Welcome to Practical Action Consulting

We are the consulting arm of the international NGO Practical Action. We have been leaders in the field of development consultancy for over 40 years. We provide high quality independent and professional consultancy services to governments, NGOs, aid agencies and the private sector. See our brochure.

Who we are Practical Action Consulting is a leader in the field of technology for development, and the consulting arm of Practical Action.		What we do We apply lessons learned from grassroots experience to technology solutions in poor communities around the world.		Where we work We work worldwide out of our regional offices in the UK, Eastern and Southern Africa and South Asia in collaboration with local partners.

NEWS

New DFID Funding Opportunity: Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA)

Practical Action Consulting (PAC) as a consortium member of the DFID-funded Dewpoint Resource Centre is promoting a new grant-fund called Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA).

ESPA is a £40.5 million research programme that seeks to improve understanding of how to ensure that ecosystem services are better linked into poverty reduction and inclusive growth processes. These research projects will provide the evidence and innovative approaches needed to equip decision makers and end users in ecosystem management challenges, and at the same time contribute to poverty alleviation. ESPA will work primarily in the four identified priority regions of South Asia; China; sub-Saharan Africa and Amazon/Andes. Cross-regional collaboration will be encouraged. ESPA has identified six cross-cutting research themes:

• Water
• Health
• Forests
• Biodiversity
• Coasts
• Political Economy

ESPA is jointly funded by the Department of International Development (DFID), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC). DFID contribution is £27m, NERC £10m and ESRC £3.5m. It is a flagship programme of the LWEC (Living With Environmental Change) partnership.

ESPA invites proposals for two funding streams:

• Programme Framework Grants - a one-off opportunity for shorter, innovative, conceptual development type projects (up to £250,000)
• Partnership and Project Development Grants - catalyst funding (up to £50,000) in preparation for a submission opportunity for a larger Research Consortium Grant (£0.5 - 5m) to be launched in September 2010.

Promotional Workshops

A series of workshops will take place internationally to promote the ESPA fund:

• Thursday 21 January 2010, National Agriculture Science Complex, Delhi, India
• Friday 22 January 2010, Bangalore
• Friday 22 January 2010, 14:00 - 17:00, Hotel De L'Annapurna, Kathmandu, Nepal. Contact Moushumi Shrestha (moushumi.shrestha@practicalaction.org.np) for more information.
• Wednesday 26 January 2010, Lima, Peru. Contact Rebecca Clements (rebecca.clements@itdg.org.pe) for more information.

Important Deadlines

• Notice of intention to submit a PF grant: 29 January 2010
• Registration with Je-S: 8 February 2010
• Applications to both PF and PPD grants: 3 March 2010, 16:00 UK local time

Further Information

Please visit the NERC website for additional details about the ESPA fund.

Glowstar donations!

Practical Action Consulting is delighted to share the news that Sollatek, the manufacturer of Glowstar solar lanterns, is re-starting its Glowstar donations program. It was popular when it ran for some time in 2006/2007 and Sollatek donated around 300 units.

Sollatek intends to donate between 20 and 40 lanterns each month but might make exceptions on individual cases.

Details of the program can be found here on the Sollatek website.

Click here to read an article from The Times about how Glowstar solar lanterns are making a very real difference to the lives of people in Africa.

All enquiries related to donation should be sent to Aysegul at Aysegul.ahiskali@sollatek.com 
 

New Mechanical Power report launched in New York!

Practical Action Consulting is proud to announce that the report Expanding Energy Access in Developing Countries: the Role of Mechanical Power, a collaboration between UNDP and Practical Action Consulting, has just been published by Practical Action Publishing and was launched by UNDP and Practical Action's Chief Executive Simon Trace in New York on 13th November 2009.

This study documents the contribution of mechanical power to expansion of access to energy services in developing countries. It advises that mechanical power should be given the same consideration as other modern energy services by policy-makers responsible for improving energy access for poor communities across the world.

Priyadarshini Karve from the Appropriate Rural Technology Institute in India comments that "It is an excellent report... The case studies have been chosen well to represent the geographic areas as well as range of applications of mechanical energy, and range of models used for implementing the projects. They have also been documented very well. The glossary of mechanical energy devices appears to be exhaustive and it will be a useful tool for subsequent work in this area."

Click here for more information, and download the full report here.

Practical Action Consulting advises African nations on Economics of Climate Change

On behalf of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), Christian Aid commissioned Practical Action Consulting to consolidate the most up-to-date forecasting on the cost of climate change into a single report in order to inform the African nations ahead of the talks in Copenhagen. The report's launch by Christian Aid at the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) meeting in October met widespread press coverage across Africa and beyond, including reference in The Guardian. Click here for more information, and read the full report The Economic Cost of Climate Change in Africa here.

EU Energy Development policy study now available!

In September 2008 Practical Action Consulting was contracted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic to produce an expert analysis and study on the policy issues relating to Access to Sustainable Energy Sources on a Local Level.  Combining experience within the organization and specialist consultants, PAC was able to produce the summary report now made available here, by December 2008.  The report was then presented by Andrew Scott, Practical Action Policy and Programmes Director, at the EU Energy Initiative Expert Working group in December 2008, and then subsequently to the Development and Co-operation Working Group of the European Council (CODEV) in January 2009. The Czech Government had by this time taken up the rotating EU Presidency and had made the topic of the report the focus of EU development policy during their 6 month tenure.  Although modified through the political process, the main conclusions and recommendations of the PAC report were maintained in the resulting European Council Resolutions which have now been published at:

• http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/09/st09/st09909.en09.pdf

Important inclusions in this resolution include the commitment of the EU to support partner countries to “integrate decentralized, sustainable energy sources into their planning of the energy supply mix, including energy for cooking and with particular emphasis on access to sustainable energy sources at the local level” and to include civil society organizations in planning and co-ordination of energy development

For more information and to download the Summary Report click here