About Us
Progressus Research & Development was established at the dawn of democracy in South Africa and has contributed significantly to research in Southern Africa for more than 30 years.
At the core of our business is development informed by data driven evidence of real needs and progress. Our hands-on managed fieldwork processes adheres to the highest standards of ethics and rigour, while respecting the human, his community and environment in which we operate.
Our socio-economic research is applied in various settings including studies on poverty community health, affordable housing, tenant needs and satisfaction, employees, programme evaluation, impact and situational analysis and more.
Our research processes adheres to POPIA standards and requirements.
Specific research skills include the following:
- Research Problem Identification and Statement
- Application for Ethical Approval
- Sampling Design
- Design and Development of Research Instruments
- Recruitment of participants
- Data gathering: Qualitative & Quantitative, e.g. surveys, focus groups, in-depth interviews and more.
- Training and monitoring of fieldworkers [Fieldworkers can be recruited from the client’s organisation or any specific community as a capacity building exercise. Trained fieldworkers from Progressus can also be used]
- Data Analysis (Qualitative and Quantitative)
- Research Report and Feedback Workshops
Bill Gates visit
“Progressus Research conducted several community-based surveys on HIV prevention in collaboration with Professor Bertran Auvert from INSERM U88, a research unit within the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research. This partnership led to a landmark randomized controlled trial on male circumcision—the first of three international studies to demonstrate the protective effect of male circumcision in reducing HIV transmission. Progressus managed this pivotal trial and established Bophelo Pele as a project under its umbrella to serve as an implementation platform for scaling up male circumcision in communities. Today, Bophelo Pele operates as an independent institution affiliated with Progressus, delivering male circumcision services alongside a range of other community-based health initiatives.”
In December 2009, after repeatedly hearing about the innovative and groundbreaking research conducted by Bophelo Pele, a project of Progressus Research and Development, Bill Gates visited Orange Farm.
This is what he had to say afterwards: “Another approach to reduce the spread of HIV is male circumcision, I mentioned in last year’s letter that studies have shown that male circumcision reduces the odd of transmission from a woman to a man by over 60 percent. In areas where transmission is widespread, if you circumcise most of the men over the age of 14years old you can significantly reduce the spread of HIV. The foundation funded pilot efforts to scale up circumcision, but I viewed it as high-risk because I was doubtful that enough men would volunteer to be circumcised. That is why last December I went to visit Bertran Auvert, a French scientist working in a South African township called Orange Farm. Bertran conducted one of the key studies on the effectiveness of circumcision, and now has set out to show that doubters like me are wrong.
He and his co-leader, Dirk Taljaard, are modest about their work, but amazingly, they are getting over 750 men a month to come to their facility. They have already circumcised 14,000 men, and within a year they think they will be able to circumcise almost all of the men in the community. It looks like a very high percentage will participate. Bertran’s approach is very efficient, with costs of only $40 for the surgery. Based on this success, a number of facilities are being set up in South Africa and in other countries with high HIV prevalence to do the same thing. In many African countries, if a high percentage of men volunteer for circumcision, it will reduce the number of cases at least 30 percent over time, which shows what an impact a great scientist like Bertran can have.”
An extract from the 2010 Annual Letter from Bill Gates.
Today Bophele Pele has circumcised more than 50,000 men on its own and more than 150,000 in partnership with other entities. Studies have shown that more than 80% men over 10 years of age in Orange Farm have been circumcised.
