Our Latest News

Posted: 26 May 2013 | admin

Marc Buchner, our Head of Asia, has landed in Islamabad where he will be working full time to develop our Pakistan country office. As part of Integrity’s imperative to work through and help build local organisations Marc will work hand in hand with our local partners Raabta Consultants, a respected and growing organisation providing community-based research, two way communications systems and data management services.

Marc's deployment reflects the importance we place on Pakistan as the cornerstone of our regional work. It is a priority country for the humanitarian and development sectors and its stability is a geopolitical imperative for the region. Integrity is proud to already be a member of the consortia delivering two of DFID’s most prominent governance programmes in the country, the Peacebuilding Support to the Post Crisis Needs Assessment in Khyber Phaktunkwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and also the Subnational Governance Programme in Punjab. Marc will be focussing on ensuring the smooth delivery of our contributions to these projects, as well as building out our portfolio of joint work with Raabta.

To find our more about our work in Pakistan please get in touch with Marc direct at mb@integrityresearch.co.uk

WFD’S HEAD OF MENA PROGRAMMES TO SPEAK AT INTEGRITY

Posted: 5 May 2013 | admin

Integrity was delighted to host Dina Melhem, Head of Middle East and North Africa Programmes at the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD). She presented on her recent work analysing efforts to promote democratic processes and good governance across the MENA region.

Speaking at Integrity’s UK headquarters in Somerset House, Dina provided insights into the evolving activities of WFD across the region, outlining the contextual nuances and operational challenges encountered over seven years of political engagement in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia. Elucidating the governance issues and political dynamics before and after the Arab Spring, the workshop explored emerging openings for strengthening democratic institutions, while also highlighting vulnerabilities for those seeking to support governance reform in this area. Fielding questions on a wide range of surrounding issues, Dina expanded on the need for multinational partnerships, the advancement of gender equality, and the importance of promoting accountability measures in some of the world’s most politically sensitive environments and fragile states.

Integrity would like to thank Dina for sharing her expert insight with the team, as we continually look to strengthen our expertise through our permanent offices in Nairobi, Juba and Beirut, our expanding network of local partners, and our constant engagement with leading international specialists. Providing a deep understanding of national trends and localised specificities remains an integral component of all our research, monitoring and evaluation, and stakeholder engagement programmes, allowing us to maintain the quality and accuracy of our work across the MENA region.

INTEGRITY MOVES TO SOMERSET HOUSE

Posted: 23 Apr 2013 | admin

On the 17th of April Integrity officially moved into our new office space in the west wing of Somerset House. Since the Inland Revenue moved the last of their operations from this prestigious building it has become a hub of activity for dynamic young companies, social entrepreneurs and creative organisations. Integrity will be rubbing shoulders with film and music foundations as well as PR and journalism organisations, research companies and charities. We are delighted to be joining such a vibrant business community. Moreover, now that the British summer is finally blossoming, our team is delighted to invite partners and clients to join us here and enjoy outdoor meetings on the terrace overlooking the river Thames.

ALEPPO GOVERNORATE COUNCIL: MARCH 2013 ELECTIONS

Posted: 10 Apr 2013 | admin

Since summer 2012 Integrity has been conducting mapping and evaluation projects in Syria to assess the transformations and trajectories of civil society and local governance structures. Analysing key entities and individuals underpinning civil and political movements in Aleppo governorate, our field researchers have conducted over forty in-depth interviews, gathering information and insights from key sources in both Syria and the southern Turkish towns of Gaziantep and Reyhanli. Through additional support provided by a broader project team based in London, Beirut, Cairo and Istanbul, Integrity has produced a report explicating the emergence of opposition civil governance structures in Aleppo.

Aleppo governorate has been ravaged by Syria’s ongoing conflict, with the city in the grip of a bloody stalemate, and opposition-controlled areas coming to terms with the challenges of establishing and maintaining electricity, fuel, food and water provision to large sections of the governorate. Civil governance structures have operated at a local level in a number of opposition-controlled areas across the governorate; yet, it was not until the formation of the now defunct Aleppo Transitional Revolutionary Council (ATRC) and its successor, the Aleppo Governorate Council (AGC), that organisations assumed responsibility for the coordination of governorate-level functions.

However, both entities have experienced problems regarding representation and capacity, with the ongoing conflict severely inhibiting service provision and forestalling democratic processes. Consequently, whilst the AGC looks to consolidate its position there remains an array of factors that may cause it succumb to the same fate as the ATRC.

The report is freely available; please contact research@integrityresearch.co.uk for further details.

BUILDING CONFLICT SENSITIVITY INTO OUR WORK

Posted: 30 Mar 2013 | admin

In March Integrity CEO Anthony Ellis and Conflict Specialist Dr James Khalil attended CDA Collaborative Learning Projects' DFID-funded Reflecting on Peace Practise Programme. The training took place in Barcelona in partnership with the the Barcelona International Peace Resource Center.

It comprised an intensive five day series of lectures, scenarios and training exercises regarding strategic programming in peace-building. Concepts and frameworks were introduced and examined including an approach to conflict analysis, programme strategy development, theories of change and evaluation of programme impact.

At Integrity we continue to evolve our integrated approach to conflict analysis, theory of change and design, monitoring and evaluation. CDA's inputs have been a well-timed opportunity to evaluate the merits of existing methodologies and approaches. Integrity continues to embed the concepts and processes around Do No Harm, and conflict and context sensitivity into our own research and implementation and those of our partners and clients.

Dr Khalil and Integrity's Head of Design Monitoring and Evaluation Martine Zeuthen are leading on this method development. Nuanced, localised and multi-lens conflict analysis and assessment are a key offering from Integrity in this context as exampled by our recent and freely available Strategic Conflict Assessment comparing the drivers of conflict in both Mon and Kachin states in Myanmar.

If you would like to learn more about how to build conflict and context sensitivity into your programming please don't hesitate to contact either Martine or James.

MELYN MCKAY COUNTRY DIRECTOR SOUTH SUDAN

Posted: 1 Mar 2013 | admin

Melyn McKay has joined the Integrity team as incoming Country Director of South Sudan office. The Integrity field office in Juba, established in the spring of 2011, has previously been under the leadership of Marc Buchner who will relocate to expand and strengthen our footprint in South Asia through the development of our office in Pakistan.

A research anthropologist, Melyn comes to Integrity from Bujumbura, Burundi where she helped to found and develop a research consultancy and working with a variety of iNGOs, private companies and the Burundian government body charged with driving foreign direct investment.

Melyn will continue to build on Integrity’s track record of providing locally-delivered, insightful research and ethically driven consultancy services to clients working across South Sudan. Melyn is committed to finding new and innovative ways for Integrity to continue to develop our offering to support South Sudan, our colleagues and partners and clients across various industries. In addition, Melyn’s expertise will support Integrity’s continued growth in the Horn of Africa, bringing her Great Lakes experience to ongoing and future project work in the DRC and other East African geographies.

Melyn’s track record includes developing corporate responsibility programs for large-scale brewers and extraction companies in addition to assessing community driven conflict mitigation and microfinance/cooperative models in fragile and stabilizing states. She has a background in qualitative methods, health education and livelihoods.

If you would like to make an appointment to meet Melyn, please email her at mmk@integrityresearch.co.uk. We are excited about Integrity’s deepening presence in South Sudan and the energy Melyn’s arrival will bring to our own and our partners' research and consultancy capacity.

ADDRESSING NEGATIVE PERCEPTIONS IN MYANMAR

Posted: 28 Feb 2013 | editor

What happens when INGOs and UN agencies are perceived as favouring one ethnic group over another in a conflict setting?

Integrity and the Popular Engagement Policy Lab (PEPL) were commissioned by UN OCHA on behalf of the Myanmar Humanitarian Country Team in January 2013. The objective of the assignment was to better understand:

1. What are the current perceptions of communities towards INGOs/UN in Rakhine State?

2. How do people find out what is happening in their community?

3. What can the humanitarian community do to strengthen engagement with key stakeholders in each community to overcome these challenges?

In Myanmar’s Rakhine State, recent outbreaks of conflict between the Rakhine and Rohingya ethnic groups in June and October 2012 have resulted in the displacement of 115,000 people. INGOs and UN agencies have faced accusations over their lack of transparency in operations and partiality to one group over the other. Emergency response programmes have been severely hindered by action aimed at stopping aid from reaching Rohingya, including staff intimidation, blocking of aid movement, perpetuation of rumours, and organised demonstrations against aid agencies.

Among many findings, the research revealed a general misunderstanding of the concept of ‘fairness’ among the Rakhine community. When applied to communities as a whole, the research highlighted the need to reframe definitions from an individual household perspective and provide clearer explanations of aid deliverables and selection criteria.

Civil society organisations (CSOs) are perceived by many as the instigators behind organised demonstrations and as operating outside the humanitarian system. The research recommends that channels need to be created for positive collaboration between CSOs and the humanitarian community as a whole in order to share information and foster dialogue.

The full report will be shared with UN OCHA for circulation with agencies working in Rakhine State, and UN OCHA have reported on the project here.

For more information contact Kate Ives at KI@integrityresearch.co.uk.

Photographs courtesy of Integrity consultant Emily Rogers.

SYRIA’S EMERGING LOCAL ADMINISTRATIONS

Posted: 20 Feb 2013 | editor

Integrity’s Tristan Salmon hosted a workshop at a joint event on the 12th of February 2013 held by openSecurity & the Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre (NOREF) titled "Syria’s Peace: What, how, when?".

The workshop focused on Syria’s emerging civil administrations, the focus of ongoing research for Integrity.

Following a presentation on the structures, challenges and dynamics facing these emerging administrations a general discussion was held with participants including representatives from the Foreign Office, Saferworld, Amnesty, Conciliation Resources, the London School of Economics, Transnational Crisis Project and Chatham House.

The group was asked to come up with practical measures that could support the new local administration councils. During the final plenary discussion Tristan presented six points proposed from the group:

1. More research needs to be done on local administrations and in general more analysis is needed at a local level.

2. The local administration councils need practical support (finance, training, resources) to develop their structures. This could be done through the National Coalition, but there are other avenues.

3. Coordination between local administrations and militant groups needs to be encouraged through more locally driven mediation.

4. Administrations and militant groups must be engaged jointly to provide security, local governance and basic services to communities.

5. Syrians have a long history of self-governance from well before the uprising, as regime structures did not operate effectively across families and tribes. Future programmes looking at justice reform should be based on the strength of these conventions.

6. The day after has come and gone for many communities in liberated areas. There is now a need to focus on interventions to support security, provide immediate relief and investment to stimulate economic activity.

To learn more about our work on the conflict in Syria please contact Andrew Cleary at ac@integrityreasearch.co.uk.

GLOBAL ANTI-FRAUD SUPPORT

Posted: 2 Feb 2013 | admin

Integrity Director Anne Tiedemann was enlisted by Save the Children International on a long-term consultancy to provide interim capacity for their global anti-fraud function during an organisational transition that consolidated country programmes and operations under a single management structure.

Working for the Director of Financial Governance and the Chief Financial Officer, the project included the development of a centre led, anti-fraud /anti -corruption strategy (including development of policies and procedures, reporting mechanisms and protocols); implementation of a global communications plan roll out to increase fraud awareness across the organisation; design of job specification, recruitment and on boarding of a permanent Head of Fraud Management position; development of training materials; as well as advice on investigative approach and management of fraud issues in various country programmes in Asia and Africa.

The project was subsequently extended to provide additional support in the development of a global anti fraud training program including "Train the Trainer" guidance materials to be utilised by Regional and Country Directors in 30 SCI country offices.

For more information contact Anne Tiedemann at at@integrityresearch.co.uk.

MAPPING OF M&E ACTORS IN SOUTH SUDAN

Posted: 2 Feb 2013 | admin

In February of this year, Integrity consolidated a report summarising local actors in South Sudan who potentially have the capacity to undertake both research and monitoring and evaluation activities.

The findings from previous research conducted by Integrity in South Sudan were then highlighted in order to illustrate the limitations of the research capacity in the country more fully; a feasibility assessment for the development of a research training programme in South Sudan and a scoping study for the Joint Donor Team looking into the potential for funding civil society organisations and boosting demand-side governance in South Sudan.

The results of this research highlighted the limitations of research capacity in South Sudan and the challenges with attempting to work with local partners. The report outlined the limitations of the sector, discussing government access, civil society, and the core problems with the supply and organization and management of researchers and the paucity of training. Using this information, Integrity compiled a brief gap analysis to see where the disparity between supply and demand lay.

This research highlighted that even where capacity did exist, basic skills were fundamentally lacking. Local capabilities were very low and, in most cases, international organisations were gap filling or providing funding - fully functional local organisations were not yet available. Organisational, management and skilled capacity was very low in all local organisations.

For more information, please contact Lauren Pett at LP@integrityresearch.co.uk.