About ideas2action
Ideas2action is a Danish based international oriented consultancy firm. Our three main focus areas are managing for results, public participation and strengthening the cultural encounter.
The founder, Bjørn Nygaard, has been working as a Danida advisor and international consultant since 1994 for the EU, Danida and UN. You can find his CV here. Ideas2action works closely with a group of experienced consultants on Danish as well as international assignments when there special skills are required.
The Cultural Encounter and Conflict Management
The services we provide are:
- Cultural encounter and intercultural competence training.
- Creating an organisational culture which strengthens the cultural encounter.
- Working with Danes - how to better understand and work with Danes
- Advising organisations and teams in order to improve their intercultural competence.
- Coaching managers in intercultural competence.
- Practical conflict management in a multi-cultural setting.
We strive to improve the cultural encounter by working not only with the participants' cultural knowledge and differences (the Hoffstede approach) but primarily by working with communication competences, the understanding of one's own cultural habitus and the ability to explore and understand partners' and colleagues' cultures.
Our Experiences are:
- Training advisors and UN employees in the cultural encounter at Danida's Centre for Competence Development (2006 to date)
- Lecturing at University of Copenhagen, Institute of Anthropology, in the cultural encounter at the work place (2010)
- Training staff from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and their spouces in the cultural encounter (2009 to date)
- Training Danish and international managers from Novozymes in intercultural competence (2003 to 2007)
- Training international humanitarian staff in the cultural encounter (2007-09)
- Conflict management in various Danish organisations (2009 to date)
- Conflict management training at University of Copenhagen (2009), courses for international humanitarian staff (2008 and 2009), the Danish Ingeneering Schools (2010), courses for union representatives (2010)
- Evaluating couses in intercultural competence at Danish Ingeneering Schools (2010-11)
- Practising intercultural competence in assignments in Africa, the Middle East and Asia (1994 to date)
Managing for Results
The services we provide are:
- Establishing management information systems.
- Evaluation and establishing monitoring systems - both with a strong focus on documentation and single and double loop learning.
- Facilitation of strategy and planning processes using project and proces management tools like Logical Framework Approach, SWOT, Appreciative Inquiry and Participatory (Rural/Urban) Appraisal. This includes ensuring that plans and strategies are both innovative and monitorable with clear objectives, indicators, targets and assumptions.
- Practical trainings in monitoring and the Logical Framework Approach based on the participants own cases.
We strive to identify good practises and innovative ideas, and transform motivating visions into elaborate strategies and action-plans. Through a strategy process which creates clarity, involvement and consensus the participants become committed to move from ideas to action. We are also committed to develop learning systems (incl. M&E) which contributes to improving the strategies and actions.
Our Experiences are:
- Establishing monitoring or management information systems in various sectors, municipalities, ministries, programmes and/or projects in Denmark, Egypt, Russia, Bhutan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Nepal, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe from 1994 to date.
- Evaluating numerous Danish and a number of EU funded projects and programmes.
- Producing and/or quality ensuring a number of indicator and monitoring guidelines for Danida.
- Monitoring and evaluation training of Danida staff, national and international NGOs and Danish civil servants.
- Training consultants, advisors and civil servants in the Logical Framework Approach.
- Facilitating of numerous strategy or planning processes in Denmark, Russia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Nepal, Tanzania and Uganda using the above mentioned planning tools.
- Author of the book "Evaluation as a Management Tool" (in Danish only) as well as a number of technical Danida papers on M&E.
Public Participation
The services we provide are:
- Practical training in Participatory Rural or Urban Appraisal
- Facilitation of Participatory Rural Appraisals to prepare development projects or programmes
- Participatory monitoring processes e.g. Most Significant Change
- Establishing participatory planning and/or monitoring systems on ministry, municipality and village level
Our experiences are:
- Lecturing on Participatory Rural Appraisals at University of Copenhagen and University of Aarhus in Denmark.
- Establishing a participatroy planning and monitoring system on municipality level in Kenya.
- Undertaking numerous Participatory Rural or Urban Appraisals in Kenya and Denmark.
- Developing a manual for Participatory Rural Appraisals in Kenya.
- Developing an electronic toolbox for Municipality of Copenhagen incl. the description of 30 tools for civic democracy and public participation (www.borgerinddragelse.dk).
- Facilitation of various public participation processes in relation to planning and monitoring of public projects in Denmark.
- Establishing a management information system in Danida's Good Governance programme in Indonesia.
We experience that public participation in planning, monitoring and evaluation of public services and projects improves the services and projects tremendously. The right mixture of "bottom-up" and "top-down" increases project relevance, innovation, transparency and commitment.
Country and Sector Experiences
Country experience:
- Bhutan
- Denmark
- Egypt
- Indonesia
- Kenya
- Malaysia
- Nepal
- Russia
- Syria
- Tanzania
- Uganda
- Vietnam
- Zimbabwe
International sector experience:
- Agriculture
- Education
- Gender
- Good governance
- Health
- Justice
- Natural resource management
- Private (SME)
- Roads
- Rural development
- Waste management
- Water
Contact
ideas2action
Att. Bjørn Nygaard
Birkevang 20A
3500 Vaerloese
Denmark
Email: bjorn@idethandling.com
Tel.: +45 3296 2255
Mobile: +45 2225 9409
Skype: bjorn.nygaard
