The Impact Consulting Podcast

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Impact Consulting Podcast, where we share insights that can help you to launch or accelerate your journey as an independent professional in the international development and social impact fields. I’m your host, Loksan Harley from the Impact Consulting Hub, and today I interview Filippo Brasesco, the Co-Founder of Scio Network, an Advisory Hub and Solutions Lab for International Development Cooperation that works largely through its global network of independent professionals. About Filippo  Filippo is an entrepreneur and senior consultant with 15+ years of experience in international development cooperation. He is Partner (Co-Founder) and currently Managing Director at Scio Network, an advisory hub and solutions lab for international development cooperation. Since 2019, he is working as Senior Expert at Scio Network on development projects related to agriculture and food systems development. He is a member of an angel investor syndicate investing in early stage (post-MVP) startups in Eastern Europe. Also, he is a Mentor/Coach for startups and has supported over a dozen companies from Africa and Asia to reach investment readiness. Finally, he is passionate about agro-tech and currently engaged with vertical farming as well as use-cases on the utilization of blockchain technology for traceability in agricultural value chains." What we talk about In today’s episode, we talk about:  Filippo’s own journey building Scio into a global consulting firm which combines the flexible expertise of independent consultants with the advantages of having a core in-house team.  Scio’s business model and clients.  Filippo’s experience as an independent consultant. What Scio looks for in its network members.  Interested in joining Scio? If you’re interested in joining Scio, we recommend checking out their website Scio.net.  If you’re interested in launching or levelling-up your impact consulting journey, you can also find a whole host of resources at impactconsultinghub.com.  Without further ado, thank you for tuning in and I hope you enjoy the show.  Links Connect with Filippo on LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brasescof/  Scio’s website: http://scio.net/  Scio’s LI page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/scionetwork/  IC-Podcast: https://www.impactconsultinghub.com/blog/categories/podcast  IC-Hub: https://www.impactconsultinghub.com/ 

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Impact Consulting Podcast with me your host, Loksan Harley.   We're delighted to welcome Simone Anzböck to the show to share with us her impact consulting story. About Simone Simone coaches international professionals who navigate the trade-offs in pursuing a non-linear life and career in a cross-cultural context. Her gift is to help others trust and follow their convictions to navigate uncertainty. She coaches individuals to find clarity, professional alignment, and purpose via bespoke 1:1 coaching and corporate training.  Simone has lived and worked in 15+ countries, including Myanmar, during the military coup. Before becoming a coach, she worked for a Fortune 500 company, leading social impact projects valued up to US$25m. Simone holds an MBA and is a qualified, accredited coach with the International Coaching Federation. To date, she has coached individuals from 25+ nationalities. You'll find her learning Spanish, writing stories, or walking the British countryside in her free time.  What we talk about In our wide-ranging conversation, Simone and I talk about both the ups and downs of her impact consulting journey, including how she launched her consulting business while navigating her move to Myanmar, how she experienced and dealt with mental health challenges, and how her experiences led her to pivot to coaching other international development professionals. I appreciated Simone for coming onto the show to speak so candidly about some of the real challenges that we face when navigating big life changes, and there are fewer more disruptive changes than moving country and starting a consulting business. This aligns with what we're all about at the IC-Hub, which is not only helping people grasp the incredible opportunities that independent consulting in the social impact space offers, but also discussing the very real challenges that we have to deal with, and how to navigate them. And if you need some coaching yourself, you can get in touch with Simone directly (see below). Want to learn more about Simone's coaching? Simone offers free 45-minute coaching discovery sessions. During your discovery session, you'll talk about your biggest challenge, what overcoming this might look like, and whether Simone's coaching is a good fit for you. Connect with Simone on LinkedIn to book a call or follow her work.

Hello, and welcome to a new episode of the Impact Consulting Podcast! Today, we're delighted to present Cyndi Mayer, a passionate consultant who supports nonprofits and social enterprises to strategically accelerate social impact, grantsmanship, and capacity building. Cyndi shares the story of her consulting journey, including the challenges, wins, and advice for other consultants. What we talk about The advantages and disadvantages of working with different types of clients How to establish criteria for choosing the right clients to work with (and how/why to turn away clients) How to go beyond being solely a contractor or service provider to work collaboratively with clients And much more! Links Website: www.camayerconsulting.com Email: info@camayerconsulting.com

Today, we've got quite a unique but highly useful episode for you. Roland Pearson, a director at one of the world's top international development consulting firms, Palladium, is on the show to talk us through how you can access consulting opportunities working with Palladium and firms like Palladium on large projects funded by the US, UK, Australian aid systems, as well as the other clients that Palladium works with worldwide. Introducing Roland Roland is an internationally recognised senior executive, who over 30 years has built national and international, private and public institutions that deliver sustained social and economic impact and commercial value. He is the Director leading strategy, business development and business execution of the Finance and Investment portfolio at Palladium, which he joined in November 2018 with the merger of Palladium and Enclude. What we talk about Today's conversation is a little longer than the usual impact consulting journeys that we profile, but I highly recommend sticking with it because we cover so much ground. We start with a bit of an overview of Roland and Palladium's work and the types of donors and projects that they work with. We then move onto share Roland's insights into how Palladium works with consultants, including what types of skills they look for, how to apply, what kinds of fees they can expect working on USAID-funded projects, and what the whole process looks like. We'd like to thank Roland for sharing his wisdom and our main call to action to you is to head on over to Palladium's website and submit your CV. And Roland even explains the type of CV that you should be submitting. Links Connect with Roland Opportunities at Palladium Submit your CV to Palladium IC-Hub's article on consulting fees The LinkedIn Challenge and how social impact consultants should use LinkedIn IC-Hub Live followup: Getting EU-funded development consultancy work Find the podcast on other platforms (including Spotify and Apple Podcasts)!

Hello and welcome to the Impact Consulting Podcast! In this episode, Molly sits down with fellow fundraiser, Abena Lauber, who is the founder and director of A.CommUnity. About Abena: Abena has 20 years of professional experience and knowledge in fundraising, strategic partnerships and large-scale private events. For 6 years she worked for Human Rights Watch as Associate Director of Development and Outreach, organising their annual gala dinner which saw an impressive increase in funds raised over the years reaching CHF 2 million in 2014. She also managed donor relations, planned donor acquisition and implemented stewardship plans. Abena contributed to the creation of the Dr. Mukwege Foundation in Geneva and secured institutional funds for the foundation.  She also helped organise an event in Geneva for women survivors of rape as a weapon of war in June 2017. Abena is a leader with proven experience in project and team management.  Her experience in fundraising with various types of donors: large and small, institutional donors, foundations and private companies gives her the ability to plan and implement diversified and sustainable fundraising actions. Based on this experience, Abena founded A.CommUnity in 2017 to offer services to non-profit organisations in Switzerland and abroad. One of A.CommUnity's priorities is to build the fundraising capacity of non-profit organisations. In 2019, Abena co-created Fundraising Bootcamp, a series of innovative and practical workshops. The first edition took place in spring 2019 in Geneva and since then A.CommUnity was commissioned by the City of Geneva (2019 and 2020) and the Capas network. These modules have since been adapted and customised to build the capacity of various NGOs in Switzerland and around the world. In addition, Abena is a lecturer at the Haute Ecole de Gestion in Geneva in their CAS Fundraising programme since 2020. In 2021, A.CommUnity and Alveo.design co-created a training course - Comm' To Fund - providing fundraising and communication skills for more efficient fundraising actions. What we talk about: The power of genuine connections and networking for acquiring new clients Abena's strategy for dealing with the loneliness of independent working Why Abena started A.CommUnity and tips for building a brand Connect with Abena: Abena's LinkedIn profile A.CommUnity's website A.CommUnity's LinkedIn community page

Welcome to another episode of the Impact Consulting Podcast! This time, Molly sits down with Rebekah, communications activist and founder of Right + Good and co-founder of The P2Club – two mission-driven organisations working to build authentic community between businesses and the people they serve. About Rebekah: Rebekah Grmela (she/her) is the founder of Right + Good Consulting, an agency focused on strategic communications for the ethical organization.  Rebekah is a communications activist supporting justice, equity and sustainability through access to excellent public participation strategies for womxn, queer and/or BIPOC founders and nonprofits.  She knows that impact-driven organizations and brands require dedicated relationship-building and compelling messages that drive people to action. As a community engagement expert with more than a decade of experience communicating value for government agencies and private companies alike, she lets data and outreach drive creative solutions.  Minding specific goals and budgets, Rebekah builds highly effective messages and campaigns that resonate in target communities and generate a tangible return on investment. Through partnerships, programming and a bulletproof communications strategy, Rebekah will curate an energized community and develop your mission so you can do more good in the world. About Right + Good: Right + Good's mission is to connect people with your cause through intentional and strategic communications. We focus on building authentic relationships while you're doing the work.   By laying a solid foundation and moving intentionally, we nurture the long-term partnerships, community and authentic engagement necessary to keep your mission-driven business going What we talk about: The benefits of building a brand for your consulting work. How to design a meaningful role for yourself and do the work you’re passionate about. How Rebekah finds new clients! Useful links Rebekah's LinkedIn profile Right + Good

Hello, and you're listening once again to the Impact Consulting Podcast, where we profile people - just like you - who are independent consultants in the international development and social impact spaces. This week, we present to you a lovely conversation with the lovely Mara Tissera Luna about her lessons learned from her first year of consulting full-time. About Mara Mara is an Argentine and Italian child protection specialist with 10+ years of qualitative research, policy analysis, and programme evaluation experience, mainly in Latin America and the Caribbean region. Her research and policy analysis in Latin America, Europe, and Central Asia have produced 20+ publications. She has lived in Hungary since 2015, but she will soon move to California. Mara has performed qualitative analysis on the protection of migrant and refugee children, institutional care, child suicide prevention, violence against children, and early childhood policies, among other child protection topics. What we talk about Mara has done so well to establish herself as an expert in child protection. I was therefore keen for her to share what she'd learned from her first year consulting full time. We touch on a number of great learnings in relation to both how to get clients and how to work with them once you've got them, including: How to clarify the terms of reference for a consultancy early on. Experiences with short/long-term consultancies. How to know how long a consultancy actually takes (in working days). Differences in networking/business development for thematic specialists and skills-based specialists How to communicate what you do (and sell yourself) to clients! If you're interested in independent consulting in the child protection space, you may want to check out Mara's new International Child Protection Consultants Facebook Group. Useful links International Child Protection Consultants Facebook Group (coordinated by Mara) Connect with Mara on LinkedIn Toggl: Time Tracking Pomodoro technique

Hello and welcome to the Impact Consulting Podcast, this time with Molly! In this episode, I sit down with Adriana Leigh Greenblatt, who started her career as a human rights lawyer and has since leveraged her experience to create her own consulting firm that addresses sexual abuse and harassment in the workplace. About Adriana: Adriana Leigh is a self-described "recovering lawyer.” Passionate about gender equality, she is now a global gender consultant, facilitator and trainer, writer and speaker committed to building safer, gender-equitable, caring, and inclusive workplaces and organizations, free of sexual harassment and gender-based violence. Adriana brings a much-needed human and heart-centred, rather than a merely compliance-centred approach to these issues, combined with her legal and subject matter expertise and background in human rights education. Adriana delivers global workshops, sexual harassment and violence policy and reporting processes development, implementation coaching to managers and thought leadership. Her work has been showcased by Charity Village, Medium, UN Women, Sexual Violence Research Initiative, Mtavari Channel and World Pulse, among others. What we talk about: Adriana's pathway to becoming a solopreneur and how she was inspired by her family’s entrepreneurial history to build her own consulting practice. How she builds lasting relationships with existing clients to ensure sustainable impact and bring in more projects. Advice for negotiating rates with clients. What she loves about being an independent solopreneur and her biggest challenges. Useful links Adriana's LinkedIn page ALG Consulting Click here to find the podcast on other platforms (including Spotify and Apple Podcasts)!

Today, we've got a good friend of the IC-Hub, Ann-Murray Brown, on the show to share with us how she became the go-to Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) consultant. About Ann-Murray Many of you will know (of) Ann already, but in case you don't, she is a proud ‘island girl’ who hails from the country of the world’s fastest sprinters - Jamaica. Now based in the Netherlands, she is a seasoned M&E expert with nearly two decades of professional experience and is the holder of multiple advanced degrees from the University of the West Indies and Ewha Womans University. Ann has been involved in consultancies funded and implemented by international organisations such as the United Nations and the European Commission. Her sectorial interests are Gender Equality, Poverty Reduction, Migration, Social Protection, Child Protection, Human Rights and Justice Reform. Alongside her consultancy work, Ann has also created a suite of high-value products to help people learn about M&E, which you can find on her website annmurraybrown.com. Adventures in M&E and building a 20k following In today's interview, we start by talking through Ann's own impact consulting journey, which is truly an inspiring one about how a major life challenge forced her to develop her consulting business from the ground up. We then talk about how Ann developed an incredible social media following (20k+ LinkedIn followers) by providing value to others. And we also touch on Ann's tips for how non-M&E consultants can develop M&E skills and build an M&E service offering from scratch. We close with some of Ann's thoughts on how experienced M&E consultants can break through common plateaus, which really resonates with what we talk about at the IC-Hub Level-Up Accelerator Workshop. We'd like to thank Ann for coming on the show and thank you for listening. And if you're interested in learning what it takes to build your own independent consulting business in the social impact or international development spaces, then head on over to impactconsultinghub.com to find a tonne of free resources. Without further ado, please do enjoy the show. Useful links Free download: Consultancy Proposal Template Free download: IC-Hub Start-up Cheat Sheet Follow Ann-Murray on LinkedIn Ann-Murray's website Impact Consulting Hub Where to listen to the IC-Podcast Courses & workshops to launch and accelerate your impact consulting journey

CLICK HERE TO PRE-REGISTER FOR OUR IC-HUB WORKSHOP WITH JENNY ON HOW TO GROW YOUR LINKEDIN FOLLOWING. Hello and welcome to the Impact Consulting Podcast. Today, I'm delighted to be joined by Jenny Wright, who in my view is a rock star consultant and LinkedInfluencer. About Jenny Jenny pivoted back into freelancing, philanthropy and international development after leaving behind a toxic corporate work environment. She has relied on her project management, research and communications roots to dedicate over a decade of her life to consulting for non-profits and international organisations worldwide. When not running her own consulting firm (Nomad Consulting), Jenny has managed multiple projects for the United Nations and is currently consulting for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Tunisia. Having globe-trotted around half the world (and now living in her ninth country), Jenny is used to thinking on her feet, eating questionable food and living out of a suitcase. Chronicles in LinkedInfluencing & FORTHCOMING IC-Hub LinkedIn Workshop with Jenny Directing her knack for writing to social media, Jenny has gained over 40K LinkedIn followers in a year and is in the process of launching her own blog (A Migrant’s Guide) to share her and other migrants’ experiences of moving and living abroad. In our interview, Jenny shares: How she got into independent consulting. How she built her own consulting firm. # How she grew such an incredible social media presence. IC-Hub LinkedIn Workshop with Jenny Growing a LinkedIn following can really enable independent social impact professionals like us to generate more consulting clients and more influence in our fields of work. Therefore, we are inviting you to a new IC-Hub premium workshop with Jenny, in which she will teach the steps she took to grow her LinkedIn following and how you can do it too. Click this pre-registration link and we'll let you know when the workshop is scheduled and give you a 50% early-bird discount. Useful links Pre-register for the IC-Hub LinkedIn Workshop with Jenny Jenny's LinkedIn page Jenny's articles - Beginner's Guide to LinkedIn (Part 1 of 4) IC-Hub

Hello and welcome back to the Impact Consulting Podcast, where we have another interview for you today. And what an interview it is. I'm joined by the unsinkable force that is Leisa Perch. About Leisa Leisa is the CEO of a woman-led consultancy company based in Barbados, SAEDI Consulting (which is "ideas" backwards!). Leisa is a gender and environment specialist, with more than 20 years of experience in the development field. Her work as a consultant is global, although her more recent projects focused on the Caribbean. Previous projects include conducting studies on gender in fisheries and developing the Gender Equality Mainstreaming Policy for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Leisa regularly carries out research or gender assessments and advises development actors including United Nations (UN) agencies such as UN Women and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). She is also the host of the Women’s Leadership in the Environment Webinar series and the host of a new SAEDI podcast. What we talk about At the IC-Hub, we talk a lot about how experienced independent social impact professionals can "level-up" their consulting businesses through a range of strategies, such as building a following, getting your voice out there, joining expert committees, and outsourcing work to others. Leisa has done all of this and more! It was fascinating to hear how she's put into practice a lot of the principles that we preach and also particularly inspiring to hear why and how she left her glittering and prestigious international civil servant life to build a consulting practice on her own terms. I don't want to delay you listening to this insightful interview any longer, so without further ado, please sit back and enjoy the show. And do leave a review if you're listening to this on Apple Podcasts. Useful links SAEDI Consulting SAEDI's Webinars SAEDI's Roasting Fish and Breadfruit Podcast Levelling Up Workshop Levelling Up podcast episode Connect with Leisa on LInkedIn Click here to find the podcast on other platforms (including Spotify and Apple Podcasts)!

Hello and welcome to the Impact Consulting Podcast - a podcast that helps people launch and accelerate their independent consulting businesses in the international development and social impact fields. Today, Joumana Brihi shares her remark-able (pun intended) impact consulting journey (you'll get that pun in a moment). About Joumana Joumana has 18 years of experience in strategic communications and market research. She is also the founder of Remark, a network of consultants and experts providing market intelligence, labour market and economic studies, and strategic communication services to public and private sector clients. As a strategic communication expert, she develops external and internal communication strategies that support creating awareness about organisations, initiatives or projects; repositioning them or launching new ones. Based in Beirut, Joumana is currently the Team Leader and Strategic Communication Expert for the European Commission’s regional communication programme: EU Neighbours South, in which she leads and manages a multidisciplinary international team to provide targeted strategic advice to EU Delegations. What we talk about Incredibly, Joumana has worked as an independent professional across her entire career and has done a fantastic job to grow and develop - professionally and personally - on her own terms. In our conversation, Joumana tells us: How she got started as an independent social impact professional. How she transitioned from independent consulting part-time alongside her full-time job, to quitting her job to go full-time independent. How she levelled up her consulting by growing a network of consultants and outsourcing work. How she got her current EU consultancy Team Leader position. What she loves about independent consulting. What advice she would give to herself at the beginning of her career (spoiler alert, it's about fees!). We'd like to thank Joumana for coming on the show and thank you for tuning in. Useful links Remark Consulting Connect with Joumana on LinkedIn IC-Hub Live followup: Getting EU-funded development consultancy work IC-Hub Levelling Up Workshop Impact Consulting Hub Where to listen to the IC-Podcast

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Impact Consulting Podcast, a show all about how to become and improve as an independent consultant in the international development and social impact spaces. Today, I'm delighted to be joined by an absolute IC-Hub superstar, Hattie Gibson, an independent researcher and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) consultant. About Hattie One of the first participants of our inaugural premium Levelling Up Workshop, Hattie has been an independent consultant for the past three years, after implementing and managing projects in the international development and humanitarian fields for 11 years. Harriet now provides specialised research or MEL services from her Lisbon base. She has a background in human rights and fragile and conflict affected states, focussing on the Middle East and North Africa region where she previously worked and lived. Hattie has worked for a variety of organisations from grassroots NGOs in Palestine, to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Lebanon to global private sector consultancies, to various INGOs and Foundations. She recently switched gears and began to devote half her time to programmes related to climate change and environmental impact. What we talk about Hattie shares the wonderful story about how she became an independent social impact professional, including: The first steps she took to transition from employment to self-employment (especially as a relatively young consultant at the time). What a typical consulting project looks like. How she gets her consulting clients. What it's like to work from Portugal. What she wishes she'd known at the beginning of her consulting journey. How she sees her consulting practice developing in the future. Useful links Connect with Hattie on LinkedIn IC-Hub Start-up Workshop IC-Hub Levelling Up Workshop IC-Podcast #10: Hannah's journey: How to leverage a staff position to create a runway to consulting success Impact Consulting Hub Where to listen to the IC-Podcast Click here to find the podcast on other platforms (including Spotify and Apple Podcasts)!

Hello and welcome to a special episode of the Impact Consulting Podcast, with Loksan and Molly from the Impact Consulting Hub. Today, we walk you through the steps required to launch an independent consulting business in the international development or social impact spaces. What we discuss What an independent social impact professional is. How we launched Molly's independent consulting business (focused on NGO fundraising) two years ago. Molly's challenges in identifying areas to specialise in and services to provide. The IC-Hub 5-Step Start-up Framework. The IC-Hub 5-Step Start-up Framework Step 1: Identify your services Step 2: Establish your runway Step 3: Launch and test your Minimum Viable Product/Service and get your first client Step 4: Sort out the legals (banking, legal status, taxation, insurance, contracting, invoicing) Step 5: Iterate, improve, and level-up We go through the five steps quite briefly. For those who are serious about launching their independent consulting career very soon, we also provide a premium IC-Hub Start-up Incubator Programme.  Useful links IC-Hub Start-up Incubator IC-Hub Workshops Impact Consulting Hub The "BORING STUFF": Administrative requirements of freelancing  IC-Hub Business Plan template IC-Hub Business Development Guide (free access to premium resource) Where to listen to the IC-Podcast

How do you "level up" your independent social impact consulting business... And what does that even mean? In this week's episode of the Impact Consulting Podcast, we give a brief update on what we've been up to recently and talk through some common challenges that independent social impact professionals face after a few years in the business, as well as how to push past these plateaus and get to the next level. The goal here is to enable you to position yourself as the go-to expert in your field, as a way to achieve more impact, more income and cultivate more influence in your field of work. More specifically, we discuss: Common consulting challenges and plateaus. What "levelling up" means. Key levelling up principles and strategies (including email marketing, content creation, advisory roles, and outsourcing). This episode gives an overview of what we discuss in our first-ever IC-Hub premium workshop on consulting levelling up strategies. Needless to say, in the workshop we go far more in-depth into the specifics and apply the principles and strategies to IC-Hubbers' consulting businesses. You can visit our website to find details about the levelling up workshop and other IC-Hub premium workshops. Thank you for listening and we hope you enjoy the show! Useful links Impact Consulting Hub Impact Consulting Podcast IC-Hub Workshops IC-Hub Level-up Accelerator Workshop #16: Emmerentia's consulting journey - how to "level-up" as an independent consultant

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Impact Consulting Podcast, a podcast that aims to help people become and improve as independent consultants in the social impact and international development fields. Today, I’m delighted to be joined by Geoff Hucker, Founder and CEO of Work For Impact, which is a new platform designed to help nonprofits and “For Purpose” organisations engage top on-demand talent, meet the demands of the changing landscape of ‘work,’ implement agile working practices, and become leaders in the socially responsible freelance space. Based in Hong Kong, Geoff has over 18 years of experience as a social entrepreneur and has directed and scaled a successful charity – Beyond The Orphanage. Geoff has also hired and worked with freelancers from around the world. One of our missions at the Impact Consulting Hub is to improve how independent work in the social impact space is structured, and, ultimately, to help us all deliver greater impact for our clients. I was therefore really excited for the launch of Work for Impact, which promises to do just that. So in today's interview we discuss: Work for Impact's story How Work for Impact works, who it serves (especially with respects to independent consultants like most IC-Hubbers), and how it differs from platforms already out there. Geoff’s tips on how to get work through the Work for Impact platform. As always, thank you so much for listening. And if you’ve enjoyed this episode, please feel free to share it, leave a review on iTunes, or get in touch at impactconsultinghub.com. Without further ado, please sit back and enjoy the show. Useful links Work for Impact Work for Impact's trailer Geoff Hucker on LinkedIn Impact Consulting Hub Impact Consulting Podcast IC-Podcast #12: Are YOU a consultant? IC-Hub blog post about Work for Impact compared with other freelancing platforms

Hello and welcome to the Impact Consulting Podcast, powered by the IC-Hub, a growing global community of support for independent social impact professionals. We've got a great show for you today, featuring Joanne Irvine who is not actually a consultant. So, why have we got a non-consultant on the Impact Consulting Podcast? Well, Joanne is a Programme Manager at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) - the United Nations (UN) migration agency. She works with consultants all the time, so she was the ideal person to provide the "client's" perspective on UN consulting. About Joanne Joanne Irvine specialises in migration governance and sustainable development in the Migration and Sustainable Development Unit of IOM's Headquarters. Joanne has over 12 years of experience working with and supporting local and national governments, civil society and UN organisations globally to maximise the development potential of migration in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Joanne holds a joint undergraduate and Master of Arts in Hispanic Studies and French from the University of Glasgow, an MA in European Policy and International Development Cooperation from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, a master in Migration, Co-Development and Public Participation from the Cultural and Social Studies Foundation of Valencia and a diploma in Human Rights and Forced Migration from the United Nations University of Peace. UN consulting from the "client" perspective UN agencies like IOM implement a lot of their work through consultants. And, as a disclaimer, they happen to be one of my most important clients. So I relished this opportunity to squeeze Joanne for all the insights I could get about her experiences hiring consultants, including: What UN agencies like IOM hire consultants for; What types of consultants they hire; How they hire consultants and how consultants can get work; What makes a "good consultant" (and "bad consultant"). We close with me asking Joanne whether she'd consider consulting and what concerns she would have about an eventual consulting career. Really enjoyed recording this one and truly thankful for the way Joanne provides such practical and balanced insights about consultant-client dynamics. Thank you for tuning in and feel free to reach out to us at impactconsultinghub.com if you’re interested in starting or accelerating your independent consulting career. And if you’ve been enjoying this podcast, please leave a review on iTunes or share the episode with a friend. Useful links Joanne's LinkedIn profile Joanne's project website - M4D Where to listen to the IC-Podcast Related IC-Podcast #11 on defining a social impact consultant Related IC-Podcast #14 on biggest freelancing concerns Related IC-Podcast #16 on Emmerentia's consulting journey (migration & UN agencies)

Welcome to another episode of the Impact Consulting Podcast, hosted by the IC-Hub - a growing online community of support for independent social impact professionals. Today, we've got my good friend, Emmerentia Erasmus, on the show to talk us through her impact consulting journey. About Emmerentia Emmerentia is an independent migration specialist with more than ten years of experience, including in building the capacity of states and regional organisations in managing migration. Based in Cape Town, she has extensive experience in migration policy and programme development, with specific expertise on labour migration and the free movement of persons. Her work comprises research design; baseline and needs assessments to inform project development and implementation; analytical reports for publication; providing technical assistance to regional migration dialogue and governance processes, including by developing regional action plans, strategies and migration policy frameworks; and managing migration programmes in the field. Prior to going independent around five years ago, Emmerentia worked as a project manager for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), among other organisations. Key discussion points I really enjoyed learning more about Emmerentia's consulting journey in this episode. Some of the key points we discuss are: Why Emmerentia decided to leave an in-house project management staff position to go it alone. How Emmerentia is "levelling up" her consulting career five years on through taking on advisory roles and contracting out some work. The pitfalls of taking on too much work and how to manage the pressures to "make hay while the sun shines." Accepting all the projects offered versus being selective. Lessons learned from five years of consulting, such as how to be firm with clients. Thank you so much for tuning in and we hope you enjoy the show. If you’re interested in learning from consultants like Emmerentia, then feel free to connect with her on LinkedIn (link below) or join us at the IC-Hub. Useful links: Connect with Emmerentia on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmerentia-erasmus-4895658/) Impact Consulting Hub (impactconsultinghub.com) Where to listen to the IC-Podcast

Hello and welcome to the Impact Consulting Podcast, powered by the IC-Hub. This is a show where we share advice, learnings, and stories from our global network of independent social impact professionals. We’ve got a great show for you today. We have our good friend, Dr. Aida Ibričević, on the show to talk about her impact consulting journey in which she leveraged her time in academia to build an independent consulting practice. Aida is an independent social science researcher and consultant based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, affiliated as a Global Fellow with the Migration Center at the Peace Research Institute (PRIO) in Oslo, Norway and as a Research Fellow with the Center for Diaspora Studies, Sarajevo School of Science and Technology. She is currently working on migration-related consultancy and academic projects for the Bonn International Center for Conversion project (migrant reintegration), the International Organization for Migration (labour migration), and the United Nations Development Programme’s (diaspora engagement). She also provides review services for a number of peer-reviewed, international academic journals. As for her academic background, Aida has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Middlebury College, United States, and an Economics Master of Arts from Central European University (CEU), Hungary. Her doctoral degree is in Political Science from Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey. I really enjoyed learning about Aida’s consulting journey coming from academia, which can be a great background from which to launch a consulting career. So we get Aida’s take on: How to leverage academia to launch an independent consulting practice; How to create a launchpad for consulting success while working in academia; Whether great academics make great consultants; The differences between academic research and research consultancies; The good and bad in Aida’s own transitions back and forth from academia to consulting. Thank you for tuning in to the podcast. Please do feel free to reach out to us at impactconsultinghub.com if you’re interested in starting or accelerating your independent development consulting career. And if you’ve been enjoying this podcast, please leave a review on iTunes or share the episode with a friend. Useful links Aida's LinkedIn profile Impact Consulting Hub Where to listen to the IC-Podcast

Hello IC-Hubbers and welcome to another episode of the Impact Consulting Podcast, with us, Loksan and Molly. We've got a special episode today where we go over your and our biggest concerns about becoming freelance consultants in the social impact and international development spaces. We talk about our journeys and how we addressed the concerns that we had, as well as discussing other common concerns, including those expressed by IC-Hubbers via the Facebook, Google, and Instagram channels. Top freelancing concerns Those around us being risk-averse and advising us to go for stable jobs Losing prestige and not having a job title Insecurity, anxieties and self-doubt about own expertise or experience ("imposter syndrome") and selling oneself as "an expert" Making enough money Lack of clear marketable consultancy skillset Unstructured living and working alone Feeling uncomfortable (or "skeezy" in Molly's American English!) about approaching people or potential clients to "sell services” Discussing consulting fees We hope you find it useful to hear about how we've gone through these issues and how we've tried to address them! Listening on the go? Click here to find the podcast on other platforms (including Spotify and Apple Podcasts)! https://www.impactconsultinghub.com/