OUR TRACK RECORD

Educo succeeds through choosing the best possible consultants for the job, ensuring they are fully briefed about the activity and their roles in it, providing them with high levels of support in Australia and in-country, and monitoring their work to ensure they complete their tasks on time and produce results that equal or surpass the required standards, and lead to sustainable solutions wherever possible. Educo utilises and develops this approach in all its project and consultancy work.

Educo established its reputation for effective project management through the Papua New Guinea Ombudsman Commission Institutional Strengthening Project. In November 1997, AusAID contracted Educo to design and implement this project (total value $5.7m). Based on our project design, we assisted the Commission in developing a strategic plan, organizational restructure, recruitment and staff training, an annual planning and reporting cycle, an IT strategy,including installation of a LAN, generic and specialist software and associated training, and an external relations plan. After three years of successful implementation, at AusAID's direction Educo worked in cooperation with the Commission to revise the design, expand the project and extend its completion date to July 2002. AusAID has acknowledged this project as being one of its most successful in Papua New Guinea.

Educo has subsequently built on this experience in period contracts, including contracts with AusAID in governance and organisational development. Educo's consultants have undertaken short-term assignments covering assistance with the Solomon Islands peace process, designing a project in the Philippines, membership of a team reviewing the Law and Justice sector in PNG and desk studies, TAP membership and project design work in Australia. We arranged a successful study tour of Australian governance bodies for officials from the Mozambique Ministry of Justice.

Educo was part of AusAID's team involved in the preparation of a scoping study for the African Virtual University Project, conducted jointly by a team from AusAID, the African Virtual University and the World Bank from 23 October - 10 November 2001. The study was mainly conducted in Nairobi. The team also visited AVU senior leadership and six (of the 29) partner institutions in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Tanzania. These meetings were used to gain greater understanding of partner university conditions and attitudes to the AVU and to progressively refine the project design. Participation in the African Virtual University Project is part of Australia's aid program cooperation with the World Bank on the Virtual Colombo Plan. It is proposed that Australia will provide AUD $6 million in support to the project over three years. Educo's role included drafting the logframe to activity and input level, preparing the draft annual plan, revising and expanding the risk matrix, assessing the capacity of the shortlisted lead partner universities to manage their proposed role, preparation of resources and costs schedules.

These and other activities have been backed by our experience in the following countries: