NEWS, events and updates
NEW James Fennell is participating in the design of a new programme to help ensure that oil and gas investments contribute to local economic development, and avoid destabilisation, in the Western Region of Ghana
New: theIDLgroup passes annual ISO audit (January 2012)
theIDLgroup is very proud to publicise that we have passed for the 11th year running our ISO 9001:2001 quality audit. This international standard relates to the quality management systems we design and implement across all of our offices to ensure we meet the needs of our customers and the end clients in terms of providing a fantastic, high quality service. We are delighted to be awarded with this certification once again as it formally captures all of the hard work our staff do, and our desires for continual improvement.
New: Technical workshop on Anti-Corruption and FLEGT (January 2012)
Anti-Corruption in the forest sector is a relatively new and emerging field of work. Two staff consultants from theIDLgroup, Dr Germain Djonu and Clare Brogan, were invited participants at a Technical Workshop on "Synergies between FLEGT-Voluntary Partnership Agreements and Anti-Corruption Approaches", hosted by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Bonn, Germany.
New: International Development - MBA Course - University of Geneva (January 2012)
For several years, theIDLgroup has designed and delivered lectures and coursework on the management of development programmes for the International Organisations MBA course at the University of Geneva. The scope includes the evolution of projects, progammes and new aid instruments, applying logical frameworks to project design and management, participatory monitoring and evaluation, and organisational change and change management. This year 28 students participated in the course. For more information, contact Dr Taylor Brown.
New: Clare Brogan interview on European Commission's capacity4dev.eu web site (January 2012)
Clare Brogan, Environment and Natural Resources Portfolio Leader, discusses her experience of working within the Ghana Forestry Commission and the negotiations for the Voluntary Partnership Agreement under the EU Forestry Law and Environmental Governance and Trade (FLEGT) initiative, for the EU's capacity4dev.eu web site. Click here to access and listen to the interview.
New: Capability in private sector development enhanced in 2012 with two new staff consultants
theIDLgroup is pleased to announce that two new staff consultants - Joanna Buckley and Frankie Whitwell - will be joining theIDLgroup in early 2012. They bring a mix of experience in private sector development, including experience in fragile states in Africa, Asia and South America.
theIDLgroup to undertake regional FLEGT-related training in Anglophone Africa (December 2011)
theIDLgroup, in association with NEPCON, has been selected by the European Forestry Institute to undertake regional FLEGT training in Anglophone Africa, in order to reinforce awareness on FLEGT and relevant international policy and market instruments directed to the natural resource sector - especially forestry - and trade in corresponding commodities. In addition to deepening and broadening of understanding on these instruments, a key objective is to identify linkages and synergies between:
- FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPAs) and national governance initiatives and other development programs
- VPAs and international policies and market demands.
The target audience will comprise of decision-makers and leading FLEGT experts in national administrations, as well as private sector and civil society organizations, who need to update their knowledge on the above themes in order for strengthened commitment and contribution to, and efficient steering and facilitation of, the VPA processes in key Anglophone African countries.
theIDLgroup supports CAADP mobilisation of national experts across Africa (November 2011)
theIDLgroup is supporting the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) to mobilise national experts to support country and regional investment plans. Over the next two years, we will help the CAADP programme with access to national, regional and African expertise in order to implement national CAADP compacts. See here for more information on CAADP.
Sarah Bayne joins the Fragile & Post Conflict States team at theIDLgroup (November 2011)
Sarah Bayne is a specialist in strategic conflict analysis with particular experience in the Horn of Africa having worked extensively in Uganda, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, and has particular experience of EU support instruments in the region. Click here for Sarah's page on our web site.
Forest Governance Forum for Central Africa - Yaoundé, Cameroon, November 21 and 22, 2011
The first Forest Governance Forum for central Africa, organised by theIDLgroup, took place on 21 and 22 November in Cameroon. Click here for more information or click here for the Forest Governance Forum web page.
Seb Taylor travels to South Sudan for World Vision on Maternal, New-born and Child Health (MNCH) Policy and Advocacy Scoping Study (October 2011)
South Sudan, the world’s newest nation, has some of the world’s worst health indicators. A combination of the results of a half century of conflict and a country which is effectively starting again has led to significant health challenges; maternal mortality, for example, is 2054 per 100,000 live births. Going forward, World Vision South Sudan will be focusing its policy and advocacy work on MNCH. This will complement the Government of South Sudan’s Development Plan 2011-2012, a Health Strategy soon to be finalised by the Ministry of Health and increased donor funding for MNCH. Seb Taylor, Senior Consultant with theIDLgroup’s Fragile States portfolio, worked with World Vision UK, Australia and South Sudan to conduct a field study on the drivers of poor maternal, new-born and child health in South Sudan. The preliminary findings of the research recognise important macro determinants of MNCH but point to key challenges in the demand for, and delivery of, critical health care.
Evaluating the impact of DDRR programmes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (October 2011)
theIDLgroup has mobilised a team of in-house and international specialists in disarmament, demobilisation and rehabilitation in order to undertake the final assessment of a DDRR programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The World Bank financed assessment placed particular emphasis on the outcomes for former child soldiers and for women and girl beneficiaries of the DDRR programme, and used a mixed methods approach. Quantitative analysis drew largely on new analyses (using SPSS) of available survey and time series data previously collated by the national statistics institute, while consultants with intimate experience of the DDRR programme undertook structured interviews, qualitative analyses and brought contextual understanding.
Launch of the Civil Society Support Programme (CSSP) in Ethiopia (29 September 2011).
The CSSP was officially launched on 29th September 2011 in the presence of Government of Ethiopia officials, Federal and regional Civil Society representatives, Development Partner representatives and British Council - the Management Agent for the implementation of the CSSP. The CSSP will manage a fund of at least €25 million euros over the first five years and is supported by five Development Partners. The Lead Donor managing the pooled funding and supervising the Management Agent is Irish Aid. The British Council, in association with its partners theIDLgroup and INTRAC, will implement the CSSP. (For a background note with more information see the website of the Embassy of Ireland, here).
Dr Sebastian Taylor joins our Fragile and Post Conflict States Team (September 2011).
theIDLgroup is delighted to announce that Seb Taylor has joined the team in our offices in Bristol; he was previously Executive Director in Action on Armed Violence. His areas of expertise include health systems - on which he has published widely - and several aspects of conflict resolution, peace building and stabilisation, including DDRR, humanitarian mine action, security sector functions and urban stabilisation in post-conflict settings. Click here to see his profile. His immediate consultancy assignments for theIDLgroup include an evaluation in South Sudan for a leading NGO, and a review of land mine programme in the Caucasus region for a multi-donor trust fund.
theIDLgroup assists AusAid to review its policy dialogue processes (August 2011)
Consultants from theIDLgroup are assisting AusAID with the formulation of approaches for policy dialogue between AusAID advisers /programme managers and national partners in countries where AusAID operates. An initial output of this work is a literature review which informed a workshop of AusAID managers in Canberra; this has now been published by AusAID's Office of Development Effectiveness (ODE), and can be downloaded here. In the next phase of work, Dr Taylor Brown will travel to Indonesia and the Solomon Islands, to bring a political economy perspective to country specific analyses.
New World Bank Toolkit on Forest Sector Expenditure Reviews (July 2011)
A staff consultant of theIDLgroup was lead author of the recently published 'Forest Sector Public Expenditure Reviews Toolkit' (Click here for a link to the publication on the PROFOR/World Bank Website). theIDLgroup has long been an advocate of improved and more transparent forest sector financial information both for supporting evidence based fiscal (tax and revenue) policies, and for understanding the dynamics of public investments in forest regulation and management. The Toolkit will assist policy-makers wishing to reform or strengthen public financial management in the forest sector.
theIDLgroup provides Senior Security and Justice Adviser for first International Stabilisation Response Team (ISRT) deployment in Libya (May 2011)
James Fennell was Senior Security and Justice Adviser on the multi-national ISRT mission mobilised in Libya during May 2011. James, who leads theIDLgroup’s Fragile States and Post-Conflict team, was involved in developing a priority plan for stabilising Libyan institutions in the aftermath of conflict in newly liberated areas.
James was one of 11 experts flown to Libya in the first ever deployment of a Stabilisation Response Team, a new concept announced in the UK Government’s recent Strategic Defence and Security Review. The teams are designed to be flexible, meaning they can be swiftly deployed to conflict-affected and fragile states to assess the support a country will need in post-conflict reconstruction. For more information on the ISRT see this news release. The report of the ISRT is available, on the DFID website here.
Liberia signs FLEGT agreement with the European Union (Monrovia, Monday 9 May 2011)
On 9th May, the Governments of Liberia and the European Union initialed a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) between the two parties. Under the VPA, Liberia commits to develop systems where the exports of its wood products carry a licence demonstrating the legality of the harvest, while the EU will support the development of such systems and would grant access to the EU market for such licensed products. theIDLgroup has been facilitating multi-stakeholder dialogue for the VPA negotiations in Ghana and Liberia since 2007; Ghana was the first country to enter into such an agreement and we are delighted that Liberia has also made significant progress in tackling the governance challenges in its forests. Click here to link to the EU Press Release for additional information on the agreement.
Voice and Accountability in Ghana (January 2010)
theIDLgroup is contributing to the STAR Ghana project. Click here for more information.
Maximising the Contribution of Agricultural Research to Rural Development (November 2009)
With growing urgency for increased agricultural productivity it is essential that any 'gaps' between research and rural development initiatives are bridged. theIDLgroup reviewed the opportunities for maximising the contribution of agricultural research for a major international workshop hosted jointly by the Global Donor Platform on Rural Development (GPARD) and the EIARD. View theIDLgroup's discussion paper here, which includes a review of the the paradigms and international architectures of agricultural research and rural development initiatives, and well as setting out signposts for the way forward. For more information on the GPARD, see www.donorplatform.org.