Consulting
I offer both consulting and pro-bono services. Please get in touch to discuss your organisation’s needs and I will do my best to help. See below for the types of digital and participatory strategies through which I can help your organisation.
Putting local communities first
The field of development is littered with examples of rushed technology projects. If we don’t learn from our history, we are doomed to repeat it.
Thus, my work is characterised by a commitment to understanding and prioritising the needs of local communities in NGO work. Of course, this is easier said than done, but is critical before going into detailed discussions about specific technology.
That is why I like getting involved in the messy details of localisation and engage community stakeholders directly.
My Expertise
I design technology strategies to connect NGOs with local stakeholders. Depending on NGO needs and priorities, I use co-design and participatory methodologies to develop tailored strategies (rather than one-size-fits-all packages).
This is particularly important when you work with community members who are marginalised (i.e. women & girls in Global South contexts, low-literate populations, people with disabilities). Despite the common narrative, such populations are not merely beneficiaries and have a lot to contribute to the organisations that work with them.
You can see some examples of the activities below on the Projects page.
01.
Community engagement
There’s more to engagement than sharing project updates with local communities. I can help design strategies that enable meaningful two-way engagement in NGO projects. Drawing on a wide range of technologies, I can help you identify and customise a cost-effective solution.
02.
Monitoring and evaluation
Organisations have limited budgets for Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL). I have worked with small and large NGOs to develop participatory digital approaches to M&E. I tend to focus on rich, qualitative methods which complement existing in-house quantitative strategies.
03.
Training and mentoring
Training, professional development (CPD) and capacity building are important for NGOs but often get left behind due to resources demands. I can work with your NGO to develop digital approaches to staff training and professional development (drawing on both technologies and human-centred methods).
04.
community data collection
There are a million survey tools out there, but they all face problems with roll-out and accessibility among regional staff. I can help you design strategies for data collection in rural or remote regions by developing tailor-made methodologies using commonly used social media apps.
05.
Participatory analysis
Even when communities are involved in data collection, they often get left out of the data analysis and sense-making stages. I draw on participatory approaches to enable your organisation to facilitate community forums. These forums are part of bottom-up strategies for community involvement in data analysis.