Conducting a data maturity assessment for the Ethical Tea Partnership

The Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) is a non-profit organisation that works to improve the sustainability of the tea industry. ETP works with tea producers, retailers, and NGOs to improve working conditions, increase productivity, and promote sustainability in the tea sector. To achieve this goal, ETP has developed an impact framework to measure and track progress towards their objectives. However, ETP faced challenges in collecting and analysing data to inform their reporting.

Akvo partnered with ETP to identify recommendations and next steps towards an integrated data system that provides reliable input for reporting on ETP's impact framework. Akvo performed a data maturity assessment for the whole organisation and the country offices. This helped ETP identify areas for improvement so that they could improve their data management practices and report on their impact.

Above: Photo by Steffen B. on Unsplash.


Partners

The Ethical Tea Partnership


Locations

Global


Sector

Agriculture


Services

Data maturity assessment

The challenge

The Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) has a Global Impact Framework (GIF) in place to quantify their impact. However, there are inconsistencies in the way data is collected, analysed, and stored, making it difficult to aggregate data across projects and countries to gain a clear understanding of ETP's contribution to impact.

The solution

To address these challenges, Akvo performed a data maturity assessment by conducting surveys and interviews with ETP employees to assess the organisation's data management practices and identify potential differences between countries.  Additionally, Akvo reviewed ETP's existing data and projects from the last 1.5 years to understand how data collected during this period can be used to measure progress towards the Global Indicator Framework. Based on these findings, Akvo provided recommendations to improve ETP's data management practices, build capacity within their teams, and create an aligned approach to reporting on impact. We also developed a first version of a future database that brings together project data reporting with the global indicators, accompanied by a dashboard. To further support ETP on their data journey, we translated some of key recommendations from the data maturity assessment and indicator review into a roadmap with concrete steps to arrive at a more streamlined data flow across the organisation.

Above: An example of one of the visuals we created for ETP and the various country offices as a result of the data maturity assessment. Please note: This is fake data and not representative of actual data maturity outcomes for the ETP. 

The impact

Akvo’s recommendations, database and roadmap for future actions allows ETP to take concrete steps in becoming truly data driven. The organisation as a whole, as well as the country teams, now have clear guidance on how they can enhance their capacity when it comes to data, data quality, and ensuring that project teams report on indicators in a similar way. This means that the right people are in the right place and with the skills to design, collect, and analyse data. The database enables ETP to monitor and report on their impact continuously, ultimately leading to more data-driven decision making.