Case studies

Agricultural data in Lao PDR has been dispersed due to the numerous agricultural programs across multiple provinces. Consequently, there are many and different data formats and identifiers used by projects working with Agricultural Production Groups (APGs), households, and individuals. This fragmentation impedes the capacity to build a clear, data-driven picture and effective strategy for the agricultural sector.

To address this, OpenSPP implemented the Lao Digital Farmer Registry Pilot, which enabled data aggregation into a dynamic, standardized, and reusable platform and system. Developed in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (MAE) as a Digital Public Infrastructure building block, the Registry established the foundations for a unified source of truth for agricultural data. This pilot successfully covered 353 APGs and supports timely analysis and data collection for a more efficient delivery of services in the agricultural sector.

The Lao Digital Farmer Registry is now ready to be scaled up to integrate the remaining 10,000 APGs in Lao PDR, including data from farming villages and households.

Iraq's Public Distribution System (PDS) is one of the world's largest food subsidy programs, benefiting approximately 37 million people. Running for decades, this crucial program faced operational challenges in registering and updating beneficiary data. Most information was collected through a segmented, offline, legacy database that required manual data exchange. This fragmentation resulted in long periods of suspension in the distribution cycle, forcing citizens to travel long distances to update their household information with the responsible authorities.

The PDS chose to deploy OpenSPP, a Digital Public Good focused on social protection, and adapted it to modernize and create the digital ePDS system. The introduction of digital and automated processes for registration and entitlement enabled accurate poverty targeting, risk analysis, and preparedness planning. Crucially, it increased efficiency by eliminating the long periods of inactivity, and reducing instances of leakage and manual error.

The transformation centered around the development of the social protection management information system and three mobile applications: Tamwini, Tasjeel, and Wakeel. These applications enabled citizens to update their information remotely and helped government workers to facilitate distributions.