Ashden Awards (2007-date)

I provide support to the Ashden Awards through my role as commercial assessor. Applications are all concerned with aspects of sustainable energy including inter alia wind, solar, hydro, storage, power balancing in the UK and cook stoves and solar lighting internationally and all sorts of very innovative approaches. I have the honour to review the finances of all businesses that reach the shortlisting stage and have, over the last 17 years, assessed more than small and growing 200 businesses. Before covid, I sometimes had the opportunity to visit applicants selected as finalists.

East Africa Counter Terrorism Financing Initiative (2023)

Commissioned, in partnership with IGA Associate, Baiju Vaidya, to undertake the 'program close' evaluation of the Global Centre on Cooperative Security's five year programme, "East Africa Counter Terrorism Financing Initiative", for the US Department of State's Bureau of Counterterrorism. The programme was intended to strengthen East African financial intelligence unit and financial sector capacities to counter terrorist financing and to institutionalize international standards and best practice. The evaluation was intended not only to review the performance and impact but also to identify lessons that might inform the design of a follow-on programme.

Entrepreneurial ecosystem in Nepal (2019)

In 2019, working with IMC Worldwide and two consultancies in Nepal, David was team leader for a project intended to assist the World Bank to understand the small business ecosystem and the availability of support for small and growing businesses, as they aimed to put together a programme with the Government of Nepal intended to help firms to grow and, in particular, to create new jobs. The report is available on the World Bank website.

Improving the environment for SMEs in Rwanda (2019)

David Irwin was commissioned, with Associate, Eric Ndahayo, by Ikiraro, a programme managed by Palladium and funded by DFID (now FCDO) to undertake an assessment of Rwanda's entrepreneurial ecosystem for the Ministry of Commerce. The objective of the assignment was to review the policy environment as it related to SME formation and growth and then to make suggestions to reform public policies in order to stimulate further entrepreneurship and industrial development. The approach included an extensive literature review together with a large number of stakeholder interviews. We offered a number of suggestions for action – covering government policy, consultation and dialogue, and business support – which were well received by the Ministry for Industry. One of the recommendations was for the launch of a web-based information system to support new and growing businesses. Ikiraro was able to find a small budget to commission IGIHE, a local web service, to establish Kura Business Advisory. This was launched at kura.rw though has metamorphosed into a more general platform to support young people.

UK Social Stock Exchange (2011)

In 2011, IGA was commissioned by the Jospeh Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) to undertake a review of proposals to launch a Social Stock Exchange in the UK and in which JRCT proposed to invest by way of a mission related investment. Social stock exchanges are designed to provide access to capital for social purpose businesses whilst allowing investors to trade in shares and securities as tehy would for any company listed on a traditional stock exchange. The social stock exchange came into existence in 2013 but sadly closed in 2018. If you are interested in learning more about social stock exchanges, and the impact of teh closure of the UKSSE, there is an academic paper by Bhargava et al.

NCVO Performance Hub (2006)

The Performance Hub explains that improving performance is about achieving more and making more of a difference. It is not about doing more, but it is about exploring whether things can be done better. It is not something you do once but part of a continuous process of review and action. The Performance Hub focuses on improving the overall performance of your organisation using some exciting and useful approaches.

In partnership with Annabel Jackson Associates, we explored strategy amongst third sector organisations and prepared a 'how-to' guide and a number of very short cases studies. One of the reports that we wrote, Tools for strategic planning: What works best, has been published by the Performance Hub and is available from their website.