IFRC’S COMMUNITY BASED SURVEILLANCENEWSLETTER

January 2019 — Issue 2

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The January CBS Codeathon 4.0 in Oslo was a big success!

The 4th Red Cross CBS Codeathon took place in Oslo, Norway on Jan 18 -19 and it was the best one yet! In this 48-hour coding marathon, 68 people — 12 health experts and 56 volunteer developers, statisticians, project managers and others- met to work together and improve on the existing CBS platform.

As you probably know, a minimal version of the CBS platform is currently being used in Somaliland by the Somali Red Crescent Society to monitor health risks in communities. This minimal version (called Minimum Viable Product or MVP in “tech-speak”), has been invaluable as a proof of concept but needs more functionalities to make the work of the CBS RC volunteers and staff easier.

This time around, two of the key tasks during the Codeathon included building an automatic alert system, and automatic visualization of data.

The automatic alerts function will allow the platform to send messages (via email or SMS) to pre-selected people (for instance, the CBS supervisor, or the project coordinator), letting them know if the number of SMS reports being sent by the volunteers have reached a pre-defined threshold.

For example, for health risks that meet the Ebola community case definition, these automatic alerts could be sent as soon as a single case is reported by the volunteers, but the threshold could be higher (say 3–5 SMS received from the volunteers), for acute watery diarrhea or other health risks.
We are proud to report that the Alerts Team managed to produce a minimal version of this function by the end of the Codeathon!

The data visualization function will allow the platform to automatically show beautiful graphs of the SMS reports being sent in by the volunteers. The project coordinators will be able to see in real time an “epi curve” of SMS received from the volunteers fitting the community case definitions for each health risk, as well as graphs disaggregating this data by age and sex.

Today, project coordinators need to download all the data and create these graphs themselves in Excel. This will save a lot of time and facilitate detecting and responding earlier to potential outbreaks.

The Analytics Team managed to map all the analysis functions and graphs needed, and even show these graphs using — for the time being — fake data. The function will be linked to real platform data as we move forward.

In addition, the Reports, Admin, Migration and Documentation teams made impressive strides with parts of the system that are not so visible to the users but are key to moving the project forward and increasing platform stability.

We want to thank all the amazing digital volunteers that showed up for this Codeathon, working enthusiastically to help us develop these new functionalities which will make CBS work on the ground more efficient!

Curious as to what a Codeathon looks like? Watch a short video of the Codeathon 3.0 here!

If you want to read more about the Codeathon 4.0, check out this post in the IFRC blog!

An insider’s account — “My first RC Codeathon”

In case you are wondering what it’s like to participate in a Codeathon, or you want to lure your developer friend into attending the next one, here’s an insider’s account! Many thanks to Ginta for accepting to be interviewed!

Ginta Solynte is a data transformation and business intelligence consultant participating in her very first RC Codeathon. She works for an insurance company in Norway. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Interviewer: How did you hear about this event?
Ginta: It appeared on my Facebook feed through Frivillig.no (an association in Norway linking volunteers to projects and organizations), but I heard about it a little bit late, so I had to convince my manager to let me go, and I had to write all these arguments on why it was important to participate.

Interviewer: Why did you choose to participate in a RC Codeathon?
Ginta: For me humanitarian issues are very important. I find it extremely interesting that I can actually contribute by using my core competencies. Before learning of the RC Codeathon, each time I’ve wanted to volunteer, it would be outside of my professional skills, cooking lunch or taking care of kids, for example. I think it is fascinating that you can actually help through something that you know very well and that you’re really good at.

Interviewer: How would you describe this event to someone who has not been a part of it?
Ginta: Basically, it’s a two-day event, and you come without knowing what you are going to work on exactly. Or maybe you know a little, if you read a bit about it beforehand, but you don’t need to know. The Red Cross takes care of the initial planning and provides a list of what needs to be done. But there is a lot of things happening on the go. There are issues that we would like to solve, and then we need to set up priorities, divide the tasks and try to get some progress on them. I think it went really well, for 2 days we made a lot of progress.

Interviewer: And do you spend all the time coding or working on the computer? How is it like?
Ginta: Oh no, definitely not. There is also a lot of information being shared on CBS. You get a really good introduction. I think it is also nice that you get presentations from people who are working in the field, which is really motivating. On the first day, you have an opportunity to try the CBS platform yourself, which is amazing because it lets you see it from the perspective of the volunteer.
I think networking is also very nice, talking to people and hearing what they are doing in other companies.

Interviewer: So, we’ll have you here for the next Codeathon, hopefully?
Ginta: Yeah, definitely, if I’m in Oslo, I would like to join. And I will hold a presentation for my colleagues, so more people will hear about it, too.

Thanks so much Ginta for your insider’s account! And we hope to see you at the next Codeathon!

A day in the life of… a CBS delegate

And in case you are wondering what it looks like for those working in the field, we are also compiling stories that we will be sharing in this “A day in the life of…” series. We’re starting off with an interview with Guddu Kaur. Thanks Guddu for accepting to be interviewed!

Guddu Kaur is a CBS delegate working with the Norwegian Red Cross and based in Nairobi, Kenya. Guddu has been supporting the Somali Red Crescent Society with their CBS project in Somaliland. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

We asked Guddu what a day in the life of a CBS delegate looks like. And here is her answer!

“Anything can happen, I think that’s what really exciting about the field. But I think that on the average day, I’ll be sitting in Nairobi, looking at my dashboard or analytics in the morning and seeing what’s been happening since yesterday in Somaliland. I’m actually seeing live reports come in through my dashboard thanks to the CBS platform. If there is something that raises an alert, I’m following up with the national society.

Or I can have these in between days where I’m sitting frustrated in Nairobi because security regulations won’t allow me to go into the country. And I’m receiving all these updates from the field, but I might not be able to get in touch with the National Society to find out what is happening, because they are so busy with whatever is going on.

If it is turns out it is a field day and I’m flying out to Hargeisa in Somaliland, I’m waking up at 3 am, on a 5 am flight out of Nairobi, I’m arriving there by 11 or 12, and racing out of the airport to go catch the staff from the National Society. And then after work it will be an evening at the hotel.

While I’m there, I may or may not be able to go out on a field visit — depending on security conditions- to check out what is happening in the project sites. If I do end up going on that field visit, when I get to Burao I have this usual stop to visit the branch coordinator and have tea and discuss what’s happening. And then I’ll go and talk to the team and find out about all the new things that have been happening. Everyone is on their phone all the time, communicating with other people.

And if I’m really lucky, I get to meet the volunteers that are actually doing the work on the ground. And then you realize, this is THEIR project, and you realize how small you are in the whole project, which is really humbling and cool. It is very easy to think that it is any one of us doing one specific thing that makes the whole machinery work, but it doesn’t work that way. There are so many people involved.

Then there are all these “things”. For example, on the way to Hargeisa up to Burao, we pass through Berbera so I get to see the ocean and the shoreline of Somaliland and I’ll look out across at Yemen, which is mind-blowing. And you always stop at the Yemeni restaurant, like it’s a “thing” that you do. And you pass baboons and camels on the road. And in the summer it’s like 40 degrees Celsius, so its really hot and you’re completely covered up…

So, your day can be really varied. You can be sitting in Nairobi working on your computer for 8 hours of the day, or you can have these amazing field visits where you can actually see what is happening on the ground. I don’t think I can say that there are two days in a row that are the same. Every day is a bit different, anything can happen in a day, you don’t know what your day is going to look like!”

Thanks Guddu for painting such a great picture of what a day in the life of a CBS delegate can look like! Stay tuned for our next interview in the February issue!

February newsletter preview — Great news from Uganda Red Cross!
Uganda Red Cross Society launched a CBS project in December, and we’ll tell you all about it in the February Newsletter! In the meantime, here is a video.
Congratulations to the staff and volunteers involved!

RC CBS World — What’s happening?

• The first CBS Technical meeting is coming up! Save the date: 19 to 21st of March in Budapest, Hungary. This meeting is open to all RC technical staff (health, DRM, IM, etc) working on CBS or interested in starting a CBS project. Invitations are coming soon to National Societies, IFRC regional offices and country clusters.
• The RC CBS platform is on the shortlist nomination for the Global Mobile Award’s Best Mobile Innovation supporting Emergency or Humanitarian Situations! It is thanks to the efforts of all involved. Congratulations!
• The 5th Red Cross Codeathon will take place in April 2019! And for the first time it will happen outside Oslo. The Senegalese Red Cross together with the Belgian Red Cross are hosting us in beautiful Dakar, Senegal. Stay tuned to the CBS blog and newsletter for more info!
• If you don’t want to wait until April for another Codeathon, join us in one of our Code Evenings! The next one is happening on February 6th, in Oslo, and you can sign up here!