A data platform that turns the field records of a child nutrition programme into evidence-based decisions.
Sic4Change runs Nut4Health, a programme for detecting, treating and preventing acute child malnutrition in vulnerable settings, deployed in Spain and Mauritania. Its agents record cases in the community through a tracking app, and health centres manage treatment with a second application. The organisation had the data but needed to turn it into information for decisions: where to act, which programmes work and which children require follow-up.
- Client
- Nut4Health (Sic4Change)
- Industry
- Third sector, social innovation and health
- Services
- Applied AI, Data and dashboards
- Technologies
- Power BI, Procesos ETL, Almacén de datos relacional, Cuadro de mando móvil
The challenge
The information lived in the cloud, in two applications designed for recording in the field rather than for analysis. Without a unified model or a structured store, every report required manual extractions and hours of cleaning.
The third sector added its own conditions: no high-cost BI licences, and an architecture that is sustainable over time and can extend to new countries without starting from scratch.
The decision was between buying and building. We compared Looker Studio, Power BI, Tableau and Qlik, and none of them solved both halves at once: the ones that gave agile exploration charge per user, and a third-sector organisation cannot take on a licence for every manager who opens a dashboard. Rather than pick one, we split the problem in two.
Our approach
An ETL process collects the information from both applications from their cloud storage every night, cleans it and fits it to the analytical model. Every morning, the previous day's data is available without any intervention from the team.
We designed a relational Data Warehouse with dimensions (child, guardian, location) and facts for the programme's two levels: community work and health centres. It allows analysis of both field outreach and the clinical progress of each case.
A REST API with token authentication exposes cases, contracts, visits and locations with filters by country, region, centre, sex, malnutrition level or date. The visualisations consume the API without direct access to the database.
We developed two visualisations on the same API: Power BI for agile exploration and a dashboard of the organisation's own, with no licence cost and under its control. Both are embedded in its website, organised around UNICEF indicators, with roles that determine what each profile sees.
- 01.
Automated collection of data from both applications
- 02.
A data model that follows each child's trajectory
- 03.
Access to the data through a secure API
- 04.
Two dashboards with role-based permissions
Architecture
The building blocks of the system and how data flows between them.
01Field capture
- Mobile appsiOS and AndroidStorageRegistration
- StorageCloud databaseTransformationNightly
02Analytical warehouse
- TransformationScheduled jobsData WarehouseNormalized
- Data WarehouseRelational warehouse, analytical modelEndpointsQuery
03Delivery
- EndpointsREST APIPower BIRESTCustom dashboardREST
- Power BIDashboards
- Custom dashboardCross-platform
The impact
The information from the two field applications is unified. Each case is followed from the moment an agent detects it in the community until the health centre discharges it.
Admission, recovery, dropout and mortality rates, treatment duration and territorial coverage are within reach of the people in charge, with the previous day's data.
Automated processes guarantee clean, up-to-date data. The team devotes its time to the programme, not to preparing reports.
Own infrastructure, no high-cost licences and ready for new countries. The organisation controls its platform and its data.
- 01.
Full traceability of each case, from detection to discharge
- 02.
Evidence-based decisions
- 03.
An end to manual extractions
- 04.
A sustainable solution for the third sector
Project results
Of cases followed across hundreds of health centres
Thousands
Countries covered: Spain and Mauritania
2
In BI licences for the organisation's own dashboard
€0
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