Wendy Quarry is an independent development consultant with more than 30 years in the social sector. She is a specialist in communication, evaluation (utilization focused evaluation)  and capacity building and holds a MSc degree in Rural Extension Studies from Guelph University. She has field experience in both Canada and overseas and has lived and managed long term assignments in Ghana (5 years); India (2 years); Pakistan (4 years) and Afghanistan (2 years). She has worked for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA); International Development Research Centre (IDRC); the World Bank, FAO UNICEF, the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) and various NGOs including IUCN and NOVIB.  Her development experience ranges from serving as Chief Technical Advisor on a Kabul based sustainable livelihood program; co-manager of an operational review of Tibet’s Basic Needs Project and served as field team leader for a longitudinal study of a large irrigation and drainage project in Pakistan. She has assisted the Government of Pakistan develop its National Conservation Strategy and the Government of Mozambique’s Rural Water Policy. She and Ricardo Ramirez co-authored the book, Communication for Another Development, Listening before Telling (Zed Book, 2009) that has recently been published in India, Spain and Egypt. She developed and taught a post graduate course in Social Communication (on line and in person) in India (Ahmedabad) and in Canada for Royal Roads University, Victoria, British Colombia and currently mentors Research Organizations (Think Tanks) in South and East Africa on communication and evaluation planning. This is funded by IDRC. Ms. Quarry is based in Canada, is english speaking but conversant in French and Spanish.

I founded Korumo Coaching for Transformation. Coaching was a natural move in my long-standing career as trainer and facilitator in participatory, multi-stakeholder processes. My belief in people as drivers of their own change has fuelled a career in non-profit, rural livelihoods research and development, and in leadership positions. In working with individuals and organisations, I thrive in contexts that require charting a new pathway, breaking through deadlock, and navigation transition. I have a background in cultural anthropology and hold a PhD in rural development. My traveling feet have taken me on assignments in Africa, Asia and Europe. My love for writing and all things audiovisual have resulted in a range of publications and video clips. In work and life, I seek integration of mind, body and heart. I am a running yogi, mindfulness blogger, and tweets for a just cause. I am an Ennea 7.

I’m a forester with postgraduate studies in forest resources management. Over the past 20 years I have worked actively in smallholder communities. I have experience in the implementation and monitoring of internationally funded projects focusing on sustainable management of renewable natural resources, and integrated rural production systems. I consult with the Peruvian Ministry of Environment on environmental projects where focusing on issues related to women and school children. A good deal of my work has involved conducting training using participatory and interactive methodologies. I facilitate workshops on inter-institutional relationships, interdisciplinary working groups and coordination among rural communities.

I began my career in 1982 working on sustainable development and land rights for native communities in the Amazon region of Peru with CIPA, a national NGO. Later on I joined ITDG and worked on rural technology innovation processes at field and policy levels. I conducted the Food Processing and the Markets and Livelihoods programs designing, implementing and monitoring relevant project experiences oriented to facilitate market access for rural producers and processors in Peru and Bolivia. I was appointed as Program Director at the end of this stage for the Latin America regional office until 2014. I participated in the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development process (IAASTD) representing NGOs in the advisory bureau. Since 2014 I have been working as an independent consultant doing studies and monitoring and evaluating development experiences. My focus is agricultural markets and rural innovation systems in the context of climate change.

Is a founding member of ISG. He is an independent researcher and consultant based in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, with expertise in communication planning, collaborative evaluation and capacity development.  Ricardo began his career in agricultural sciences that he followed with demonstration farm projects in South America. His graphic design and illustration skills led to a focus on participatory learning and media.  He then switched to the field of adult education and community development.  His doctoral work focused on how rural and remote communities harness information and communication technology. He has worked with the Communication for Development group at FAO, Rome, with the Information Center for Low External Input Agriculture (ILEIA) in the Netherlands, with non-governmental organizations, and with consulting firms. He was professor in the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development at the University of Guelph where remains as adjunct. Together with Wendy Quarry they just published the book Communication for another development: Listening before telling (Zed Books, London 2009) – a critical and personal reflection about the real world of international development. He had professional level Spanish and English, and understands and speaks French and Italian.

For more than 30 years I have been involved in processes of technological innovation and social change, through design and facilitation of learning networks, participatory knowledge development, social learning, training and coaching for academic leadership. Key areas of competence include processes of Innovation and Change in sustainable agriculture and rural development, water management, and area focused processes. My working experience is from projects in Western Africa (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali), East and Southern Africa (Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Malawi). In the Netherlands and in the EU I have collaborated in various EU multiyear research partnerships and worked with both the public and private sectors. I am a Certified® Professional Facilitator (CPF) and a Certified® Professional Assessor of the International Association (IAF) of Facilitators.

I have a master in social educational sciences and more than 20 years of experience in the sector of development cooperation (voluntary work in literacy programmes in Mexico, research assistant at the university, responsible for gender mainstreaming in a NGO, consultancy). Since 2000 I work as consultant for ACE Europe, a Belgian consultancy firm for European and international cooperation, bridging theory and practice in development cooperation.  My domains of action include the facilitation or coaching of strategic processes within organizations (NGOs, local authorities, ministries), provision of training, provision of policy advice and execution of evaluations. I have built expertise in the areas of local governance, capacity building, local development (access to basic services for health, water, food security and education), development education, M&E systems, lobby and advocacy. I have experience in managing complex result based evaluations involving different countries and partners and executed by a multi-disciplinary team of consultants. I have worked extensively with mixed method approaches in evaluation and accompanying multi-stakeholder processes. I’ve been involved in short-term assignments in Africa, Latin America and Asia and am fluent in Dutch, French, English and Spanish.

An International Consultant and Scholar on Complexity Theory applied to Sustainability, in particular to multi-stakeholder partnerships. After graduating with a PhD from the London School of Economics (2014) I have developed innovative tools to support organizations better understanding and managing the complexity of sustainable change. Previous to this I spent10 years in the practice of Sustainability, living and working on 3 continents with diverse consultancy companies, Aid organizations and the AVINA Foundation. I played various roles supporting hundreds of social entrepreneurs on strategic planning, participatory processes, project management and knowledge management. She also holds a MBA on Corporate Social Responsibility (Brazil), a Bachelor degree on Environmental Science (Spain) and speaks 4 languages.

I am an independent planning facilitator and management trainer, working in social and regional development in The Netherlands and EU. My experience is that social change is based on meaningful conversations between stakeholders in which they bring new ideas to each other. I started working (’79) in small scale irrigation in the Ecuadorian Andes region for a local NGO, and worked in Mozambique (‘85-‘90) in rural development and witnessed the collapse of the socialist experiment there. I worked as a project management trainer for MDF in The Netherlands, and got involved in facilitating participatory planning. We brought these ideas (with some success) to EU innovation programs, and to Project Cycle Management of the Commission (with less success). I have done work for government commissions, but I concentrated more on facilitating planning sessions in multi stakeholder programs. Today, I am involved in an initiative (www.beter-nu.nl) to stimulate co-operation in care delivery that was recently decentralized towards municipalities in The Netherlands.

For more than twenty years, I have coordinated multi-disciplinary and inter-institutional teams responsible for designing and implementing participatory research on the inter/intra-household dynamics of farming communities, aimed at improving institutional support to small-scale producers. I have worked for a number of bi and multilateral, as well as international research and development agencies to design, provide technical support to and evaluate policies and projects aimed at enhancing the active participation of rural women and men. I have contributed to the reorientation of agricultural extension curriculum and have developed as well as delivered courses on stakeholder analysis and gender sensitivity. I participated in the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) and consulted on research and development projects in many countries including Bolivia, Brazil, Morocco, Mozambique and Uganda. Currently i am an Honorary Research Fellow at Bioversity International in Rome.

Is Director of the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) in Maastricht.  Dr. Ir. Engel has years of field experience in international development work with multi-lateral, bi-lateral and non-governmental agencies.  He was also an Associate Professor at Wageningen University and Research Centre, where he led a research team that developed, tested and published a soft systems approach and field methodology to strengthen multi-stakeholder innovation and learning capacities (RAAKS).  Paul has conducted fieldwork and research in support of local capacity development in Africa and Latin America.  He taught courses on the social organization for innovation in water management, rural and agricultural value chain development at Concepcion University in Chile.  As a specialist on policy process management he currently facilitates international cooperation, knowledge networking and learning; advises on policy coherence for development, impact evaluation and, social innovation including the valuation of indigenous knowledge. He speaks Dutch, English, Spanish and French.

I am both an academic and (freelance) consultant. Over the years I have worked as a researcher, trainer, coach, and facilitator, mostly in the fields risk and crisis management and disaster risk reduction (DRR). I aim to enable both communities and public and private entities to embrace and engage change. Even sudden, unforeseen, and perceived hazardous change because this will make it possible for them to secure sustainability and progress in the face of a future that is more and more uncertain, complex and volatile. My work has been diverse, in the fields of disaster and risk reduction DRR, particularly social preparedness, to sustainable development. I have worked in various countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Brazil, Chile, and the US, and languages (Dutch, English, and Spanish). The projects I work on are tailor-made and highly participatory since proper results can only be obtained when stakeholders take the lead to jointly go through relevant processes of change.

I am a political scientist with over 12 years of experience in the public policy field focused on supporting the use of evidence in decision making and facilitating multi-stakeholder processes, with an increasing focus on gender equity and diversity. I work with think tanks, international organisations, NGOs and government agencies, through capacity building, mentoring, research and consultancy projects including program evaluations and organisational assessments. I have worked in South America, Central America and the Caribbean, West Africa, Southern Africa, South East Asia and the Pacific, and South Asia. Besides being a member of ISG, I am Associate of Politics & Ideas and On Think Tanks. I hold an MA in Public Policies and Development Management (Georgetown University and Universidad de San Martín), a Specialisation in Public Policy and Gender Justice (Latin American Council of Social Sciences), a Diploma on Evaluation of Public Policies (Universidad de San Martín), and a BA in Political Science (Universidad de Buenos Aires). I am Argentinean, currently based in Florida, United States.