The project harmonized data collection and processing across Mali, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic while preserving each field context’s constraints.
- Period
- 2020–2024
- Coverage
- Mali · Burkina Faso · DR Congo · Central African Republic
- Role
- System design, forms and data consolidation
- Tools
- KoboToolbox · XLSForm · API · Excel · Power Query
The challenge
Teams in several countries needed shared indicator definitions and comparable data. Language, connectivity and working-practice differences increased the risk of errors and manual consolidation.
The solution
I designed advanced KoboToolbox XLSForms with constraints, skip logic, consistency checks and multilingual labels. Submissions were then structured for a central repository and cross-site analysis.
Method
Identical indicator definitions and validation rules across all countries, so that data stays comparable from one site to the next.
Every form is tested by the field teams before deployment, to catch wording and translation ambiguities early.
Configured for areas with limited connectivity: local data entry, then deferred synchronization to the server.
Submissions retrieved and processed through API, Excel and Power Query rather than by hand-editing exports.
Variables, rules and flows are documented so the system remains maintainable after the assignment ends.
Outcome
Four capitals
A shared workflow deployed in Bamako, Ouagadougou, Kinshasa and Bangui.
Consistent structure
The same data structure produced by every site.
Cross-site comparison
Country-to-country analysis becomes possible without reprocessing.
Multilingual system
Translated forms, usable in each field context.