With the project on a very short timeline, our team needed to cover a vast area of work and subject matter in a comprehensive and efficient manner – addressing the over 26 different religious groups and sects identified across the 3 locations of the study. We started by designing our research methodology through a participatory approach, with a goal of ensuring effective transfer of ownership and knowledge to the project’s implementing consortium partners who will ultimately be responsible for all project components over the next 5 years. After our initial inception phase, during which we designed more than 10 unique data collection tools, our team created a self-led training complete with video instruction, handbook, and quiz series to prepare and certify our team of 19 locally based enumerators in our Catalystas Ethical Guidelines for Data Collection: Interviews, Focus Group Discussions, and in-Field Observation Techniques – a training that will be made available to the general public soon!

After selecting, meeting, and training our research team, we set out to map 360 key actors across the target locations; survey 508 respondents (religious actors and general community members) both in-person and through social media channels; undertake 100 key informant interviews (KIIs) with community leaders, religious leaders, and security actors; and conduct 25 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) consisting of a total of 200 community members, and organized by gender (mixed and separate), age, and religious denomination with an emphasis on conflict and cultural sensitivity. 

Our Catalystas team utilized our extensive track record of work in Iraq alongside our experience in conducting remote research to manage the progress of the study, working alongside our trusted local program coordinators and conducting daily rapid data analysis, reviewing raw data, mapping findings, and adjusting our tools and protocols accordingly in real time. This ensured our ability to not only address any in-field challenges immediately, but also to adjust our processes to include newly discovered information, verify and elaborate on particular findings, and collect any additional data needed. Our team went above and beyond simply providing inputs to feed into a global system for monitoring and evaluation; we looked to utilize both quantitative and qualitative information in order to provide a baseline with clear indicators and means of measurement tailored to the Iraqi context, and taking into consideration the complexities of individual and collective identities and behaviors in the dynamic and rapidly shifting security context in each program location. As a result, our team produced a 90-page baseline study and integrated research analysis as a single living document. This expansive report identified and extrapolated into a rich narrative the exceptionally complex dynamics and juxtaposition of religious, political, ethnic, and historical narratives and identities of the local communities, as well as the academic, religious, security, and political actors engaged.