Who We Are

An independent institution for development research and evaluation.

CADRE exists to strengthen the evidence available to people and institutions making consequential development decisions in Afghanistan and comparable contexts.

Our story

Beginning with a clear institutional purpose

CADRE was established from a simple observation: development decisions are often made with evidence that is incomplete, weakly contextualized, or disconnected from implementation. We are building a durable Afghan institution dedicated to producing research and evaluation that decision-makers can trust, scrutinize, and use.

We are at the beginning of that journey. Our credibility will be earned through the quality of our questions, the integrity of our methods, the honesty of our conclusions, and the public value of our work.

Vision

Development decisions shaped by credible evidence and a deep understanding of context.

Mission

To generate and communicate rigorous evidence through development research and evaluation that improves decisions, implementation, learning, and impact.

Our values

How the institution intends to work

Independence

We protect analytical judgment and report evidence without distortion.

Integrity

We are transparent about methods, assumptions, uncertainty, and limitations.

Rigor

We apply methods that are appropriate to the question and proportionate to the decision.

Context

We treat local knowledge and institutional realities as essential evidence.

Usefulness

We communicate findings so they can support real decisions and learning.

Respect

We safeguard the dignity, rights, safety, and agency of research participants.

Research ethics

Evidence must never come at the expense of people.

CADRE treats ethics as a continuous responsibility from question design through fieldwork, analysis, publication, and data stewardship.

  1. Informed participationConsent is meaningful, voluntary, and appropriate to the context.
  2. Do no harmSafety, dignity, power, and unintended consequences are assessed throughout the work.
  3. Privacy and data responsibilityOnly necessary data is collected, protected, retained, and shared.
  4. Transparency and accountabilityConflicts, methods, limitations, corrections, and responsible use are addressed openly.