ABOUT THE FRONTLINE GROUP
COMPANY HISTORY
2015:
Phase one- Inception year
When the company was founded in 2015, it focused only on economic strategy development with a provincial footprint in KwaZulu-Natal. During this period, the company developed several strategies for local and district municipalities. These strategies covered the job creation aspects of the informal economy, tourism, agriculture, aquaculture, manufacturing, among others.
2016 to 2018:
Phase two- Regional expansion
Between 2016 and 2018, The Frontline Group expanded its market share to Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape provinces. This geographical expansion further involved an expanded scope to include two additional focus areas, namely (a) Trade and Investment facilitation (b) Local Economic Development facilitation in the mining sector. In 2017 the company was responsible for the packaging of several catalytic projects for the Nkangala District (Mpumalanga Province, South Africa) as well as facilitating an investment summit that brought together over two hundred investors drawn locally and internationally. These investors represented a range of sectors including banking, mining, and construction.
2021 to Present:
Phase three- National & International expansion
During this third phase, The Group has witnessed exponential growth in terms of scope and geographical expansion. Based on this growth, we have achieved the following milestones. First, we occupied & furnished new offices in Pretoria, creating what will in the future become the Headquarters of a company with a multi-national vision. This professionalisation included re-branding of a major scale. Second, given the increasing demand for our service offerings (mainly linked to our reputation for efficiency and quality), we recruited additional staff and established an internship programme that provides university students with experience in applied research while delivering quality services to our clients. Some of our interns’ studies are sponsored by the MasterCard Foundation.
Third, the company acquired cutting edge research technology [Computer Assisted Telephonic Interview (CATI), Computer Assisted Web Interviews (CAWI) and Computer Assisted Paper Interviews (CAPI)] all of which enhance the efficiency of conducting both quantitative and qualitative research. We have also trained over 50 researchers who are available on call to conduct research using this technology. Fourth, the company undertook the first study of national scope and subsequently multi-national scope. This national and international reach was a deliberate and strategic growth, given that the Group set up a database of a highly qualified and experienced multi-disciplinary team. Finally, during this phase, we professionalised the training and capacity building focus area and are in the process of being accredited as a certified trainer in South Africa and globally. The accreditation process is on target to complete in December 2021.
COMPANY EXPERIENCE
OUR RECENT EXPERIENCE
The Frontline Group has experience in managing large (national and multi-national) socio-economic, health and migration projects; below are summaries of the recent ones.
FROM 2019
The company was contracted by the largest open cast coal mining company in South Africa (Exxaro) to analyse labour and small businesses data. The data is used to implement local economic development through localised procurement and employment. Part of Frontline’s scope involves coordination and engagement of all key stakeholders interested in mining (mining communities, local government businesses, and the mining companies themselves).
2019/20
We were awarded a national impact assessment study by South Africa’s National Treasury to determine the impact of two projects funded by The Jobs Fund and implemented by A2pay on local communities and informal businesses
2021
The Frontline Group successfully won the bid to conduct Resource Mobilisation workshops for the Regional Action through Data (RAD) programme, which covers seven (7) countries within the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region and 15 countries within the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) region. Led by BroadReach, the RAD is managed by a consortium and aims to collaborate with regional communities on cross border health data for improved health outcomes.
ALSO 2021
The Frontline Group conducted a study on African migrants in the greater Durban area (South Africa) to understand the entrepreneurial challenges faced by these migrants and the levels of cohesion with host communities. Still on migration, on a different study (2021), The Frontline Group formed part of a team of experts contracted to develop an annual Africa Migration Report, which would form part of the 70th anniversary of the International Organization for Migration. The report covers the entire Southern African Development Community Regional bloc (16 member states).
OUR STAFF
We strive to ensure that each project is managed professionally by a qualified and skilled team. The team consists of core, and non-core personnel. The core personnel are the permanent staff who are always present in all projects providing expertise, technical and logistical support.
The non-core team consists of a multidisciplinary team of experts who are highly qualified in monitoring and evaluation, statistics, economic modelling, public health, conflict resolution, among others. 90% of our pool of experts hold Ph.D’s in their respective areas, while the remaining 10% hold a minimum of Masters degrees with at least ten years of work experience.
The non-core expertise is required on a case-by-case /project by project basis, leveraging our close working relationships with highly skilled resources drawn from South African universities to ensure that we can match each project with the skills and knowledge required to deliver the highest quality of work.
The core personnel are made up of four permanent staff and five interns. The role and experience of each of the permanent staff are detailed below.
THE CORE PERSONNEL
THE INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME
The internship programme constitutes of interns of different disciplinary backgrounds, with diverse interests within research. This programme, which started in 2021 seeks to provide research skills and experience to early career professionals for a period of one year. Working under close supervision by the Project Operations Executive, the interns are given exposure to project management and implementation techniques on a range of projects.
The programme offers reasonable flexibility to the interns who are required to balance their educational commitments with the applied research opportunities offered by the company. After the end of the internship, the interns go on to find research opportunities, or in some cases they are absorbed into the company’s permanent staff.
CURRENTLY, THE INTERNS ARE
Kgomotso
Bergman
(Hospitality studies)
Yamkela
Dlamini
(BA in Political Science)
Libuseng
Moleko
(Bcom in Accounting Sciences)
Malebo
Madalane
(Btech in Economic Management Analysis)
Purity
Mwaura
(BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics)
PANEL CONSULTANTS
Statistics
Ariane Neethling
(Ph.D)
Dr Ariane Neethling obtained a Ph.D (Statistics) (Calibration and Integrated weighting in sample surveys) from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2004. She gained experience as Biometrist at the SA Medical Research Council, as Chief Statistician at the HSRC, as lecturer at the University of Pretoria where she was also involved in the university’s statistical consultation service, and as a senior lecturer at Stellenbosch University.
Since 2004, Dr Neethling is a professional statistical consultant and sampling expert for various marketing research as well as other companies. As a sampling expert she is responsible for designing and drawing of samples – from countrywide samples, tracker samples, to samples from smaller populations with unique characteristics. She is also responsible for the calculation of the design weights for the realised samples, whereafter benchmarking techniques are applied, where necessary. In several projects, she is also responsible for the statistical analysis and statistical inferences based on the survey data.
International Relations
Emmaculate Liaga
(Ph.D)
Dr Liaga is a post-Doctoral fellow at the Centre on Conflict, Development, & Peacebuilding at the Graduate Institute and an associate researcher at the Centre for African Studies, University of Basel. She is a holder of a Doctorate degree (International Relations) from the University of Pretoria, a Masters degree (2016) in International Conflict and Security Studies (University of Manchester) as an awardee of the Chevening Scholarship (2015/2016), and her undergraduate (2014) degree in International Relations from Pretoria University, South Africa.
She is also a former Woodrow Wilson Centre Southern Voices Network for Peacebuilding Scholar; German Institute of Area and Global Studies (GIGA) fellow (2017); Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa fellow (2018/2019), and Oumou Dilly Scholarship for completion of doctoral studies in Switzerland (2019/2020). She previously worked at the centre for the advancement of scholarship (2018) and Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation (2015) as a researcher.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Graham Sherbut
(Ph.D)
Dr Sherbut is a political scientist and development practitioner, with considerable expertise working with large international development organisations, including the various agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network and Canada’s International Development Research Centre. A specialist in rural economic development and local governance, Dr Sherbut has over ten years of experience leading organisational impact evaluations and providing capacity-building in the field of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL), most recently with the Aga Khan Foundation Mozambique and Madagascar.
Public Health & Biostatistics
James Ndirangu
(Ph.D)
Dr. James Ndirangu is a public health specialist with 17 years progressive experience in research, health system strengthening, program design, implementation and management and Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) for both public and private sectors. He has supported the program design and delivery, plus MERL of programs in South Africa and across nine countries in the East and Southern African regions.
He has vast experience in mixed research methods, community and stakeholder engagement, program evaluation, quality assurance and documenting best practices to inform areas of improvement and sustainability. Dr James has also played a central role in helping to scale-up and improve South Africa’s health programs and service delivery at both country and regional-levels. He has also built strong networks and partnerships with government officials across the African continent, donors, UN agencies, civil society organizations, academic researchers, local partners, and communities. He has published over 20 articles in peer-reviewed national and international journals.
Humanitarian
Research
Luzelle Lestrade
Ms. Lestrade holds a Master’s degree in Political Management and has 10-year track record in humanitarian and development affairs with the United Nations in Southern and Eastern Africa, as well as additional years
of consulting and research experience within the public
and private sectors. She is a seasoned social researcher,
trainer, and international development advisor.
FIELD/CATI WORKERS
The company has developed a database of approximately 50 fieldworkers (and/or CATI) workers mainly drawn from the University of Pretoria and the University of South Africa. These field/CATI workers have been trained on our research technology, as well as on research methodologies and project implementation.
The large database is aimed at ensuring a revolving door of field or CATI workers, which is to mean, if some of the trained field/CATI workers are unavailable due to educational commitments (or for any other reason), the company can choose from others who are available. This database is also an opportunity for skills development among students with an interest in research. As the internship programme, the company is open to engaging some of the field/CATI workers on a permanent basis should the opportunity arise.
WHO WE WORKED WITH
We have offered our quality services to an array of clients which include the following:
GTAC
DDP
BroadReach
Research
Partnership
International Organization for Migration
