KoboToolbox 2023 year in review: Global impact highlights

Reflecting on the last year, we are proud to share that our global KoboToolbox community has continued to grow, with more users and organizations around the world choosing our platform to support their important work. In 240 countries and territories across the globe, users are collecting data with KoboToolbox to create data-driven change in a variety of sectors, from humanitarian response to environmental conservation.

Let’s take a look at some of the numbers from 2023:

• 232 million survey submissions were received—over 20 million per month on Kobo’s servers and thousands more on private servers
• 13 new members joined our team from 6 different countries
• 12 more languages were added to the user interface, in collaboration with global translators

We also launched several brand new features and improvements to the KoboToolbox interface, thanks to feedback from our users and volunteer beta testers. Here’s what we were working on in 2023:

• Improvements to the account settings interface and email validation security
• A new feature to easily track account usage and new storage add-ons for additional media file storage
• Interface enhancements for better user experience and to support users with visual impairments
• The latest release of KoboCollect with interface updates
• A major refresh of the project list view for better filtering, ordering, and customization of displayed columns
• New features for transcription, translation, and qualitative data analysis

But that’s not all we’ve been up to this year. Here’s a few highlights from some of the other projects we were working on in 2023:

• Launched the Essentials Course, thanks to feedback from early bird participants, with over 130 students enrolled to date
• Transferred ownership of the EU server from UN OCHA to Kobo
• Released the monday.com integration
• Hosted a Poverty Eradication Day event with the Caribbean Development Bank, World Bank, and African Development Bank
• Renewed our Digital Public Good status with the DPGA

We also launched our new user plan model to ensure the long-term sustainability and accessibility of KoboToolbox for everyone and to provide improved services for all our users. KoboToolbox continues to be free for 95% of our nonprofit users under the Community Plan. As part of our mission, we are committed to supporting the important work of social impact organizations with free access to KoboToolbox and reduced costs. Learn more about the new plan model.

User Spotlight

At Kobo, we believe data technology can be used to drive positive change. To celebrate the remarkable work of our users in communities across the world, we’d like to highlight some of their impact stories from the past year.

• In Madagascar, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and Comoros, Blue Ventures has been using KoboToolbox to help coastal communities monitor fisheries with real-time data. While small-scale fishing is a vital source of food globally, the lack of digital data available poses challenges for fisheries management and biodiversity protection. Blue Ventures’ ongoing initiatives highlight how access to data can drive community-led change and help conserve coastal ecosystems for future generations.
• In Cambodia, the Human Resource and Rural Economic Development Organization supported local organizations to collect data from over 200 households and improve resource access in their community.
• In Jamaica, Guyana, and Saint Lucia, the Caribbean Development Bank used KoboToolbox for their Basic Needs Trust Fund to assess local capacity strengthening needs and advance sustainable development.
• In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Ministry of Education mapped over 45,000 schools in the country, collected data on supply needs, and created a database to support resource distribution.
• In Ethiopia, our team provided a hands-on custom training for the Partnership For Pastoralists Development Association (PAPDA) to support their important work for sustainable locally-led development and improved socio-economic conditions in vulnerable communities.

What’s New From KoboToolbox

Here’s a look at some of our newest updates and exciting announcements.

Qualitative data analysis feature: Our team has developed new tools to overcome the challenges of analyzing qualitative data. Integrated into the KoboToolbox interface, these features streamline the process of coding and summarizing in-depth data. Users can create tags, summaries, and data assessment questions to identify themes and patterns for more effective qualitative analysis. These new features make the analysis of detailed open-ended responses more accurate and efficient. In less time and with fewer resources, users can analyze qualitative data and produce rich insights, which means interventions can make an even greater impact. Learn more about using these features.

KoboToolbox Ambassadors Program: We also recently launched the KoboToolbox Ambassadors Program, a new initiative to support local user communities and organizations to make an impact with KoboToolbox. The program will provide volunteer ambassadors from countries around the world with resources to strengthen their data collection and training skills so they can help local organizations to use KoboToolbox and improve accessibility to high quality data tools.

Looking Ahead to 2024 and Beyond

We believe high quality data can change the lives of millions for better. As we look ahead, we’re excited to continue to improve our platform for our community and provide innovative and reliable data collection tools for organizations around the globe.

To all of our users, thank you for being part of the KoboToolbox community!

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