Information and communications technology for development, commonly known as ICT4D, is the practice of using technology to achieve development and humanitarian outcomes. CRS established its ICT4D team over a decade ago and it has since grown into a leader in the effective and responsible use of technology and data to advance programmatic quality, impact, and reach. Today, the use of technology is embedded into the majority of all projects implemented by CRS and its partners, enabling adaptive management of projects, communication with program participants, and assistance to reach those in need. We also continue to innovate, working closely with programmatic teams to identify new ways in which technology can add value to the agency’s work. 

Key areas of focus for CRS’s ICT4D practice include:

• Health
• Resilience
• Agriculture
• Emergency response
• Cash and asset transfers
• Monitoring & Evaluation
• Accountability

CRS also organizes the ICT4D Conference, the largest annual event bringing together ICT4D practitioners for knowledge exchange and networking. 

Learn more about how ICT4D impacts CRS’ work around the world.

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ICT4D - Malaria Campaign

Digitalisation des campagnes de masse pour éradiquer le paludisme

CRS staff uses ICT4D devices to register internally displaced, vulnerable households in the Pweto territory of the DRC. CRS provides the tools needed for communities to develop long-term resilience. Photo by Katie Price/CRS

Leveraging technology in programming has a number of benefits, including increasing the efficiency, transparency, and reach of interventions. It can also enable improved targeting of people in need, and strengthen the capacity of program participants to use technology and data for their own benefit.

CRS’s work in digitalizing mass health campaigns has improved campaign transparency and accountability through enabling insights into frontline staff activities and identifying anomalous events in near real-time, as well as through enabling faster, more streamlined payments to staff using digital means. We have also been able to leverage data to optimize distribution sites and processes, and identify underserved and at risk communities to achieve higher campaign coverage. To date, CRS has supported the digitalization of mass health campaigns in over a dozen countries primarily located
in West and Central Africa. In Nigeria alone, over 65.5 million bednets were distributed in 2020-22.  

The ICT4D team also supports cash and asset transfers to people in need, through its Cash and Asset Transfer (CAT) platform. The platform allows of the efficient and transparent distribution of cash to program participants through a number of different modalities depending on contextual needs. In 2022, some $12 million was distributed using the platform in 10 countries. As part of CRS’s response to the Ukraine Crisis, the CAT platform was used to accurately and rapidly distribute emergency multi-purpose cash payments to host families of Ukrainian refugees in Moldova, providing over $700,000 to more than 1,600 Moldovan households over 6 months.

As part of the agency’s work on resilience, CRS has developed a Monthly Interval Resilience Analysis (MIRA) approach that is used for measuring household resilience and well-being for stronger food security and resilience programming. In support of this work, the ICT4D team together with Cornell University has developed machine learning algorithms that allow projects staff to predict households at risk of food shortages one to two months in advance. This early warning information is regularly shared with local village development committees to help them plan and target responses. To date, the MIRA approach has been used in Malawi, Madagascar, DRC, and Ethiopia.

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