GPMS: A game-changing new system at Islamic Relief

Islamic Relief has recently launched a ground-breaking new system to manage project data and information. Here, Claire Bedwell-Thomas, Global Programme Impact & MEAL Manager at Islamic Relief Worldwide, explains why this will be transformational across the whole organisation.  

Last week, Islamic Relief Worldwide launched our Global Programme Impact & MEAL System (GPMS), marking a key moment in a multi-year collaborative adventure.

The GPMS is now live throughout 27 countries, providing a digitalised solution to help country office staff manage project data and information.

The system enables colleagues in the field to more easily report project updates, manage data and track project lifecycles. That information is then immediately available to other Islamic Relief staff around the world, reducing admin and freeing up time to more directly support the communities we serve.

The design, development and launch of this global system has been the culmination of a 3-year project involving multiple stakeholders at all levels of Islamic Relief in a truly collaborative approach.

Our overarching anchor has been to ensure that this new system is designed from the ground up – BY and FOR our colleagues on the ground and in the field, first and foremost.

The GMPS facilitates:

1. project management, risk/issue and delivery/activity tracking including number of people reached
2. offline and online longitudinal (case management) data collection
3. MEAL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning) activity tracking e.g. indicators and learning
4. consistency of data and information with the flexibility to meet different country contexts and needs
5. flexible and configurable disaggregated and aggregated data analysis and reporting to help inform decision making
6. multiple languages – initially being English, French and Arabic
7. integration with other platforms, e.g. financial systems, to avoid duplication and maximise data visibility.

Years of collaboration, but this is only the beginning

The GPMS is built on the ActivityInfo platform. ActivityInfo was selected after a robust market analysis phase in which we reviewed approximately 30 different platforms against our requirements list/solution matrix – including existing internal solutions, as well as external ones.

It has been extremely challenging due to this being a global system but needing to function in 27 countries independently, while still, of course, being linked. The entire ActivityInfo team have been absolutely amazing – we could not have asked for better support from day 1 – it was never about the sale, whenever there was something that “wasn’t possible” they always found an alternative solution. Real collaboration in the truest sense of the word. They never faltered and here we are still singing their praises 3 years in. They have been an integral part of our design and implementation journey.

The launch of the GPMS is only the beginning with lots of additional functionality planned in the future; not only to help us in the management and reporting of our project and MEAL data and information, but also to help us in our journey to continuously improve the quality and accountability of our interventions to those we serve.

This project would not have been possible without the unwavering support, dedication and commitment of our country and field office staff globally. From participating in the initial design and requirement workshops, testing the system through the pilot stage, participating in regional orientation workshops and committing to the onboarding and launch process, it simply would not have been possible without them.

I would also like to acknowledge the hard work of my wonderful colleagues in the GPMS Project Team – Juwairiyah Khurram, Assem Kassim, Muhammad Sadiq Rohei, and Ganesh Bahadur Thapa – it’s been inspiring working with you all to deliver this ground-breaking initiative for Islamic Relief. And of course, not least, the unwavering support and driving through of this project from the senior management team at Islamic Relief. From the bottom right to the very top, this really has been a collaborative effort.

We hope this is the start of our continued digitalisation journey at Islamic Relief.