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Connecting with local stakeholders and communities to understand needs, values, and preferences that affect uptake and acceptability of programs, activities, and interventions using a wide range of qualitative and participatory research methods.
Research to improve access to and quality of secondary education in The Gambia (2024-2025)
Research to improve access to and quality of secondary education in The Gambia (2024-2025)
Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)
This study aimed to provide evidence-based insights to guide the selection and development of social and behavior change interventions to improve access to and quality of secondary education in The Gambia. Across five sites in four regions, the team conducted focus group sand interviews with students (grades 7-12, both enrolled and out-of-school), parents/guardians of students, secondary school teachers, School Management Committee members, and community leaders/social influencers.
Developed the study and guides to reflect and be responsive to MCC's adapted Capability-Opportunity-Motivation (COM) behavior change approach
Trained local data collectors and oversaw pilot data collection; reviewed and rapidly analyzed all transcripts and, based on findings, produced recommended intermediate objectives and behavior change techniques to increase student enrollment, attendance, and completion and increase teacher regular attendance and retention in the profession.
Photo credit: Jessica Scranton/FHI 360
Identifying factors influencing school re-entry for pregnant students and young mothers in Cote d'Ivoire (2023-2024)
Identifying factors influencing school re-entry for pregnant students and young mothers in Cote d'Ivoire (2023-2024)
MCC
Designed and led qualitative research to describe and characterize the internal and external factors influencing implementation of a school re-entry strategy for pregnant students and young mothers. Oversaw study design, research team training, and data collection and analysis of key informant interviews (KII) and focus groups in Bouaké and Bondoukou with regional-level school administrators, school-affiliated health care providers (HCP), school staff, parents, and girls aged 18 years and above who had experienced a pregnancy during their schooling.
Delivered recommendations to support the development of a multi-tiered and integrated communication campaign to address the multiple factors influencing re-entry and contribute to a more inclusive and effective educational system for young mothers.
Increasing land-based revenue through improved collection of property taxes (2022-2023) and ground rents (2024) in Malawi
Increasing land-based revenue through improved collection of property taxes (2022-2023) and ground rents (2024) in Malawi
MCC
This mixed methods social and behavior change (SBC) research study generated information to inform the design of SBC interventions integrated into MCC activities to increase land-based revenues to improve land administration and the provision of public services in Malawi.
2024 - Designed and led applied qualitative research in two regions to explore the factors influencing payment of ground rents by leaseholders of land used for agricultural, residential, and commercial purposes. Additionally, the research sought to identify similarities or differences between ground rents payment behaviors and decisions and those identified in an earlier behavioral study (below) on payment of city rates. Informed audience segmentation and the design of SBC interventions tailored to each segment’s profile.
2022-2023 - Led the qualitative component of the original mixed-methods SBC research study in four cities in Malawi to understand barriers and facilitators to property tax payment under the extant system. Trained the local study team, who engaged residential and business property owners and city council members in KIIs, IDIs, and participatory workshops. Results of the research were presented to representatives from each city council as well as community and civil society representatives during a series of workshops in June 2023. Outputs from these workshops were used to develop a strategic framework, which guided the design and implementation of SBC interventions under the MCC compact. The strategic framework included recommended behavior change techniques linked to each recommended intermediate objective for SBC interventions targeting property owners, tenants, and elected members and secretariat staff of city councils.
Planning for market-driven irrigated horticulture (MDIH) in Lesotho (2022-2023)
Planning for market-driven irrigated horticulture (MDIH) in Lesotho (2022-2023)
MCC
Designed and oversaw implementation of community discussion groups in four areas of Lesotho as part of participatory design research aimed at describing and characterizing the individual and group-level influences important to MDIH scheme participants’ decisions to join and stay engaged in irrigated horticulture independent farming units (farmers’ groups). Findings provided key considerations for activity planning and served as the basis for a larger quantitative household survey implemented in the same areas.
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Planning for introduction of a new wastewater management system in Dili, Timor Leste (2022-2023)
Planning for introduction of a new wastewater management system in Dili, Timor Leste (2022-2023)
MCC
Designed and oversaw implementation of a rapid exploratory, ethnographic approach using semi-structured interviews (SSI) (with embedded observation) and mini focus groups (FGs) to understand facilitators and barriers to exclusive use and maintenance of plumbed flush toilets in Dili, as part of a larger water, sanitation, and hygiene activity. SSIs with adult household members in Dili were anchored in ethnographic observational “grand tours” of current toileting facilities to identify the range of potential processes, practices, and contextual considerations (e.g., physical facilities, hygienic standards) of typical toilet behavior/use patterns. The grand tour was followed by more standard SSI questioning on the MCC COM Model sub-constructs related to toilet use. Preliminary findings and visual outputs from these SSIs were incorporated into mini-FGs with community members to stimulate discussion on how common/uncommon particular toileting conditions are in the community, how the facilities influence current sanitation behaviors, and how they may influence appropriate use and maintenance of plumbed toilets, as well as to understand current costs and perceptions of payment of monthly water/sewer tariffs. We also conducted several key informant interviews (KIIs) with local plumbers and sanitation-related technicians, municipal officers and government officials, and personnel in the new water utility. Findings provided key considerations for activity planning and served as the basis for a larger quantitative household survey implemented in the same area.
USAID - Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF)
Under the Accelerating Strategies for Practical Innovation & Research in Economic Strengthening (ASPIRES) project, and with funding from USAID’s Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF), the Family Care project tackled the topics of how economic strengthening (ES) interventions can help separated children—such as children in residential care facilities, children living on the street, or children migrating for work—return to and remain in their families. We explored how ES can help highly vulnerable families stay together, which can reduce children’s risk of neglect, abuse and exploitation and increases the likelihood that they will experience positive physical and mental health outcomes.
While our knowledge about how ES interventions can affect different dimensions of children’s well-being is growing, there was little research on how ES interventions work in specific contexts of family-child separation. ASPIRES Family Care developed evidence on the subject through two field-based projects in Uganda. We combined this evidence with learning from other projects that are addressing family reintegration and prevention of separation to create programming guidance that will help projects match specific families with ES that improves their economic circumstances and supports family stability.
Designed and led operational research, including:
A longitudinal quantitative assessment examining change in household vulnerability over time and whether projects are successful at fostering children’s reintegration into families and preventing family-child separation
A longitudinal qualitative/mixed-methods assessment in 80 households to help explain intervention effects
Development of several reports and guidance documents
Understanding the Financial Lives and Financial Service Needs of Female Sex Workers in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire (2014) and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2018)
Understanding the Financial Lives and Financial Service Needs of Female Sex Workers in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire (2014) and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2018)
USAID/ASPIRES
USAID/Ethiopia, as part of the Comprehensive HIV Services for Key and Priority Populations program
Many women’s decisions about whether and how to participate in sex work are driven by financial considerations. Despite the importance of economic factors in structural interventions for HIV prevention, data on the financial practices of female sex workers (FSWs) on which to base economic strengthening programs for HIV risk reduction were limited.
We collected qualitative data in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, through structured participant observation activities conducted with 72 FSWs during non-working hours. Detailed notes were taken as FSWs discussed their expenditures, income-generation, and saving and borrowing strategies. We also collected quantitative financial diary data from a sub-sample (n=33) of FSWs. Women who kept financial diaries did so for six weeks, meeting weekly with researchers to systematically discuss and record all financial transactions. We later conducted the same study in Addis Ababa as part of the collaborative design of a social empowerment and economic strengthening training curriculum.
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