Eight ways we help you answer a question

We count and measure. Surveys of households, facilities, schools and providers tell you how many people are affected, where they are, and how far a service reaches them.

Questions this answers

• •How many people are affected, and how does it differ by state, sex, age and disability?
• •What share of facilities, schools or households meet the standard?
• •What do people say about the service they use?

Methods

Household and individual surveys; Facility, school and provider surveys; Phone and other remote surveys; Community perception surveys; Specialised modules; Secondary analysis of national data.

What you receive

Estimates by group and area with the margin of error stated, the questionnaire, and an anonymised dataset where consent and contracts allow.

From our own work

• Measuring community impact along a cross-border energy corridor
• Mapping the real cost of moving food across Nigeria

We find out why. Interviews, group discussions and community sessions explain what the numbers can’t: why people stay away, how decisions get made, and what a programme felt like to the people it was for.

Questions this answers

• •Why are people not using the service?
• •How are decisions made in the household, the agency or the community?
• •What did the programme mean for the people it was meant for?

Methods

Key informant and in-depth interviews; Focus group discussions; Case studies; Life histories; Community mapping, scorecards and participatory appraisals; Norms research, and research led with the people concerned.

What you receive

Findings organised by theme, with anonymised evidence and what they mean for design.

From our own work

• Indigenous Supply Chain Management System
• What traditional rulers and community leaders said, in their own words

We test whether something worked. An evaluation asks whether people are better off than they would have been without the programme, who gained most, and what it cost.

Questions this answers

• •Did it work, for whom, and at what cost?
• •Is it being delivered the way it was designed?
• •Is this programme ready to be evaluated at all?

Methods

Baseline, midline and endline studies; Process and implementation evaluation; Impact evaluation; Gender-responsive and inclusive evaluation; Cost-effectiveness and value-for-money analysis; Rapid and evaluability assessments.

What you receive

An evaluation report with findings split by sex, age, disability and location, and a plain statement of what the design can and cannot prove.

From our own work

• Measuring community impact along a cross-border energy corridor

We check that it arrived. Independent monitoring shows whether money, materials and services reached the people and places they were meant for, and whether reported results match what is on the ground.

Questions this answers

• •Did the payment, the delivery or the service reach the intended people?
• •Where does money slow down or stop between the budget and the facility?
• •Do the results being reported match what we find?

Methods

Third-party and independent monitoring; Verification of beneficiaries, payments and deliveries; Public expenditure and fund-flow tracking; Service delivery tracking; Validation of reported data; Accessibility, quality audits and feedback mechanism reviews.

What you receive

A verification or tracking report with an issue log that says what was checked, how, and what did not add up.

We follow the money and cost the options. Budget analysis and costing show what something takes to run at scale, who benefits, and what happens when outside funding ends.

Questions this answers

• •What would this cost at scale?
• •Who benefits, and who is missed?
• •What happens to the service when donor money stops?

Methods

Budget and expenditure analysis; Costing of services, packages and programme options; Fiscal space and financing sustainability analysis; Benefit incidence and equity analysis; Cost-effectiveness and value-for-money analysis; Labour market, skills demand and donor transition assessments.

What you receive

A costed options paper or budget analysis, with the assumptions written out so your finance team can check them.

From our own work

• Mapping the real cost of moving food across Nigeria

We look at why a sound policy isn’t working. We map who decides, who has to act, and where things stall between federal, state and local levels.

Questions this answers

• •Why is this policy not reaching people?
• •Who decides, and who has to act?
• •Where does implementation stall, and what would unblock it?

Methods

Policy and legal review; Political economy analysis; Stakeholder and institutional mapping; Federal, state and local coordination assessments; Assessment of how far states have adopted and enforce national laws; Analysis for sector strategies and programmes.

What you receive

An analysis with options for action, and a map of the actors involved.

We find out what is already known. Reviews and gap maps tell you what the evidence says, where it is thin, and what to do with it.

Questions this answers

• •What does the evidence say about this approach?
• •Where is the evidence thin or out of date?
• •How do we turn findings into a decision?

Methods

Systematic reviews; Scoping reviews; Rapid evidence reviews; Evidence gap maps; Policy briefs and evidence-to-policy workshops; Learning agendas and dissemination events.

What you receive

A review, a short brief for decision-makers and, if you want it, a workshop to work through what follows.

From our own work

• Open evidence questions

We help you trust your own data. We assess the data you already collect, design what you should measure, and train your teams to use it.

Questions this answers

• •Can we rely on the data behind our plans?
• •What should we measure, and how often?
• •Do our teams use the data they collect?

Methods

Monitoring and evaluation frameworks; Results framework and indicator design; Routine data quality assessments; Data use studies; Gender and inclusion data audits; Training in research methods and data use.

What you receive

An assessment with a fix-first list, a framework your team can run, and training.

From our own work

• Building M&E capacity for Bauchi State’s social protection policy