International development
Socially responsible development is a key theme interlacing all our work
We have led and contributed to numerous international development assistance projects across Oceania, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas in the past two decades.
Another important cornerstone of our approach is empowering local staff, so that the legacy of our work can continue beyond the term of any interventions.
Over the past 10 years, we have designed, managed, reviewed and consulted on international development assistance programmes valued at more than USD 100 million.
These programmes have fallen under five broad areas:
♦ Agriculture, global food security and rural development
♦ Rural and urban water supply
♦ Renewable energy systems – solar and hydro power
They have impacted on the lives of more than six million people, with an economic value estimated at more than USD 250 million.
Particularly notable results include a 171 per cent increase in average farm wheat yields (from 1.5 to 4/1 tonnes/hectare) during one of our major agricultural development programmes in Afghanistan over a period of six years.
During the same programme, we also achieved a 191 per cent increase in average potato yields, a 303 per cent decrease in livestock mortality rates and a 60 per cent increase in total farm incomes.
Clients/donors we have worked for include the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), the New Zealand Aid Programme, Danida (Denmark), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Governments of the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.
We are also skilled at establishing and utilising co-financing facilities to provide agribusinesses with technical assistance and funding to catalyse commercial initiatives in a development context.
Our experts have extensive private sector business backgrounds and are committed to best practice in applying private sector development thinking in international development contexts.
Specific services include:
♦ Project/programme scoping and design
♦ Project management
♦ Strategic reviews
♦ Policy advice and advocacy
♦ Value and supply chain improvement
♦ Technical and business advisory work
♦ Industry development strategy
♦ Private sector market development
♦ Vocational training
In addition to this, our capacity building capabilities include:
♦ Training needs analysis
♦ Training programme development and delivery
♦ Technology needs assessment
♦ New technologies implementation support
♦ Business coaching and mentoring
♦ Industry outreach and extension services
Past work includes:
♦ Contributing to the design and preparation of urban development projects for the Republic of Uzbekistan as the former Soviet republic pushes for increased urbanisation of its less-populated cities.
♦ Designing and implementing a programme that worked intensively with smallholder farmers in Bamyan Province, Afghanistan, between 2011 and 2017 (the ASP), to address the core issues constraining household incomes, food security and livelihood sustainability in the region, using a market systems approach.
♦ Building the capacity of the smallholder dairy farming sector in Zambia and its cooperative structure, through the Zambia Dairy Transformation Programme, in order to provide more milk to the country’s commercial dairy processing sector and to consumer markets.
♦ Supporting the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute with technical assistance to develop a networked advisory and training structure using mobile phone apps and website technology as part of the two-year Caribbean Small Ruminants Advisory Programme.
♦ Training and mentoring staff at a state-owned power company in Bamyan Province, Afghanistan, to ensure they had sufficient capabilities to maintain and operate a 1.0-megawatt solar power generation facility, with associated distribution lines, as part of the Bamyan Renewable Energy Project between 2014 and 2017.
♦ Providing technical assistance to the United Kingdom-funded Comprehensive Agricultural and Rural Development – Facility (CARD-F) in Afghanistan between 2014 and 2018.
♦ Providing technical assistance to the United States-funded Agricultural Value Chains – Livestock Programme in Afghanistan between 2018 and 2021.
