Our Projects
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Year 2018
Country Kenya
Client
Partnership for Resilience and Economic Growth (PREG): Baseline/Endline Data Collection
Large-Scale Surveys PROJECTS
USAID’s Partnership for Resilience and Economic Growth (PREG) brings together humanitarian and development partners to build resilience among Kenya’s vulnerable pastoralist communities in the country’s arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL). The partnership focuses on nine vulnerable and high-risk areas and works with the Government of Kenya at both national and county levels to address underlying community vulnerabilities. Kimetrica, in collaboration with its partner, TANGO International, conducted a mixed-method study to assess how the range of USAID-supported interventions contributes to both community and household resilience capacities, and how they improve household responses to shocks and well-being outcomes. Quantitative data collection consisted of a large-scale (2,700 households), representative baseline survey with questions that reflected dietary diversity and food availability, and included an anthropometric component to assess rates of malnutrition, which influence household vulnerability. Simultaneously, qualitative data were collected in the same areas through 32 focus group discussions and 49 key informant interviews to triangulate and understand gender differences. The results of this study served as an Endline for the Resilience and Economic Growth in the Arid Lands (REGAL) impact evaluation and as a Baseline Resilience impact evaluation for the larger PREG Northern Kenya intervention areas. Kimetrica’s work included CAPI-programming (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing), using CSPro (Census and Survey Processing System), and all aspects of field data collection, from recruitment to training to survey implementation and data capture.
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Year 2018
Country Ethiopia
Client
Livelihoods for Resilience (L4R) Learning Activity: Baseline Data Collection
Large-Scale Surveys PROJECTS
USAID's Livelihoods for Resilience (L4R) Learning Activity in Ethiopia focuses on four priority areas that support and enhance livelihood opportunities for chronically food-insecure households in targeted regions and woredas (administrative divisions): 1) on-farm, income-generating activities (IGAs) and crop and livestock market systems; 2) off-farm IGAs and non-farm enterprise development; 3) non-farm labor and wage employment; 4) collaborative learning for scaling up and sustaining gains made in the three livelihood pathways (i.e., on-farm, off-farm, employment). To assess the L4R activities' progress and effectiveness, Kimetrica, in collaboration with its partners, Save the Children and TANGO International, implemented a baseline study. The baseline study, conducted in 2018, included two quantitative components -- a household survey of 3,520 households and a community survey; and two qualitative components -- 32 focus group discussions (FGDs) and a range of in-depth interviews (IDIs)). The 3,520 households surveyed were scattered across 128 randomly-selected clusters (i.e. 16 treatment and 16 control, from each of the 4 regions). Questionnaires were digitized using the Census and Survey Processing System (CSPro) and data was collected electronically using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI), ensuring a daily flow of data and, in turn, timely feedback to the data collection team on suspicious and outlier values. Voice recordings were used for qualitative data collection. The baseline study results were used to monitor and assess the progress and effectiveness of L4R activities during implementation, and later to be used for comparison with endline results.
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Year 2017-2019
Country Kenya
Client
Methods for Extremely Rapid Observation of Nutritional Status (MERON)
Modeling and Simulation PROJECTS
Traditional methods for quantifying malnutrition in children involve physical handling of subjects, can be time-consuming and are susceptible to inaccuracy because they require enumerators to interpret the value. Kimetrica has developed an application called Methods for Extremely Rapid Observation of Nutritional Status (MERON) that allows for a non-invasive, time efficient, and tamper-proof approach to assessing the malnutrition status of an individual by using a facial recognition and processing algorithm.
Recently, through a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) innovation grant, Kimetrica achieved proof of concept with MERON for children and a preliminary classification accuracy level of 60 percent, using 3,500 images of children under-five (6-59 months), collected alongside UNICEF's Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transitions (SMART) survey in Kenya.
MERON's next step for product development is a significant increase in its accuracy for malnutrition detection in children under-five from 60 percent to over 90 percent, which will be achieved through collecting additional image data. Doing so requires the collection of 5,000-15,000 more usable images in tandem with SMART surveys or other nutritional assessments for calibration.
Once MERON achieves high-quality classification ability, it will offer the following benefits:
1. An increase in the accuracy of collecting data on malnutrition.
2. A cost reduction related to the training of enumerators.
3. Use of inconspicuous measurement tools.
4. A less invasive method to measure malnutrition. (In some cultures parents are sensitive to physical handling of their children.)These benefits could, in turn, result in a number of important outcomes for the diagnosis and treatment of malnutrition in children under five. These include:
1. More appropriate distribution of funding and scarce resources based on accurate measurements.
2. Savings in resources (resources used for training enumerators to take accurate weight for height measurements; transportation of bulky equipment and opportunity cost for communities participating in surveys).
3. Easier data collection in hard to access, high risk or conflict areas, and areas where physical handling of children is culturally not acceptable.MERON was presented at the Artificial Intelligence for Good Global Summit held in Geneva in May 2018 (Watch the interview) and has been featured in the Smithsonian, New Scientist, Daily Mail and Deutsche Welle.
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Year 2014-2019
Country Ethiopia Kenya Somalia South Sudan
Client
Food Security and Humanitarian Monitoring
Research and Evaluation PROJECTS
Kimetrica conducts food security monitoring in some of the world’s most vulnerable locations. Working in highly insecure environments, Kimetrica’s field-based researchers and data collection teams gathered primary data from panel surveys of households, markets and health centers. Using tablets and satellite telephones, Kimetrica provided decision-makers with near real-time information on humanitarian conditions, food availability, and population movements. Kimetrica's cutting-edge methodological approach in collecting detailed information allowed decision-makers to better understand humanitarian conditions and design programs to best respond to immediate needs.
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Year 2011-2019
Country Angola Burkina Faso Burundi DRC Ethiopia Kenya Lesotho Malawi Mali Mauritania Mozambique Niger Nigeria Rwanda Senegal Sierra Leonne Somalia South Sudan Sudan Tanzania Uganda Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe
Client
Modeling and Simulation PROJECTS
Research and Evaluation PROJECTS
FEWS NET Technology Support Contract
Information Management PROJECTS
The USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) -- reporting on conditions in 36 countries from 22 field offices around the world -- traditionally relied on its own personnel based in food insecure countries and official in-country partners, to collect and assess information and data needed to identify and monitor levels of food security in vulnerable populations. The data collection method depends on proximity to, or direct contact with, the hungry populations from whom the information and data are gleaned. The scope and the amount of data that FEWS NET can theoretically collect is therefore constrained by the resources available from its FEWS NET Implementation Team (FIT) members (USAID, NASA, NOAA, USDA, USGS, and a private-sector contractor) and other official and unofficial partners.
The FEWS NET Technology Support Contract (TSC) assisted USAID’s FEWS NET in identifying and implementing new technologies to enhance team collaboration and to broaden data collection, analysis and dissemination methods. The project supported the FIT to enhance intra-team early warning collaboration, analysis, and dissemination capabilities, and to expand across the board capacity to gather new and greater quantities of food security information and data through the application and use of new early warning information technologies.
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Year 2018-2022
Country Global
Client
WFP Long Term Agreement (LTA) for Software Design, Development and Support Services
Information Management PROJECTS
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) recognizes that efficient use of Information Technology (IT) is integral to its work in conflict zones and in coping with natural disasters. To this end, the UN agency awarded Kimetrica a Long Term Agreement (LTA) that allows WFP to procure high quality software design, development, and support services. Under the LTA, Kimetrica is positioned to help WFP and its stakeholders design, develop, test, support and maintain software, as well as conduct related workshops and training.
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Year 2017
Country Ethiopia
Client
USAID Food For Peace Ethiopia: Baseline Survey
Large-Scale Surveys PROJECTS
For USAID’s Office of Food for Peace (FFP), Kimetrica carried out a baseline survey of 8,460 households in three regions of Ethiopia: Oromia, Amhara, and Tigray. The survey, one of the largest ever implemented by USAID in Ethiopia, had a very short execution period, which required rapid mobilization of hundreds of field staff. Kimetrica’s research team managed all aspects of the field work, including training and managing over 300 enumerators who conducted household interviews and took anthropometric measurements of children aged 5 and under. A comprehensive listing (village census) of over 282 kebeles (wards) was undertaken, including GIS mapping of household locations. The listing data formed the basis for a three-stage cluster sample to ensure survey results represented the target populations. Data was collected using tablet computers and Census and Survey Processing System (CSPro) software. Survey results provided FFP with situational analysis prior to the implementation of food and non-food aid. Follow-up surveys of the same households provided results and impact information critical to the successful management of FFP’s multi-million dollar support efforts.
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Year 2017-2020
Country Global
Client
Modeling and Simulation PROJECTS
World Food Programme (WFP) Survey and Modelling for Food Security Analysis Long Term Agreement (LTA)
Large-Scale Surveys PROJECTS
WFP routinely carries out food security analysis in order to assess and track the need for food assistance. Under this LTA, Kimetrica supported WFP’s processes with critical inputs for designing experiments, surveys, and studies related to food security.
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Year 2016-2018
Country Kenya
Client
Impact Evaluation of Livelihoods Support to Refugees
Research and Evaluation PROJECTS
Kimetrica was contracted by UK's Department for International Development (DFID) to conduct an impact evaluation of its program in Kakuma refugee camp, “Supporting the Protection and Assistance of Refugees in Kenya” (SPARK). The livelihoods component of the initiative focused on promoting durable solutions for refugees and better integration of the refugee and host community economies. Kimetrica's research team used a mixed-methods approach, including quantitative surveys, key informant interviews and focus group discussions with beneficiaries, to address several issues, including beneficiary access to interventions, impact on household incomes, local market impacts, and social cohesion with the host community. The final report provided critical data useful for program fine-tuning and policy development related to refugee interventions in Kenya.
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Year 2009-2019
Country USA
Client
Population Explorer: Web-Services for Small Area Population Estimates
Information Management PROJECTS
USAID responds to humanitarian needs caused by natural and human-made disasters. When a crisis occurs, estimating the number of people affected is most important. This critical information can drive hundreds of millions of dollars in funding decisions, and yet it is most often derived from national governments' and relief workers' best-guess estimates. Further, while responses to emergency situations need to happen immediately, estimates of impacted populations can take time, even months. To address the need for rapid and reliable small area population estimates, Kimetrica developed Population Explorer (www.populationexplorer.com) for USAID's Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). The web-based service allows anyone with access to the Internet to estimate human populations anywhere in the world, including age and sex breakdowns. Population Explorer has become a front-line tool in disaster management and response, allowing responders to quickly estimate populations affected by disasters and other crises. Originally funded in 2009 by USAID, Population Explorer has since become a stand-alone product used not only by the humanitarian sector, but by commercial organizations around the globe. Managed by Kimetrica, the tool continues to evolve, based on feedback and needs of its user community.