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IndiaPalmera achieves 99% food security for Vulnerable Communities in Sri Lanka through Power Platform Solutions from Exigo Tech
Palmera was able to create more effective food security programs for future interventions by leveraging business intelligence solutions provided by Exigo Tech using PowerApps.
INDUSTRY
Not-for-profit
LOCATION
Australia
SERVICES
Power Platform, Automation, Data & Analytics, Security, Custom Development & Integration
Numbers that Matter
> 20,000 people reached:
Exigo Tech’s solution enabled Palmera to ensure food security for more than 20,000 people in Sri Lanka’s impoverished districts during COVID curfews and crisis.
99%
food security:
Palmera achieved 99% food security in the regions they worked in during Covid and the subsequent economic crisis.
100% increase in response time:
The response time was improved by 100%, leading to the prompt dispatch of technical experts to assist women in their home gardens.
About The Customer
Palmera is a not-for-profit organisation that works to ensure vulnerable families in Sri Lanka are economically empowered so that they can prosper, make informed decisions about their livelihoods, and better care for themselves and their children.
Catalyst for Change
“With the economic crisis, we didn’t know how we were going to feed ourselves. Prices were high and with lockdowns and lack of fuel it was not possible to work. When our children asked for food, we didn’t know what to tell them. We weren’t receiving the aid we needed because no one knew our real situation” – Varani, Programme participant
Varani’s story is a common experience for many vulnerable families in Sri Lanka during the economic crisis and COVID curfews. The crises were prolonged and devastatingly impacted the communities, requiring multipronged and long-lasting solutions. To tailor their solutions to the vulnerabilities of the families in need, Palmera had to collect thousands of data points on each family’s food needs and strategies. However, the capture, storage, analysis, and reporting of data proved to be a daunting task. Palmera’s reliance on traditional means of data storage and maintenance was error-prone, difficult to scale, and had data currency issues. To address these challenges, Palmera was looking for modern data management technologies and tools that could enable them to make data-driven decisions and achieve greater impact in their efforts to support food security.
The Solution
In their efforts to address the significant challenges in ensuring food security for impoverished communities in Sri Lanka during the COVID curfews and crisis, Palmera sought the assistance of Exigo Tech. Together, they developed a solution based on Microsoft’s Power platform, which included a suite of PowerApps on field devices to capture and synchronise data, and a comprehensive collection of PowerBI reports for in-depth insights into the data for effective interventions.
“When I identified families who were not able to feed their children, the data was quickly received and following a rapid assessment, more targeted solutions could be provided to ensure that families could not only eat but had the support to be lifted through this difficult time. They live in a remote part of Killinochi and the initial solution would not carry them through these times. If it was any other programme, there would not be this constant engagement and they would have been forgotten”.
– Village-based member
The simplicity and intuitiveness of the field app solution allowed local staff with lower levels of IT literacy to get up and running with minimal training and allowed Palmera to expand its employment and promotion to the leadership of female staff as well. Based on the real-time data gathered, Palmera could quickly send technical experts to address home gardens where women required further help, provide additional microloans where further support was required or work to strengthen village-based banks where sharing/bartering was low. The deep insights offered by business intelligence tools such as PowerApps enabled more effective program design for future interventions.
The Impact
With the solution from Exigo Tech, Palmera achieved greater impact in their efforts to support food security in Sri Lanka.
Improved data management through real-time data capture and synchronisation with server enabled field staff to quickly access and update previous records on families.
The user-friendly field app with data quality controls ensured accuracy and completeness of data and enabled local staff with lower levels of IT literacy to use it with minimal training.
Palmera could expand its employment and promotion to the leadership of female staff due to the simplicity and intuitiveness of the field app.
Abarna Raj – CEO Palmera
