How do you reuse one standard list of regions and districts across every survey?

Put the hierarchy in a single reference table and read from it with a cascading reference question. Every survey then draws on the same list, and renaming a district becomes one edit instead of twenty.

Video: Using Cascading Reference questions in mWater on YouTube

Why this matters

Administrative lists are the most copied and least maintained data most organisations hold. Each new survey gets its own pasted version, the copies drift apart, and a year later the same district appears under four spellings so nothing aggregates. A shared list fixes the aggregation problem at its source, which is far cheaper than cleaning it afterwards.

How to do it

  1. Structure the hierarchy in a spreadsheet, one column per level, for example region, district and village.
  2. Load it as a single reference table for the organisation.
  3. Check workspace permissions so every survey that needs the list can read it.
  4. Add a cascading reference question to the survey and point it at that table.
  5. Update the central table when boundaries or codes change, and every survey follows.

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