Mike Fabrikant, a software developer from Washington D.C., is embedded within the data science team at the Directorate of Science, Technology, and Innovation (DSTI) to support systems delivery. His work with DSTI is made possible through an ongoing partnership between DSTI and UNICEF Sierra Leone’s Technology for Development program. This collaboration between DSTI and UNICEF Sierra Leone strives to improve the quality of life for children in Sierra Leone with the use of technology and innovation.

“I’ve been focusing on two kinds of software: applications that provide insight around mapping vulnerability, and open-source data analytics tools for non-technical people,” said Fabrikant.

Scientists and developers at DSTI built a school bus stop visualization tool to support decision making in education policy for the Government of Sierra Leone. Geo-data was collected to make it easier for local government officials to decide how best to meet the transportation needs of students using newly allocated school buses.

To map out the bus routes, Fabrikant, Kumba Musa, and Ibrahim Bayoh went on a six-hour drive at night to 89 proposed bus stops and plotted their geo-coordinates. Geo-coordinates are a set of numbers and symbols that show the latitudes, longitudes, and directions of every location on earth.

The outcome is this interactive visualization that shows every school and every school bus stop in the Western Area Urban and Rural districts of Sierra Leone. Each school is a point where its size represents the total number of students enrolled, and the color represents the distance between it and the nearest bus stop. The data that supported this was provided by the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education from the 2018 Annual School Census.

“If we can bring open data sets, like the locations of communities, health facilities, and schools, along with private sector data, like cell tower coverage, into decision making, then there’s powerful potential to make an impact through improving how the government allocates resources,” said Fabrikant.

The School Optimization Tool is just one of many ways that DSTI continues to support decision making and service delivery to citizens. DSTI Sierra Leone and UNICEF’s Technology for Development program will continue to collaborate to develop technological solutions to address the most significant challenges faced by children in Sierra Leone.