The Data CrisisIt is an unfortunate fact that many nonprofit organizations working in the third world do not collect adequate data concerning their projects, or if they do, it is rarely published in peer-reviewed journals and/or given to other government and NGO authorities.
The lack of data collection using established social science methods can lead to: - organizations incorrectly reporting their project success, - a lack of communication between different NGOs, stakeholders, and local governments, - a lack of awareness about development strategies that have been attempted in certain areas of the world, - general lack of data on a wide range of topics. At The Ladybug Project, we measure project success by using qualitative (focus groups, interviews, surveys) and quantitative (census, measurements, test results) data. We also collect this data and disseminate it in easy-to-understand, multilingual, reports to all stakeholders involved in our projects as well as local, regional, and national government bodies. Finally, we make every attempt to analyze and publish data in peer-reviewed journals and present at international conferences. It is our goal to make our data available to anyone who needs it - both now, and in the future. For information on projects where we are collecting landmark data, check out our healthcare work in Equatorial Guinea, or HIV projects in Ghana, and our Rural Teacher Network project in Madagascar. | 
Kim Reuter, Executive Director, collecting data in a rural Malagasy school.
Kristy, West African Project Manager, working with the Equatoguinean corporate world to identify gaps in aid, using social science methodology.
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