Project Updates

1. MPCA (Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance) Mixed Methods Study in East Lombok

An Empatika researcher interviews a beneficiary of the programme as part of the baseline survey

Empatika started March with a follow-up to our study last year on Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) in Central Sulawesi and North Lombok. This new study in East Lombok will be an integrated mixed methods study with surveys followed-up by immersion research and participatory focus group discussions. There will be baseline and endline phases that aim to track changes from the beginning to end of this cash transfer program.

During the process, we will be exploring how people’s livelihoods have been affected by the 2018 earthquake, how people perceive the assistance, the process and mechanism, how they spend the money, and the impacts that it has on their lives.

Our team conducted the initial survey in early March, working with a quantitative programmer to design the questionnaires. Over eight days, nine researchers from our team visited four different villages receiving the assistance and interviewed more than 500 people.

The remaining parts of the study are currently on hold due to Covid-19, as are the cash disbursements themselves. We hope that it won’t be long before the situation is safe enough to continue the cash disbursements, as this money will no doubt be especially helpful for families in these communities due to the limitations placed on activities and business by the corona outbreak. We also look forward to returning to these communities when it is safe to do so, and will be expanding our own security protocols to ensure safety both for our own researchers along with the study participants.

2. Maternal, Adolescents, and Young Child Nutrition and WASH study and Action Research (Indonesia)

Following up on emerging topics and issues highlighted during the exploratory research phase last November, in February our team undertook structured research in the same four communities. We combined several participatory approaches and tools, including:

Participatory Focus Group Discussions (pFGDs) with Moms, Fathers, Older Women, Health Service Providers, and Cadres

This is one of the examples an exercise during a pFGD with Health Service Providers where we talked about the process during Posyandu, each person’s role and understanding the ‘chain of command’ and sources of information

pFGDs with fathers in one of study locations to understand the sources of information they trust

The picture shows one of the pFGD sessions with moms in WJ. Here moms are sharing about the roles that they take on as part of parenting

Hanging out with teen girls and boys

During this informal hangout, we chatted with teen girls about their dreams and aspirations, nutrition, also sexual and reproductive health issues. To keep the activities more interesting and informal, we hung out in areas where they usually like to meet and chatted with them first to make sure they felt comfortable and relaxed. We also then used visuals as part of our conversations.

As well as extensive observation relating to data management for Posyandu and Puskesmas

During this phase, we also wanted to explore and better understand how the Posyandu collects, records, and manages the data of the Posyandu participants relating to health and their development.

These deep, detailed, and contextual insights on specific issues will also be used to help plan for the upcoming Human Centered Design (HCD) workshops that will be conducted at the community level in Late March/early April. The HCD process will include brainstorming and prototyping solutions to address challenges identified by community members themselves both from the immersion and structured research phases.

3. Bangladesh New Study and New Researcher Training!

We’re excited that our long history of work in Bangladesh will continue this year with a new study on Child Labour. As part of preparing for this study, in mid-February two members of our core team trained a new batch of local Bangladeshi researchers in the RCA Level 1 training, which includes three days of classroom training along with a two-night pilot immersion. Our team was assisted by some of the Bangladeshi researchers that we have worked with for previous studies (some of whom we’ve worked with for over five years now!) who we’re lucky to have back joining this study as well. The main study fieldwork will take place from early to mid-March.

See our 2019 year in review!