13
BOX A
Challenges in identifying a village’s location
Departments may collect and map their own information on where villages are located. For example, figure
2.2 shows three different center points for the village of Kwaing Ngan in Kayah State, based respectively
on information from the GAD, the DRD, and the DRRD. In this example, the differing locations are not miles
apart, but because the village is located near the GAD’s township boundary, its location may have significant
implications for service delivery and elections, among other things.
FIGURE 2.2 Identifying the location of a village
Three datasets show the village in different locations.
Myanmar
Demoso
Township
Department 1
Department 2
Department 3
Kayah State
Demoso Township
Hpruso Township
There are examples of digital data collection that
serve as potential models for replication or adaptation
and adoption. Many ministries and departments are
piloting their own digital reforms to strengthen data
collection. For example, over the past year, the Ministry
of Health and Sports has distributed 11,186 tablets
to township medical officers and basic health staff
in four states and three regions. Each tablet contains
hundreds of relevant health documents. The tablets
(1) use Google Forms to collect demographic and
health data for ministry services; (2) track inventories
of medical supplies through a logistics-management
system; (3) link healthcare professionals to a Google
Group, which collects and shares early-warning reports
for notifiable diseases; and (4) provide access to
the District Health Information Software 2 system
(DHIS2, box G), which includes the Mobile Birth and
Death Registration Application.33 In another example,
the Yangon Region government and Yangon Public
Bus Company have installed Wi-Fi and GPS on their
most popular bus routes. The GPS enables tracking
of buses and travel times, and the Wi-Fi allows riders
to answer a rider-satisfaction survey with questions
such as whether the driver was driving smoothly. The
Yangon Region government and its implementing
partner, the Japan International Cooperation Agency,
collect the data to help improve service.34 In addition
to more systematic reforms to support digital data
collection, township department officials are making
greater and greater use of their personal mobile phones
as part of their daily administrative responsibilities.
Phones can be used to record notes or take pictures
and videos of documents, accident scenes, licensing
violations, location coordinates, public disturbances,
meetings, etc. Personal mobile phones may have the
value of convenience, but the data collected this way