WATER KNOWLEDGE NOTE Technology for Results Using Smartphones to Verify Results and Serve the Public in Vietnam’s Water Sector Kai Kaiser, with Lilian Pena P. Weiss, Claire Chase, and Hai Le Tuyen Hong As Vietnam makes the transition from paper-based and manual information systems to digital ones, the World Bank’s Vietnam Program for Results (PfoR) rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS) operations have been pioneering the use of smartphones to verify results on the ground, address customer concerns, and provide information to the public. Because the information collected through smartphones is pinpointed (geospatially referenced), it can be collected much more accurately at the level of households, clinics, schools, and community locations that are the target of the World Bank-backed water and sanitation operations. The data can also be better aggregated to detect patterns, address problems, and monitor and evaluate results about the quality and quantity of water and sanitation services. A web- based platform has been established to disclose water and sanitation program planning documents and resources to the public, along with a call center to deal with customer questions and Diễm Hằng Trần Vũ / World Bank. concerns. The pioneering efforts point the way to wider applications in other sectors beyond water and sanitation, such as road infrastructure or health. Two water and sanitation projects in Vietnam are pioneering For both PforRs, since 2012, the IVA has been successfully the use of smartphones. sampling tens of thousands of households every year using smartphones (including GPS coordinates and photos), • The 2012 project focuses on increasing sustained and the data is on an online database (see figure 1). The access to services and improving planning and data is aggregated at a regional level and then assessed by monitoring and evaluation in the water and sanitation the IVA. Appendix A presents sample questions from the sector (World Bank 2012). questionnaire administered to households by the IVA. • The 2015 project focuses on improving hygiene behavior and increasing and sustaining access to The verification is supported by a platform offered by rural sanitation and water supply in rural areas ONA, a Kenya-based data and technology company. The (World Bank 2015). ONA platform enables data capture, upload, and data visualization and provides a cloud server space for data The two projects build on each other. While the first storage. covers 8 provinces, the second includes 21 provinces. Both projects, as Program for Results (PforR) operations, link The IVA provides a report to SAV and MARD containing the disbursement of funds  directly to the achievement of details of its survey findings and an assessment of the actual specific program results.1 results achieved in the period, based on eligibility criteria and agreed protocols. This report is transmitted to the The projects are designed to help meet the government of World Bank, together with the disbursement request from Vietnam’s National Target Program (NTP) on New Rural MARD (see World Bank 2015, 62). Once the World Bank Development for 2010–20, which plans for significant accepts the verification results, it disburses funds. focused investments in rural areas to reduce inequality and promote growth (World Bank 2015). Three agencies—the The World Bank has found that SAV (together with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), IVA) has provided adequate oversight of the survey teams the Ministry of Health (MoH), and the Ministry of and reporting process (World Bank 2015, 22). Education and Training (MoET)—play important roles in the delivery and monitoring of the projects. The innovative requirement to collect data with smartphones as part of the PforRs seems to have set clear incentives for The Application of Smartphones to Verify data collection. About 12,000 households are sampled and Water and Sanitation Results physically verified per year, based on hardware owned by the IVA. Under the PforR, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) reports results about the quality The Transparency Platform and and quantity of water and sanitation arrangements, Call Center which  are then audited and verified by an independent verification agent (IVA). A government agency with the The RWSS PforR Program has supported two other mandate and credibility to conduct NTP audits (World innovative uses of information technology (IT). Bank 2012, 24), State Audit of Vietnam (SAV), was selected to verify program results, using protocols agreed with the A Transparency Platform has been installed for each of the World Bank.2 SAV is supported by a field work consulting eight provinces that are the focus of the first RWSS PforR. company (named as IVA). Together, they use a desk review It pulls in all relevant information across the project cycle, and physical inspection to verify that all target indicators from planning to implementation to monitoring and have been met before World Bank funds can be disbursed evaluation, such as annual provincial program plans and to the participating provinces. annual implementation performance reports (an example of one such performance report can be found via the following These target indicators are called disbursement-linked url: pl.pforr.vn). It also collects and reports provincial data indicators (DLI) and they play a critical role in PforR collected through geographic information systems (GIS) operations. They provide the government with incentives to (World Bank 2012, 65). achieve key program milestones and improve performance. In this case, the use of smartphones to collect data is A call center has been established, which customers required. can access by smartphone. A summary of the questions WATER GLOBAL PRACTICE | TECHNOLOGY FOR RESULTS 2 FIGURE 1. Household Water Supply and Sanitation Data Collected by the IVA with Smartphones a. Province-level sampling b. Questionnaire response mapping c. Photos collected via smartphones Source: ONA platform. WATER GLOBAL PRACTICE | TECHNOLOGY FOR RESULTS 3 and complaints received through this call center and The application of smartphones for verification of results by the call center’s responses to them are published on the RWSS PforRs represents a concrete and sustained case the Transparency Platform (Beneficiary Feedback), of using smartphone technology for frontline validation of increasing government accountability. In 2018, the call data and feedback from customers. It does not yet represent center handled 87 questions and complaints on water a mainstreaming of this technology within the bureaucracy, and sanitation services. Relevant agencies have largely given that implementation is conducted by a third-party addressed the issues and the responses have been published private entity. The experience does demonstrate, however, on the Platform (see figure 2). The call center can be that well-targeted smartphone use can be achieved, reached within Vietnam via 18008085. contracted directly by government. Emerging Lessons The verification of results has been far more targeted, has been subject to clear annual deliverables, and has benefited from With Vietnam’s establishment in September 2018 of the expertise of external contractors. Given that verification a National Steering Committee for e-Governance led had never been done before, it was easier to introduce by the prime minister, the institutional and technical something new. The cost efficiencies also appealed to SAV. success factors for digital transformation are receiving greater attention. Vietnam’s information systems have The question is whether more versatile technology—such as tended to rely on paper-based reporting, particularly as it modular cloud internet access at the even more decentralized moves up the chain of reporting and consolidation from level of communes (including wider and faster commune- the commune levels. Routine commune contributions level mobile access)—together with institutional drivers can continue to revert to paper-based forms— practices that now set the stage for a new generation of more successful may be hard to disrupt or transform in the absence of the integrated platforms. The experience with digital systems correct incentives. under the RWSS suggests several lessons for moving forward FIGURE 2. The Transparency Platform Source: pl.pforr.vn/web/minhbach/home. WATER GLOBAL PRACTICE | TECHNOLOGY FOR RESULTS 4 in the design of a new generation of integrated systems and sustained use of the system. Successful strategies built on strong institutional and technical due diligence: need to achieve a balance between attaining narrower digital results (in the spirit of the verification of results) 1. New technology platforms need to have a strong while seeking to broaden functionality over time. institutional champion. The framework and incentives 5. Make interoperability integral to a new generation provided by the PforR laid the foundation and helped of systems. Historically, many web-based systems make the verification process a success, but the buy- were not set up for automatic data exchange services in from two agencies was also crucial: SAV and the or application programming interfaces (APIs) National Centre for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (see World Bank 2018, 17). Cloud-based technologies, (NCERWASS), as a cross-cutting administrative however, now make this feature easy to achieve as long organization in MARD that implements state as data are transparent and subject to open standards. management of rural water supply and environmental Interoperability makes the content of different sanitation.3 The biggest value added for the World “data nodes or pools” more current, comprehensive, Bank may be to help design and demonstrate robust and credible, and thus more transparent, but the and versatile platforms. While technology is clearly institutional drivers and incentives need to be secondary to getting the people and process parts of the unambiguous to achieve this functionality. equation right, getting the technology wrong may in turn adversely disrupt the reform process, strengthening If well designed and implemented, building digital information opposition or perpetuating the status quo. flows for decentralized basic infrastructure and natural 2. Continued application needs to be linked to strong resources management can also take a page from disruptive recurrent incentives. The annual PforR verification technology trends in telemedicine. Doctors, engineers, provided one such mechanism. Annual budgets conservationists, and other experts cannot visit every field site, should be closely aligned to adequate digital processes but they can review digital records, helping provide not only and linked to clear incentives and institutional oversight but greater responsiveness to communities. The roles. Ultimately, the modernization of government list of agencies and provinces using smartphone technology processes should have entailed benefits for the end to capture frontline public service delivery information in users and society overall. Vietnam is growing. The Department of Roads of Vietnam 3. Systems ideally need to serve as platforms, without (DRVN) is closely working with Provincial Departments of becoming too complex. ONA provided for a versatile Transport (PDoT) to capture road condition information platform, which in turn could turn could feed into data as part of the Roads PfoR. The Ministry of Agriculture specific repeated business processes — in this case, the and Rural Development (MARD) is looking at smartphones verification of RWSS results. to assess forest and mangrove conditions by location. These 4. While digital data integration is a laudable goal, the initiatives, while in their early stages, indicate the more incentives to achieve this are often too diffuse. Clear widespread using of this technology for the public sector, and results indicators that capture broader development the transformation of Vietnam from a largely paper-based to objectives are needed to reinforce and encourage regular an increasingly digital government. WATER GLOBAL PRACTICE | TECHNOLOGY FOR RESULTS 5 APPENDIX A. CHECKLIST FOR BASIC WATER AND SANITATION DIMENSIONS An illustrative set of questions from the questionnaire h t t p s : / / w w w. d r o p b o x . c o m / s / d y u g r j x 2 f 6 y u t o d​ administered by the Independent Verification Agent /Households%20QRE%202019%20ENG.docx?dl=0. (IVA) follows. To access the complete questionnaire, see Water 1 Piped water into facility or yard/plot 2 Water meter installed 3 Water is available when turning on the tap 4 Having a storage container that holds sufficient amount of water for your household for a full day 5 Water unavailability, including water storage at the household, which is allowed a 10% rate of failure on average per month Sanitation 1 Facility is: (choose one) 1. Dry single or double vault composting toilet with or without urine diversion 2. Dry pit latrine 3. Water-based with pour flush and a water seal to a septic tank 4. Water-based with pour flush and a water seal to a permeable pit 5. Water-based with pour flush and a water seal to a biogas digester 2 Slab or top of containment structure is present and in good condition 3 All holes and access openings of the containment structure are sealed (either with a lid, plug, or a water seal) 4 No leaks or sludge overflowing the superstructure/containment structure and no soil near the septic tank saturated with seepage 5 If the household’s main source of drinking water is a borehole or dug well, then the source must be 10m or more away from the containment structure and soakaway if facility type is dry double vault/dry pit/pour flush to permeable pit latrine (septic tank has no distance requirement) 6 Superstructure provides sufficient protection from rain or other weather elements 7 Sanitation facility appears clean (no visible feces on slab, walls, or area surrounding latrine) 8 Walls and floor of the facility appear easy to clean; for example, they are not porous or cracked 9 No strong odor of urine and/or feces in the latrine facility 10 Superstructure provides the required privacy 11 Slab is a minimum of 20 cm above ground level 12 Effluent from the septic tank or biogas digester is safely disposed of 13 Latrine does not usually flood due to heavy rains WATER GLOBAL PRACTICE | TECHNOLOGY FOR RESULTS 6 NOTES Program Appraisal Document. September 28. World Bank, 1  For more on the Program for Results approach, see  www​ Washington, DC. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated​ .worldbank.org/en/programs/program-for-results​-financing. /en/202611468142768513/pdf/705290PAD0CORR0​ C0disclosed011080120.pdf. While SAV served primarily served as a financial auditor, 2  the World Bank (2012, 29) notes that it has recently ———. 2015. “Results-Based Scaling up Rural Sanitation also gained experience as a RWSS technical performance and Water Supply.” P152693, Program Appraisal Document. auditor. October 21. World Bank, Washington, DC. http://documents​ .worldbank.org/curated/en/283471468189258537/Vietnam​ In the roads sector, the Directorate of Roads of Vietnam 3  -Results-Based-Scaling-up-Rural-Sanitation-and-Water​ (DRVN) is also playing such a role. -Supply-Program-Project. REFERENCES ———. 2018. “Report on the Technical Assessment of the World Bank. 2012. “Results-Based Rural Water Supply and M&E Systems for Rural Water and Sanitation in Vietnam.” Sanitation under the National Target Program.” P127435, July. World Bank, Washington, DC. WATER GLOBAL PRACTICE | TECHNOLOGY FOR RESULTS 7 Connect with the Water Global Practice www.worldbank.org/water worldbankwater@worldbank.org   @worldbankwater blogs.worldbank.org/water © 2019 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank. Some rights reserved. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. This work is subject to a CC BY 3.0 IGO license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo). The World Bank does not necessarily own each component of the content. 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