When I think SBC programs, I think longer term effects we
want to see. What sorts of things would we look at in real-time to inform programmatic
decisions? To echo what Martha asked–what are the benefits of having instantaneous data?

@nicole.aspros If I think of RTM in broader terms, not instantaneous but with very close
feedback loops, one recent example I encountered of how a program can use RTM for immediate
course correction comes from our friends at PSI/PASMO. They implement a social listening
methodology – an analysis and reflection of social media content – for immediate course
correction in their regional Zika response.
Has anyone else used social listening for this purpose?

Though not an expert in U Report, I would make the distinction between mobile communication
and mobile devices for monitoring. A key difference is systematic data collection vs. self reported
opt in texting.

@ntibbles good points. I think, with many things in this like of work, it may be more of a
conceptual distinction. Real-time maybe should be taken literally. In my mind, real-time starts
from the point of data entry (not necessarily collection), and is uploaded and available for
viewing, using, managing, etc. The key point being you can see what’s going on immediately or
pretty quickly rather than with paper, where physical transport of forms, data entry, quality
checks, then use can begin. I think real-time is more about facilitating adaptive management. Not
only can you (within minutes) tell if one data collector is making errors or shows low usage, but
you can within days, weeks, or longer course correct programs and activities. You may otherwise
have to wait much longer.
I think RTM is a more efficient way of monitoring, and therefore may be more effective. It allows
raw data to become meaningful information in a timely manner. Now, whether that data is acted
upon is another question!
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Hi all, I’ll be taking over for the 12-1 hour.

Here is one topic/thought that comes up often – I feel that anything mobile or tech tends to get
conflated as one thing. Not all tools, platforms, or softwares are the same, nor have the same
purpose. For example, I often see confusion between what is systematic data collection for
monitoring purposes via mobile devices and text-in opinions or surveys that are not systematic
and are more quantitative in nature. What are your thoughts? I see a big distinction between
rigorous data collection tools and methodologies and more informal, perhaps more qualitative
data collection. Not that one is better than the other, they are just different! Anyone have a better
way to phrase this? Or any thoughts?

In response to @ntibbels, what types of things do we monitor in SBC?

For example where I work, with the One Drop Foundation, we have Social Art for Behavior
Change interventions, in short -and put simply- these refer to artistic and interactive events
aiming at increasing the practice of behaviors related to water sanitation and hygiene amongst a
targeted population. In order to improve the process in which those artistic events are
implemented, we monitor/evaluate certain more qualitative aspects that require real time
observations during the event (e.g. how lively/active were the discussions with the
audience/participants during the event?; did the event provoked amongst the audience the
intended emotions?). Up to now we these aspects were captured by hand on a printed form. We
will soon have that form uploaded into a mobile device to facilitate the entry of that data, the data
won’t the processed automatically, it will need to be done manually after with a computer (not the
mobile device). Would other consider this be an example of “real time monitoing data to improve
SBC programs”?

I would be interested in reading other concrete examples from practitioners: what types of things
do we monitor in SBC that require real time monitoring?

Question for the crowd – just because I like tech, doesn’t mean I can do all the things! I work
mostly with digital tools for monitoring, but often get requests for things like web development –
totally different! Anyone have any advice for how to explain, or an analogy of sorts, that
mobile/tech/ICT/mHealth isn’t just one thing?
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What RTM tools are SBCC program implementers using and how effective have their been in
addressing gaps in program implementation? I would be happy to learn from people here.