Palm Associates Limited (Palm) is excited about every opportunity to undertake research and data management assignments for purposes of finding solutions to vexing social problems. Palm’s innovative and cutting-edge approach maximizes available resources and always ensures that the richest possible data and research products are produced.

• In 2014, Palm Associates, together with the American Institutes for Research (AIR), were recipients of UNICEF’s prestigious global award for the best UNICEF-funded research. This was based on the two firms’ joint impact evaluation research in social protection;
• Gelson Tembo, Palm’s Executive Director, is himself an award-winning researcher, being a recipient of Oklahoma State University’s research excellence award. Prof. Tembo’s work on condom elasticity of demand received PEGNet’s best practice award in 2014. He has also been recognized as an agricultural role model by Africa’s Modernizing Food Systems Consortium (MAFSC). See http://www.mafs-africa.org/gelson_tembo/; and

• Palm Associates has demonstrable skills in project management, as can be seen from the many projects that it has successfully delivered over the years. This is further enhanced by continuous training of the firm’s key personnel in areas such as grant management, financial management, human subjects research (including CITI certification), field security (e.g. UNDSS’s BSAFE course), and M&E;
• Palm also has ability to effectively report to the Client on progress of the work. In all its research projects, Palm Associates employs a standard progress reporting system that includes:

• Over the past 17 years, Palm Associates has successfully conducted more than 30 large-scale evaluation studies in Zambia, most of which have involved repeated interviews (or panel interviews) with individuals, households, and communities over time. Most of these studies have been conducted in rural areas across all 10 provinces.
• Palm Associates has demonstrable ability to mobilize resources quickly as well as to manage survey logistics
• The Firm has strong capacity and experience in planning and organizing survey logistics, including the design and implementation of protocols to ensure high quality data.

• Palm Associates has a strong IT unit with experienced staff that have programmed data entry applications and undertaken data cleaning and data management assignments for several studies over the years. Through effective design and implementation of tablet-based, server-supported data capturing systems, we can monitor the quality of data and provide feedback to field staff in real time.
• Palm’s innovative and cutting-edge approach maximizes available resources and always ensures that the richest possible data and research reports are delivered to the client.