NewsLetter August 2007

“Beyond procedures”

Since almost 10 years now, MDF is involved in a large training programme of project staff and desk-officers in ACP countries in financial and contracting procedures of the European Development Fund under the Cotonou Agreement.

By the end of my last training, in Chad, one of the participants explained to me that he did not only understand these procedures a lot better after two weeks of intensive training. He looked at me and said with great joy in his eyes: "This training changed the communication among project staff, officials of the Ministry of Finance (National Authorising Officer) and of the Delegation. We are better able now to explain our questions and we do listen better to each other."
His colleagues were nodding happily while he spoke, confirming that they agreed with him.

It is obvious that being responsible for spending public funds requires familiarity and respect of administrative procedures; whether these are EDF-funds or national, public funds. But above knowledge of these procedures, good communication and collaboration among the various actors is another vital key to success.

I felt really grateful at that moment and I thanked him for his encouragement. This is why I enjoy this work. We can make a difference in the lives of people.

Thank you very much!

Kees van der Zanden

Annual Report

Our Annual Report 2006 has been published in June. It's a small and concise report providing an overview of MDF's activities and figures of 2006. You can download the report from our website (3.5 Mb) or write us an email (mdf@mdf.nl) if you wish to receive one or more copies.

Training Brochure 2008

We also wish to inform you that our new Training Brochure 2008 will be published in September.

Staff changes

-Johan Nieuwenhuis joined MDF in August as senior trainer/consultant in the field of institutional development. He comes from DHV Consultants and brings in ample experience in HRD and capacity development, primarily from the natural resource management and rural development sectors. A few years ago Johan made the "institutional shift" as he realised that implementation of technical solutions for development often failed due to lack of proper institutional embedding. Johan has long term experience from Surinam, Niger, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Kenya. More information about his CV can be found on our staff page.

- Elien Rogaar has left MDF in July. She decided to move to a job with less travel abroad. As she as been working with us for 7 years, we will certainly miss her a lot.

- Aart van de Broek, Head of the Education & Rural Development Cluster, left MDF in May. He got the challenge to become programme manager with EduKans Foundation. Marie José Niesten has taken over his position with the driving force we know from her.

We would like to thank both Aart and Elien for their professional input and enthusiasm.