Why ODK Survey Templates from Past Projects Matter
Across 800+ districts in India, nonprofits and governments have carried out thousands of surveys across health, education, livelihoods, environment, agriculture, and many other areas.
Government survey data is increasingly discoverable through the Open Government Data platform. But the social impact sector still lacks a comparable platform, even a simple directory of surveys, the organizations that conducted them, and the tools and approaches they used.
That is where ODK survey templates can play an important role.
Past survey templates can help organizations:
- Discover what has already been studied in a particular geography or sector.
- Learn from existing survey approaches and indicators.
- Design better, more comparable surveys.
- Avoid reinventing questionnaires from scratch.
- Make project design more robust by learning from previous field research.
@capibuilder helps social impact organizations build a connected data ecosystem that turns field information into trusted evidence for action.
As part of this ecosystem, @capibuilder is building a template library where organizations can search, filter, and discover ODK survey forms from past projects.
The templates do not contain the underlying survey data. They simply make the surveys and the organizations behind them more discoverable. If an organization wants to learn more or access the underlying data, it can connect directly with the organization that conducted the survey.
Here is a short video showing how you can submit your ODK survey templates to the library.
For queries and assistance, reach out to @capibuilder
. @capibuilder has received new signups this week! 🤟
Under the hood, CAPIBuilder is currently running on a single ODK instance. That works for now, but it is not the architecture I want for the long term.
I am migrating the platform to a database-level multi-tenant architecture, where each organization will have its own database and team SSO. This provides stronger data isolation and safer API access for downstream analytics, reporting, and integrations.
Follow CAPIBuilder in LinkedIn and X (@capibuilder) to stay updated on the launch.
A social impact consulting firm with a presence in South Asia and Africa will use @capibuilder to collect data and develop a dashboard for their public health ⚕️facility survey in India. 🇮🇳
CAPIBuilder is a powerful, open-source, form-builder for ODK-based apps.
Docs 📄for CAPIBuilder is taking shape, this covers:
→ Getting started
→ Create project
→ Create a new form
→ Question types
Docs will also cover technical guidance for developers opting for the open-source version of CAPIBuilder.