Review of Global Focus (Danish NGO platform)

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Created: Friday, 05 May 2023 15:40

Bente Consulting ApS will undertake the review of the Danish NGO Platform 'Globalt Fokus', which counts 80+member organizations. The review is commissioned by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs as one of the main funders of the platform. The objective of the review is to ass GF's performance in delivering results, adherence to MFA guidelines for financial management, and the extent to which GF maintains and sustains relevance to its members. The review will focus on four critical areas: strategic, programmatic, organizational and financial management levels. The review will be undertaken by a team of three consultants and take place in May-July 2023.

Development of a women SME servicing framework - with FSD Mozambique

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Created: Monday, 17 April 2023 09:58

Bente Consulting ApS is contracted by Financial Sector Deepening Mozambique to provide input as international gender specialist to the World Bank finaced project on Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi).The project will run for 50 weeks from April 2023 and comprises four phases. Bente Consulting has an input of 24 wds, mainly focused on data collection methodology and technical assistance to selected financial institutions on development and roll-out of gender sensitive financial products.

The objective of the initiative is to address financial and non-financial constraints faced by women-owned/led SMEs in IDA and IBRD eligible countries and territories. The World Bank (WB) We-Fi Program covers activities implemented by the WB in support of the We-Fi public sector window activities. The Mozambique We-Fi project aims to i) improve WSME access to digital tools for improved access to financial services, ii) integrate gender in large firms´ procurement processes, iii) increase WMSEs´
digital skills to expand their ability to access to markets.Under the access to finance component, the project will support two financial institutions in
developing and strengthening their digital financial service offering targeting WSMEs,including through streamlined gender-oriented offering and improved outreach and dissemination. The activity seeks to directly benefit at least 450 WSMEs associated to the financial institutions and complement the current program’s focus on orienting gendered financial products towards digital channels for maximizing outreach to WSMEs. Results will increase WSMEs access to financial services and adoption of digital financial services. Findings also seek to inform other relevant project operations focused on WSMEs and SME access to finance, in a way that the resulting approaches could be scaled-up to reach out to a wider user base.

Bente Consulting ApS - company profile 2023

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Created: Monday, 17 April 2023 09:46

Bente Consulting ApS is a minor woman-led Danish consultancy company (VAT registration no. 33352956) operating since November 2010 in the area of civil society, human rights and development planning. The company offers services in the full project/program management cycle from baseline and feasibility studies, strategy development, project/program design and formulation, appraisals, reviews and evaluations, as well as monitoring, thematic evaluation studies and learning assignments; organizational capacity assessments; development of toolkits; and process facilitation.

Working in a participatory and inclusive way is a company trademark, putting the client and the research object in focus by active engagement and open communication. Although small, the company operates with an extensive network of professional contacts in Europe, Africa and Asia, including formal arrangements with e.g. FCG Sweden, NIRAS International, COWI A/S, ITAD, and Altair Asesores Spain. The network also counts collaboration with a wide range of smaller and medium-sized agencies and individual consultants in Scandinavia and African countries, e.g. Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, as well as India, Myanmar and Egypt. In addition to the main focus on East and Southern Africa, the company has undertaken several assignments in Asia, West Africa, the MENA region, East Europe, the Balkans and Latin America. Working languages are English, Portuguese, French and Scandinavian languages.   

The company’s main areas of experience are related to human rights in the broader sense with specific focus on civil society, democracy and governance; civil, political and labour rights; women and gender rights; youth engagement; sexual and reproductive health rights; disability rights; and land tenure rights; as well as market system development and financial inclusion. In addition, the company has substantial experience in rural development and sector planning in health, education and environment, as well as assessment of funding mechanisms.

The company’s client portfolio counts multiple donor agencies, e.g. Danida, Sida, Norad, FCDO (former DFID), SDC, ADA, UN agencies and the World Bank, as well as a number of national and international NGOs, e.g. ActionAid, WeEffect, Financial Sector Deepening Africa/Zambia/Mozambique, and Scandinavian trade union organizations.

Democratic Values, Human Rights and Civic Space in Uganda - Feasibility Assessment and Program Design

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Created: Thursday, 29 December 2022 10:00

Bente Consulting ApS is doing the Feasibility Assessment and Program Design of a new Danish program in Uganda. The focus is on Strengthening Democratic Values and Protection of Human Rights and Civic Space. The assignment is commissioned by the Embassy of Denmark in Uganda and was won through a restricted tender procedure.

The Feasibility Assessment will include comprehensive documents review to harvest past expereince and lessons learned to be held against a context analysis, a gap analysis and a mapping of donor initaitives. The Program Design process will involve i.a. development of a program Theory of Change, identification of detailled areas of intervention, development of partnership implementation arrangements and funding modalities, risk assessment and management, as well as MEAL framework.

The work is carried out by an international team of three consultants and a quality assurance expert. Two consultants are based in Uganda, the team leader from Bente Consulting is from Denmark, and the quality assurance expert from Sweden. The assignment will run from end of December 2022 to July 2023 with the majority of the work in the period of January-February 2023.