The Data Observation Toolkit: An open source tool to increase trust in public health data

By Mignonne Fowlis, Senior Manager, Product & Programs, DataKind

Data collected by frontline health workers (FHWs) is essential to a robust healthcare delivery system, as is the quality of the data. Missed vaccinations, inadequate maternal care, delayed disease response – these aren’t just statistics, they are the devastating consequences of poor data quality in frontline health systems.

If data collected by FHWs is inaccurate or inconsistent, or the data is mistrusted by decision makers, it undermines the entire healthcare delivery system, leading to poor health outcomes and inequities in healthcare delivery. High-quality care for communities requires improving confidence in FHW-collected data, ensuring it reliably informs patient care, shapes policies, and guides decisions.

What if we could automatically detect these data quality issues before they impact patient care?

An online tool to increase quality and trust of health data

Enter the Data Observation Toolkit (DOT), a community-informed, open-source software and certified Digital Public Good designed to automate data quality checks, detect anomalies, and enhance trust in health data. DOT stands out as a platform-agnostic, cost-effective, and user-friendly solution, designed to meet the needs of governments, NGOs, and frontline health organizations operating in diverse technical environments. For more information on how DOT works, see here.

From Uganda’s maternal health services to Lesotho’s specimen transport systems, DOT is demonstrating how automated data validation can strengthen healthcare delivery in resource-constrained settings. Below, we share three case studies that illustrate DOT’s real-world impact and its potential for broader adoption.

woman uses mobile to enter data while speaking with mother and child — *Photo Credit: Medic*

Improving Maternal Healthcare Service Delivery in Uganda

In 2024, for Uganda’s Lamwo and Ntungamo districts, DOT was integrated into the Ministry of Health’s electronic Community Health Information System (eCHIS), serving over 684,000 people, with training provided for approximately 500 Village Health Teams. During this time, DOT automatically checked 5.3 million data rows, surfacing critical issues that would have otherwise gone unnoticed.

Nearly 8,000 pregnancies with fewer than four antenatal care visits were flagged for follow-up
Multiple pregnancy outcomes incorrectly recorded under single pregnancy IDs were detected and revised
Missed follow-ups and data duplication issues were caught early

These insights enable FHWs to provide more reliable maternal care services, directly improving health outcomes in their communities and building confidence in FHW-collected data.

Its broader application within Medic’s Community Health Toolkit—a platform utilized by over 130,000 frontline health workers across 15 countries—has further streamlined data quality practices, supporting better health outcomes at scale. As of February 2025, DOT is live and fully operational in Uganda. Across the border, a DOT trial is underway in Kenya with the Ministry of Health.

man shows mobile to scientist across a counter with vials of blood — Photo credit: *Riders for Health, photography by Tom Oldham*

Transforming Specimen Transport in Lesotho

In Lesotho, DOT is currently deployed by Riders for Health (Riders), a social enterprise that provides transport for healthcare delivery. Their challenge: managing quality control of data for nearly half a million specimens being transported annually for infectious disease monitoring, across ten districts serving 2.2 million people. Riders had previously relied on manual data quality check processes – an approach prone to errors and inefficiencies.

DOT’s implementation enabled Riders to automate quality checks. Custom tests tailored to Riders’ operational needs, such as time-bound data checks, were developed, enabling faster identification and resolution of discrepancies. A custom cloud-hosted solution was developed to handle spreadsheet-based data, making DOT even more accessible to organizations without complex database systems.

Building on the success in Lesotho, plans are underway to expand DOT’s use to Riders’ operations in The Gambia, Malawi, and Nigeria.

women in GAVI coats and long dresses walking through refugee settlement — *Photo credit: Gavi*

Strengthening Global Vaccine Delivery Systems

Accurate data for vaccination programs can mean the difference between achieving or missing vaccine immunization targets.

In partnership with Gavi and stakeholders across the Gavi Alliance and Innovation for Uptake, Scale, and Equity (INFUSE) Pacesetters, DOT was implemented as a prototype on global immunization datasets. This deployment demonstrated its ability to swiftly identify anomalies, enabling rapid remediation and enhancing the accuracy and reliability of vaccine data. See the demo and read the report here.

This successful proof-of-concept deployment highlighted the broader potential of AI and data science tools in global health. Building on these promising results, plans are underway to develop a scaling roadmap, enabling Gavi and its partners to harness these digital innovations for equitable vaccine access and immunization goals.

Key Lessons Learned

Our work with frontline health organizations has revealed three critical insights about improving data quality in resource-constrained settings:

Automation is indispensable: manual data quality checks simply cannot reach scale and they often miss critical issues that directly affect patient care.
Health organizations require flexible tools that adapt to their reality—whether working with basic spreadsheets or complex databases.
Success hinges on local ownership; when FHWs and health system managers can easily identify and address data quality issues themselves, they’re far more likely to maintain high data standards over time.

At DataKind, success means developing data science and AI solutions that are widely adopted and contribute meaningfully to addressing sector-level challenges. We design our tools to be accessible, flexible, and reusable, principles which were embedded into DOT’s development.

Through our deployments, we’ve seen firsthand how data quality challenges undermine decision-making across multiple sectors. These experiences reinforce the need for platform-agnostic, sector-agnostic solutions like DOT to build trust in data and drive informed decision-making at scale.

Get Involved

If you’re working on an initiative to get insights from your datasets and improve data quality, check out DOT on the Digital Public Goods site, on GitHub, or write to us at partners@datakind.org. You can also connect with us in-person later this year at the Global Digital Health Forum in Nairobi!

DOT was developed by DataKind in partnership with Medic as the first solution to be advanced under DataKind’s work Frontline Health – a funded program to research, design, and build reusable, accessible, and flexible AI and data science tools that strengthen frontline health systems. This initiative was made possible through the generous support and partnership of Wellcome and Johnson & Johnson Foundation, each of whom played critical roles through key phases in the development and deployment of DOT.

By Alyssa Cawley Gonzalez, TechChange Digital Health Program Lead

I’ve facilitated many deliveries of the Digital Health: Planning National Systems (DH:PNS) course since its creation in 2020, from fully synchronous to blended, from Chile to Egypt. But up until last month, I’d never had the privilege of seeing DH:PNS alumni connect in-person to share their digital health experiences.

GDHF 2024 featured first-ever in-person DH:PNS Alumni Event

The Global Digital Health Forum is the world’s largest and most inclusive digital health event, a major relationship- and skill-building opportunity for implementers, vendors, donors, researchers and more. This hybrid conference is planned and delivered every year by TechChange in partnership with the Global Digital Health Network and a plethora of supportive sponsors. Among those is the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), who also sponsors our DH:PNS course and the virtual Community of Practice (CoP) that keeps alumni connected long after they’ve completed their coursework.

So it only made sense to utilize GDHF to convene our DH:PNS alumni and give them the chance to connect in real life. With USAID’s generous sponsorship, TechChange planned the first-ever in-person DH:PNS Alumni Event.

Alumni found common ground and shared experiences through game-based play

After reaching out through the CoP, TechChange convened a group of alumni who were attending the conference in a special side event to conclude the second day of GDHF. The event was designed to offer alumni and trainers the chance to network and share knowledge in an informal setting with tea, snacks, and round tables.

The event kicked off with a digital health icebreaker, where participants introduced themselves and discussed their work. Alongside the TechChange team, Merrick Schaefer, Director of USAID’s Center for Innovation and Impact (CII) in the Global Health Bureau at USAID and the funder of this initiative, gave brief opening remarks to welcome attendees.

Next, attendees split into two groups to play the Architects of Digital Health board game, discussing lessons learned from the game and their own country contexts. It was incredible to see people in person that I had gotten to know through months of online learning, and to watch them organically share their experiences dealing with concepts covered by the game in real life– crucial concepts like interoperability, the enterprise planning approach, and addressing health system challenges.dealing with shocks, and enterprise planning.

Both teams “won” in about 40 minutes, offering valuable insights on digital health initiatives.

Throughout the session, attendees also contributed ideas for future CoP activities on an “Asks and Offers” board. Common requests included live sessions for new modules and a contextualized version of the game. TechChange offered to share new modules and explore more networking opportunities in the future, given that attendees were so excited to see each other in person and build their relationships further.

For participants, the Alumni Event crystallized concepts and relationships

But don’t just take it from me that the Alumni Event was helpful and inspiring–I’m a bit biased! Our alumni took to social media to share their delight and learning experiences from connecting with their fellow alumni at GDHF.

Dr. Beatrice (Wangechi) Kariuki, an Associate Director of Data Analytics from Palladium, reflected on LinkedIn that understanding interoperability in the digital health space has stuck with her thanks to the boardgame. She shared that when she reflected on her experiences at GDHF three weeks later, the top of mind take-away for her was what it means and takes to implement interoperability in the digital health space, specifically noting “the power of games as a tool for experiential learning, [that allow] us to visualize things that are usually invisible… in a safe space where players can change their mind and strategy without impact.”

Shakira Irfaan from the Ministry of Health in Sri Lanka said that “the networking opportunity was just as valuable as the learning experience. It was a pleasure to reconnect with global experts, meet old friends, and make new connections.” PityFaith Nyokabi, an Operations Manager from Kenya added that while GDHF as a whole left a lasting impact on her digital health professional journey, it was even more special since she got “to connect in person with my fellow Digital Health: Planning National Systems course alumni and trainers…and play a more advanced version of the board game Architects of Digital Health.”

Staying connected in the future

The robust and vibrant alumni network of DH:PNS is one of the most special aspects of the course. More than 1000 people from over 90 countries have completed the course, and they work as national planners, funders, implementers and more. They are practitioners and providers, all of whom share a common passion: harnessing the power of digital health to improve health systems and health outcomes for people all over the world.

And it was amazing to see just a small group of them in-person. Our digital health team is eagerly exploring new ways to convene and connect this vibrant community in the future.

Interested in joining a future cohort or learning more about the course? Check out digitalhealthtraining.org to join the movement.

group of smiling people sitting together with board game in front of them

By: Samantha Remeika, TechChange Vice President for Customer Success and Delivery

Right now, the 24th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference is taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan. This global multilateral decision-making forum on climate change brings together nearly every country in the world. One of the key priorities of this year’s COP is securing a new goal on climate finance, to ensure that every country has the resources to take strong climate action for a more sustainable future.

TechChange recently had the pleasure of supporting another event where climate finance had top billing: the Europe and Central Asia Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, the main intergovernmental platform for addressing regional disaster risk challenges for the 55 countries of Europe and Central Asia.

The Regional Platform was hosted by the Government of Montenegro on 6-8 November, 2024, in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, and with the support of UNDP, the European Commission, and the Council of Europe. This dynamic event presented a unique opportunity to address regional challenges such as critical infrastructure issues, early warning systems, and multiple crises compounded by conflict. Stakeholders from local mayors, NGO leaders, and industry experts were brought together in Montenegro and online via this hybrid event to share learnings and build solutions. 331 people registered, benefiting from nearly 20 hours of content in English, Russian and Montenegrin languages.

Climate Emergency and Resilience Finance

On the first day of the convening, one innovative session examined the importance of resilience finance in building climate-resilient infrastructure, enhancing disaster preparedness and response capabilities, and supporting vulnerable communities to adapt to climate change impacts. In “Climate Emergency and Resilience Finance,” a panel of experts and local governmental leaders from six different countries shared their perspectives and experiences in harnessing climate finance tactics to supercharge local and regional initiatives.

One of the speakers, Natalia Alieksieieva, Representative of the Executive Committee of Lviv, Ukraine, talked about how the ongoing war in her country made disaster much closer to everyday people’s lives, and how city to city initiatives and finance initiatives helped to build resilience even in the most difficult circumstances. Another speaker, Susana Sousa Gonçalves, the Director of the Civil Protection Department, in the Municipality of Matosinhos of Portugal, shared about how their group of cities strategized how to share funding and resources such as green bonds and insurance policies to reduce disaster risk. She continued: “We develop solutions locally, and then share them nationally, and regionally.

Work like this is essential in tandem with the top-down measures that will originate at COP, in pursuit of the objectives from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

This session provided a primer on Disaster Risk Financing and how governments and municipalities can be fiscally ready for the disaster up front, using various financial instruments and mechanisms. From sharing tools to outlining the various uses of multi-faceted capital campaigns, attendees of the Regional Platform were given the opportunity to learn about approaches that might work in their local areas, and network with other do-ers who could share their experiences making things happen. As Senior Disaster Resilience consultant Sandra Nedeljkovic said, “since we are connected as a region, a lot of us share the same risks, so it would be good to partner on instruments to face problems together.”

In 2025, TechChange plans to support a variety of hybrid events through the United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction Office, and contribute to this vital issue by convening and connecting committed professionals in forums such as these. We look forward to enabling a wide swath of implementers, governmental leaders, and NGO stakeholders to contribute to the global goals that will come out of COP 2024.

By Bethany Shackelford, TechChange Senior Account Manager for Education

At TechChange, you hear us talking a lot about how we create courses across the spectrum of learning modalities–synchronous, blended, and self-paced (or asynchronous). But what is one thing we don’t talk about enough? We build content in such a way that when needs change, courses can be modified from one modality into another.

This is important for the sustainability and flexibility of any training program. Our recent and upcoming work with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), via a contract with long-time TechChange partner Development Gateway, is a perfect example.

Since 2020, TechChange has worked with IFAD, an international financial institution and specialized United Nations agency focused on agriculture investment, to build out a comprehensive information and communications technology for development (ICT4D) training program. This ICT4D program has two main audiences: internal agency staff all over the world and smallholder farmers, who face a gap in digital tools and resources. This year, TechChange’s efforts are focused on future-proofing the existing IFAD courses so that they are fully self-paced, up to date, and contextualized for key regions.

African woman in field with ipad and phone

Adapting Blended Courses to be Fully Self-Paced

Knowledge management and sharing play a crucial role in IFAD’s ICT4D strategy, which means they have invested significantly in internal resources. The ICT4Ag Digital Classroom is an example of IFAD’s commitment to advancing digital technology adoption through capacity building. The Digital Classroom Series targets mid-senior level staff within IFAD’s Project Teams and partners. Previously delivered in a blended format with TechChange facilitators, this year IFAD asked us to transition the Digital Classroom courses to an asynchronous format, allowing staff and partners to access the content during open enrollment periods.

Can do! We’re delighted to adapt these courses: the Basics of the Principles of Digital Development in Agriculture, the Basics of Digital Agriculture Ecosystems and Interoperability in Agriculture, and the Basics of Digital Rural Finance. We’re migrating the videos, activities, and coursework that make up the blended learning experience we’ve delivered for the past two years into an efficient and clear learning path for the self-directed learner.

That said, one key thing to be aware of in adult learning theory is the value of connecting with others. When we do blended learning, learners can network, chat, and problem solve with one another during the live sessions. In migrating the IFAD courses from blended to self-paced, we are ensuring peer learning by including real-life case studies that bring concepts to life and building an asynchronous discussion forum for learners to connect.

Content previously delivered in live sessions will now be shown in short 3-5 minute videos at the beginning of the modules. Our SMEs that previously helped facilitate the courses, including Peter Njuguna, Martine Koopman, and Nandini Harihareswara, are consulting on the migration to ensure that learning objectives are fully realized in the new versions. Luckily, the content has already been localized to three of the key regions in which IFAD operates: Central Asia, East and Southern Africa, Northern Africa and the Middle East, or West and Central Africa.

The updated Digital Classroom courses will be available for open enrollment from October-November of 2024 and January- February of 2025. IFAD is managing recruitment but please feel free to contact ict4ag-digitalclassroom@techchange.org if you are interested in participating.

Updating Content for New Standards- the Digital Development Principles

DIAL’s Digital Development Principles are absolutely essential material for any ICT4D curriculum. Intended for policymakers, practitioners and technologists alike, the nine principles serve as a compass for sustainable and inclusive development in today’s complex digital landscape. DIAL updated them in May of 2024 to reflect new technological realities (including AI and widely available internet), along with the elevation of themes that have risen to the top in the past ten years of the principles’ use: do no harm, radical inclusion, and the complex risks and opportunities of individual digital data. As a Digital Development practitioner myself, I’ve referred to these principles time and time again in my two years at TechChange.

The Principles are featured in a course dedicated to them: the Basics of the Principles of Digital Development in Agriculture. Since they have been updated, it’s essential that IFAD staff and partner learners understand the implications of the changes for their work with rural people to improve their food security and nutrition through sustainable agriculture.

In a rapidly advancing field like this one, content updates like this are often required. At TechChange, we’re experts at making course updates for our partners to get the most out of content that they’ve already invested in. You don’t have to start from scratch! With the IFAD digital principles example, we’re amending and adding to what they already have to make sure everything is up to date and relevant for their target audiences.

And of course, adding new content

In addition to the above changes, IFAD continues to grow their reach. One last exciting update for 2024 is the addition of a brand-new self-paced course in the Digital Advisory Support services program (DAS) which is designed for Extension Workers and other agricultural field support providers who work with farmers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This course will equip this vital audience with the skills to assess and implement digital tools to address farmers’ challenges and improve agricultural practices. It will be run in two month cycles this fall and winter, with IFAD managing recruitment. You can check out registration for the course here.

This relationship with IFAD has grown and flourished over time, resulting in a comprehensive library of ICT4D courses for specific audiences and needs. Our courses offer partners like IFAD cost-effective options for content delivery, and– as you can see from these examples–can be amended and refined over time to keep pace with changing needs.

If you’d like to learn more about our work with IFAD, read our case study. Or, if you’d like to talk about your learning and training needs, we’d be happy to chat.

By Kalkidan Lakew Yihun, Program Coordinator for CARE Women Respond Initiative and Morgan Meyer, TechChange Senior Manager for Education

A well-done Training of Trainers (TOT) is an effective way to boost the relevance, sustainability, and long-term impact of international development training programs. But in-person they are often high-touch, costly endeavors that require travel and a great deal of resources, from the convening organizations and participants. Can it be done online, while still giving participants the expert facilitation skills and content they need, now and for the future?

This year, CARE partnered with the digital training and events firm TechChange to successfully evolve what was once a five-day in-person training to a five-week blended learning experience for participants from every major region.

VSLA Model for Financial Stability

CARE’s Village Savings and Loan Associations approach provides people–mostly women–

in remote, rural, or low-income communities access to financial services such as savings, loans with interest, and access to social funds (an informal microinsurance) ordinarily reserved for social events and emergencies. These valuable programs offer tools for financial stability and mobility for those who wouldn’t otherwise have it.

The impact for beneficiaries are far reaching: small business creation, negotiating fair prices, advocating for gender equality in their communities, and even pursuing public office. VSLAs go beyond supporting financial inclusion, by engaging women and communities to address root causes of gender inequality.

VSLAs are powerful entry points and platforms for women to achieve increased confidence, negotiation and communication skills, improved agency and self-efficacy to support a range of outcomes across all aspects of their lives from improved health, increased market access, leadership and economic resilience. Through VSLAs, CARE has reached close to twenty million people in 64 countries.

TOT Equips Trainers with Needed Skills

In addition to the technical skills related to the VSLA methodology, trainers who work with the VSLAs must have expert knowledge of adult learning pedagogy, financial and life skill education delivery, and the community contexts in which they operate.

The CARE VSLA TOT addresses these needs through in-depth modules on each phase of a VSLA roll-out, all relevant financial concepts, and conflict management, along with extensive role-play scenarios such as introducing the concept and benefits of a VSLA to community members. These role-play scenarios give trainers real-time opportunities to learn effective communication and delivery of material, practice customizing content based on context, fitting for the cultural, social and religious context of the community– and learn from and with other trainers through each stage of the VSLA methodology.

For example, participants practice acting as “gatekeepers,” or community members such as local leaders or husbands, that would have to agree to women’s participation in the VSLA, in order to better emphasize with all stakeholders and hone their advocacy skills.

From In-Person to Virtual and Accessible

Historically, the VSLA TOT has been a five-day, in person training where VSLA trainers deliver the sessions, and then continue to mentor trained staff. The CARE Global VSLA team wanted to take the successes of the in-person model and build it into a more cost-effective model for sustainability, including building the ability for new actors to form VSLAs.

CARE team content and program experts worked with TechChange instructional designers to take the existing training material and build it into a five week online course, delivered as a cohort-based blended learning experience with asynchronous elements. These once a week, three-hour live sessions with all participants from Africa, Asia, and Latin America covered main topic areas and provided live, instructor-led opportunities to practice the skills covered in the TOT, including simulations and role plays just like previous participants had the opportunity to do in the in-person TOTs.

In between sessions, participants completed self-paced study on relevant modules to prepare for the next week’s meeting. A robust discussion board and weekly assignments through the interactive TechChange platform helped to keep everyone engaged.

Closing out the first cohort

The first cohort completed the blended TOT in June 2024, closing out the session with high attendance and positive feedback. According to the TOT post survey, 100% of participants were satisfied with the quality of the course. 90% of participants strongly agreed that the ToT improved their ability to effectively explain the VSLA Methodology, its benefits and have a deep understanding of the VSLA process. When asked if they would recommend this ToT to others, 100% of participants answered “yes, absolutely.” One participant referred to the technical support and interactive activities as “the icing on the cake.”

After successfully completing the training, participants are certified by CARE to train and mentor Community Based Trainers (CBTs) to strengthen and expand VSLAs in their home territories.

This growth of capacity and knowledge will help CARE to scale the VSLA model more broadly to other local organizations, development organizations and governments throughout the world.

Additional Diversity Training

In addition to rolling out the pilot program of the VSLA TOT, CARE also worked with TechChange to formalize the internal diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging training. TechChange’s instructional designers created a synchronous online course on these crucial topics, working with CARE’s DEBI Center of Excellence.

This course is meant to be taught live by trainers, so TechChange built an accompanying TOT, to train trainers in English, Spanish, French, and Arabic. Going forward, these trainers will train in all four of these languages, continuing the implementation of it as a synchronous program.

The VSLA TOT program will continue as well, learning from the successes of the pilot program, and past in-person versions, and improving in sustainability, relevance, and quality.

Working together, CARE and TechChange have seen that online learning tools paired with programmatic and technical expertise are a winning combination.

By Caroline Ouwerkerk, TechChange Impact Coach

After five years as a certified coach, facilitator, and community builder, I’m delighted to be a part of TechChange’s newest Talent initiative: Impact Coach. This incredible offering pairs social impact professionals with leadership and career coaches to help them discover their goals, plan for difficult transitions, and achieve their full potential. Impact Coach is the only coaching platform specifically designed for purpose-driven leaders in global development, climate change, philanthropy, and non-profit work.

But I’m not here to toot my own horn. I wanted to share a profile of just three of our amazing coaches, each of whom embody the wealth of experience, expertise, and can-do-it-ness needed to get you to the next level in your social impact career.

Mercy Githanji

Areas of Expertise: Global Development; Food Insecurity; Social Enterprise; Children and Youth; Non-profits

When Mercy Githanji resigned from her plush banking job without a back-up plan, many people in her life thought she had lost her mind. But she no longer connected with the work, and wanted to find a new job that aligned with her passions. She “sensed people’s judgmental states, and even felt isolated with no one to turn to for support.” Since then, Mercy has served in leadership roles in development and events management, and become a certified coach to ensure that no one has to feel like she did when she ventured out on her own.

Mercy says that she “aims to to listen, support, and validate anyone’s decision to pursue their dreams. I never want anyone to feel alone or unsupported if I can help it.” The British-educated Kenyan native runs her own consulting and coaching practice, and is an expert in managing difficult transitions such as returning from abroad. She assists clients in coping with and overcoming fears, indecisiveness, and doubts associated with these periods of change.

If you’re reading this blog, I’m willing to bet that it’s because you’re considering coaching. Take it from Mercy: “Coaching is truly transformative, a gift you give to yourself. Have you ever wondered why even the most accomplished athletes rely on coaches? A coach challenges you, motivates you, and instills a belief in yourself that says, ‘I can do this!’”

Caroline Korda Poole

Areas of Expertise: Global Development; Food Insecurity; Social Enterprise; Children and Youth; Non-profits

Caroline Korda Pool has the blend of technical skills, job search know-how, and empathy that, taken together, provide a powerful, solution-oriented container for working with coaching clients. She’s worked in global development, nonprofits, elite universities, and consulting firms–with all sorts of people–so she understands the social impact of the job market broadly, and delights in coming up with new ideas and resources for clients to take after every meeting.

Caroline has even consulted for her alma mater, the prestigious University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she did both her Bachelor’s and Masters in Public Health, and nearby Duke University, helping their graduates find their way in the rapidly evolving job market. Whether it’s finding a job after school, returning to paid work, or a transition into social impact from other fields, it’s her goal to make every client “feel truly seen and heard, as well as empowered with tools and information to move forward with confidence in the career search.”

A talented public speaker who often does career-building webinars for Devex and other development platforms, Caroline says that the best advice she’s ever received is NOT to give advice. She shared: “I really believe that each of us has our own best answers for ourselves within our own hearts and minds. Part of my coaching practice is built around giving clients tools to look within and to trust themselves for what they know to be true.”

Radhika Bhatt

Areas of Expertise: Climate Change; Tech for Good; Social Enterprise; Education; Non-Profit

Radhika Bhatt is a climate career coach with a decade of experience in the social impact industry, a generalist with a wide-ranging skill set including design, program management, systems thinking, coaching, and recruiting. She is a self-proclaimed “serial career changer” who’s hopped from Fortune 500 companies, to start-ups, to nonprofits and government agencies– all of which has given her the lived experience of navigating multiple career changes across different industries.

Radhika has coached career changers on how to effectively tell their career stories to employers, network strategically, ace interviews, and land impactful jobs in the climate and social impact industries. She’s previously partnered with climate organizations like Terra.do, Climate People, and Earth Advisors to help 300+ climate jobseekers craft effective job search strategies and find opportunities in a tough job market and delights in working with people from traditional career paths who are yearning to do something different.

When I asked Radhika what she would say to someone who was considering coaching, but wasn’t sure about making the jump, she shared: “A simple question to ask yourself is this: am I ready to invest in myself? If you are, then your coach can help you find solutions that are in line with your strengths, your goals for yourself, and help you find pathways you haven’t yet thought of or explored. Or, maybe you’re still thinking through your goals or challenges, and you need direction or accountability–that’s also something a coach can help you with. But, you must first take the brave action of stepping into yourself – whether that is time, money, or action. Coaches, mentors, and opportunities can support you the rest of the way.”

If you’ve made it this far, I hope you too make the decision to give yourself– or a professional you care about– the investment of a professional social impact coach. Don’t just take it from me! Caitlin Loehr, who recently worked with Caroline Korda Poole (featured above), said that coaching “helped me to arrive at answers to the questions swirling in my mind about my career path and how to achieve my goals…I felt like I had a much more strategic approach to the application process for several jobs– including the one I recently landed at Cadmus!”

Learn more about Impact Coach’s cost-effective offerings for social impact professionals and teams at www.impactcoach.com.

By Alexander Paone, TechChange Account Manager, Public Health

There is a growing understanding that the health of humanity and our changing planet are deeply intertwined. Right now, the intersection of digital, climate and global health is an emerging area of focus for funders, NGOs, and local actors alike. Critical research is underway linking rising temperatures, coastal flooding and dangers to human health, along with the role technology can play in mitigating those risks. In this rapidly changing landscape, the complex challenges we face as a species will require expertise and action from across sectors.

Enter TechChange’s newest course: Climate Change, Global Health, and Technology: An Intersectional Approach.

This innovative blended learning experience took participants on a four-week journey through the nexus of these fields, exploring cutting-edge solutions for sustainable development. More than 1232 people from 110 countries enrolled in the course, which was sourced from a wait list developed on LinkedIn. Thanks to generous sponsorship by Abt Global, whose mission is to improve the quality of life and economic well-being of people worldwide, participation was offered 100% free of charge.

What does global health and technology have to do with climate change anyway?

From increases in pest-related diseases such as West Nile Virus and Lyme disease, to respiratory and heart diseases linked to increased temperatures and atmospheric pollution, climate change is already worsening health challenges all over the world. Technology can play a transformative role in our approach, particularly in the data that is used to inform decision making and prioritize investment. The four units of Climate Change, Global Technology, and Health are intentionally scaffolded to build upon a foundational understanding of the intersection of these three fields, enabling participants to identify and discuss relevant data and data sources, then to explore adaptation and mitigation strategies that can be leveraged to build climate resilience.

For example, Kenneth Davis from Fraym presented to course participants about hyperlocal risk maps, where scientists can predict disease outbreaks using satellite data on changes in animal habitats. And while these models often miss the impact of human behaviors due to less granular data, Fraym shared how he addresses this gap by combining the satellite data with surveys to provide hyperlocal population insights and predict the combined impact of climate change and human behaviors on disease outbreak risks.

Since none of this happens in a vacuum, Climate Change, Global Technology, and Health: An Intersectional Approach concludes with advocacy training for participants to be able to align climate and health priorities and work towards a better future.

What’s the response been like to the course?

Designed for individuals with a background in public health, environmental studies, climate science, technology, or related fields, participants are professionals with an interest in understanding the intersection of climate change, health, and technology. An incredibly diverse group participated in this first cohort, from a Ministry of Health official in the East African country of Cosmoros to a university student in Papua New Guinea. Their feedback after completing the course reinforced the importance of the subject matter and its direct applicability. 100% of participants indicated the course material was relevant and practical to their work.

One participant called the mix of self-paced modules, live webinars, group discussions, and interactive activities “a very productive and meaningful experience,” while another commended the “diversity of the group and interactions with new people, since climatic determinants of health can be a taboo topic in Low- to Moderate- income countries to even think about.”

What will course graduates do differently?

From utilizing data to inform decision making to advocating for climate and health priorities, participants rated themselves as more knowledgeable across all concepts in comparison to the pre-course survey. And graduates are planning to put that knowledge into practice. More than 75% indicated that they would share course resources and knowledge with others in their professional networks, and work to implement activities that support climate resilience or reduce emissions.

A microbiologist from the country of Djibouti who completed the course put it best: “This course improved my knowledge and skills in tackling challenges related to climate change and heath. Now I’m able to use some of the technology that is available in our organization to decrease the impact of climate change on health and present projects for better health care systems.”

Want to prepare yourself for a changing world? Join the waitlist for the next cohort today. Interested in funding a new cohort? Contact us here.

By Rose Nyzoka, Co-Chair of the Global Digital Health Network and Country Representative at Palladium

The Global Digital Health Forum is where the world of digital health practitioners, experts, and funders comes together– it’s also one of my favorite times of the year, as co-chair for the Global Digital Health Network. I love reconnecting with friends and colleagues, and meeting new potential collaborators from across the globe. At 2023’s in-person event in Washington D.C., I had the opportunity to give opening remarks with my fellow GDHN co-chair, Carol Kamasaka. I urged participants to take take advantage off the new innovation of live watch parties we were bringing to in GDHF2023 to hear more voices and experiences from country teams in Kenya, Tanzania, St Lucia, Nigeria, Chile, and Indonesia.

The learnings from last year’s event are still fresh in my mind, particularly the exhortations by USAID Assistant Deputy Administrator, Sangita Patel, in her keynote address, where she rallied us as digital health actors to go beyond experimentation and embrace ecosystem-wide interventions that are lasting and sustainable. This was echoed by government leaders from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Haiti, Ghana, and Indonesia, who called for an increased focus on digital health goverance and the coordination of donor investments.

Eco-system wide interventions and proper governance don’t just happen– they will be the direct result of sustained conversation and collaboration between digital health experts from low- to middle-income countries along with high-income countries. GDHF is an essential part of that conversation, and I urge you to join us this year to add your voice.

Our network, working with TechChange as the operational support partner for the GDHF event, has just announced the location for the 2024 in-person site, and I’m thrilled to share that it’s my home city of Nairobi, Kenya! Digital Health programming in Kenya has come a long way, including development of standards for digital solutions, transitioning from paper to digital patient records, and enactment of Digital Health Act 2023, legislation that provides a framework for provision of digital health services, establishment of a comprehensive integrated digital health information system, data governance and protection of personal health information and service delivery through digital health interventions. The Ministry of Health is excited to co-host this event with GDHN, a testament of Kenya’s commitment to its digital health vision. Hosting the main event in Kenya provides the opportunity to center African expertise and programming, and I can’t wait to welcome our global digital health community to Nairobi.

When I say the in-person GDHF 2024 , I want to clarify that’s because GDHF is quite intentionally a hybrid event, with virtual programming on the TechChange platform throughout the entire conference, as well as local watch parties in different countries in key time zones where local leaders and experts can gather together to participate, network, and share their own experiences. So, whether or not you’re able to come to Kenya this year– though I hope you do!– that’s not your only option for participating.

Calls for workshop presentations will go live in a couple of months, we will keep you posted and welcome you to share your ideas.

See you in Nairobi, or online.

By Sylvia Mwelu, Digital Health Technical Lead at KeHIA and Nairobi Watch Party Host

In the fast-paced world of digital health, collaboration is the foundation for innovation. As we navigate the ever-changing digital health ecosystem, the solutions to our complex challenges lie in the engagement of diverse minds working towards a common goal. Recently, the Kenya Health Informatics Association (KeHIA) had the distinct honour of hosting a local watch party for the Global Digital Health Forum from Nairobi, Kenya. This experience exceeded our expectations and demonstrated the transformative power of partnership, as well as laying the ground work for the future of the event itself.

What We Saw at the Kenya Watch Party
One of the most important takeaways from the 2023 Kenyan event was the variety of perspectives that came together under the virtual (and in-person) roof of our watch party. Representatives from various organisations participated in dynamic discussions that went beyond organisational boundaries, each bringing their own unique insights and experiences. The exchange of ideas was intellectually stimulating, and laid groundwork for potential synergies and partnerships that could propel collective progress in the digital health space here in Kenya.

Participants watching a panel at Kenya Watch Party

The sessions were an immersive experience that deepened our understanding, broadened our network, and fuelled our enthusiasm for future engagements. The event’s seamless organisation and execution was critical. From the engaging panel discussions to the interactive Q&A sessions, every aspect of the event was carefully curated to provide participants with a platform to absorb the latest information on trends in digital health while actively contributing to the conversation.

Reflections on Hosting a Local Watch Party for a Global Event, and GDHF 2024

KeHIA worked with TechChange and HELINA to organise this watch party, and the experience was extremely rewarding. Witnessing our members’ enthusiasm and engagement as they connected with professionals present in the room and those from all over the world reaffirmed the value of such activities. Digital health initiatives don’t happen in a regional or national context only, and it is essential to incorporate global best practices and cross-regional approaches in our work.

Looking ahead, we are excited about other potential partnerships with TechChange and other groups who participated in this global event. I’d like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Techchange, World Bank, and Medic for giving us the opportunity to host this watch party. The synergy displayed during the event has left a positive and indelible impression on our organisation, and we eagerly await future opportunities to work together to shape the future of digital health globally, and here in Kenya, including the main event for GDHF 2024, which will take place here in Nairobi.

By Otse Ogorry, Evans Ondura, Samuel Atanda, and Olo Okoye

The Global Digital Health Forum is a global hybrid event that convenes thought leaders, experts, and enthusiasts from around the world to explore the intersection of technology and public health. One key element of GDHF is local “watch parties,” including the GDHF Nigeria Watch Party, hosted by the Palladium Group, in collaboration with the Health Strategy Delivery Foundation, on December 5th, 2023 at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja.

Elements of the GDHF Nigeria Watch Party

Virtual participation in live panel discussions from Washington DC, with interactive questions and answers.
Hybrid plenary session on digital-first approaches, streamed to audiences in both Washington DC and virtually.
A panel discussion with senior Nigerian Ministry of Health officials, private sector representatives, and civil society, addressing digital health investments in the country, also streamed to virtual audiences world-wide.
Pop-up studio interviews with attendees.
Networking and side meetings to spur collaboration.

Nearly 50 attendees helped to make the Nigeria Watch Party a dynamic and engaging experience. Stakeholders from Nigeria’s public and private health sector engaged in dynamic discussions across various sessions, generating ideas and significant strategies for action.

Cross section of Panelists and Attendees

Nigerian Watch Party Sessions and Insights

In an era where digital innovation is reshaping industries globally, there is a widely recognized need for digital health investments in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation. In “The Future of Digital Investment Coordination,” industry experts emphasized the importance of collaborative efforts in mobilizing resources and coordinating digital health investments effectively. Insights centered on the necessity of strategic partnerships and innovative financing mechanisms to maximize the impact of digital health interventions in Nigeria.

The Plenary session, “Digital-First Approaches to Health in Nigeria,” underscored the transformative potential of prioritizing digital technologies in healthcare delivery. Participants explored the role of digital-first strategies in enhancing access to quality healthcare services, strengthening health systems, and driving efficiencies across the continuum of care. The session illuminated pathways for leveraging technology to overcome barriers and accelerate progress towards universal health coverage in Nigeria.

In “Charting the Future: Driving Digital Health Investments in Nigeria“, stakeholders deliberated strategies to unlock investment opportunities and foster an enabling environment for digital health innovation. Discussions revolved around regulatory frameworks, policy incentives, and public-private partnerships to incentivize investment and stimulate innovation in the digital health ecosystem. Participants emphasized the need for targeted interventions to address gaps in infrastructure, capacity-building, and data governance to realize the full potential of digital health in Nigeria.

As organizers, hosting the GDHF Watch Party in Abuja was an enriching experience, offering a platform to amplify the dialogue on digital health investments within the Nigerian context. As organizers, it was encouraging to feel the palpable fervor and commitment of participants to advance the digital health agenda. The exchange of ideas sparked lively debates, formed new partnerships, and inspired creative thinking on leveraging digital technologies to improve health outcomes.

What does the future hold?

We are confident that the momentum, insights, and deeper relationships generated by the Nigerian Watch Party will contribute to a healthier, more equitable future for our country. We are grateful to the GDHF organizers, HSDF, Palladium, and the TechChange team for their contributions, and look forward to hosting more collaborative events in the future. Together, we will continue to drive innovation, investment, and collaboration to realize the transformative potential of digital health in shaping the future of healthcare in Africa and beyond, including at GDHF 2024 in Kenya.