Company profile

About MDF

MDF Training & Consultancy is a worldwide operating management training and consultancy bureau. We started in 1984 as "Management for Development Foundation" with the aim to contribute to improved management of organisations responsible for policy formulation, funding or implementation of development interventions. MDF now employs about 90 staff members and has regional offices in Sri Lanka, Brussels, Tanzania, Vietnam, R.D. Congo, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Ghana and Indonesia.

Products and Services
MDF provides courses, workshops and facilitations & consultancy services for individuals and organisations, especially designed to strengthen the managerial and organisational capacity required to perform effectively (to achieve set objectives) and efficiently (at minimum costs).

In addition to the open courses of our standard programme, MDF offers tailor-made courses and workshops. These workshops and courses are geared to the specific needs of the clients and may involve any of MDF's specialised subject areas. Also, our regular courses can be modified and adapted to meet specific needs. With regard to consultancy services, MDF offers short and longer term advisory trails in all phases of the policy & project cycle: identification, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development interventions. Furthermore MDF can assist organisations in the design of new strategies and organisational development plans (including business plans) as well as with the implementation of these plans.

We aim to blend modern management theory and tools with practical experience in development programmes and projects worldwide. Our approach in training, as well as in consultancy, is of a practical nature, rich in visual elements and a high degree of participation. We deliver our services to clients within a wide variety of organisations. These include bilateral and multilateral donors, governments, non-government organisations and consulting firms, all involved in development interventions.

Staff
MDF trainers/consultants are specialists in their own particular fields and have practical experience gained from a variety of different development organisations all over the world. Our staff is involved both in training and consultancy activities to ensure that they maintain a close link with day-to-day practice in the field. We believe that this way of working enriches the training courses and keeps our staff always at the forefront of emerging development ideas and best practices.

MDF experts are professional people with initiative. They create good and sincere working relations with the course participants and our clients in the field.
MDF employs about 90 permanent staff members and in addition calls upon experts from its satellite network or its pool of freelancers.

MDF provides services in the areas of:

Clients
MDF delivers its services to a wide variety of clients. They include donor organisations, co-funding agencies, national and regional government organisations, projects, international and national non-government organisations and consulting firms. MDF has carried out assignments in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe and, of course, in the Netherlands and Belgium.

A selection of our clients:

• European Commission
• Belgium Technical Cooperation
• Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Swiss Development Cooperation
• CARE
• Oxfam Novib
• World Bank
• UNDP
• Local NGOs and national Ministries
• Nuffic

Characteristics of MDF
The principles incorporated in all our services encompass basic values such as the interest and willingness to learn and share ideas with others, the possibility to simplify complex matters, and the fact that experience and wisdom are available within networks, organisations and individuals. Consultancy objectives are practiced by combining our professional knowledge and experience with those of our clients. Very often MDF thereby serves as a facilitator in a didactic learning process, while at other moments we contribute our expertise and guidance. The active involvement of our clients in diagnosis, planning and change has the double benefit of mobilising commitment and making optimal use of existing information and views. Both of which are crucial, as we have observed time and again that the positive impact of interventions could be expressed and computed as the multiplication of quality into the commitment of the relevant stakeholders.

Working with our many clients, ranging from government, multilateral and bilateral donors, large and local NGO's, we have learned what it takes to improve the performance of individuals, organisations and institutional sectors. We wish to distinguish ourselves by the following caracteristics:

• Inclusiveness - working closely together with our clients and stakeholders, and generally encouraging a participatory approach. This implies our focus on building good relationships with clients and other stakeholders
• Transparency, honesty and openness. In many settings we deal head-on with sensitive issues, addressing rather than circumventing them. Inter-cultural sensitivity, excellent communication skills and a sense of humour help us lift barriers
• Professionalism and resourcefulness in our attitude to our work; creativity in the methods and solutions we contribute
• Visual in capturing the essence of debates and options, crisp and clarifying in summarising new agreements and outstanding issues (avoiding vague descriptions or alienating jargon)
• Solid in terms of management with strong and transparent financial control
• Quick in noticing and debating new experiences and trends, translating them into best practices, tools and new services (such as new courses, seminars and conferences on e.g. the New Architecture of Aid, Outcome Mapping, and the Governance of Capacity Building)
• Rational and experienced in our use of human and financial resources to provide the best quality price ratio
• Independence and objectivity in terms of our working relationships

As expressed in our motto 'Our world is about people', MDF believes that people are the key to success