Information systems design for development projects in Central America

Present development projects in Central America, particularly food aid and food and nutrition education programs, are operating under severe management constraints which limit their potential to produce positive and measurable impacts on target communities and families. Thus, operational analysis and information systems are basic managerial tools to improve the efficiency of the projects. This paper presents an information system development methodology which has been used by the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP) to assist different development projects of Central America. The methodology is geared on the one hand, towards systematizing the definition of the demand and of applications and, on the other, of the types of response required or deemed convenient, taking into account the technologies that are appropriate to the users' various capacities. The complete development cycle is based on good understanding of the social, organizational and human aspects of the project. Through the whole process, not only is the information system being developed and documented, but personnel is being trained and assisted in solving their problems, contributing thereby, to true transfer of technology. No new set of techniques of systems development is presented. What has been done is to carefully select elements of current technical practices, modifying tools and techniques to generate a unique methodology through which the information systems' requirements, specifications, and details may be expressed.