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`we want to build linkages between policies and practices 1 in october 2009 we celebrate our 25th year of existence though it is quite a different mdf today from the organisation that henk van loo decided to create in 1984 our core activities remain as training and consultancy with management strengthening within projects and organisations as our prime focus in the early days the first and only course we offered was in project management this was available in one of two flavours a two-week version primarily targeting dutch expatriates and an extended 10week version for counterparts in projects funded by the netherlands government today you can choose from a broad selection of more than 30 course offerings including management development organisational and institutional development and private sector development plus a number of new and emerging areas such as aid effectiveness managing for development results and lobbying and advocacy skills these courses are attended by a diverse array of participants from around the globe working for governments non-government organisations academic institutions and private businesses we are proud to have attracted and welcomed so many of you to the courses we run at our elegant hotel and fully-equipped conference/training centre at the edge of the forest in de bosrand netherlands furthermore since 1997 we been able to offer almost all of our trademark courses and consultancy services through our regional branch offices based in colombo brussels hanoi arusha goma and accra by early 2010 we expect to add bali and bosnia to this list the secret of our growth participants tell us that they love the practical participative and inspirational approach of our courses we recognise that our success depends on our team on ensuring that we employ motivated experienced professionals who are passionate about what they do and are given the space to innovate and the support to develop the courses as well as their own competencies our world is all about people and our own staff are a critical asset in this approach in this brochure we feature new courses such as the series on value chain developed in collaboration with hpc and others we have re-energized our courses in programme management and change management to incorporate latest thinking and you will read about our custom-tailored courses and consultancies you will notice also that we are profiling ourselves in private sector for development with the management game for medium scale enterprises this is a new direction for mdf and one in which we will be developing more solutions in the near future we have a clear vision founded on social and environmental responsibility also called `rhineland or mvo in dutch we are very excited about the unique and significant role that mdf can play in supporting private sector in development initiatives we very much look forward to welcoming you at one of our courses and partnering with you to achieve your personal and professional ambitions and in making the maximum contribution to sustainable global development herman snelder hans rijneveld

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2 contents about mdf vision on learning learning tracks tailor-made training courses general course information guide to the training programme start the course guide here course calendar and fees 1 management personal management skills course human resources management in an international context programme management management course for development practitioners financial management for non-financial managers knowledge management for development 4 6 8 9 10 12 12 13 18 20 21 22 24 26 27 2 managing for development results managing for development results participatory planning methods process management logical framework approach writing winning proposals outcome mapping monitoring evaluation and learning project cycle management course tailor-made examples 28 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 38 40 3 organisational and institutional development institutional development and organisational strengthening organisational development for advisers and consultants 42 44 46

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3 international advisory trail intake period international advisory course change management processes local government capacity development tailor-made examples 48 50 51 52 53 4 private sector for development value chain concept value chain facilitation value chain finance value chain design for impact tailor-made examples 54 56 57 58 59 60 5 facilitating processes training of trainers group facilitation appreciative inquiry networking in development competency based learning advocacy and policy influencing tailor-made examples 62 64 65 66 67 68 70 71 mdf branches mdf brussels mdf eastern southern africa mdf south asia mdf indochina mdf afrique centrale mdf latin america mdf west africa mdf western balkan mdf indonesia index colophon 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 84

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about mdf 4 mdf training consultancy is a worldwide operating management training and consultancy organisation since 1984 the year we started as `management for development foundation we aim to contribute to improved management of organisations working for development mdf has regional offices in sri lanka brussels tanzania vietnam d.r congo ghana bosnia indonesia and a representative office in bolivia and an office in ede to serve the dutch market products and services mdf provides courses workshops facilitations and 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 optimum costs in addition to the open courses of our standard programme mdf offers tailor-made courses and workshops these workshops and courses are multi-disciplinary and geared to the specific needs of the clients also our regular courses can be adapted to meet specific needs furthermore mdf can assist organisations in the design of new strategies and organisational development plans as well as with the implementation monitoring and evaluation of these plans we bring together modern management theories and tools with practical experience in development programmes and projects worldwide our approach to training as well as to consultancy is of a practical nature rich in visual elements and with 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-governmental organisations and consulting firms all involved in development interventions staff mdf staff members are both trainers and consultants they 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 practices 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 80 staff members and in addition calls upon experts from its satellite network or its pool of affiliated consultants mdf provides services in the areas of strategy planning monitoring evaluation organisational learning leadership and management result-based management change management organisational analysis capacity development institutional development human resources management networking and lobbying higher education management sector analysis private sector in development

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5 a selection of our clients european commission world bank dutch ministry of foreign affairs nuffic irish development cooperation gtz swiss development cooperation undp unesco wwf cordaid oxfam novib trade unions universities of ghana rwanda guatemala indonesia nao office guyana ministry of finance kenya local ngos 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-governmental organisations and consulting firms course participants come from all different professional levels from junior to senior and cultural backgrounds from north east and south mdf has carried out assignments in africa asia latin america and central and eastern europe and of course in the netherlands and belgium 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 reached 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 working with our many culturally diverse clients we have learned what it takes to improve the performance of individuals organisations and networks we wish to distinguish ourselves by the following characteristics · inclusiveness through 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 in our attitude to our work creativity in the methods and solutions we recommend · visual in capturing the essence of debates and options crisp and clarifying in summarising new agreements and outstanding issues while avoiding vague descriptions or 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 · rational and experienced in offering services at the best quality price ratio · independence and objectivity in terms of our working relationships · linking up with international advisers with complementary know-how such as public health or private sector development as expressed in our motto `our world is about people mdf believes that people are the key to success.

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vision on learning 6 we believe that development is fundamentally about change facilitated by processes of learning learning itself has only a little to do with the availability of information or with a transfer of knowledge this was already acknowledged by confucius around 450 b.c tell me and i will forget show me and i may remember involve me and i will understand the learning methods in our training sessions in the context of development learning and especially adult learning aims at behavioural changes through active involvement in order to acquire insights and competencies effective learning in our perception has to do with stimulating inspiring and challenging people and organisations to obtain more appropriate knowledge attitudes and skills to respond to today s challenges we are specialised in learning by facilitating learning processes training can only become a tool for learning if it does not rely on presentations or lecture style provision of information instead it suggests a highly participatory interactive form of controlled and managed transfer of knowledge one that is led by the notion of `learning by doing in general our training programmes are based on the adult learning cycle figure 1 the alc is an experiential learning cycle that describes how adults normally learn and acquire new experiences at mdf we do our utmost best to make the training sessions as interesting creative and pleasant as possible adult learning is durable and will have a lasting impact when participants experience the training also as inspiring challenging and in which they have fun also therefore we use a mix of interactive learning methods such as focused discussions case studies individual reflection group work feed back self assessments real-life cases and sometimes drama a key factor for any training session is to make the topic practical and directly applicable wherever possible this is important in two ways firstly participants in the training environment take on board the information that is being imparted far better when it relates directly to their own work and ideas secondly through working on concrete examples we achieve the desired change as a direct result of the training session achieving behavioural change through learning learning will only be meaningful if knowledge and insights are successfully acquired and internalised these insight and skills will only be applied if also the organisation allows for changes at mdf learning takes place in dynamic and active settings where a variety of working group activities reflexion and constructive feedback are part of the learning context in this working environment individuals are able to develop the necessary skills and attitudes and be prepared to innovate and make learning meaningful for us learning is more than only training but also as learning from peers from coaching from visits to other organisations from new experiences in other areas etc it is a combination of all these learning modes that makes for an enabling context.

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activist having an experience concrete experience a happening task stimulus pragmatist planning the next step testing concepts in new situations trying out new behaviour abstract conceptualization ways of seeing self and the world new notions theories attitudes intentions observation thinking mulling over discussing reflector reviewing the experience 7 theorist concluding the experience figure 1 kolb s learning cycle with adaptation to add honey and mumford s learning styles after dearden et al 1999 blended learning therefore wherever possible our training sessions will be based on real examples and case studies that participants bring along the trainers will work together with the participants to analyse their documents in a structured and co-ordinated manner over the course of the session this gives the participants the chance to work on real project and organisation issues in a real context yet in a controlled training environment for a number of courses we will offer coaching and assess changes in performance some three months after the course blended learning is a learning approach where more than one delivery mode is being used with the objective of optimising the learning outcome and cost of programme delivery blended learning provides a more natural way to learn and work partly together in a classroom setting and partly at your work it gives you as a participant the option of learning `just-whatyou-need `just in time and at `the right place now the internet gives us the opportunity to extend your learning period as a participant ensuring an improved learning effectiveness we have already developed the international advisory trail which is a complete tailor-made trajectory to acquire the competencies for an international adviser www.e-mdf.nl/iat at the moment we are developing blended learning possibilities for other mdf courses these will consist of online assessments discussion possibilities with trainers and fellow participants on course topics peer-review and extra documentation references and links to dig deeper all these pre and post learning opportunities will be accessible on our new application on the web www.e-mdf.nl how we develop ourselves while working in a dynamic international development context we continually explore new articles and scientific research on management and organisations to ensure our training and learning experiences are cutting edge the varieties of experiences available are translated into accessible and hands-on curricula and documents used in the courses for participants seeking more in-depth background knowledge of the topics taught at mdf a rich digital mdf knowledge centre and physical library is at their disposal we constantly seek to improve our approaches to interactive facilitative learning processes mdf staff is constantly learning by doing consultancy assignments and by exchanging with partner organisations participants and colleagues this helps to improve and sharpen our approaches and keep our vision of training and learning relevant and useful.

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mdf learning tracks 8 the courses mdf offers are interrelated and build upon each other you can attend them separately but they can also be put together as learning tracks or as a combination of fields of interest for a particular group of clients learning track for managers the trajectory for project or programme managers starts with the personal management skills course this course focuses on essential management tools and cross-cultural teamwork the project and programme management courses contain all subjects related to phases of project life from analysis to evaluation as well as personal management skills courses such as human resource management in an international context financial management and writing winning proposals teach you how to deal with specific aspects of management in more detail for senior managers we have developed a series of training workshops on a variety of management for learning organisations with topics such as change management networking and knowledge management personal management skills course programme management financial management human resource management change management networking in development knowledge management for development learning track for advisers the learning trajectory for organisation advisers starts with the institutional development and organisational strengthening course followed by the organisational development for advisers consultants course advisers who wish to professionalise his or her advisory competencies further can choose to become an internationally recognised adviser through the international advisory trail institutional development and organisational strengthening organisational development for advisers and consultants international advisory trail

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tailor-made training courses 9 in addition to our regular courses offered in the netherlands and through our branch offices we are increasingly being requested to develop training courses tailor-made to the needs of our clients the needs of individual organisations and their staff often demand that training packages reflect their own context in order to be of immediate use tools approaches and methodologies from any training course must find their use within the setting of the organisations and the people who will be applying them tailor-made training courses are able to do exactly that they ensure that the individual organisation or group of organisations if part of a network or an association can recognize themselves and can critically reflect on the value added of each tool or approach offered to address their specific set of challenges and to take advantage of appearing opportunities to mdf tailor-made training courses represent an invaluable reality check and often force our trainers to go that extra mile to get into the heart of the matter the road to which may not be found in any standard book or training manual location the venues for tailor-made trainings or workshops can be selected to suit the needs of your organisation in some cases it may be convenient to opt for the mdf training centre in ede the netherlands you can also choose to organise the workshop or course at a convenient location in your country if possible away from the office to avoid disturbances of course workshops can always be conducted in-company and where appropriate in co-operation with staff of your organisation for consultancies the choice of the location is part of the negotiation on the assignment what can you expect from us after each cluster of courses we present a few examples of tailor-made trainings we have provided in recent years to give you an impression of the variety content wise in a number of different country settings should you wish to know more about what is possible please let us know and we would be most happy to accommodate you if you feel that a tailor-made training or course would be most appropriate for your organisation please contact us so that we can get to know you and your context better and work out the best solution together the initiative for these types of assignments lies with you as client based on the expertise required and time available of you your staff involved and our availability we select an appropriate staff member or satellite consultant to provide support to you she/he will be in contact with you to prepare the assignment practical information the duration of the courses and workshops depends on your wishes the complexity of the projects or programmes and the number of participants courses can be conducted in english french spanish portuguese or dutch all our regular courses can be adapted to meet your specific needs.

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general course information 10 accommodation all training courses and workshops are conducted in mdf s international learning centre `de bosrand located in ede the netherlands the centre has adjoining hotel facilities a business centre with computers including internet e-mail facilities and a number of recreation facilities course fee the course fee covers tuition course materials lunches and dinners during course days where applicable study visits health and third party liability for courses longer than two weeks mdf offers weekend excursions free of charge the cost of accommodation is 80 per night including breakfast the accommodation costs will be added to the course fee on the invoice please indicate on the registration form whether you will make use of the accommodation or not additional accommodation before or after the course can be settled directly with the hotel hotel de bosrand de bosrand has been a centre of international activity since 1988 as an international learning centre we provide a good environment for our guests our hotel has all the features to make any training or meeting a success spacious surroundings comfortable rooms restaurant services and nine fully equipped conference rooms our enthusiastic staff is delighted to welcome you and to make your stay with us a pleasant experience our location ensures that you will enjoy your visit weather permitting be sure to also enjoy the splendour of national park de hoge veluwe after a long day in the training or conference room you probably want to relax for a bit enjoy dinner in our restaurant and spend a quiet evening on our terrace or in our bar prefer exercise our hotel can arrange a tennis court and offers miles of nature trails in the woodlands for walks and cycling if you d rather stay indoors we also offer a billiards pool table board games and darts you can keep in touch with your home base from our internet café with fast and complimentary internet access more information on de bosrand can be found on the website www.debosrand.com registration and payment to register please go to our website select the course you want follow and fill in the registration form online you can also request the registration form by letter telephone fax or e-mail in any case your registration should be followed by a letter of confirmation from your sponsoring agency as soon as this letter is received mdf will confirm your provisional registration you will receive an invoice for the course fee and we should receive the payment before the course starts only after receipt of the payment your participation is guaranteed and your hotel accommodation can be booked please start the visa application procedure in time it takes at least three weeks to get one check with the embassy of the kingdom of the netherlands in your country for the exact procedure mdf reserves the right to withhold a fee for administrative and other costs for cancellations prior to the start of a course a suitably qualified replacement may attend the course instead of the registered person without extra charge mdf also reserves the right to cancel a course if too few participants have registered.

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11 partners in training some specialised courses were developed and will be provided with partners for these specific courses you will notice the logo s of our partners in the course description the nfp target group consists of mid-career professionals who are already in employment and who are nationals and working in one of 61 selected countries candidates who wish to apply for a nfp fellowship should 1 first apply to mdf for admission to the course as soon as possible 2 acceptable candidates will receive a letter from mdf indicating that they have been provisionally accepted 3 candidates then apply for a nfp fellowship through the embassy of the kingdom of the netherlands or consulate in their own country for further information on nfp fellowships see www.nuffic.nl the netherlands organisation for international cooperation in higher education we wish to inform you that the chance of being awarded a nuffic fellowship is about 10 fellowships individual participation in mdf courses and training programmes may be financed by donor or fellowship organisations most participants however are supported by their own organisations project funds earmarked for training participants who do not have access to these project funds may obtain funding or fellowships through one of the many assistance programmes operating in their country from bilateral agencies netherlands germany etc or international agencies such as the ec delegations fao ilo unesco and undp mdf itself has no funds for financing participants and we regret that we are unable to assist you in obtaining sponsorships in 2010 a limited number of fellowships are available for five mdf courses from the netherlands sponsored fellowship programme nfp these courses are the international advisory course 6 weeks the management course for development practitioners 4 weeks in english and french the project cycle management course 4 weeks and the competencybased learning course 2 weeks information on the web in general information on a course www.mdf.nl/code-nl the code is at the bottom of the course page for example:www.mdf.nl/pms-nl.

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guide to the training programme 12 our courses have been clustered in five main topics and themes these themes and topics cover · management · management for development results · organisational and institutional development · private sector for development · facilitating processes in order to guide you through our training programme easily each cluster has an individual colour and a short introductory text this is followed by some more specified questions to ensure that you will find within a reasonably short period of time the right course to serve your specific needs and interests icon description at the bottom of each page with a course description you will find icons that provide additionally with the practical and accommodating information of this specific course the meaning of each icon is described below course code language duration of the course course fee of participants start the course guide here would you like to learn about management methods and skills that help you to achieve project or programme objectives go to cluster 1 management would you like to know more about result based management and acquire the right skills to ensure effective and efficient portfolio management go to cluster 2 managing for development results would you like to learn how to analyse and support changes in organisations and institutions go to cluster 3 organisational and institutional development would you like to involve the private sector in development efforts want to learn more about value chains and facilitate value chain processes go to cluster 4 private sector for development would you like to facilitate people and organisations to reach a common understanding through discussions negotiations and learning processes go to cluster 5 facilitating processes

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course calendar and fees in the netherlands 2009 2010 13 1 pg 20 management course personal management skills course duration 1 week period 7 11 december 2009 5 9 july 2010 6 10 december 2010 course fees 1,980 21 human resources management in an international context 1 week 23 27 november 2009 19 23 april 2010 15 19 november 2010 1,980 22 programme management 2 weeks 4 15 january 2010 23 august 3 september 2010 3,130 24 management course for development practitioners 4 weeks 8 march 2 april 2010 4 29 october 2010 english and french 5,440 26 financial management for non-financial managers 1 week 4 8 january 2010 7 11 june 2010 1,980 27 knowledge management for development 3 days 14 16 december 2009 25 27 may 2010 13 15 december 2010 1,320

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