MERL Tech DC 2019

This workshop will be led by Integrity Global, an international consultancy and service provider working to support evidence-based programming in challenging and complex environments, and Dobility, the company behind SurveyCTO, a platform for field-based digital data collection. Participants will gain hands-on skills and learning in data collection for international development programming in conflict-affected environments. They will also contribute to a set of principles for organizations conducting data collection in such environments. During the session, presenters will demonstrate relevant approaches, tools, and considerations for data collection with a focus on fragile and conflict-affected settings. They will then lead participants in an interactive role-playing activity to illustrate the journey of information from the point of data collection through to how it is analyzed and reported, and the decisions along the way that impact the accuracy of the data itself. The learning objective of the session is to provide hands-on examples of data collection challenges and the effects of methodological or operational decisions on the ultimate quality of data collection in such environments. This is a highly participatory session and participants will be encouraged to draw from their own experience, knowledge, and skillsets to contribute to the discussion and to developing a set of principles for data collection in conflict-affected environments.