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Welcome to HTSPE: Development Consulting Services
Call for CVs for the New Round of EC Framework Contracts
The tender for the new round of the BENEF Framework contract is due to be launched in the coming weeks. As part of the bidding process we now wish to identify external consultants who would be happy to collaborate with our Consortium.
If you are interested please send your updated CV to Sue.Adams@htspe.com.
For current requests please continue to send in your CVs via the Opportunity pages at www.frameworkcontracts.com
MANAGEMENT BUY-OUT
We are delighted to announce that on the fifth of November 2007 the entire business of HTSPE Ltd was acquired from Genus plc “Genus” by a management team comprising the three senior Business Directors of HTSPE Ltd and led by the former Finance Director of Genus.
HTSPE will now embark on the next phase of its development under the direction of an enthusiastic and motivated management team backed by supportive lenders and external investors including the former Managing Director. The business will continue to operate from its Head Office in Hemel Hempstead where 50 of its 60 full time staff are employed and will continue with the existing strategy of opening branch offices and forming joint ventures in regions where much of its work is focused.
This is an exciting new phase for all of us at HTSPE and one to which all of our staff are committed. We believe that this development will benefit all of our stakeholders and we look forward to working with you in the future, as we further develop the services that HTSPE offers to all of our customers.
HTSPE is a leading international consultancy company which unites two long-established names - Hunting Technical Services and P-E International - to offer unrivalled technical and geographical breadth.
Founded in 1953, HTS pioneered the sustainable development of natural resources to reduce poverty in the developing world. Its work has taken it to 150 countries in six continents.
P-E has been at the forefront of management consultancy for 70 years. It has played a leading role in the radical reform of public services in the United Kingdom; experience it has since taken throughout the world.
From the cities of Tanzania and Bangladesh to the rural communities of Eastern Europe and the UK, this unique combination of skills and experience allows us to develop solutions that incorporate international best practice with a sensitive understanding of local conditions.
Recent Projects
The Nepal Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives’ (MOAC) Agriculture Perspective Plan Support Programme (APPSP) started in 2003, and was due to end in 2007 but was granted a one year no-cost extension. This project provides Technical advisory support and fund management implementation for the ongoing APPSP.
The programme has two main areas of operation:
i) Central level, where it assists the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC) and other APP implementers with organizational and policy support;
ii) District level, where it has established a fund for agricultural service delivery (District Agriculture Development Fund - DADF) in twenty districts.
HTSPE is providing the following:
• Ongoing technical advice for the remainder of the Agriculture Perspective Plan Support Programme (APPSP);
• Management of the funding arrangement to ensure effective implementation of the APPSP programme. This includes:
- Providing strategic advice on institutional and policy changes to strengthen and sustain pro-poor rural services;
- Working with National Programme Manager in effective implementation and review of the programme;
- Providing technical, financial and policy advice within MOAC and in effective implementation of programme activities as follows:
- Capacity building of MOAC and district centre staff
- Planning, management and coordination of programme activities
- Implementing effective communication, monitoring and accountability strategy
- Strengthening the institutionalization of APPSP district funds compatible with Nepal Government decentralization policy
- Providing fund governance, quality assurance and standards compliance
- Supporting decentralized and participatory service planning and management
- Assisting with MOAC’s ongoing process of preparations for moving towards a Sector Wide Approach (SWAp)
- Pursuance of adoption of lessons learned and recommendations made
- Enhance capability of MOAC in pro-poor processes
- Enusre successful completion of the current project term. The LRC is a brand new service available to DFID Advisers, whether they are based in country offices, the UK or seconded elsewhere. Building on the success of the Programme of Advisory and Support Services (PASS), the LRC is committed to being a responsive, flexible and intelligent resource. The LRC has been designed to complement DFID systems and plug resource gaps, providing a menu of technical and support services that enable DFID teams to manage their work programmes more effectively.
Services provided cover the following themes: agriculture, livestock and fisheries; natural resources, including forestry; non farm income and employment; markets and value chains; trade; livelihoods services (business services); technology, knowledge and innovation; property rights, especially land; food security and vulnerability; and governance. The Centre is also able to provide support with cross cutting themes such as climate change and working in fragile states.
There are two types of services provided by the LRC:
Core Services and Commissioned Services –
• Core Services are accessed through a web portal and our office in HTSPE and comprises a range of tailor-made services that facilitate knowledge sharing within DFID and externally among the development community. The website enables users to source information from a unique search facility linking to livelihoods databases and document retrieval systems in IDS and elsewhere. The portal also houses up to date information about events and organisations that are working to improve livelihoods around the world.
• Commissioned Services: a bespoke framework agreement for DFID, enables the LRC to respond to direct requests for expertise or to undertake specific assignments, research or other activities that support knowledge sharing and enhance learning. Under these arrangements five main services are provided: Identifying Consultants; Managing Studies; Event and Conference Management; Professional Development for DFID Livelihoods Advisers; and Dissemination and Websites.
HTSPE has been awarded the contract to manage the large DFID-funded ‘Coalitions for Change’ programme in Nigeria. This bold and innovative programme takes an issue-based approach to improving Nigeria’s capacity to meet the Millennium Development Goals by institutional change within government to promote accountability and reduce mismanagement of public revenues.
The Coalitions for Change Programme (C4C) is a direct response to DFID Nigeria’s Drivers of Change (DoC) analysis which argued, amongst other things, that individuals and organisations – ‘agents’ – acting on their own would be hard-pressed to drive meaningful long-term change. In tackling the fundamental constraints to change in Nigeria DoC suggests an approach that identifies and supports coalitions of interest across civil society, government, the private sector and the media. Such coalitions should be supported to work on issues that engage their stakeholders and that have the potential to lead to institutional change.
C4C is DFID Nigeria’s main vehicle for supporting and testing this new and innovative ‘issues-based approach’ (IBA) to development. It will develop and implement a series of specific issue-based projects (IBPs). These will in turn drive change in the institutions – rules and norms as distinct from organisations – that sustain two of the principal constraints to Nigeria’s achievement of the MDGs: the mismanagement of public revenues; and weak formal accountability.
C4C is a national programme and will support campaigns and coalitions addressing national issues. It may also support coalitions that have a specifically regional or multi-state focus.
The programme is very much in line with Nigeria’s poverty reduction strategy (PRS), the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), which argues that changing the way government works is fundamental to pro-poor change. NEEDS recognises that this cannot be achieved through traditional technocratic approaches alone. In talking of ‘social charters’ and of ‘empowering people’ NEEDS highlights the requirement for initiatives like C4C that strengthen citizen’s voice and apply constructive pressure on government. By working with issues-based coalitions C4C will aim to connect supply-side governance reforms with popular demands for change.
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