Public and Social Sector

For mission-driven organisations the scarce resource is rarely money. It is access, and the standing required to keep it.

INGO and NGO · Government and multilateral organisations

Operating where access is the constraint

Programme design in fragile states is usually treated as a technical exercise and lost as a political one. Whether a programme reaches its beneficiaries depends on negotiated access: with the recognised authority, with whoever actually controls the road, with the community leadership, and with the donor whose compliance requirements may be incompatible with all three.

We help organisations map that terrain honestly and decide in advance which compromises they will and will not make, because those decisions are far worse when taken under time pressure at a checkpoint.

Donor requirements against field reality

Reporting frameworks written in one capital frequently cannot be satisfied in another without either fiction or paralysis. We work with organisations to renegotiate indicators that cannot be measured safely, document why, and build monitoring that satisfies genuine accountability without requiring staff to take risks the framework never contemplated.

Duty of care and continuity

Security planning, evacuation triggers, local staff protection and continuity of operations are governance obligations as much as operational ones. We build plans with named thresholds and pre-delegated authority so that a country director can act at the speed the situation requires.

Signals this is the right work

Access is narrowing and the programme design has not changed. Your local staff carry risk your international staff do not, and the policy does not acknowledge it. A donor requirement and a field constraint are in direct conflict and the gap is being managed informally.

What you get

An access map covering recognised authority, effective control and community leadership
A documented position on which compromises the organisation will and will not make
Renegotiated indicators where the original framework cannot be satisfied safely
Duty of care and continuity plans with named thresholds and delegated authority
Local staff risk provisions written into policy rather than assumed

Common questions

Do you work directly with donors?

Yes, including on reframing indicators that cannot be measured safely in the field. That conversation lands better with evidence attached, which is usually what we help assemble.

Can you support security planning?

We build the decision architecture around it: thresholds, authority and continuity. Specialist security providers handle physical measures, and we work alongside them.

How do you handle engagement with non-state actors?

Carefully, lawfully and within the sanctions position that applies to the organisation. Where access requires something that cannot be done lawfully, we say so plainly.

Discuss a mandate

If this describes the problem you are holding, a short conversation will establish quickly whether we are the right people for it.

Start a conversation

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