Our work begins in places others often overlook.
We go where evidence is hardest to find, because that’s where it matters most. From remote villages to complex urban crises, we find a way to reach the people and stories that would otherwise be missing from the data that shapes decisions.
Being close to the people and places we study changes what we see.
Proximity means crossing checkpoints, wading through flooded paths, and sitting with communities on their own terms. It’s in these moments — off the main road, outside the meeting room — that the realities shaping lives become visible, and the gaps in the data start to close.
“The only bridge to the payam was wiped out by heavy rain. We waited hours for the water to fall.”
“Too much rainfall these days — but we won’t give up.”
This isn’t just logistics. It’s research ethics in action.
Going the extra mile is our default.
We don’t take shortcuts, even when they’re easier or cheaper. We hire for integrity, not just credentials. We co-create tools with field researchers, not just external experts. And when we arrive in a community, we build trust before we ask questions — and maintain it long after we leave.
Stories, lessons, and reflections.
The Road to Mayom
“I arrived safely in Mayom after a long and tiring journey that began mid-morning. After a long drive, we got stuck in the mud for two hours — we tried to push the vehicle, but couldn’t manage until a truck came along and rescued the three of us: me, the driver, and a police officer.
The road was tough, with many checkpoints where we stopped for a few minutes each time. We reached Kaikang at 6:45, only to find the road ahead completely inaccessible. I had to hire a soldier with a boda boda to take me the rest of the way to Mayom. Most of the journey, I was on foot, and I lost count of how many times I fell. But thank God, I made it.”
Latjor Andrea
Reaching the School
“Getting to the school wasn’t easy. The path is tough — more like a swamp in parts. When it floods, it becomes nearly impossible to cross. On my way there, I had to take off my shoes at several points just to make it through the mud.
While I was there, the community shared something heartbreaking: a 14-year-old student had drowned the previous year trying to get to school. During the interviews, people spoke about how children with mental health issues are especially vulnerable in these conditions — and, when the area floods, hippos move in, making the walk even more dangerous for the youngest children.”
Majok Bol Maduor
Getting to the hardest locations is only half the work.
The other half is making sure every piece of information we collect is protected, verified, and ready to drive decisions. The same discipline we bring to the field continues all the way to our backend systems — because research is only as strong as the integrity of its data.
Reach the field
We travel to where the evidence is, however difficult the terrain or the access.
Collect with care
Data is gathered with consent and cultural sensitivity, using field-tested tools.
Protect & verify
Every record is protected, validated, and checked before it leaves the field.
Deliver decision-ready evidence
Verified data flows into secure systems, ready to inform real decisions.
Rigorous data collection
Same rigorous standards in the field as in our systems.
Robust data quality assurance
We control data security, validation, and audit trails end-to-end.
When a journey takes two days and three modes of transport, the result is too valuable to entrust to insecure systems or third-party platforms.
Infrastructural integrity.
We’ve built secure, self-hosted infrastructure to handle research in fragile, politicised, and high-surveillance environments. Privacy, reliability, and transparency are built in, not an afterthought.
Our technicians
Our technicians monitor server health and uptime, so projects keep moving continuously and securely.
Server room
Dedicated, self-hosted servers safeguard sensitive data with controlled access and audit logs.
Nextcloud solutions
GDPR-compliant, encrypted, real-time collaboration: document editing, secure sharing, and version control.
Self-hosted servers
Full data sovereignty, performance, and uptime — even in low-bandwidth or high-risk contexts.
Enterprise-grade security
Multi-layer encryption, strict access controls, and audit trails that meet or exceed international standards.