Two weeks ago Amitangshu Acharya, who’s leading Akvo’s operations into South Asia and is based in New Delhi, arrived here in Nairobi for two packed weeks of activity. Since I just started Akvo’s operations here in East Africa four months ago, we felt this would be a good opportunity to have our first exchange visit. Which makes sense, as we’re both the only ones at the moment representing Akvo in areas of the world where the actual work of our partners is taking place. Another important reason for this exchange is that Amitangshu can be seen as an expert in the use of Akvo FLOW, while I on the other hand have extensive experience in the use of Akvo RSR.

Above: Data collection using Akvo FLOW in Kajiado, Kenya.

In the first week, Amitangshu got a chance to work alongside me at the Nailab, and join me for various meetings with partners here. The very first was with Tobias Omufwoko, who coordinates the Kenya WASH Alliance, and other staff members from AMREF Kenya. We’ve been planning for some time now to organise a pilot using Akvo FLOW with the Kenya WASH Alliance partners here. A lot of things however were still not so clear, which included for instance: which partners would join, could they purchase the smartphones on time, finalising the survey for use, logistics to the field, etc. It was a good kick-off meeting that really set the tone for the coming days. Amit writes more here on how the actual Akvo FLOW training workshop went.

Luuk Diphoorn is based in Nairobi and is leading its East Africa Strategy.