It is required of researchers who conduct research in Ethiopia to have the studies approved by
national authorities. Overall, only research projects that were typically submitted to the ethics committee for approval involved pharmaceutical testing or biological sampling from the health sciences. However, in respecting the law of the land, it is important for researchers to obtain the authorities sign off and clearance.

Though the process is difficult and cumbersome, WAAS has done it before and understand how to go about the process in an integral manner to have all the legal approvals before we commence fieldwork.

There are many reasons why researchers ought to obtain ethics approval, including legal ones. There are also important reasons why researchers should engage with national ethics systems. The process can strengthen the research as the ethics committee members were more aware of local laws and issues. In the past, there were restrictions on the types of questions that were asked in the questionnaire but currently the government is more tolerant and open hence restrictions are limited.

Logistics:

• • • In Ethiopia, over 60% of population living in rural areas impacts on resources, project timings and costs
    • Travel time is prolonged especially due to lack of convenient transport/ vehicle assess to some of these areas allowing us to hire vehicles for our teams to be able to conduct fieldwork. In some instances, we book flights for our teams (qualitative projects)
    • Poor weather conditions and local traffic jams that may affect some timelines and way of working (as per the set timeline)

Language / cultural Intricacies:

• • • Consider multiple local languages when conducting research across Ethiopia; Amharic, Oromifa, Tigrinya, Somali and Sidama
    • These are all unique ethnic groupings with different cultural and social behaviour which influences how we approach them for research. We have teams that speak all these languages, trained to conduct research in those parts of the country

Religion:

The majority of the Ethiopians are Orthodox and the majority of them fast for around 165 to 250 days a year including abstaining from all animal products such as eggs, meat, and dairy products on specific days of the week. This affects their participation in certain research projects which we take into consideration during this time.

• • • CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing) capacity: WAAS has multiple (80 tablets) and 300 smart phones that are used for data collection for our projects currently.
    • We have an infrastructure that gives us the capacity to undertake large and complex evidence gathering projects efficiently through use of mobile data collection. We conduct over 150,000 interviews via CAPI annually.
    • CATI – We have a team that conducts our telephonic interviews for telephonic projects, in-house. We also have an internal database of the General Public which covers a profile that cuts across categories and sectors.
    • Commitment to Quality Control Processes: All surveys are subject to rigorous quality control procedures, especially in relation to instrument design, sampling, fieldwork, data processing and statistical procedures such as weighting. Our quality control procedures are open and transparent, and our clients are invited to inspect the procedures. Your lead team will be welcome to be involved in each phase.

Stakeholder & relationships management: taking cognizance of the fact that there will be a need to work with a number of stakeholders, we confirm that we have solid experience in managing complex multi-level projects involving many stakeholders including experience of working with consultants, Committees, and government representatives, etc.

• • • Data Management System: We use the best and latest versions of leading market research analysis software such as SPSS, Quantum.
    • Statistician: We also have an in-house team of experienced statisticians that support all projects we implement with sampling and analysis. Our Statistician is charged with the responsibility of drawing up samples, sampling procedures and high-level statistical analysis.