Point 97’s Data Collection Technology is Helping Solve Food and Economic Security Challenges in the Solomon Islands
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded Hapi Fis, Hapi Pipol (Happy Fish, Happy People) to be of all things, a mobile app and web-based platform. They won the newest competition of the day called the Pioneers Prize for using science and technology to solve development challenges.
“We are honored to be able to provide this critical and timely technology,” said Ruby Gates, CEO of Point 97. “The Hapi Fis project underscores the need for digitized data collection as a path to accelerating improvements in resource management capabilities. Fisheries across the globe are seeing near-to-real time data management as a core component to sound decision-making addressing food security, conservation and economic security.”
So what they do is reduce paper and clutter in an industry plagued with inefficiencyBy eliminating the need for paper-based data collection. Hapi Fis will cut paperwork time, be more accurate and save time and effort in an industry needing help fast!
“Point 97 provided simple and workable solutions to what at first seemed like a complex challenge,” said Maurice Knight, Chief of Party, Coral Triangle Support Partnership. “They worked seamlessly with all our partners—Solomon Islands Ministry of Fisheries, Marine Resources, USAID, NGOs and donor organizations—to deliver a custom mobile platform that is smooth and efficient. The result: Point 97 technology so increased the efficiency and accuracy of data collected, we conducted and verified more than 2,500 surveys in just three months!”
In the Solomon Islands, reef fish are the primary source of protein and major source of income. With consistent predictions (even like the one I got from Lester Brown at the Sundance Film Festival) that the country’s nutritional needs from reef fisheries won’t be met by 2030.
Sources: Point 97, USAID Pioneers Prize, PORTLAND, Ore.—(February 25, 2014)
