The Power of Digital Tools: A Community-Based Training and Tracking Application to Strengthen Health Outcomes

This brief by Abt Global discusses the application of digital tools to build capacity for both tracking activities and analyzing service quality and trends so providers can develop more responsive interventions.

It describes the benefits of a CommCare-based, Abt-deployed Community-Based Events and Continuing Medication apps, developed for the USAID-funded Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Activity in Tajikistan. The Activity’s goal is to improve the nutritional status of mothers and of children under two, and reduce their morbidity and mortality rates—by increasing the availability of high-quality, life-saving health services.

The Community-Based Education app has been successfully used by 307 facilitators in four districts in Tajikistan and by 12 participating District Coordinators and in Health Lifestyle Centers. It collects and stores data, and facilitates data analysis, on community-level outreach activities, including meetings, trainings, and mentoring and supportive supervision visits

Digital tools like this help identify key barriers to and motivators for behavior change, leading to more effective messages and interventions. Project implementers can now compare participant training data with other Healthy Mother Healthy Baby indicators to identify where additional targeted trainings are needed.