Our approach and services
Akvo provides tailored data and tech solutions to organisations, governments, and NGOs looking to boost their data-driven decision making and contribute to impact.
Understand
Together, we understand the problem you are trying to solve, the context of your project, and the data and technology you need.
Map the key stakeholders based on influence and interest, understand the users, and assess their needs.
Key deliverables:
- Refined problem statement
- Stakeholder and user map (influence-interest map)
- User needs assessment
Identify and address challenges in your data processes and digital systems, from collection to analysis and sharing, focusing on user needs, data quality, and capacity.
Key deliverables:
- Data maturity assessment report
- Prototype database & dashboard
- Data and tech roadmap
Ensure digital solutions align with real-world conditions, including available tech and user needs on the ground.
Key deliverables:
- A digital context analysis report with recommendations
- A prototype outlining an optimum solution
- User friendly data products to answer digital context questions
Co-create
This is where we plan for impact, develop a data and digital strategy, and define the concept.
Connect your organisation’s goals to measurable outcomes so that you can showcase your progress, streamline reporting, and make informed decisions.
Key deliverables:
- Context analysis
- Results frameworks, pathways of change and logframes with a clear set of measurable indicators
- Impact strategy
- Guidelines for tracking, reporting, and adapting the strategy
Optimise your data management, governance, and usage and turn your data into a key asset for decision making.
Key deliverables:
- Data strategy document
- Data governance framework
- Data governance tools
- Roadmap for implementation
Define, develop, and implement a comprehensive technology strategy to drive innovation, enhance operational efficiency, and achieve long-term goals.
Key deliverables:
- Co-designed tech strategy document
- Roadmap for implementation
Ensure that data and tech solutions are practical, user-friendly, and aligned with stakeholder needs.
Key deliverables:
- User research reports with key insights and user personas
- User journey maps highlighting pain points and opportunities
- Low- and high-fidelity prototypes tailored to project needs
- Usability testing results with actionable recommendations
Implement
In this phase, we start collecting, analysing, and visualising data, building capacity within your teams, and developing the tech you need to enact change.
Collect and aggregate comparable data from diverse regions and contexts.
Key deliverables:
- Tailored data collection toolkit with practical guides and templates, procedures on how to obtain aggregated results
For each data collection case:
- Cleaned dataset containing: a codebook with definitions and explanations of all data fields, an anonymised cleaned dataset, and the raw data with originally collected variables
- Data quality monitoring dashboard
- Data delivery report
- Calculation sheet
- Slide deck with key insights from the analysis
Turn your data into practical insights that inform decisions and create lasting impact.
Key deliverables:
- Cleaned and organised datasets, prepared for immediate analysis or future use
- Insights and indicators tailored to your decision-making needs, presented in the format that best suits your organisation
- Validation workshops to ensure findings are practical and aligned with your context
- Comprehensive reports for detailed analysis and documentation, where depth is required
- Interactive dashboards with embedded filters and dynamic visualisations, ideal for engaging stakeholders and enabling decision-making
Modular, scalable, and cost-effective data solutions to boost impact.
Key deliverables:
- A custom data solution built according to your needs
- Implementation roadmap & training materials
Enhance the structure and quality of your existing and future data.
Key deliverables:
- Data audit and quality assessment reports
- Data privacy and security report
- Strategic roadmap
- Unified and integrated datasets
Support and scale
Time to expand the impact of your project, share your insights, and ensure sustainability and scalability.
Comprehensive platform management - from provisioning servers and hosting, to delivering user support, bug fixes, and feature development.
Key deliverables:
- Regular maintenance, updates, scaling, monitoring, and security best practices
- Bug fixes, responsive support, and iterative feature development
- Clear system documentation and infrastructure migration services
Outsource your data management, from cleaning and updating to analysis and governance, so that your data accurate and actionable without the need for an in-house team.
Key deliverables:
- Design and implementation of Data as a Service, including governance and integration
- Monthly cleaning, normalisation, and quality control for reliable data
- Controlled access, security protocols, and compliance framework
- Automated dashboards and analytics for decision-making
Harness data from multiple sources, apply advanced analytics, and distribute insights to the right stakeholders, enabling data-driven decision-making at all levels.
Key deliverables:
- A data flow diagram including a stakeholder map
- A software requirement specification document
- A roadmap for building the actionable insights ecosystem
- An actionable insights ecosystem including data cleaning, ingestion, algorithms, analytics, infrastructure, applications and governance mechanisms to support decision making
- A user manual, training guide (for master trainers) and FAQs for troubleshooting
Equip your team with data and digital capabilities for smarter decisions through practical tools, training, and capacity building.
Key deliverables:
- Tailored capacity building programme
- Final report detailing the results of mentoring and coaching
Our latest work
The Sio-Siteko and Mara wetlands don’t stop for a border. The Sio River rises in Kenya and crosses into Uganda before it reaches Lake Victoria. The Mara does the same in reverse – starting in Kenya’s Narok County, ending in the wetlands around Musoma, Tanzania. Three countries, one set of rivers, and until recently, no […]
Two ways to watch a wetland: Citizen science in the Nile River BasinWorking with IDH, Akvo delivered the first full implementation of IDH’s Income Measurement Guidance tool for the palm oil sector – establishing Aceh, Indonesia’s first standardised living income baseline for smallholder palm oil farmers. Above: Enumerator interviewing women farmer in North Aceh
Establishing a Living Income Baseline for Palm Oil Farmers in AcehImpact Global Health’s R&D pipeline data has been tracked since 2019 and covers everything from early-stage candidates to approved health products – yet until recently, it lived scattered across five separate portals, each with its own dashboards and learning curve. To fix that, Akvo partnered with Impact Global Health to design and build a single, […]
Turning two decades of global health data into one trusted portal
Do you want to learn more about Akvo's services?
Speak to our team and find out how Akvo can support your data and digital needs.
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We apply the principles of open source software, open content and open data to all of our work.
Find out why and how.