Every year it seems that social impact makes huge strides forwards! In thinking through the past twelve months and looking ahead the following trends have emerged, at least from my point of view! Getting better at measuring complex issues: There is a growing acceptance that tackling and measuring individual issues such Read more…
We talk a lot about how important it is to measure outcomes and sometimes impact – and to share these results widely. But when you look closely at what organisations are really putting up on their websites, it is often just numbers or percentages. Numbers are great. Numbers are important. Read more…
‘Doing good’ – you see that all the time these days. Everyone wants to ‘do good’. And in truth, everyone can. Gone are the days when charities or nonprofits were assumed to be doing good simply because they had a nonprofit registration. This should be prompting a period of reflection Read more…
I love working with other consultants on projects. It is a great way to learn, improve and deliver work that you couldn’t do on your own. Recently however, I have had an not so great experience of collaboration. Most of the time you get to choose your collaborators in advance. Read more…
I’d like to think that we are all working in civil society because we want to see a better world: fairer, equal, sustainable communities that have a better quality of life and opportunity to fulfil their purpose in life; a sustained environment that protects biodiversity and manages climate change. I’d Read more…
How many times have you heard me say that! Yes I know, sometimes I can go on and on about how useful workshops can be – probably because they are and they are a great, time efficient way to get views and opinions out in the open. Workshops are more Read more…
We all respond to the situation that we find ourselves in, and that is true of any intervention that you might design: it is a response, framed in a particular way to a situation that you and others have identified as needing improvement, challenge, changing. But how much do you Read more…
Ok, I know, most consultants wouldn’t really like to be referred to as glue or ‘stuff’ (stuff is currently my favourite word). But it is a useful way to think about the value that consultancy can bring to an organisation. Most external consultants will work across a broad range of Read more…
Once again it was my honour to host the EUConsult Autumn Congress, this time in Edinburgh. This year we focused on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and how they are being implemented in Europe. It is easy to think of the SDGs as just being relevant for the developing world, Read more…
When you’re building a new monitoring and evaluation strategy or plan for an organisation the one thing that you need to ensure is that the whole team – from the CEO down – understands why M&E is needed and why it is part of their role. Everyone at some point Read more…