Blog

Aureolin Research, Consultancy and Expertise Development (ARCED) Foundation is a long-time SurveyCTO user based in Dhaka, Bangladesh that works with teams from Plan International, Oxfam, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development, MIT, National University of Singapore, and many others. We connected with Md. Zahirul Islam about his work at ARCED, their research on the Ready Made Garments (RMG) sector, and how their organization has used SurveyCTO to improve the quality of the data they collect.

Barefoot College has been connecting rural communities to solar, water, education, professions, and advocacy for over forty years. We asked Global Monitoring and Evaluation Director Lauren Remedios about her work leading monitoring and evaluation activities, the Barefoot College training model, and how "solar mamas" are using SurveyCTO in India.

Boston University's Center for Global Health and Development (CGHD) is a multidisciplinary research center that focuses on global health and social development challenges. Several of their studies use SurveyCTO, and we recently connected with Dr. Davidson Hamer about his implementation research on infectious disease, particularly as it impacts mothers and children.

We recently connected with Sharon Weir, the co-founder of 4th Wheel Social Impact (4WSI), about how SurveyCTO aligns with their work improving the way social programs in India are conceptualized, implemented, monitored, and evaluated. She shared details of a recent project in Bangalore that is assessing the impact of life skills program for local youth and why digital data collection is great for researchers AND respondents.

We recently interviewed Faizan Diwan, who many of you may know from his work with SurveyCTO. Prior to joining the Dobility team, he spent several years as a Research Manager for Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) in Kenya, where he led multiple large-scale impact evaluations spanning finance, labor, agriculture, and public health, managed the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics in Nairobi, and helped lead IPA Kenya’s efforts to shift from paper-based to tablet-based surveys. We asked him about digital data collection and his advice for others.

Researchers at the Right to Education Resource Centre of the Indian Institute of Management are studying the implementation of the RTE Act in Indian states, with a special focus on Section 12(1)(c), which mandates that a minimum of 25% of seats in private primary schools be reserved for children from disadvantaged economic backgrounds. Right now, they are working in collaboration with Central Square Foundation (and using SurveyCTO!) to follow up with 2000 children who were part of an earlier study on the impact of different information campaigns on enrolling eligible students in private schools.

Nishmeet Singh is a Senior Research Analyst with Outline India, a research firm focused on impact at the grassroots level through data-driven decision-making. With two degrees in economics and experience working on projects with Save the Children, Girl Rising, Water Aid, and IMPAQ International, we were eager to learn more about his role at Outline India, his advice for other researchers, and his recent research on forced child labor in the mica mining areas of Jharkhand.