Well here it is: 2019! It is potentially a huge year for those of us in the UK and in Europe, and it might be a significant year in Africa as many countries there go to the polls. It is always worth remembering that change happens all the time, and Read more…
Last time, I mentioned how I’d adapted my client management strategies for networks. It might be useful to set out what some of those client strategies are. I’ve learned a lot over the years about working with client organisations, both as a funder and as a consultant. The way I’ve worked Read more…
Among the most memorable projects I’ve done are a couple of evaluations on networks and consortia. I find these types of evaluations really fascinating as the clients are all generally independent organisations working together towards shared goals or for a shared grant. This brings into play a lot of different Read more…
I don’t often work with volunteer-led organisations. Let me clarify that. I work with a lot of boards that are populated with volunteers and who have at least two or three paid staff, sometimes more. I don’t often work with organisations where there are only volunteers, who sit on the Read more…
Recently I was at a presentation of data from a Europe-wide study on Philanthropic trends across 20 countries in the EU from The European Research Network on Philanthropy (ERNOP). It is really interesting analysis and I won’t bore you with the details here now, but one result really stood out Read more…
Yesterday (19 November 2018) an important and vital report on the state of civil society in England was released. It doesn’t pull any punches and has a strong call to action to do things differently going forward if civil society is to flourish in England. Which is all good. However, Read more…
In 2016 I started working on a pro bono basis with a membership organisation called EUConsult that aims to contribute towards a strong, independent European-wide not-for-profit sector served by ethical, professional and competent consultants and advisors by providing a forum for consultants to the not-for-profit sector. Encouraging and stimulating ethical Read more…
One of the systems thinking tools that I use a lot is a stakeholder analysis based on core systems concepts of inter-relationships, perspectives and boundaries. Inter-relationships: How do things connect with each other?This is the most familiar systems concept and the oldest. Inter-relationships can be dynamic, linear and nonlinear, have Read more…
I recently took on a project that included identifying the key elements of a successful intervention. This gave me the opportunity to use a rarely used tool in the evaluator tool box: qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). Qualitative Comparative Analysis (Ragin, 1987) in a case-based method that allows evaluators to systematically Read more…
Completely agree that aid needs to change and focus on the systemic level to make real change. We also need to avoid putting our own values and assumptions onto the countries and communities we are trying to help – which this article doesn’t quite stretch to…