Evaluation of agricultural development project

“It is with great enthusiasm that I recommend and endorse the work of Scott Rankin. In our working relationship, I have found him to be a technically sound, adept communicator who demonstrates all of the qualities necessary for an excellent evaluation team lead. Heading up a team of agriculture subject matter experts, Scott, although not an expert in this field, quickly grasped the core issues and developed a strong evaluation plan for a very complex project. He also was adept at the logistical side of being a team lead. He was a frequent communicator with our home office, making backstopping and approvals straightforward and timely.

But perhaps what I valued most about Scott is his soft skills in working with a variety of different stakeholders. He helped harmonize at times very divergent opinions on the team, [and] build sound relationships with our client while undertaking this project. Finding all of these qualities in a team lead is a rare thing, and Scott embodied them all. I would certainly use Scott again should the need arise, and others would be lucky to retain his services.”

Evaluation and design of “literacy and livelihoods” projects for women and youth

“Scott Rankin undertook an evaluation of the Women’s Economic Literacy and Livelihoods project on behalf of World Vision Afghanistan, with a brief to fully evaluate the impact and outcomes of the project across a number of facets, including broad adult education outcomes for women; links between women’s adult education (particularly literacy) and household economic security; and increased social mobility and participation in civil society and public life.

Scott conducted a thorough and incisive evaluation that explored both intended and unintended outcomes. In particular, World Vision Afghanistan valued Scott’s preparedness to ‘dig down’ into facets of the project that would have otherwise been left unexplored. The evaluation was inclusive, with the process proving to be educational for both community and World Vision staff. Both of these groups benefited from having Scott’s capacity-building program integrated into the methodology. The evaluation was delivered on time and on budget.

Such was the quality of the evaluation, and Scott’s ability to connect with community and staff, that World Vision Afghanistan utilized Scott’s services in the design of a follow-up project — the Youth Economic Literacy and Livelihoods Program. This also resulted in a quality project design delivered on time and on budget.”

Evaluation of disaster recovery program

“I met Stephen Parsons and Scott Rankin from RCG when they were commissioned by Australian Red Cross (ARC) to undertake an external evaluation of the ARC Recovery Program that was implemented following a major bushfire in South Australia. Both Stephen and Scott were an absolute pleasure to work with. They have an amazing commitment to truly understanding recovery, a strong sense of social justice and a compassionate manner, enabling them to engage with a variety of stakeholders, many of whom had been personally affected by the disaster. Their evaluation approach ensured all key stakeholders were given numerous opportunities to be involved, and on all occasions they came to the people in their own environment, regularly attending community events to get ground-level feedback.

Upon submission of the evaluation report, findings and recommendations, Stephen and Scott spent time with us to ensure these were communicated to all stakeholders, plus others who would be interested in the work. This process was effortless and the recommendations have been made in a way that has made it simple for us to debrief, learn and make improvements and tweaks in our recovery program.”

Design and evaluation of medical rehabilitation projects

“Stephen Parsons is not the kind of consultant who produces reports by the weight, cutting and pasting from the comfort of a hotel room in a capital city (although I am confident he could do it if required).

Rather, Stephen is someone dedicated to anchoring his evaluation findings in the experience of all key stakeholders, from the grassroot level up, and designing project proposals that combine a long-term strategic vision with practical solutions, while accounting for the power struggles and challenges of complex political and institutional environments.

COPE commissioned Stephen on three occasions over a two-year period, and that in itself is an indication of how satisfied we have been with his work. Firstly, Stephen conducted an end-of-project evaluation for a three-year USAID grant; then he did a process review of our outreach program; and the next year he designed and developed a proposal for a three-year mobile clinic project to provide awareness raising, ongoing support and referral services to physical rehabilitation centers. For the latter, Stephen facilitated a three-day workshop, during which he displayed an amazing ability to sense the rift between stakeholders, defuse tensions and get people to brainstorm together to identify solutions beneficial for all. Stephen went the extra mile by providing us various formats of the project proposal to fit the needs of potential donors.”

Evaluation of landscape analysis of labour practices

"As part of our ‘Forced Labour and Human Trafficking’ portfolio, Humanity United contracted the Research and Communications Group (RCG) to undertake a landscape analysis of labour practices and prevalence of modern slavery within the Asian seafood supply chain. Across the length of the Covid-19 challenged contract,RCG provided us with a wealth of information, overlaid with evidenced critical analysis and backed by years of learning and experience within the contexts we were assessing. This gave the project’s reports and outputs a level of nuance and complexity that we believe we would not have received from other consultants.

RCG were more than just a team of researchers — they were truly thought-partners who were just as keen to dig into this body of work as we were. RCG was adaptable when circumstances changed, creative and resourceful in their pivots, able to push back when needed, and unflagging in their commitment to this work, even during something as enormously destabilizing as a global pandemic.

They produced compelling and informative deliverables that were intuitively easy to follow, and have proven incredibly useful in the development and implementation of a much larger strategy. We are eternally grateful for their partnership.”

Evaluation of study on child protection for Cambodian migrant children in Thailand

“The evidence-based study titled "Situation and stakeholder analysis on child protection services for Cambodian migrant children and youth, especially girls, in the supply chain of Thai poultry industry" was the first evidence-based study in a project I was managing in 2018. The report structurally magnifies the actual situation of child protection for Cambodian migrant children in Thailand. Once disseminated, it has quickly become an important reference for development professionals working on child protection, child labour, and migrant children's rights in various international development organizations, from within Plan International to those in the United Nations System in Thailand. For us in Plan International, the report gives us a fundamental understanding of the situation and gaps in Thailand's child protection mechanisms, as well as the opportunity for us to help fill those gaps in the future.

For me, working with Khun Panadda is always a good learning experience. She is a veteran development professional with more than 30 years of experience on trafficking in persons and child protection issues. Her expertise and technical contribution to our project are highly valued. During the 2018 poultry study, data collection was particularly challenging. Stakeholders, especially business operators, were sceptical about non-governmental organizations' engagement with them. Some opted to control their perceived risks by not allowing their staff to give the research team information. Despite a lot of limitations, Khun Panadda showed me how she manoeuvered with, and sometimes accepted, those challenges during the fieldwork, and led a team to complete the study and the report in a well-managed timeframe. Certainly, if an opportunity arises, I would love to work with her on a research project again."

Evaluation of services to migrants in Sudan

“Martina Melis conducted the external evaluation of two consecutive phases of a project focusing on services to migrants in Sudan. Her professionalism, manifested in a systematic and constructive approach to evaluations and an ability to stick to mutually agreed deadlines, makes communication and collaboration with her a highly rewarding experience. She is available and open to listen to the perspectives of all those involved in the project, including staff, beneficiaries and stakeholders, and is able to quickly grasp progress and challenges in implementation. The creative yet practical recommendations provided as a result of both evaluations conducted by Martina have greatly contributed to improving the design, implementation and monitoring of the project.”

Research, monitoring and evaluation for volunteers program

“Over the past few years, Stephen Parsons has provided a range of high-quality research, monitoring and evaluation services to the Australian Volunteers for International Development (AVID) program, managed by Scope Global on behalf of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In this time, Stephen has produced outstanding outputs, many of which have been converted into real changes to the program management cycle and high-value marketing and communications material. We have always appreciated his keen sense of inquiry, dedication and commitment to thoughtful scholarship, and technical expertise in monitoring and evaluation and strategy development. Working with Stephen has been an absolute pleasure.”

Training for criminal justice sector on combatting human trafficking

“I met RCG director Phil Marshall when he took over a project for building capacity within the Sudanese criminal justice system in the areas of human trafficking and people smuggling. In just six months, he took the project from being stalled and on the point of cancellation to exceeding expectations in all areas of the project. Sudan now has a consolidated foundation training curriculum on human trafficking that was developed locally by police, prosecutors and judges, having overcome their initial reluctance to work together.

Further, Phil turned the planned training-of-trainers approach on its head, overseeing a process in which the curriculum was piloted with those who were going to deliver the training, leading to a group of local trainers capable of delivering the training without outside expertise. This in turn created savings that allowed his RCG colleague Ralph Simpson to oversee development of an additional advanced litigation skills curriculum. This work will benefit Sudan for years to come.”