Our mission

Research for social impact.

We aim to make development research more impactful and responsive to the local context.

Introducing Laterite

From data to policy

Laterite specializes in research for social impact. Our approach is structured, data intensive and embedded in the local context. More about our sectors.

We use rigorous techniques to provide context-relevant evidence. Our team combines technical excellence in quantitative and qualitative methods with a deep understanding of the local context.

Laterite was founded in Rwanda in 2010. We have offices in East and West Africa and we are in the process of expanding to Latin America. More about where we work.

Our vision

Making an impact

We know that achieving impact doesn’t happen overnight. Our philosophy is that you need an excellent understanding of the local context to deliver sound advice that makes a difference. This requires building a local team, collecting high-quality primary data, understanding the context, and establishing close working relationships with key players. As a result, we only conduct research where we have a local presence.

What drives us?

Transforming research

At Laterite, we combine established evaluation methods with the latest advances in econometrics and data technology. This allows us to extract more detail and insights and deliver more impact. We are proficient with causal machine learning techniques and we have a large database of geospatial data we can deploy to enrich survey findings.

How do we work?

Collaboration and learning

We believe that working together and building the capacity of our teams and the organizations we work with is the best way to deliver high-quality research. We bring this collaborative spirit to our own teams: our research and data professionals work in the same offices, combining the ability to collect and process data with policy thinking and analysis. This synergy between our teams and our offices is one of our biggest assets.

Our strengths

Local knowledge

To deliver useful insights, you need to understand the context. We have offices in the countries and regions where we work, and are proud to be a local employer.

Integrated approach

We offer tested data collection systems, a large pool of enumerators, and and expert research team. We build quality control into every step of the research process.

Tech-enabled research

We continuously invest in our capabilities to find innovative, data-driven solutions to socio-economic development problems, including using AI tools and geospatial data.