Awards and Honors

Over LTG’s history, we have been honored to receive recognition for the quality and impact of our work. Some of the recognitions and kudos are shared below.

Praxis Awards

The Washington Association of Professional Anthropologists (WAPA) established the Praxis Award for Excellence in the Practice of Anthropology in 1981. The biennial, professionally juried award recognizes expertise in translating anthropological knowledge into action as reflected in a single project. In December 2017, LTG Associates earned its 6th Praxis recognition making LTG the single most honored group in Praxis history. Three of the projects (asterisked below) are highlighted in a book on the Praxis Awards:

Awards & Recognitions
  • LTG has been recognized six times by the Praxis awards for excellence in “translating anthropological knowledge into action to address their clients’ problems”.
  • LTG has consistently been recognized by clients for the complexity, quality, and accessibility of its work.
  • LTG’s Managing Partners were awarded the 2021-2022 Kimball Award which “honors exemplary anthropologists for outstanding recent achievements that have contributed to the development of anthropology as an applied science and that have impacted public policy”.

Praxis 2017: Video Ethnography*

The LTG team worked with professional videographer Erick Lee Cummings to develop two ethnographic videos. LTG co-created the videos with community leaders engaged in innovative community health projects and parents in poor conditions working to raise healthy families. “Being the Change” interviewed professionals providing cutting-edge services to families and communities. “Raising Up the Children” examined how low-income parents across the state of California confront challenges to raise healthy children.

Each video creates a forum for the participants to speak directly to power from a position of strength. They were designed to bring the faces and voices of participants and their worlds into direct relations with policymakers, program developers, and legislative staff and legislators for the State of California. These videos have been used for briefings, trainings, and policy and program development.

This project could have been carried out by other professionals, but the anthropological difference began with LTG’s reframing of the community participant-focused research questions to center on families and their lived experience and context. It continued through the identification and recruitment of participants through the use of social networks. The video interviews and creation of the presentations depicted the lives of individuals that were then validated by the participants, closing the loop from interview to data to analysis to final video production.

Praxis 2015: Pastors at Risk Evaluation*

2015 Honorable Mention for LTG’s project for The Duke Endowment – “Pastors at Risk: Toward an Improved Culture of Health for United Methodist Clergy in North Carolina”.

LTG was tasked by The Duke Endowment (TDE) to provide external evaluation of the pilot program and the intervention that consisted of three staggered clergy cohorts, as well as another CHI pilot program that targeted the Pastor-Parish Relation Committees (PPRCs), consisting of local church members that work with the pastor. The entire intervention over the five years of clergy experience became known as “Spirited Life,” and over 1,000 clergy participated across North Carolina.
Our involvement in CHI’s developmental stages allowed us to present our anthropological perspective regarding the importance of understanding sociocultural context by focusing on cultural values and language, and considering the range of affected and affecting stakeholders, thereby taking a holistic approach to clergy health. We understood the pastor to be an individual, influencing a church community as a faith leader through word and deed. We also recognized and accounted for pastors as individuals who lived and functioned within a personal community of family, friends, and their congregations, who are both affected by and affect the pastor. And we addressed pastors as professionals working within a faith organization with its own philosophy and culture.

Praxis 2009: WHO Decent Care Development*

2009 Honorable Mention for LTG’s project for the World Health Organization -“Decent Care: Shifting the Health Paradigm.”

The projects were the development, dissemination, and implementation of a global, values-based concept of health called “Decent Care” which places the affected person at the center as the director of needed the services and support. Core values of Decent Care are agency and dignity, with agency placing emic vision and direction of needed care and support in the hands of the affected person. The concept has been developed, dissemination begun, and pilot initiatives developed around the world. The nominated anthropologists were central to concept development, dissemination, and to design of implementation efforts.

At every point from the pilot through the final cohort of Spirited Life, the anthropological approach and insights that LTG brought contributed to the form and functioning of the CHI. Without a holistic vision of the pastor and the whole of the Church, the CHI would have likely remained a weight and associated problem-focused employee health program. With this vision and active engagement, the initiative had the information critical to effectively refining and refocusing and engaging all of the stakeholders in creating a culture of health within a sanctioned and supportive space.

To see so many clergy take seriously the need for better health, I just think that culturally the CHI has had an effect on the Conference, and I think that’s really good.

Group One Clergy

Praxis 2007: WHO Collaborative Fund Evaluation

2007 First Place Award for work with the World Health Organization – “Evaluation of the Collaborative Fund for HIV/AIDs Prevention.”

LTG was contracted to design and implement a global evaluation of a new organization with regional decision-making bodies, and grant-making processes and program implementation at local levels. Anthropological methods allowed for learning and functioning effectively at all levels simultaneously; appropriately creating or enhancing the capacity of the global, regional, and grantee organizations to value, plan, and implement monitoring and evaluation activities; and, developing and reporting information that was useful to all stakeholders from the WHO to the front-line provider. The anthropologically based evaluation and capacity building allowed the WHO and others to value the work of People Living with HIV/AIDs in new ways.

Praxis 1989: Community Based Organization (CBO) – Community Development Corporation (CDC)
1989 Honorable Mention for Southeast Asian Refugee Community Leadership, Orange County, California – “Development of an Effective Immigrant Community Development Organization.” Supported refugee leadership in developing a cross-community CBO. The leadership wanted to provide services that were not then being funded by the government or private sectors and so LTG helped the organization – Community Resources Opportunity Project (CROP) to gain development funding from the Ford Foundation and then to design and develop a community development corporation to provide the needed services using resources generated by CROP-owned businesses that benefited the communities.

Praxis 1985: Refugee Mutual Assistance Association Development Support
1985 Honorable Mention for work with Lao Family Community of Fresno, California – “Development of a Southeast Asian Refugee Mutual Assistance Association: Bridging Cultures and Producing Results.”

LTG has worked globally for more than two decades. For the U.S. Agency for International Development, LTG held both the POPTECH and MEDS contracts for five years and for a significant period, the contracts ran in tandem. LTG utilized that time to create a high degree of crossover between the two projects, thereby expanding the reach of each project, ensuring the maximum utilization of experts, and achieving cost savings for USAID. The projects worked in partnership with cooperating agencies, nongovernmental and multilateral organizations, international organizations, and independent consultants to support the Global Health Bureau of USAID. The services of the projects were experience-based and systematic, reflecting state-of-the-art thinking, proven best practices, and multiple stakeholder perspectives. The projects provided support to USAID Global Health and USAID missions in planning, design, research, monitoring, evaluation, communication of lessons, and outcomes. LTG provided worldwide support to USAID in these efforts. The POPTECH project conducted approximately 250 tasks for USAID in the areas of:

  • Design and conduct of evaluations and assessments;
  • Documentation and dissemination of lessons learned;
  • HR strengthening/short term staffing;
  • Sharing and applying knowledge and experience;
  • Linking knowledge and quality assurance; and,
  • Developing accessible and available information and sharing with stakeholders.

LTG provided strategic planning support both in Washington and at missions around the world to support USAID’s improvement in policy and program development.

The performance based POPTECH project was found to be consistently excellent by USAID over many evaluation periods in each of the measures of its performance. POPTECH also received overwhelmingly positive evaluations from Missions, from consultants, and from other organizations with which it worked. LTG’s performance on POPTECH, a complex, global contract, was rated as exemplary for each of the eight performance periods. The following were performance ratings for the five years with the highest possible rating being “excellent”:

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The MEDS Project (Monitoring, Evaluation, Design, & Support) was a five-year effort and conducted approximately 150 tasks for USAID, and had at its core the following work areas:

  • Project and activity design
  • Project and program evaluations
  • Support for technical meetings
  • Project monitoring and analysis
  • Proposal reviews
  • Information dissemination
  • Strategic and technical expert advisory groups
  • Literature reviews
  • Proposal reviews

MEDS’ accomplishments were marked by the volume and breadth of technical support, including support to 23 Missions (spanning all four USAID regions) and four bureaus (three regional bureaus plus the Bureau of Humanitarian Response (BHR)) in a wide range of technical areas. Of the 23 Missions and three regional bureaus that used MEDS services, ten Missions and two regional bureaus plus the BHR were repeat users, an indication that they valued the technical support services provided.

Both of these projects clearly reflect the corporate vision of LTG – a focus on transparency, accountability, and performance at all levels of program and policy in all of its international and domestic work.

Kudos – What Others Say About our Work

LTG met every deadline and produced every deliverable early or on time. Each staff member of the LTG management and project team performed well and within the parameters mutually agreed upon between WHO and LTG. Decisions were made consistently with protocols and plans laid by WHO and as a result all performance expectation were met. When WHO changed timelines and expectations, LTG responded well and appropriately and enabled WHO to deliver a more responsible and more accurate report to the Member States than might have been possible from the outset. LTG became advocates for and interpreters of evaluation among the grantees and generated interest and excitement and support for evaluation. Likewise a more effective model was developed and implemented than the parameters of the project initially demanded or expected. Over and over again, LTG demonstrated creativity, flexibility and value for money which enabled this project to be more useful than we originally expected. As a result, several Member States directly funded aspects of the programme based on clear and cogent evaluation results.

WHO Programme Officer
LTG demonstrated, repeatedly, from Tender to Completion their ability to meet goals and managed in a very volatile environment and in a dynamic process of change and development with this project. Often first to identify problems, they were conscientious and astute in their assessment of and response to changing needs by the three levels of programme being evaluated. They were able to adapt and alter goals with the changes in the programme and yet were still able to produce quality and useful products.

WHO Programme Officer
Quality: LTG was thorough and was very willing to address any suggestions and feedback. Schedule: LTG communicated all schedule adjustments very effectively and with a customer-oriented objective. Management: LTG was extremely customer focused. They went out of their way to be responsive and maintain the highest professional standards in their interactions with us. Regulatory Compliance: LTG was well versed in associated regulations and followed them without error.

NASA Organizational Ethnography Assessing Official
LTG devised a comprehensive, detailed systematic approach to conduct the evaluation of the OWH initiative and on-line resource, Supporting Nursing Moms at Work: Employer Solutions. LTG approached the qualitative research with skill, expert technique with sensitivity to overcome any challenges they encountered as the LTG team conducted interviews with Human Resource directors, business supervisors and with nursing employees. The LTG team demonstrated excellent oral and written communication skills and communicated with the COR on a regular basis. All key personnel performed at an exceptional level as evidenced by the quality of their deliverables. The results of this evaluation will be exceptionally useful to OWH, especially in looking at future policy implications and sustainability of this work-place initiative based upon actionable recommendations provided by LTG through this contract. All deliverables were deemed of excellent quality by the COR.

Office on Women’s Health Program Officer, CPAR Review
The contractor has provided exceptional work to inform the government of the viability and utility of MONAHRQ. The contractor provided information which thoroughly described how MONAHRQ was implemented and used by host users, and end users alike…. Performance during implementation of the project was excellent. The contractor managed the contract very well and provided detailed and insightful updates during monthly calls. Monthly progress reports included all the required information and were submitted in a timely fashion. In addition, the final report and recommendations that resulted from the project were pivotal to AHRQ making an informed decision about MONAHRQ. When there was a feasibility issue with a task, LTG notified us not only with the problem, but also proposed a solution which was readily adopted. MANAGEMENT: During the performance of the contract, the team overall was highly responsive and demonstrated their commitment to ensuring that the client was satisfied with their efforts. Bi-weekly calls were held and conducted expeditiously. Billing was on-time, accurate and invoices needed no corrections or additional information to approve for payment. LTG maintained control of all aspects of the project, produced high quality deliverables, and were very responsive to questions or concerns. LTG kept us apprised throughout the project of challenges that might have threatened their ability to comply with all the contract requirements and were thereby able to work together with us to ensure all the terms and conditions were met. To determine optimal directions for future development, the study LTG conducted identified emerging needs as well as assessed how well the MONAHRQ team responds to input from the intended audiences. LTG provided AHRQ with a well-written evaluation report that provided the information we were looking for and exceeded our expectations as specified in the contract.

“I have enjoyed working with you… and am pleased that we were able to accomplish what we set out to do the past two years. I have appreciated the consistent high quality of LTG’s work. And, I came to rely on your responsiveness and flexibility in dealing with the challenges… Your ability to adapt and meet those challenges was sometimes tested, but always responded in a highly professional and competent manner, for which I commend you highly.”

Melanie Wieland

Special Assistant to the Director, Division of Service Systems, HIV/AIDS Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, DHHS
“Through the Pentecost Project, you empowered us to see what congregations and their leaders wanted and needed to engage in the most direct ministries of inclusion. Keeping the vision of a Church Renewed you provided a means to gather needs, assess them and develop programmatic priorities that accurately reflect the life of our whole community. More intriguing perhaps is that you were able to do this in a relatively short period of time and in an extremely economical fashion. I do appreciate easily understood and cost-efficient methods of obtaining information… Again, I wish to extend my heartfelt appreciation for assisting us with what appeared to be an overwhelming task and making it not only manageable but faithful to our intentions. It has been a joy to work with you as you have added yet another dimension to our exploration into ministry.”

Ronald H. Haines

Bishop of Washington, Episcopal Diocese of Washington

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