Home
Start free trial Talk to Sales Sign in

info@datalystafrica.com
+263 773 806 868

Research & Evaluation

Evidence that survives scrutiny.

Ten years of monitoring, evaluation and learning for UN agencies, development banks, international NGOs and governments. Independent, rigorous and delivered on the date we promised.

250+
Evaluations delivered
50+
Client organisations
40k+
Respondents reached
10+
Years in the field
Commissioned by

Organisations whose reporting cannot be questioned

UNICEFWorld BankFAOIFRCPlan InternationalWorld VisionCOMESATrócaireCaritasDiakoniaTRAFFICThe Salvation ArmyBancABCNetOneEmiratesCresta HotelsZIMSECBindura UniversityEmory UniversityValterraCCJPNasmosRegina MundiHardmonds
UNICEFWorld BankFAOIFRCPlan InternationalWorld VisionCOMESATrócaireCaritasDiakoniaTRAFFICThe Salvation ArmyBancABCNetOneEmiratesCresta HotelsZIMSECBindura UniversityEmory UniversityValterraCCJPNasmosRegina MundiHardmonds
Evaluation types

Six evaluations, mapped to the project cycle

Which one you need depends entirely on where you are and what decision is waiting on the answer. Open any of them for method, timeline and deliverables.

01

Baseline Evaluations

6–10 weeks
BEFORE IMPLEMENTATION

Establish a defensible benchmark before implementation

“What is the situation right now, measured properly?”

  • Indicator framework with agreed definitions
  • Baseline values for every indicator
  • Disaggregation by sex, age, location and vulnerability
  • Sampling and weighting documentation
02

Midline Evaluations

5–8 weeks
MID-IMPLEMENTATION

Course-correct while there is still time to act

“Is this working, and what should we change now?”

  • Progress against baseline values
  • What is working and what is not, with evidence
  • Course-correction recommendations you can still act on
  • Risk register update
03

Endline Evaluations

8–12 weeks
AT COMPLETION

Prove outcomes, effectiveness and value for money

“Did it work, and was it worth the money?”

  • Achievement against every target
  • OECD-DAC criteria assessment
  • Value-for-money analysis
  • Lessons learned and sustainability outlook
04

Process Evaluations

4–8 weeks
ANY TIME DURING DELIVERY

Diagnose delivery quality and operational efficiency

“Why is delivery slower and messier than planned?”

  • Process map of how delivery actually happens
  • Bottleneck and delay analysis
  • Fidelity assessment against the design
  • Operational fixes ranked by effort and impact
05

Needs Assessments

5–9 weeks
BEFORE DESIGNING ANYTHING

Locate the real gaps before you commit resources

“What do people actually need, in priority order?”

  • Prioritised needs by group and geography
  • Existing provision and gap mapping
  • Barriers to access analysis
  • Design recommendations with target groups defined
06

Impact Assessments

10–16 weeks
1–5 YEARS AFTER

Measure long-term social and economic change

“What changed because of us, and not for other reasons?”

  • Attributable impact with a credible counterfactual
  • Intended and unintended effects
  • Cost-effectiveness per outcome achieved
  • Sustainability of change over time
The cycle

Where each evaluation belongs

Commission the wrong one at the wrong moment and you get an expensive document nobody can act on. This is the sequence that works.

Project stageEvaluationTime
Before you design the interventionNeeds Assessment5–9 weeks
Design agreed, before activities startBaseline Evaluation6–10 weeks
Roughly halfway through deliveryMidline Evaluation5–8 weeks
Delivery is struggling and you need to know whyProcess Evaluation4–8 weeks
At the close of the programmeEndline Evaluation8–12 weeks
One to five years after completionImpact Assessment10–16 weeks
Our standards

Why our findings hold up in a review meeting

Evaluation reports get challenged — by donors, boards, auditors and sometimes by the implementing team. Ours are built to withstand that from the start.

  • OECD-DAC criteria applied: relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability
  • Mixed methods — quantitative survey plus qualitative depth, triangulated against each other
  • Sampling calculated and disclosed, with weighting where the design requires it
  • 10% of interviews independently back-checked by a supervisor
  • Ethics protocol: informed consent, anonymity, safeguarding and do-no-harm
  • Limitations stated plainly in the report rather than hidden in an annex

Regional field network

Trained enumerators across Zimbabwe and the wider region.

Independent voice

We report what the data shows, including when it is unwelcome.

Multi-language

Shona, Ndebele, English and other regional languages.

On the promised date

Deadlines matter when a donor report is due.

Ethics approved

Consent, anonymity and safeguarding on every study.

Data handed over

Anonymised datasets and instruments, yours to keep.

Capabilities

Methods we bring to every engagement

Household & facility surveys

Structured quantitative collection at scale, on tablets with GPS and offline capture.

Focus groups & KIIs

Facilitated discussions and key informant interviews in local languages.

Statistical analysis

SPSS, Stata, R and Python — regression, difference-in-differences, propensity matching.

Qualitative coding

Thematic analysis with NVivo-style rigour, AI-assisted where volume demands it.

GIS & spatial analysis

Mapping coverage, access and outcome distribution geographically.

Value for money

Economy, efficiency, effectiveness and equity assessment against spend.

Theory of change

Logic models and results frameworks built or reconstructed with your team.

MEL system design

Indicator frameworks and data systems your team can actually run afterwards.

Evaluation budgets typically range from US$8,000 for a focused process evaluation to US$65,000+ for multi-country impact assessment. Every proposal carries a fixed price, a named team and a delivery date.

FAQ

What commissioners ask us

Independence is the product. Our reputation with donors and boards is the only reason repeat work arrives, so a flattering report that later gets contradicted would cost us far more than it earns. We have delivered findings that clients did not want to read, and we said so in writing.
Yes, and it is the first thing we plan backwards from. Tell us the submission date and we will tell you honestly whether the required fieldwork fits — rather than agreeing and then asking for an extension.
Regularly. Our enumerator network covers rural and remote districts, and we plan for seasonal access, security clearance and connectivity gaps at the design stage rather than discovering them in week three.
A full technical report, a short management summary, a slide deck for presentation, cleaned anonymised datasets and all instruments. Donor-specific templates are standard — tell us the format and we write to it.
Yes. Indicator frameworks, data collection tools, database design and staff training are frequently more valuable than another report, because they leave you able to monitor continuously.
Included as standard. We present in person or virtually, and we answer the hard questions directly rather than leaving your team to defend a method we designed.
Get started

Send us your terms of reference.

We will respond with a method, a team, a timeline and a fixed price — and we will tell you if the ToR is asking for the wrong evaluation.

No obligation · Response within one business day · NDA on request

Chat with us