Across Africa, more than half the population, namely an estimated of 615 million people, still lacks the necessary access to healthcare services. Amref Health Africa, the continent’s leading health NGO, has spent decades working to close that gap. But as Amref grew its reach across communities and countries, it ran into a challenge that many mission-driven organizations have been facing in the digital era: the data needed to work smarter was there, but it was scattered, complex, and therefore harder to act on.
The Challenge
Amref runs health programs across many populations and regions, and to make them as effective as possible, the organization needs to understand who it is reaching, where the gaps are, and what is working. That means drawing on a wide range of data such as household surveys on healthcare access, health financing, reproductive and maternal health, poverty levels, water and sanitation, and more.
As for many mission-driven organizations, the problem was not a lack of data. Rather the problem was that the information lived in complex, fragmented formats that were difficult to interpret. This was slowing down Amref’s teams in the process of spotting patterns, targeting interventions, or showing funders and partners exactly where their support was making a difference.
Co-Creating a Way to See the Data Clearly
To tackle this, Amref partnered with ORTEC and Analytics for a Better World to turn that complexity into something usable: the Community Health Analytics Dashboard. The success of this project relied on a close co-development process where Amref’s on-the-ground knowledge of its communities and programs was mindfully integrated with ORTEC’s expertise in data visualization and analytics. The dashboard pulls together household survey data across six Kenyan counties — Meru, Makueni, Migori, Kakamega, Taita Taveta, and Kilifi — and turns it into a format Amref’s teams can actually use day-to-day. It highlights where healthcare access is falling short, where vaccination coverage has gaps, and where new infrastructure is most needed, so Amref can design sharper interventions that reflect the reality on the ground. Once a program is underway, a follow-up survey allows Amref to compare results over time, showing what has improved, what still needs support, and how much impact an intervention actually had.
The collaboration didn’t stop at co-creating a tool; the ABW ecosystem aims to deliver sustainable, scalable co-created solutions. To make this project sustainable, ORTEC and Analytics for a Better World provided tailored capacity strengthening for Amref’s team so they can develop, run, maintain, and scale it independently.
Moreover, to ensure Amref can progress in its digital maturity journey, our organizations came together to determine the digital maturity stage Amref was already at and how to plan its evolution in accordance with their goals. Using an Analytics Maturity Model — which scores an organization from level 1 (basic data skills) up to level 5 (analytics innovator) — the three of us determined Amref was currently sitting between levels 1 and 2, with a realistic and valuable target of reaching level 4 in the longer term, and level 2–3 within the first year. From there, the team co-designed with Amref a tailored roadmap laying out exactly the steps needed to progressively strengthen their digital capacity year by year.
As Joanna Arulraj, Director of Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning at Amref Health Africa, put it:
Data and evidence-based decision-making will help increase Amref’s sustainability and credibility amongst relevant stakeholders such as ministries, health workers, and donors. In turn, this strengthens our positioning as a thought leader.
From Data to Impact
Today, the Community Health Analytics Dashboard is fully operated by Amref, and it is being used to identify where interventions are needed most, track whether those interventions are working, and share clear, real-time impact stories with donors, governments, and communities. That transparency is more than just good practice. It lies at the roots of building the trust and credibility Amref needs to sustain its partnerships and attract further funding to support underserved communities. Beyond the dashboard itself, Amref is now owning and following a concrete, tailored roadmap to strengthen its data-driven capacity over time.
Together, the dashboard and the roadmap support Amref’s goals internally and its impact by enhancing the organization’s ability to turn complex data into clear decisions, better-targeted programs, and, ultimately, lasting health change for the communities it serves.
Amref Health Africa is Africa’s leading health NGO, founded in 1957, working to sustainably strengthen health systems and improve access to life-saving care in partnership with communities. ORTEC has collaborated with Amref since 2019 through its Dutch office, Amref Flying Doctors.
