CIDT were recently nominated for a University award for their work in Somaliland strengthening Government capability for data and evidence driven national inclusive economic development programming in the Horn of Africa.
Ella Haruna, CIDT’s Head of Centre, noted that “With over 85 submissions across 10 award categories CIDT were pleased to be recognised as one of two Finalists for our work in the Transformative Impact in Inclusive Communities category.”
Daniela Baur, CIDT consultant and Qualitative Data Manager for SDF Surveys said:
“As a member of the delivery team, it is an honour and I feel very grateful that the project team has been nominated for a Research and Enterprise Award. It’s encouraging to know that the work we are so passionate about— fostering innovation, collaborating and strengthening capacity within government —has been recognised by peers.”
The University held its inaugural Beyond Futures Award ceremony on Friday 12 September. The sparkling awards night brought to a close the three-day Beyond Futures Research and Enterprise Festival 2025, showcasing the power of collaborative research and innovation.
Collaboration and partnership is at the heart of CIDT’s work and the work in Somaliland has been a prime example. The collaboration showcased the long-standing relationship with key technical partner Development Data – a specialist provider in data management based in Zimbabwe – who were instrumental in enabling the design, delivery and analysis of the country-wide quantitative household survey, and vehicle count to measure the impact of Fund investment in road construction. CIDT and Development Data have been working together for the Somaliland Development Fund under the Fund Manager Mott MacDonald since 2016.
A range of strong partnerships were vital for successful implementation, including CIDT’s effective working relationship with the Fund Secretariat (a team of national and regional staff), Mott Macdonald and the Somaliland Ministry of Planning and National Development (MoPND). A critical part of the work involving backstopping and capacity strengthening the large survey team of Ministry enumerators in design and implementation of the national household surveys.