OSMA: Automation of HPN SBCC Materials Approval
Digitization has touched every nook and corner of Bangladesh and the government ministries are not exception to this. Slowly but steadily, different ministries are shifting from analog to digital systems to manage information systems.
The ‘Online SBCC Materials Approval (OSMA)’ is a software application, developed by BCCP as a implementing partner of Capacity and System Strengthening component of USAID Ujjiban project, to simplify the review and documentation process for SBCC materials produced by development organizations and the media and advertising firms. OSMA enables the IEC Technical Committee that is responsible for SBCC materials approval, to efficient review of SBCC materials developed by different organizations and archived approved materials for tracking and future reference.
The offline submission and approval process that organizations had to rely upon prior to OSMA was time consuming. Further, due to a lack of documentation of the materials reviewed and approved, it was difficult to ascertain if there were any duplication of materials. The OSMA helps the IEC Technical Committee to ensure high quality of SBCC materials, follow the review criteria and government policies precisely, and are free from duplication. Organizations are now able to disseminate approved materials on mass media and in communities in a timely manner and without compromising their implementation timeline. With OSMA, the review and approval time for materials has been reduced from 15-20 days to an average of 4-5 days. The OSMA hosted in government server and members of IEC Technical Committee received training to sustain the use of OSMA.
“Previously when we submitted SBCC materials manually, we had to wait a long time to get the reviewed materials in hand. We did not know how much time it would take to get the approval once we submitted a material. Now through OSMA, we submit materials online and can see our submission status, and we could revisit the material in archive for further planning”.