Skip links
Market Coverage
Aareton Blue

Project SUA

Collaboration with various clients across Africa

Project SUA was a study commissioned by Gorbi to Aarenton Blue seeking to understand if and how VOA brand attribution affects the program Start up Africa’s perception. The methodology used was a quasi-experimental design whereby groups were controlled for users / non-users of StartUp Africa and opinions of the VOA brand. Upon commissioning of the study, the GORBI team ensured a thorough understanding of USAGM objectives, technical requirements, and concerns. The fieldwork was then conducted on 4th – 16th April 2024. Vision Zambia Commissioned the Behavior Change Collaborative in partnership with AaretonBlue Africa to run a study in Zambia, between September and October 2023 on FMNR (Farmer managed Natural Regeneration). We were engaged to provide an evidence base to enable World Vision to design a ten-year National Social Marketing and Behavior Change (SMBC) Communications Strategy for Zambia, to support the scale up of (FMNR). The study was run in Chibombo, Katete, Sind and Pemba. The study included talking to various respondents, including small-scale farmers, regional chiefs, agricultural officers, and various NGOs and private sector organizations working in the agriculture sector.

Study Requirements

The proposal was for 12 focus group discussions in the capital city Nairobi representing different socio-economic profiles and employment activities.   The location was limited to one city only with a good spread of areas so as to retain the integrity of the quasi-experimental design and not introduce another geographic variable that would have made it more challenging to investigate and interpret the effect of VOA brand attribution on opinions of StartUp Africa.

The target population of the study was adult Kenyans aged 18-40 years who reside in private households and had been living in the country for more than 6 months at the time of the study. Target participants were also to be fluent in any of the following major languages: Swahili or English.

As per the Call Order SOW, the focus group discussions comprised three general kinds of users; positively inclined towards the VOA brand, negatively inclined towards the VOA brand and those unaware of the VOA brand as follows:

Table 1:  Focus Group Discussion Composition

Positive Opinion of VOA (4 groups, 8 participants per group, M/F)

Negative Opinion of VOA (4 groups, 8 participants per group, M/F)

Unaware of VOA (4 groups, 8 participants per group, M/F)

18–29 year olds

30-40 year olds

18-29 year olds

30-40 year olds

18-29 year olds (2 groups)

30-40 year-olds (2 groups)

  1. For qualitative studies, we help our clients with refining the tools, translating materials when needed and recruiting the right respondents. We also moderate sessions and provide you with videos, audio recordings, transcripts, and a high-level report if you’d like. Everything we do is tailored to the client’s unique needs. For Qual studies, we support focus groups, in-depth interviews (IDIs), workshops, and product tests!

  2. For our quantitative studies, we use both CATI and face-to-face methods, depending on what works best for gathering insights. In Africa, while face-to-face interviews may be a bit pricier, they often lead to deeper insights, which we find really valuable. Just like with our qualitative studies, we make sure to review the tools, translate everything into different languages if needed, build sampling frames, script the tools, and run data collection with a strong focus on quality control. We provide our clients with data formats like SPSS or Excel. Plus, if you’d like, we can also help with analysis.