Research Capacity Built for Serious Decisions

We help institutions, universities, donors, and programme leaders understand the DRC with confidence. Our teams combine local access, rigorous methods, national deployment capacity, and disciplined field operations to turn complex realities into evidence leaders can act on.

500+qualified consultants and enumerators
15regular permanent staff
26DRC provinces reachable through RISD networks
30+documented research and evaluation assignments
Services

What We Deliver for Decision-Makers

We work where credibility matters: evaluations that must withstand scrutiny, research that informs policy, field operations that need discipline, and data systems that senior teams can trust.

Geographic Coverage

We Can Mobilize Where the Evidence Is

We are rooted in Bukavu and authorized to work across the DRC. Our regional offices, focal points, and investigator networks allow us to mobilize quickly while keeping fieldwork accountable, contextual, and locally informed.

01

Eastern DRC: national and eastern office in Bukavu, with focal points and investigator networks in Goma, Kindu, Beni, and Bunia.

02

Central and southern DRC: representation in Lubumbashi, with focal points in Kalemie, Kolwezi, Kipushi, and coverage of the Kasai provinces.

03

Western DRC: representation in Kinshasa, covering Kinshasa, Equateur, Kongo Central, Sud-Ubangi, Mai-Ndombe, Kwilu, Kwango, Bandundu, Mongala, and Nord-Ubangi.

04

Tshopo and former Orientale areas: focal points supporting field deployment and data-collection operations.

Selected Experience

Experience Trusted by Serious Institutions

Our record spans public health, education, food security, governance, humanitarian monitoring, mining, gender, protection, conflict, and agriculture. These selected assignments show how we support organizations that need reliable evidence in demanding environments.

2024 - presentNord-Ubangi and Nord-Kivu

Primary Research for the Tobacco Control Data Initiative

SRD Lab, Development Gateway, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Research on tobacco-use trends among people aged 15 and older, including drivers of consumption and barriers to cessation.

What we bring

Mixed-method design, household surveys, interviews, group discussions, logistics, supervision, coordination, data collection, analysis support, and reporting.

2024 - presentKatanga, Kasai Oriental, Bas-Uele, and Tshopo

Household Economy Baseline Data Collection

Chemonics International, Food Economy Group, FEWS NET, BHA/USAID

Baseline operation for livelihood-zone profiling and household economy analysis.

What we bring

Recruitment, training, qualitative and quantitative data collection, logistics, quality control, fieldwork planning, profile notes, baseline storage spreadsheets, and tablet storage spreadsheets.

2023 - presentBukavu, Lubumbashi, and Kinshasa

Education Finance Landscape and USAID Catalyze Edufinance Lessons

USAID/MSSP and SoCha

Qualitative research on education finance and lessons from the Catalyze Edufinance programme.

What we bring

Study-team recruitment, enumerator training, data-collection coordination, quality control, technical, administrative, financial, and logistical management, and final reporting.

2023 - presentDemocratic Republic of Congo

Youth Tobacco Prevalence Study

SRD Lab, Development Gateway, APHRC, Ministry of Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Study of tobacco prevalence among young people aged 10 to 17 as part of the Data on Youth and Tobacco in Africa project.

What we bring

Co-design of methodology and tools, inception report, sampling, staff recruitment and training, field coordination, technical and logistical support, database cleaning, analysis, and final report.

2022 - presentIturi, Bas-Uele, Haut-Uele, Nord-Kivu, and Sud-Ubangi

Central Africa Regional Third-Party Monitoring

USAID-BHA CART project led by MSI

Third-party monitoring of humanitarian activities across more than 150 sites, including food distribution, cash programming, agriculture, and nutrition.

What we bring

Logistics, recruitment, supervision, field observations, interviews with beneficiaries and implementing partners, site updates, and field activity reports.

2022South Kivu, North Kivu, Haut-Katanga, Lualaba, Kinshasa, and Kasai Oriental

Evaluation of the USAID Integrated Governance Activity

USAID/MSSP and SoCha

Performance evaluation of the Integrated Governance Activity implemented by DAI.

What we bring

Study-staff recruitment, training, focus groups, key informant interviews, data management, quality control, technical and logistical management, and final report production.

2022South Kivu, North Kivu, Haut-Katanga, Lualaba, Kasai Central, Kinshasa, Nord-Ubangi, and Haut-Uele

Countering Trafficking in Persons Study

NORC at the University of Chicago, USAID, and IOM

Qualitative study with anti-trafficking stakeholders and victims of human trafficking.

What we bring

Interview-guide review, qualitative researcher training, supervision, data quality control, consent administration, focus groups, key informant interviews, and secure data transfer.

2021South Kivu and North Kivu

Rapid Education Response Mechanisms in Acute Emergencies

University of Sussex and UNICEF RRMP partners

Qualitative study on education-response mechanisms in areas affected by population movement and acute emergency.

What we bring

Field coordination, interview organization with education officials, school leaders, teachers, parents, students, and out-of-school youth, plus data-collection management.

2021Miti-Murhesa, Katana, and Mubumbano health zones, South Kivu

Behavioural Economics and Complementary Feeding

Ideas42, Breakthrough Action, Johns Hopkins CCP, USAID Advancing Nutrition

Qualitative study and user-tool testing for interventions related to complementary feeding for children aged 6 to 23 months.

What we bring

Recruitment, training, field data collection, logistics, supervision, and support to qualitative research implementation.

2020Kasai Oriental, Lomami, Haut-Katanga, and South Kivu

Fall Armyworm Integrated Management Baseline

IMC Worldwide, Venture37, and USAID

Baseline research on fall armyworm management for maize producers.

What we bring

Literature review support, gender analysis, qualitative inquiry, household surveys, digital-tool preparation, and data collection.

2018 - presentGoma, Bukavu, Walungu, Kabare, and Kalehe

Integrated Youth Development Activity Studies and Evaluations

Education Development Center and USAID

Repeated studies and evaluations on gender, contextual risk, cohesion factors, education needs, public-private partnerships, and learner cohorts.

What we bring

Research and evaluation delivery, recruitment, training, pilot testing, data-tool development, ODK programming, qualitative and quantitative data collection, supervision, and reporting.

2018 - 2020North Kivu and South Kivu

Mining Due Diligence, Gender, and COVID Studies

Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University

Studies on mining due diligence, women's roles in mining communities, and gender dimensions of COVID in artisanal and small-scale mining towns.

What we bring

Enumerator recruitment and training, questionnaire design and programming, qualitative and quantitative data collection, field coordination, and logistics.

2016 - 2018North Kivu and Tshopo

African Enterprise Challenge Fund Evaluation

AGRA, Ecorys, Esco-Kivu, and Wageningen University

Final evaluation of an agriculture, food security, and social-security project with approximately 1,000 households.

What we bring

Survey cleaning, logistics, enumerator recruitment and training, field supervision, household sampling, and data-quality assurance using ODK Collect.

2014 - 2015South Kivu and Tanganyika

Security, Trafficking, and Abuse in Mining Communities

Social Impact Inc. and USAID

Qualitative and quantitative research on trafficking and abuse affecting women, men, and children in gold, coltan, and cassiterite mining communities.

What we bring

Enumerator recruitment and training, questionnaire and interview-guide development, translation, coordination, qualitative data supervision, logistics, and field reporting.

How We Work

How We Protect the Quality of Evidence

Senior leaders need more than data. They need confidence that the evidence was collected ethically, checked carefully, interpreted in context, and delivered in a form that supports decisions.

01

Sharp design

We clarify the real decision behind the research question, shape the methodology, prepare tools, and secure the authorizations required for responsible fieldwork.

02

Strong teams

We recruit consultants, enumerators, supervisors, transcribers, and specialists, then train them on ethics, tools, local context, and quality expectations.

03

Disciplined fieldwork

We coordinate interviews, surveys, focus groups, digital questionnaires, observations, logistics, and daily supervision so field operations stay controlled.

04

Evidence you can use

We clean and validate data, check transcripts and audio, manage secure transfer, support analysis, and produce reporting that leaders can work with.

Bring Us Into the Question That Matters

If your institution needs evidence from the DRC that is credible, contextual, and operationally realistic, we are ready to help you design the assignment and mobilize the right team.