Leveraging Remote Management, Monitoring and Verification (RMMV) for improving resilience and impact in times of crises

Carmen Hentschel

Khaled El Attar, Vice Minister Automation, Digital Transformation and Administrative Development, Ministry of Communicatioins and Information Technology, Egypt

“Digital Transformation is not a technological change, it is a change of mindset.”

Robert Opp, Chief Digital Officer, UNDP

“RMMV systems offer an invaluable means for UNDP to continue our support in remote areas or challenging contexts such as those in crisis and/or conflict. We are deploying technologies such as satellite imagery and mobile phones to remotely monitor and manage the channeling of assistance for partners.”

Martin Wimmer, Chief Digital Officer, BMZ

“The recent crises have emphasized the importance of remote modalities in international development – the new network [digital.global] recently launched by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) will provide a forum for the exchange of all stakeholders on RMMV.”

Prof Dave Snowden, Director and Founder, The Cynefin Centre

“The complexity of the current world requires a significant shift to real-time monitoring of a range of indicators, and ethically we need to ensure ‘epistemic justice’: the right of people to interpret their own situation and needs. Monitoring as evaluation and distributed decision making are key.”

Gloria Ingabire, Divison Manager Enterprise Architecture, Rwanda Information Society Authority

"RMMV is a management approach that focuses on achieving measurable results, monitoring progress, and verifying outcomes. Without RMMV, it is difficult to determine whether or not development interventions are actually achieving their intended goals."

Jasmina Haynes, CEO, Integrity Action

“RMMV provides a strong framework and transformational opportunity for embedding citizen centered accountability across a wide variety of stakeholders' sizeable investments and delivery of development projects.”

Meg Sattler, CEO, Ground Truth Solutions

"It is vital to have honest conversations with peers in the humanitarian space about how people-centred our monitoring efforts really are, what we need to think about when asking questions of crisis-affected people, and how much data being collected is actually used for improvement and change."

Anastazio Matewere, Chief Social Welfare Officer, Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Malawi

"My participation in this panel discussion is a great opportunity for me and my country to learn more about how other nations use RMMV to respond to disasters efficiently and effectively.”

Dr. Ane Alencar, Science Director, Amazon Environmental Research Institute

“Remote monitoring products and tools (RMPT) are fundamental for understanding the impacts of land use and land cover change and their derived GHG emissions.”

Christian Krämer, Member Management Committee, Policy / Latin America, KfW

“This conference will leverage the combined RMMV experience across stakeholders to jointly address the current crises. KfW is glad to contribute to the new network digital.global and to continue the discussion within this forum.”

Dr. Iliya Nickelt, Chief Data Scientist, BMZ

"Monitor projects and improve quality without significantly increasing CO2 emissions? Remote activity is a heavily underestimated field of applied data technology. RMMV plays an important role to change that."

Bahar Salimova, Senior Operations Officer/Program Manager, World Bank

"The RMMV conference is a critical engagement that will help bring together leading development practitioners and researchers to learn from each other share best practices in enhancing data integrity and data capacity across the globe."

Dr. Toby Gardner, Senior Research Fellow/Director of Trase, SEI

"The last few years have seen a step-change in ambition by governments and the private sector to clean up international supply chains, including efforts to eliminate deforestation linked to commodity imports. RMMV approaches are critical for understanding the impact of these efforts and strengthening accountability around sustainability goals."

Dr. Tiago Reis, Trase South America Engagement Lead, Global Canopy / Imaflora

“Trase uses remote monitoring to assess and give visibility to complex and opaque global commodity supply chains, which would not be possible otherwise."

Dr. Jerry Chandler, Director General, Protection Civile Haiti

"In This conference we will share the experience of a complex emergencies environment and discuss the strategic importance of RMMV in both humanitarian and development and suggestions on how to bridge the gap between both.”

Matthew Himmel, Senior Director of Sustainability Intelligence Systems, COSA

"RMMV is essential to both monitoring supply chains compliance and sustainability investment effectiveness in delivering impact, without squandering excessive resources through this monitoring that would be better invested in further impact."

Dr. Thomas Baldauf, Policy Advisor, BMEL

"Transparency in supply chains is key for success to reach deforestation-free landscapes and products."

Allan Mubiru, Co-Founder, Kaffeekoop GmbH

"As Kaffeekoop GmbH, the INATrace tool has made the journey of the coffee traceable and transparent for our customers while farm information, producer stories and prices paid to the producers are visible via a QR code on the product packages."

Maaike Blom, CEO, The Open Data Company

“Remote Monitoring and Verification can contribute to increase effectiveness and efficiency of the aid efforts so more people can be supported and more impact achieved. Making aid more transparent and effective is our mission as the Open Data Company.”

Arlina Elmiger, Director Innovation, Digitalisation, Communication, KfW

“RMMV is so much more than a few fancy digital gadgets: it takes smart project design, a healthy governance structure and good information choices to be truly effective.”

Prof. Dr. Jochen Kluve, Head of Evaluation KfW / Prof. Economics Humboldt-University Berlin

“Remote data tools are key to measuring impact, and measuring impact is key to institutional learning in development.”

Ann Holland, Co-Executive Director, Sistah Sistah

“Remote monitoring systems help our organizations to reach communities.”

Michael Anthony, Founder and Executive Director, Vertify.earth GmbH

"RMMV gave our clients insights into challenges that auditors on the ground had not been able to uncover."

Dr. Kalpana Viswanath, Co-founder and CEO, SAFETIPIN

"I believe that data that reflects the lived realities of people can play an important role in building more inclusive and gender responsive cities and systems.”

Avianto Amri, CEO, PREDIKT

"Using remote technology that is inclusive, easily accessible and readily available to collect citizens' feedback, questions and concerns will provide greater insights to inform the decision making process, including having a safe and quality recovery with dignity."

Claire Barnhoorn, CEO, Solvoz

"It is critical to share insights and lessons learned in the adoption of technology and digital solutions that are operational, supporting and vetted within the sector, to avoid reinventing the wheel as well as assure that sector-wide we increase our efficiency and effectiveness."

Tiamiyou Radji, Director, Senegal Flying Labs

"Collaborations with local drone and data experts will guarantee responsible, ethical and locally-compliant drone and data services for a wide variety of remote monitoring processes."

Sonja Betschart, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, WeRobotics

"Collaborations with local drone and data experts will guarantee responsible, ethical and locally-compliant drone and data services for a wide variety of remote monitoring processes."

Tom Adams, Co-Founder, 60 Decibels

"We are a remote measurement survey provider, and strongly believe that RM can rapidly expand the adoption of quality impact measurement.”

Cristina Burelli, Founder, SOSOrinoco

"In a country like Venezuela remote monitoring systems offer NGO’s on the ground the possibility to monitor, report, denounce without incurring unnecessary but real risks and life-threatening danger."

Jade Saunders, Executive Director, World Forest ID

"Exploring the combination of chemical and biological markers that indicate plant provenance with earth observation data at this conference will be a powerful lens for those seeking to link traded products with the history and management of the areas where they were harvested."

Rosemary Obunjobi, Women's Protection and Employment Technical Advisor, IRC

"Remote-based case management enables GBV survivors to access holistic services quickly and safely."

Dr. Tilo Nemuth, Chief Business Development Officer, Julius Berger International GmbH

"General Planner JBI relies on model-based cloud collaboration for its major design & construction projects not only in remote locations for a seamless project handling with all of its stakeholders."

Olena Skrypnikova, Ukrainian Red Cross Cash Focal Point, URCS

"Remote monitoring and feedback systems enable URCS to innovate and deliver timely inclusive, effective and accountable cash response at scale across Ukraine; while putting people at the centre."

Bruno Leclerc, Regional Director Grand Sahel, AFD

"This conference is important for AFD as it allows us to share the experience of a development actor who has had to rapidly adapt its way of doing in a crisis zone, in order to respond to a new type of need (operational and political) thanks to new tools (GIS and remote monitoring).”

Sandra Sudhoff, Technical Director, CartONG

“Getting to know use cases and studies on applied remote monitoring systems helps us to get more insights on tools and systems which we can then utilize to advise our partners accordingly."

Christoph Lettgen, Int. Architect / Backstopper, CES

"By actively using an RMMV-system we have climbed to a new level of coordination, communication and efficiency in reaching out with our team to remote areas. We are convinced that RMMV helps us to ensure that infrastructure of satisfactory quality can be built in difficult contexts and thus creates a benefit for the Nigerian client and the beneficiaries."

Antonio Wills, Senior Officer Technical Assistance Management, Finance in Motion

"By providing technical assistance and delivering green finance, we can transform the farmed shrimp industry through the adoption of technological innovations and effective environmental and social management systems. These measures will enable more resource-efficient production, improve traceability, and help to conserve biodiversity."

Andreas Hapsoro, Strategic Alliance Director, Habitat for Humanity Indonesia

"Using remote technology that is inclusive, easily accessible, and readily available to collect citizens' feedback, questions, and concerns will provide greater insights to inform the decision making process, including having a safe and quality recovery with dignity."

Shamilla Nassozi, Data Quality Associate, HotOSM - ESA Hub

"Putting the Spatial People Network (and it’s members) on a global platform will increase visibility for open data in the region, advance knowledge and provide opportunities."

Fabian Enßle, Sustainable Development and Climate Hub, GAF AG

"The beauty of satellite data is its unbiased objectivity, the ability to get timely, accurate and measurable insights without putting people at risk."

Prof. Dr. Martin Herold, Professor and Section Head, German GeoResearch Center (GFZ) Potsdam

“Novel Earth Observation tools are essential to track commodity production and any relationships with deforestation.”

Sophie Mower, Senior Manager Community Services, Humanitarian OpenStreetMapTeam

"As champions of the open mapping movement, we collectively are very happy to be able to present our work and vision to a high-level event like the RMMV-conference. We believe innovation relies on investing in people before technology and hope to find like-minded organizations at the event!"

Lucía Gaitán, Senior Officer Green Finance Centre, Finance in Motion

"Remote monitoring and tracing have been key for the eco.business Fund to ensure compliance with environmental safeguards.Through this system, the fund ensures that its financing does not engage with deforestation activities.”

Arnd Berns, Group Manager Service-on-Demand, GAF AG

"The conference is a platform to enter into dialogue for exchanging experiences, technical and organizational know-how, presenting and discussing approaches and solutions, using remote EO space-based technologies. It helps to understand and address users' demands and requirements to improve upcoming services.”

Bernhard Metz, Senior Operations Officer / Program Manager, World Bank

"Effective RMMV systems are not just ‘nice to have’, but crucial for accountable development, in crisis contexts and beyond. The conference promises to help connect the dots and facilitate practical inter-agency coordination."

Portrait Emma Jones, Senior Researcher / SenseMaker, The Cynefin Company

"RMMV goes well beyond digitalisation and digital transformation, it is about people. Our complexity-informed tools help break down barriers of place and politics, ensuring that people and their stories are at the very heart of everything we do."

Florian Höllerhage, Principal Civil Engineer, Pinnacle Ingenieurbüro GmbH

"Building Information Modeling is key for our organization to successfully coordinate and collaborate in complex multi-discipline projects.”

Saurav Shrivastava, Product Manager, Farmforce AS

"Remote monitoring is key to our platform’s main function of providing accurate traceability. It helps our clients manage their first mile sourcing activities while integrating this data with external monitoring platforms."

Luca Fischer, Program Manager, Koltiva AG

"As a global agri-tech company, remote monitoring is at the core of our KoltiTrace solution, helping our clients to create inclusive, climate-smart, and traceable supply chains.”

Johannes Jacob, Advisor for Data4Policy, GIZ

“Advancing resilience in times of crises requires sound policies that are transparent, effective at the grassroots level and rooted in evidence. Remote monitoring systems are an essential data source for designing, implementing and assessing these policies.”

Martin Noblecourt, Participatory and Open Data Projects Manager, CartONG

"As champions of the open mapping movement, we collectively are very happy to be able to present our work and vision to a high-level event like the RMMV-conference. We believe innovation relies on investing in people before technology and hope to find like-minded organizations at the event!”

Ingrid Dallmann, Impact Evaluation Officer, AFD

"At AFD, remote monitoring systems have a great potential for evaluating the impact of projects in areas that are difficult to access, as well as a portfolio of similar projects in different areas. They are also a good alternative for evaluations that are too complex and expensive.”

Paolo Manunta, Senior Digital Technology Specialist, ADB

"Coffee is grown by about 37% of the population in Timor-Leste, in mountainous areas that are very difficult to access. We are working with ESA using Earth observation data to monitor coffee plantations, improve quality and productivity, and increase the revenues of coffee growers to help combat poverty."

Miguel de Corral, Strategy and Operations Officer, World Bank

"In the most fragile contexts, remote monitoring and supervision tools are essential to reach the most vulnerable and marginalized communities, and enhance the impact of development assistance."

Sébastien Frionnet, President and ESHS Consultant, MAZURIS SASU

"The vast majority of hazardous situations could be identified and corrected remotely via live site visit or photo reporting based on a set of instructions. The follow-up would also be greatly facilitated and corrective actions formally validated."

Claudia Schwegmann, Independent Consultant

"In 2023 we cannot continue to ignore climate change and the environmental footprint of international air travel in development cooperation. To get real about climate change remote approaches are critical to reduce the emissions in the sector."

Claire Zanuso, Head of the impact evaluation team, AFD

"The best form of impact evaluation is that which is useful to AFD and its partners. Geospatial Impact Evaluations are particularly suited for evaluating the impact of projects with an environmental aspect.”

Lieneh Modalal, Desk Officer, German Federal Foreign Office

"Constructive engagement in crisis contexts requires taking account of realities on the ground. Beyond socio-economic data, the FFO monitors the interaction between projects and political dynamics.”

Emmanuel Adekola, Global MEAL Analytics & Training Officer, GOAL

"Remote monitoring systems offer our organization good insight into programme, equipment and field staff performance.”

Hannah Miles, Research Manager, Ground Truth Solutions

"Remote mechanisms represent a unique opportunity for crisis-affected populations to engage with programmes that affect them. The conference is a great opportunity to learn about practical use cases, and discuss when and where remote mechanisms can increase accountability.”

Fabrice Ramamonjy, Enthusiast Member and Trainer, OpenStreetMap Madagascar

"I am convinced that remote mapping can contribute to strengthening the resilience of communities and helps the poorest in landlocked areas.”