Coffey Europe update International Development

Transcription

1 Coffey Europe update International Development March 2014 A global team to meet today s development challenges Coffey Europe s international development operation traces its roots to 1985, when it was known as Enterplan. From an initial focus on private enterprise and financial services development, Coffey s European team has evolved into a comprehensive source of support for governments seeking to build stable societies, provide economic opportunities and empower citizens to improve their lives. Today, Coffey Europe is part of a global network, with more than 70 offices, over 2000 development professionals, and projects in 66 countries for clients such as DFID, DFAT, USAID and the European Commission. Sharing knowledge to strengthen our capabilities Coffey s European team works with our development colleagues around the world to draw on an extensive array of knowledge and experience. For example, the team recently brought lessons learned from designing and managing an innovative UK government-funded programme in Helmand, Afghanistan, to design and execute AusAID s monitoring and evaluation programme in another Afghan province, Uruzgan. As part of Coffey s focus on growing the European operation, Coffey has transferred the General Manager of its very successful Australian unit to serve as General Manager for Coffey Europe and has arranged for several senior members of Coffey s US subsidiary, Management Systems International (MSI), to spend considerable time in the London office. Among the individuals participating in this organisation-wide effort are: Kit Black, New General Manager, Coffey Europe: Kit Black, who helped grow Coffey s Asia Pacific operation to become one of AusAID s leading contractors, will now head the European operation, effective 3 March Kit has been leading the Asia Pacific business since 2009, and is one of the most experienced general managers in the bilateral development assistance space. Kit has more than 30 years of experience in management and consulting, and has provided technical and legal advice in relation to procurement, contract management, business operations and project management in a broad range of development projects. Kit will apply lessons learned in the Asia Pacific business to Coffey Europe he will strengthen Coffey Europe s internal systems to improve our efficiency and effectiveness, bolstering our value for money offering. We developed a rigorous monitoring and evaluation solution for Afghanistan s Helmand Province, demonstrating that robust, meaningful and sustainable evaluation is possible even in the most difficult of contexts.

2 Larry Cooley, President, MSI: Larry Cooley, the president and founder of our America s operation, MSI, will spend part of 2014 in the UK, sharing his extensive development expertise with our team. Larry has more than 40 years of experience focused on strategic management and performance improvement, public sector reform and international development. He has served as advisor to cabinet and sub-cabinet officials in 11 US Federal Agencies and more than a dozen foreign countries. Larry is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and a member of the Governing Council of the Society for International Development. He served for 15 years as Chairperson of the Development Management Network, and received that organisation s National Award for Training Excellence. Keith Brown, Senior Vice President for Programs, MSI: Keith Brown, will also lend his expertise to Coffey Europe later this year. Keith provides guidance to MSI s Strategic Management and Performance Improvement (SMPI) practice area. He has designed organisational strategic planning and performance measurement systems for USAID, the US Department of Labor, the International Labor Organisation and the World Food Program. He has extensive technical expertise in designing and conducting evaluations, data collection methods and statistical analysis. These individuals will share knowledge and expertise with a growing network of development experts based in Europe, who are organised around three main practice areas. Growing the Expertise of Our Europe-based Teams to Meet Future Needs Coffey s technical expertise is centred around three main departments (or practice areas): Evaluation and Research Governance, Security and Justice Economic Growth These practices are augmented by practices based in the America and the Asia Pacific operations, which include Strategic Management and Performance Improvement, Education, Human Development, Public Sector Management, and Scholarship Programme Management. As part of our work with civil society, we have supported projects that promoted fair and peaceful elections in Ghana.

3 Evaluation and Research A robust evaluation and research capability is one of the main pillars of our portfolio. The Evaluation and Research practice is one of Europe s principal providers of evaluation and consultancy services. The practice works with donors, governments and NGOs, as well as a number of universities, foundations and private businesses, to help them understand and measure the impact of their work and promote resultsbased management and decision-making. Coffey Europe expanded its expertise in this area by acquiring The Evaluation Partnership (TEP) in TEP brought more than 20 years of experience in Europe, having undertaken some 150 projects with the European Commission. Today, Coffey has one of the largest in-house evaluation and research teams among Europe s international development consulting firms. Within its portfolio is one of the biggest evaluations DFID has ever commissioned. The practice is evaluating DFID s Girls Education Challenge Fund. The Fund provides funding to projects that will help up to a million of the world s poorest girls overcome obstacles to enrolling in school, staying in school and learning. The Evaluation and Research team is evaluating the impact and value for money of the fund and helping fill a knowledge gap on what works in the education of the world s marginalised girls. The European team s work is strongly enhanced by MSI s capability in this area. For more than 30 years, MSI has provided a portfolio of services and capabilities to clients, including USAID, the US Department of Labor, the US State Department, the Food and Drug Administration, OECD and the UN. These services target improved performance of projects, programmes and institutions. MSI has conducted more than 500 evaluations since its founding and is today implementing seven contracts for USAID Missions (Afghanistan, Colombia, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Pakistan and South Sudan) to provide critical monitoring and evaluation, analytical and communications support. Similar assistance is also being provided to USAID headquarters offices for worldwide use. We are evaluating DFID s Girls Education Challenge Fund, undertaking one of the biggest evaluations DFID has ever commissioned.

4 Governance, Security and Justice Coffey s Governance, Security and Justice practice provides specialist support to all levels of governance, security, and justice, including oversight mechanisms, analysis and policy development, institutional strengthening and promotion of citizen and civil society engagement. Having completed over 350 assignments, our dedicated team of analysts and programme managers has been at the heart of international efforts to undertake research, develop policy and deliver sustainable solutions. We have significant experience working in some of the most insecure environments in the world, including in remote parts of Afghanistan, in Pakistan s border regions and in Somalia. For example, we are running a UK government-funded programme aimed at building a more community-focused police force in Afghanistan. Among its multiple achievements, the programme has been instrumental to setting up the National Consultative Council, which allows members of civil society organisations to meet directly with the Minister of Interior, to publicly discuss their concerns regarding policing and to move towards finding solutions. MSI is known for its work on governance, conflict and violent extremism, as well as its monitoring and evaluation expertise and effective training on conflict programming. MSI alone has implemented more than 180 projects in conflict-affected areas, including a peacebuilding and community development project in the Democratic Republic of Congo and civil society capacity building projects in Lebanon, Egypt and Sri Lanka. MSI also has a strong reputation in the field of anti-corruption, having worked hand in hand with USAID on a number of initiatives in this area, including the development of USAID s Anti-corruption Assessment Handbook, which has been used for more than a decade by USAID Missions across the globe. In Pakistan s unstable Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province we are working on a UK government funded programme to improve trust between citizens and the state. A major component of the programme is to improve access to quality justice and security services for women and children.

5 Economic Growth Our Economic Growth team recognises that broad-based economic development is a mechanism that has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty over recent decades. The team s expertise includes applying the making markets work for the poor (or M4P) approach to help poor participate in markets and working with donor organisations to build their capacity to support market development initiatives. The team also helps strengthen the voice of business people themselves so they can advocate for a business environment that is more conducive to growth, including for micro, small and medium enterprises. Notably, the Economic Growth practice has been at the forefront of applying technology to support improved access to services and viable markets for low-income households. For example, we supported Vodafone in the grant application that led to the development of M-PESA, the world-leading mobile-money system that is now used by over 17 million Kenyans. Coffey s focus on economic growth solutions is also strengthened by the capabilities and expertise of our sister offices in America and Australia. Our Asia Pacific colleagues, for example, are experts in running challenge funds aimed at equitable economic growth. The Enterprise Challenge Fund that Coffey Asia Pacific managed on behalf of AusAID created income generating opportunities for the poor in the Pacific and South-East Asia, benefitting more than 78,000 people. Communities earned over eight million Australian dollars in income, and more than 130 mostly small medium enterprises improved productivity or entered new markets thanks to the funded projects. Our work with mobile telephone operators has allowed millions of people to access basic financial and business services. We supported Vodafone in the grant application that led to the development of M-PESA, the world-leading mobile-money system.