Application of Web-GIS in Monitoring and Evaluation of Donor Funded Projects Case Study: National Environment Trust Fund

Abstract

This study focused on the development of a web-based Geographic Information System Monitoring and Evaluation portal, a data collection application and a mobile navigation application for the National Environment Trust Fund Green Innovation Awards Programme (NETFUND GIA). The NETFUND GIA programme goal is to award and recognize best practices in order to encourage replication of these practices. The programme has been operational in Kenya since 2012. The overall study objective was to develop a web-based GIS Monitoring and Evaluation portal to enhance programme management at the National Environment Trust Fund. The study spans in 29 sampled counties from the 30 counties NETFUND operates which were incorporated in the system to demonstrate the significance of a system with a national wide outlook. Projects data was acquired from the NETFUND programmes department, phone interviews and onsite data collection of projects nearby Nairobi. Attribute data of the projects provided included funds disbursements, project beneficiary project details and impact data. Actual geographic data was collected for nearby projects and simulated geographic point data was generated using google maps. Photos for projects nearby were taken and archived photos from NETFUND M&E exercise were used for projects that were not easily accessible. County boundaries data was extracted from shapefiles obtained from secondary sources. The datasets were imported on to Google Fusion Tables for analysis and visualisation. Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) were used to create a Front-end User Interface. Google Maps JavaScript Application Programming Interface (API) was used to embed maps visualised in Fusion Tables on to the web pages. The final output was a web-based GIS portal that displayed layers of NETFUND GIA data in form of interactive maps that had added functionality such as pan, zoom and query. The mobile application utilized Open Data Kit suite of software that is open source and the navigation application developed using MIT App inventor utilized google navigation application capabilities. The findings is that Web-based GIS M&E system is effective in monitoring and evaluation since it provides a geographical dimension to project investment, implementation and impact evaluation. This provides a value-add to development of projects, planning on their implementation and making of decisions on areas to invest which will bring a high value for money. It was recommended that government organization should adopt an upgraded system of the same in all state corporation to monitor and evaluate project efficiency and effectiveness with a spatial dimension.