IERC
At Independent Evaluation and Research Cell (IERC), the research wing of BRAC International (BI) and an affiliate of BRAC Institute of Governance & Development (BIGD), we support BRAC programmes by generating research evidence on their relevance and impacts. Administratively, IERC is attached with respective BI countries.
We envision making strategic contributions to BRAC programmes and the international development agenda by influencing the policy actors with research evidence. We aim to generate and disseminate evidence on the relevance, impact, and sustainability of BRAC programmes.
We conduct impact evaluation, operation evaluation, and nationally representative surveys on multi-sectoral topics in diverse contexts across Africa and Asia. The large administrative presence and diversified sectoral platform of BRAC in respective countries provide us with a unique comparative advantage to test and learn before rolling out an intervention at scale. Our multi-disciplinary research team, with its multi-sectoral cross-country experiences, leads us to design and implement rigorous evaluations of a wide range of interventions across diverse contexts.
We collaborate with renowned universities, research institutes, development organisations, and governments to design, test, and disseminate research findings. The Central Team headquartered in Uganda coordinates the Country Research Teams operating in BI countries including Uganda, Tanzania, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Afghanistan.
While quality data with relevant purpose is at the core of the research management, the quality research in search of referable evidence is the top priority of knowledge management. Research management at IERC is governed by a number of administrative and technical protocols, some of which include IERC Research Review Committee (RRC), survey management and data quality protocol, data protection protocol, mobile data collection, and grant management SOP. These generic practices and protocols are often customised to the specific needs of a particular project or survey.