A few technical queries about KoboToolBox (long email - apologies!)

[Raghu]

Hello,

My name is Raghu and I'm writing from Mumbai, India. I work with Magic Bus, an NGO working with about 350,000 children (and growing!), most of them in India. Magic Bus works to move children out of poverty, by taking them on a journey from childhood to livelihood. We do this by delivering sessions using a sport and activity-based curriculum, and
a mentor-based approach. 

We have recently started expanding internationally and are currently running / in the process of setting up programmes in UK, Nepal and Myanmar.

A core part of our expansion strategy is the effective use of IT. We've been evaluating software tools that help us in collecting data that measures programme effectiveness, and I was delighted to come across Kobotoolbox. Most of what the product offers fits our requirements quite perfectly. I still have a couple of questions, which I'm taking the liberty of listing here, in somewhat random order.

• Where is the data that is collected using Kobo stored? How secure is it?

• Does Kobo / UN – OCHA have access to the data that is collected? Are there any ways in which the data that is collected can be used by any third-party, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes? If yes, is this usage restricted to aggregate level usage or will it be at the level of individual records?

• If we wanted to consider building an intermediary application which would pull the data from the database, and use it for analysis. This intermediary application would engage in a two-way conversation with Kobotoolbox, and the data that is collected may be used to feed into other systems. Is this feasible?

• Is it possible to enter into a formal agreement with Kobo?. How should we go about developing an MOU for this partnership? Who would be the signing party? Are there any legal conditions / restrictions?
  

Many thanks in advance,

Raghu

[Hugh Earp]

Hi Raghu, 

Great to hear of your interest in using KoBoToolbox. 

For data security, you should be able to find the answers on http://support.kobotoolbox.org/customer/portal/articles/2497522. 

For privacy questions, please see the privacy policy available at http://www.kobotoolbox.org/privacy. If you need a stricter data security and privacy policy than this, you can run KoBoToolbox on your own computers, where you control all data directly. See http://support.kobotoolbox.org/customer/en/portal/topics/691109-kobotoolbox-on-your-computer-or-server/articles. 

For accessing KoBoToolbox data from another application, it should be possible to script this (I've never tried myself, but others have). See the API documentation at https://kc.kobotoolbox.org/api/v1/. 

For a formal MOU, I'd suggest you get in contact directly with the KoBoToolbox team, though I know they also monitor this group occasionally. 

I hope these links help.

With best regards,

Hugh