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Tanzania Country Program formulation 2020-24 - postponed

The formulation mission has been postponed until further due to policy negotiations on human rights violations between the Danish Governmant and the Government of Tanzania. (January 2019)

Bente Consulting ApS has won the tender on the formulation of the new Danish Country Program in Tanzania 2020-24. 

The new country programme will build on the results and experiences of the current country programme and is planned to have the following three thematic programmes: (1) Governance and rights; (2) Health for all - with a particular focus on women and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights and (3) Inclusive growth and employment.

The assignment comprises two field missions to Tanzania - the first in December 2018 and the second in february 2019. The first will be undertaken by the team leader from Bente Consulting, whereas the second mission counts on the full team of four, which includes Hans Posthumus (Inclusive Growth and Employment Expert), Alison Lake (Public Health expert) and Mike Dahlgaard (Sector Budget Support expert).

Power relations and development in Africa

On November 9th, 2018, I spoke on "Power relations in development work in Africa" at the Global Issues Network at Copenhagen International School - to 80 young people from Turkey, Spain, Denmark, Germany, the UK and the Netherlands. Quite a mouthful, quite a challenge. I used two stories framed in a bit of theory (the Powercube). First story about the female village president from Guinea-Bissau who withdrew from a formal power position, because she did not want to navigate in the imposed power structure in spite of having legitimacy in her position as village midwife. And second story from Mozambique, where China cleverly navigated in the national power structures, provided infrastructure development and established strong networks with government officials at different levels - and therefore benefitted in exploiting the country's natural ressources.

The presentation is anecdotal and personal - read it here.

 

Youth engagement and youth focus tools

In 2017, Danida commissioned a review of its youth-related engagements in the overall development portfolio. The review resulted in the presentation of a Youth Package and increased focus on development by youth, not for youth. Time has come to operationalize the 19 recommendations, and Bente Consulting in collaboration with Next Generation Advice, GROWconsult, Verner Kristiansen ApS and  graphic design from Skinnydogsfilms.has been contracted to develop tools to mainstream and materialize a youth-focus and youth-engagement  in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs' programs and instruments. The assignment runs from August 2018 to January 2019 and contains different components: explorative data collection with Embassies and Country Programs in Mali, Uganda and Ethiopia; interviews with MFA staff; consultations with Youth Sounding Boards in the three countries and with youth organizations in Denmark; development of tools and a knowledge sharing platform; and organization of an international state-of-the art seminar to be held in Copenhagen in December 2018. 

CSR - contribution to film project in Bangladesh

Tanvir Mokammel is an old friend of mine - we met in 1980 at Dhaka University Campus, while I was preparing field work for my master thesis in Bangladesh. Tanvir has grown into one of Bangladesh's well known and acknowledged film makers with a special interest for portraying historic events, often related to the 1947 partition from India or the 1971 partition from Pakistan. With modest contributions, Bente Consulting ApS has supported an earlier film project (The Borderline) through crowd funding and recently also the latest film project: "Quiet flows the Rupsa River"

Danish Peoples Aid - capacity assessment and appraisal

Bente Consulting is contracted by CISU (Civil Society in Development) to undertake an organizational Capacity Assessment and Appraisal (CapApp) of a concept note for at Governance in WASH program in East Africa prepared by Danish Peoples Aid. The assignment includes interviews with six partner organizations in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Somalia, as well as with head office staff in Nykøbing Falster. Focus is i.a. on internal systems for management, administration, monitoring and evaluation, as well as strategic orientation, relevance and sustainability. The assignment takes place in Febryary - April 2018.

Evaluation of CIVICUS - published

The evaluation of CIVICUS was commissioned by the Civil Society Unit at Sida through the framework agreement on evaluation services. The concluding assessment is that CIVICUS is relevant to Sida’s civil society strategy and the organisation is fit-for-purpose to achieve its mission and contribute substantially to fulfilment of its strategic goals. Sida is seen as a flexible, cooperative and risk-taking donor, valued for its engagement in critical dialogue. Recommendations are mainly addressed to CIVICUS, acknowledging that they are refinements to processes and initiatives already set in motion. Sida has embarked on a sound collaboration based on core funding and the recommendation is therefore to continue the partnership based on these principles. Down load the report from Sida's publication website here.

Caucasus Research Resource Centers - final evaluation

The Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are a network of research, resource and training centers supported by the Carneigie Corporation in partnership with the Eurasia Partnership Foundation and local universities. The support is coming to an end in 2018 and Peruse Company is conducting the evaluation. Bente Consulting provides input on evaluation methodology and quality assurance, January - March 2018.

Baseline development for BØRNEfonden

As part of the Strategic Partnership Agreement with Danida, BØRNEfonden needs to finalize the baseline for Youth Empowerment in West Africa (YEWA) program. This includes document review and interviews with partners in Bukina Faso, Mali, Benin and Togo. The assignment is first part of two, where the next will focus on development of a monitoring framework and tools, training of staff and test run of the system. Bente Consulting will work in close collaboration with BØRNEfondens regional coordination unit and the head office in Copenhagen. Read more about BØRNEfonden here. December 2017 - January 2018.  

  

Bente Consulting ApS 
Egholmvej 32A, Agersoe
DK - 4244 Agersø
Denmark

+45 2257 2207 (Denmark)
+258 82 7679 357 (Mozambique)

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Skype: bentetopsoejensen

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