Advisory

Most concept notes that fail do not fail on the idea. They fail on structure: a theory of change that does not carry its own logic, a financing rationale that does not survive the additionality question, an accreditation route chosen before anyone tested whether the entity can execute what it proposes to access. These are recoverable problems, and they are much cheaper to find before submission than after.

The same holds one level up, before a project exists. A company that wants to work with the international financing institutions usually knows those institutions by name rather than by behavior — which sectors and themes are open, where in the project cycle a decision is still movable, and how far ahead of a pipeline announcement the useful conversations happen. Arriving after those decisions are made is the most common and most expensive mistake, and it is invisible from outside.

Advisory engagement brings four decades of practice to one specific project, program, or corporate position. That covers positioning a company against the institutions' sectors, themes, and project cycle; structural review of project ideas, concept notes, and funding proposals against what reviewers do rather than what guidance says they do; theory-of-change design for projects at the climate-and-nature integration, where the outcome logic has to hold across two sets of expectations at once; strategic positioning for accreditation candidates and delivery partners; and tactical judgment through preparation and review, where the sequence of decisions matters as much as their content. Asia-Pacific positioning runs as dedicated sessions with senior management.

Engagements usually begin from one of a few recognizable positions:

• A company that sells to the international financing institutions, or wants to, and cannot see where it fits.
• A concept note declined once, with no clear account of why.
• An entity weighing accreditation without having tested whether it can execute what accreditation would give it access to.
• A project sitting between climate and nature, whose outcome logic has to satisfy two sets of expectations at once.

Engagements are scoped by deliverable rather than by time, on a defined brief agreed in advance. A first conversation establishes whether the problem is the one you think it is, which is often the most valuable half hour in the process.

To discuss an engagement, write to hubert@nbspraxis.com with a short description of the project or the position and where it currently stands.