Track and trace models facilitating book distribution and more access

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Research evidence indicates that in low income countries books that are produced do not make it to their final destination in schools due to various inefficiencies. Books meant for free distribution find their way in the market for sale to parents and students. Books get destroyed or lost due to poor packaging and warehousing before they reach their final destinations. There are cases where in district offices, one finds supply rooms filled with books that never reached the schools due to a variety of factors. In Uganda, there was a case where lower primary resource books were produced in different local languages, but the books were sent to the wrong language communities yet, no one noticed it until they were already out in schools, at which point it was virtually impossible to bring them all back (Crabbe, Nyingi & Abadzi 2014).

Following country studies on book distribution in Sub-Saharan Africa, Fredriksen, Brar & Trucano (2015) concluded:
Many textbook distribution systems in Sub-Saharan Africa are seriously dysfunctional, leading to very high levels of stock loss and damage, resulting in substandard textbook:pupil ratios in a majority of Sub-Saharan African countries.
Most governments and development partners are unaware of the extent of wastage caused by poor national distribution systems. Thus, there are relatively few examples of sustained, well-planned, professional project components aimed at upgrading book distribution capacity and performance.
Textbook distribution is still maintained as a state or ministry of education activity in many countries, but the ministries rarely have the finances, facilities, knowledge, and skills needed to perform this job. This is particularly true at the critical district levels where storage and delivery from districts to schools represent very common problems in most Sub-Saharan African countries.
Effective planning is constrained by inaccurate data and by lack of simple, professional management and monitoring systems designed to ensure that schools receive and maintain the supplies that they require. Creation of such systems including a reliable, computerized database trained staff, and effective system supervision and accountability mechanisms would improve the situation dramatically in most countries.

Education for sustainability cannot be achieved if teaching and learning materials for supporting reading instruction and learning in schools in general are not getting into the hands of students. Innovations to track and trace books are being piloted in several countries, many initiated by All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development’s Tracking and Tracing Books prize competition. Organizations are conducting pilots and have accumulated a lot of experience to share with international stakeholders in education.

Understanding the need for Track and Trace solutions, the Global Reading Network (GRN) in partnership with the Global Book Alliance (GBA) and All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development (ACR GCD) organized an internal discussion with early grade reading community of practice members to take stock of current initiatives. The objectives of this panel are to:
Share best practices of Track and Trace initiatives being implemented to facilitate book distribution in developing countries.
Highlight challenges encountered at the country and the program level and possible solutions.
Gather additional information from other CIES participants on book distribution initiatives, and advocacy and technical support needed from global organizations such as GRN, GBA and ACR GCD to forward this work.

The panel will include four organizations – one promoting Track and Trace initiatives and three organizations doing deployment and actual implementation of Track and Trace solutions in various countries.

Aristarick Lyimo, representing the Global Reading Network/Reading within Reach, will introduce the panel. Global Book Alliance, as chair of the panel, will open with a brief overview of the GBA approach to making books accessible to all children by 2023 through print distribution – the challenges and options. Supply chain issues vary by country although common challenges include weak demand forecasting, poor management systems, inadequate financing, lack of trained staff and inefficient distribution. A key problem in distribution, the largest source of inefficiency, is availability of accurate data, weak EMIS systems and poor supply chain management, including poor storage, replenishment and reporting systems. Supply chain tracking improvements with the help of technology could also increase efficiencies in distribution. This brief overview will set the stage for why track and trace technical solutions, as one component of the supply chain process, can address the issue of providing adequate data and tracking that data for successful, on-time distribution. The panelists will then offer key information needs for better management.

The first presentation by Creative Associates will discuss the organization’s approach in Track and Trace that has been built based on various Track and Trace solutions that this organization has deployed in various education projects in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Mozambique. The presentation will also highlight lessons learned from multiple systems in Afghan context, opportunity for blockchain approaches to book delivery Track and Trace, the organization’s blockchain protocol and call for global participation. In addition, it will share a sample case of considerations for adopting the blockchain protocol from the standpoint of potential stakeholders in Afghanistan.

The second presenter, Community Systems Foundation, will share a vision and prototype for a solution underpinned with Blockchain technology - a solution that strengthens the integrity of the data, while providing potential for integration of results-based financing and/or data warehousing with EMIS data to inform future procurement planning. The presentation will demonstrate how using “blocks,” or chains of data with OpenEMIS Logistics which is an open-source and real-time data driven solution, can support tracking movement of teaching and learning materials from packaging to final delivery.

The third presenter, John Snow, an organization working closely with Ministry of Education and Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) to enhance book distribution in Cambodia, will discuss preliminary results from the organization’s Track and Trace system piloting for book distribution in 400 schools in Cambodian context. The presentation will demonstrate how the piloted Track and Trace system works, share the lessons learned in the design and implementation of the tracking and tracing system in textbook distribution, and the long-term vision for the system.

References:
Crabbe, R., Nyingi, M. & Abadzi, A. (2014). Textbook Development in Low Income Countries: A Guide for Policy and Practice. Washington DC: The World Bank.
Fredriksen, B., Brar, S. & Trucano, M. (2015). Getting Textbooks to Every Child in Sub-Saharan Africa: Strategies for Addressing the High Cost and Low Availability Problem. Washington DC: The World Bank.
Individual Abstracts

Name of Presenter: Ayan Kishore
Institution: Creative Associates International
Topic: Reflections and road ahead for Track & Trace: The opportunity, technology and call for a global education materials Track and Trace information ledger

Creative Associates International has deployed Track & Trace solutions in various USAID funded education projects in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Mozambique with partners, to provide real-time insights into the delivery of teaching and learning materials from printers to schools. Delays and leakage in the book chain affects the quality of education children get in schools without books, and Track & Trace systems hold promise to improve processes with better insights on what’s happening in the book chain.

In USAID Afghan Children Read, Creative deployed a customized commercial Track & Trace solution, and then scale deployed an inventory tracking system in coordination with the Ministry of Education. There are other solutions being deployed in different projects by different implementing partners funded by different donors. There is an opportunity for global coordination and data across different countries and projects, for each project to learn and improve. Within a country itself incentivizing various actors in a book chain to achieve the goals of making books available to students on time is an opportunity that real-time information and trust can enable.

Outside education, a new technology that is transforming supply chains worldwide is blockchain or digital ledger technology. We posit that blockchain can bring immense value for international education materials delivery coordination and efficiency. Building on Creative’s USAID Afghanistan and other Track and Trace work, Creative have built a blockchain protocol and solution for international education book delivery that would allow for multiple technology solutions and vendors, yet have continuity and transparency across donors, implementing partners, ministries of education and various actors in a delivery chain. It enables a standard information layer that provides indelible data on global book delivery and a trust platform for results-based financing in the book delivery chain via smart contracts. It enables data sustainability for governments and donors so that solutions can differ as one project transitions to another, one implementer to another, but there is a trusted education materials information layer consistent across solutions.

We have built this blockchain infrastructure for book tracking and are signing on interested partners to adopt this protocol. Any Track and Trace vendor or technology or data collection solution can connect to this, such as OpenEMIS Logistics (Community Systems Foundation), GraphLI, etc. We along with others who join us are convening a global education consortium around this.

In this talk, we will share our approach at Creative with book Track & Trace, lessons from multiple systems in the Afghan context, the opportunity for blockchain in book delivery track & trace, our developed blockchain protocol, call for global participation, and sample case of considerations for adopting the blockchain protocol from the standpoint of potential stakeholders in Afghanistan.

Name of Presenter: Vinodh Subramanian
Institution:Community Systems Foundation
Topic: OpenEMIS Logistics: Leveraging Emerging Technology to Strengthen Trace and Trace’

In response to global concerns to a lack of quality education, especially for those who need it most, Community Systems Foundation (CSF) developed OpenEMIS Logistics - a system to track and trace the delivery of education resources. OpenEMIS Logistics engages the community to ensure accountability and transparency, while providing the Ministry of Education with tools to administer and manage a complex and critical disbursement plan. To further strengthen the approach, CSF has developed a proof-of-concept solution that leverages blockchain technology to improve OpenEMIS Logistics by providing an immutable and transparent data ledger to better track education resources. Through the panel, CSF will share a vision and prototype for a solution underpinned with Blockchain technology -a solution that strengthens the integrity of the data, while providing potential for integration of results-based financing and/or data warehousing with EMIS data to inform future procurement planning. Using “blocks,” or chains of data, created at each point along the shipment process, OpenEMIS Logistics, an open-source, real-time data driven solution, tracks the movement of resources from packaging to final delivery. This system aims to ensure the equitable distribution of educational resources and improve the governance and management capacity of counterparts in the Education sector and would continue to maximize students’ opportunities to learn.

Name of Presenter: Sarah Andersson
Institution: John Snow Inc.
Topic: Creating Sustainable Book Distribution Systems using Track and Trace Technology

Enhancing Book Distribution in Cambodia project, implemented by World Education Inc. (WEI), is working closely with Ministry of Education and Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) to design and test a tracking and tracing system to strengthen the supply chain for textbooks and ensure they reach the schools they were destined for in a timely manner and in the right condition. A feasibility assessment conducted by WEI at the beginning of the project highlighted a well-known picture of a textbook supply chain that is characterised by delay, inefficiency and inaccuracy at every stage. The result is that new textbooks do not arrive in time for the new school year, with a second delivery arriving considerably later, and contents of deliveries rarely match requirements.

Based on the findings the MoEYS and WEI agreed to adapt the Track and Trace system to the Cambodian context to improve the textbook supply chain by providing timely data and accurate book projections for budgeting and procurement and tracking of “real time” distribution. The project undertook a user centered design approach by engaging MoEYS to map current processes and design a tool that streamlined tasks and created accountability and transparency.

Track and Trace (TnT), developed by John Snow Inc. (JSI) and World Education Inc. (WEI) is a technology solution that is designed to increase the visibility and efficiency of the textbook supply chain. The three main features of TnT are:
1) timely reporting of school admission and book balance data to inform accurate projecting book needs for budgeting and procurement by central ministry
2) tracking “real time” distribution of textbooks and providing visibility of issues - delayed, missing or damaged – for taking timely action
3) engaging school communities to confirm books arrive and to conduct classroom spot checks post-delivery to ensure textbooks are available in classrooms.

TnT utilizes various communication technologies to enable reporting of information and tracking of books and school materials throughout the ordering and distribution process. Chatbots through Telegram are used by school directors and School Support Committee members to submit textbook projections and receipts and to conduct spot checks in classrooms. District and warehouse staff use a smartphone application for packing and distribution and uses barcodes for tracking orders. Central level staff use a web-based dashboard for monitoring performance.

The process of designing the TnT system highlighted many of the challenges with the current process, such as out of date data used for making book projections, long, complicated procurement cycles preventing timely distribution and inadequate monitoring of the distribution. As a result the MoEYS began making small changes to improve efficiency even before the technology was implemented.

Distribution for 2018 begins in November and the Track and Trace system will be properly tested at this time in 400 schools. During this presentation we will present preliminary results from that distribution, demo the dashboards to the participants and present the lessons learned in the design and implementation of a tracking and tracing system for textbook distribution and the long term vision for the system.

Sub Unit

• SIG: Global Literacy

Chair

• Linda Hiebert, US Agency for International Development (USAID)

Presenters

• Aristarick John Lyimo, Global Reading Network (GRN)/REACH

• Sarah Ruth Andersson, JSI

• Ayan Kishore, Creative Associates International

• Vinodh Subramanian, GraphLI