Our approach emphasizes the interconnectedness and co-constitution of social and natural processes. It recognizes that human societies and the natural environment are deeply intertwined and shape each other in complex ways.

This approach highlights the importance of understanding human-environment interactions in order to address pressing environmental challenges, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource depletion. It provides a holistic understanding of human-environment relationships, recognizing that social and cultural factors are essential for understanding environmental change and sustainability. Furthermore, it seeks to understand the underlying social, cultural, and economic factors that contribute to these environmental issues and to propose more sustainable and equitable solutions.

Our ethnographic approach provides valuable insights into the ways in which local communities interact with and depend on their natural environment. It helps to identify the social, cultural, and economic factors that shape people’s behaviors and attitudes towards resource use and conservation. In doing so, we aim to engage local communities and stakeholders throughout the research process, including problem identification in a participative way and closely observe on-the ground reality of natural resource potentials and problems. With this method, we foster a sense of ownership and empowerment, leading to more effective and sustainable resource management practices by our clients.

By bridging the gap between scientific knowledge and local practices, it aims to create more holistic and contextually appropriate management approaches that promote both ecological sustainability and social well-being.

At Anama, we believe that meaningful dialogue is the foundation for sustainable solutions. Our facilitation services are designed to create safe, inclusive, and productive spaces where stakeholders can share perspectives, build understanding, and co-create actionable outcomes. We support a wide range of engagements — from community consultations and stakeholder workshops to high-level strategy meetings — ensuring that every voice is heard and every perspective is considered.

Our experienced facilitators use participatory methods and evidence-based approaches to guide discussions, resolve conflicts, and move groups toward consensus. Whether you need to align diverse stakeholders, navigate sensitive social issues, or co-develop practical strategies, Anama helps you achieve clarity and shared commitment.

Ethnography is the primary research method in anthropology, characterized by in-depth, descriptive, and holistic-integrative analysis. It is used as a tool to explain and understand the culture of others from their own perspective. As James Spradley stated in 1976, "Ethnography is the work of describing a culture... the central aim of ethnography is to understand another way of life from the native point of view."

This method requires researchers to immerse themselves in the lives of their subjects by living among them for a certain period while systematically collecting data. Also, Ethnography, as a principle of thinking and research approach, emphasizes comparison by examining elements often taken for granted within our cultural or conceptual framework against what is observed in the field—such as land tenure systems, community relationships with forests and species, and traditional organizational structures—while also focusing on contextualization to explain comparative differences through the social context, actors' unique experiences, and cultural categories that highlight contrasts, and prioritizing variation over patterns as a fundamental characteristic of culture arising from contact, encounters, and intergroup relationships.

A desk study is a research approach that involves gathering and analyzing existing information and data from secondary sources, rather than conducting fieldwork or collecting primary data. It is typically carried out using resources such as books, academic journals, reports, official documents, online databases, and other published or unpublished materials.

The key features of a desk study include its reliance on secondary data from existing sources rather than generating new data through surveys or observations, its cost-effectiveness and time efficiency by eliminating the need for fieldwork, its role as a preliminary step to explore the background or context of a research topic, and its wide scope, enabling researchers to gather diverse information from various sources and perspectives.

Our Fieldwork We have carried out research for both private and public sectors with services including baseline research (social mapping), stakeholder mapping, risk management, HCV assessment, social impact assessment, and the implementation and assistance of donor-led projects. 160 Villages, 2800 Informant, 800 In-depth interviews, 300 FGD