Empowering Vision Care Project Chashma’s Transformation with Avni Platform

Executive Summary

Sarva Mangal Family Trust (SMFT), a non-profit organization, in collaboration with Bhansali Trust, also a non-profit organization working in healthcare, initiated Project Chashma with the ambitious goal of delivering eye care services to 20 million individuals within five years through partnerships with grassroots NGOs. However, the project encountered operational inefficiencies, especially in data management, during its initial stages, hindering its scalability and effectiveness. With the adoption of an open-source data collection and case management platform, Avni, these challenges were addressed, leading to streamlined data management and enhanced overall operational efficiency.

The Challenges

Bhansali Trust’s expertise in organizing eye care camps, especially for cataract surgeries across diverse Indian regions, positioned them well to lead Project Chashma. Beginning with remote villages in North Gujarat, the project aimed to deliver comprehensive eye care services, encompassing patient registration, eye examinations & consultation, eyeglass distribution, patient referrals & follow-up for eye ailment treatment, and impact monitoring. However, as the project scaled, it encountered significant operational challenges:

• Crowd Management and Data Collection: The influx of patients led to overcrowded camps, making patient registration and data collection challenging. Manual data entry, due to its slow pace and susceptibility to errors, significantly hampered the project’s ability to effectively serve the community.
• Data Management: The manual data entry process resulted in inaccuracies and inefficiencies, causing a cumbersome transition to digital records.
• Process Inefficiencies: The initial setup lacked a streamlined process for patient flow and data collection, resulting in delays and a compromised patient experience.
• Reporting & Evaluation: The absence of automated reporting delayed insights and impeded the project’s ability to adapt and enhance its operations.
• Impact Assessment: Manual processes hindered timely and precise evaluation of the project’s impact, limiting the ability to make data-driven adjustments.
• Routine Follow-up: The project required a system for ongoing patient follow-ups to ensure the sustained impact of the treatments administered.

To overcome these challenges and streamline processes, the Trust sought a digital solution tailored for remote village settings where network connectivity is limited. A customized offline mobile application was developed on the Avni platform for data collection and real-time monitoring at different stages of the process.

Implementation

In response, the project team revamped the patient flow and data collection processes, integrating the Avni platform for its robust offline capabilities and comprehensive data management tools.

Avni is an open-source platform for on-field service delivery and data collection. Designed for the development sector, Avni strengthens field capacity for non-profits and governments across sectors like health, water, education, and social welfare.

Impact

The strategic enhancements facilitated by the Avni digital solution resulted in notable improvements in operational efficiency throughout the project:

• Token System for Crowd Management: Introducing a token system improved patient flow and organization at the camps, mitigating overcrowding and streamlining the registration process.
• Digital Data Collection: The offline data collection feature of Avni streamlined and expedited the data collection process, ensuring consistent and precise patient records. This facilitated a more reliable assessment of eye care needs and interventions.
• Automated Reporting: The customizable reports and analytics features of Avni facilitated timely and automated impact assessments, reducing the need for manual labor and enabling a more profound understanding of the project’s effectiveness.
• Enhanced Impact Assessment: The integration of real-time data collection and analysis capabilities enabled the project to accurately measure its impact, facilitating prompt adjustments to better meet community needs. Additionally, real-time data access and user-friendly dashboards enhanced transparency and collaboration, enabling informed decision-making at all organizational levels.
• Improved Patient Outcomes: By leveraging efficient monitoring and routine follow-up capabilities of the solution, the project ensured that patients received timely and appropriate care, thereby enhancing its overall impact on community health.
• Staff Training and Upskilling: Focused training sessions equipped staff with the skills needed to effectively utilize the Avni platform, facilitating a seamless transition to digital data management.

The Avni platform not only resolved the project’s immediate data management challenges but also established a scalable model for future expansion, with the potential for adoption by other grassroots organizations. With real-time access to data and enhanced process efficiencies, the project was able to effectively serve a larger population, marking a significant advancement in its mission.

Conclusion

The integration of the Avni platform into Project Chashma’s operations has been transformative, addressing critical challenges in crowd management, data collection, staff upskilling, and impact assessment. The improvements in process efficiency and data management capabilities have not only bolstered the project’s effectiveness but have also set a new standard for leveraging technology in nonprofit initiatives. Project Chashma’s experience underscores the potential of digital tools to enhance service delivery and expand impact, serving as a valuable blueprint for other NGOs aiming to scale their efforts in underserved communities.

Tech4Dev has published this insightful article detailing the transformative impact of the Avni platform on Project Chashma, led by Sarva Mangal Family Trust (SMFT) and Bhansali Trust. The article tells how Avni's offline capabilities and robust data management tools have improved patient registration, eye exams, eyeglass distribution, follow-up treatments, and overall project impact assessment, setting a new benchmark for technology in non-profit initiatives.