Canadian mobile technology helps aid agencies improve efficiency

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Aug. 14, 2013 /CNW/ - More humanitarian organizations will be using Canadian software and mobile technology to improve aid efficiency, effectiveness and accountability, thanks to a $900,000 grant from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD). The funding will support the development of Last Mile Mobile Solutions (LMMS), a home-grown technology which lets aid workers collect and use data in real time at the "last mile" - the critical stage where relief supplies reach people most affected by disasters.  World Vision developed LMMS in collaboration with the IT industry to:

• Register and track aid recipients efficiently. LMMS stores data such as individual health issues, family size and pregnancies. This information helps aid workers prioritize people with the greatest needs.
• Calculate rations and supplies quickly to reduce long wait times. With LMMS, a single aid worker can verify the identity of an aid recipient and the items they need in less than 30 seconds. This means 1,000 disaster-affected families can be verified to receive aid in a single working day compared to what would normally take four working days.
• Generate detailed electronic reports at the distribution site within minutes. Previously this took several days using paper-based systems. As a reporting tool, LMMS also minimizes operational issues such as fraud and inventory distribution errors.

To date, LMMS has been deployed in 16 countries, including the Haiti earthquake response in 2010. The new DFATD funding will help scale up LMMS and allow it to be deployed by a growing number of aid agencies including Oxfam, Second Harvest Asia, Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children (Niger) and Medair.

Photographs to download and Video about LMMS

Quotes "We are pleased to support innovations such as LMMS that make humanitarian aid more accountable to both recipients and donors. LMMS's reporting capabilities will help agencies present a much clearer picture of their results. This is another way in which we continue to fulfill our international development transparency and accountability commitments." 
- Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development

"There's a paradigm shift happening in the humanitarian sector — we're moving away from cumbersome paper-based systems and delivering aid in a world that is increasingly networked. The instant access to data offers exciting opportunities to be more effective and efficient."
- Bart Witteveen, Director of Humanitarian & Emergency Affairs, World Vision Canada

"Until now data collection in the field has been a separate exercise, often lower in priority to actual aid delivery. Medair looks forward to adopting LMMS throughout our programs to help distribute vital goods and medicines and register beneficiaries with speed and dignity. LMMS will help us combine registration, distribution and stock level planning into a single, seamless exercise."
- Les Cutter, Information Services Manager, Medair

"We have used LMMS to register aid recipients in disaster-prone areas in the Philippines and will shortly be using it in Niger to distribute aid to beneficiaries. LMMS will allow us to know exactly where supplies are distributed and we're excited about the potential for this to help make our humanitarian response more efficient and accountable."
- William Parmar, Distribution Manager, Oxfam

"We look forward to unveiling this technological solution to our partners and to an improved service delivery to beneficiaries in the Ivorian Refugee Response in Liberia."
- Themba Sibanda, Program Manager, Norwegian Refugee Council

Image with caption: "Canadian mobile technology is making humanitarian aid delivery more efficient and accountable by replacing paper-based systems. (CNW Group/Last Mile Mobile Solutions)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20130814_C5717_PHOTO_EN_29814.jpg

SOURCE: Last Mile Mobile Solutions

For interviews contact: 
Britt Hamilton - 416-419-1321 [email protected]
Robert Neufeld - 647-622-2045 [email protected]