Over my professional life I’ve worked with a diversity of clients: government agencies, non-government organisations, community groups, universities, multi-lateral international and UN agencies and country-to-country initiatives.
In keeping with my bottom line, each has been a collaboration with local communities and has focused on supporting long term cooperation between these communities and those I work with.
My starting point is with the human dimension to sustainable futures – hardly surprising coming from someone whose background is in applying anthropology, sociology and political science to the analysis of complex environmental challenges and options for their solution.
The ‘human dimension’ reaches beyond marketing, communication, psychology and green messaging and is at the heart of the ways organisations and communities function, the ways they respond to challenges and the ways they identify and then reach their objectives, goals and aspirations. It’s people who make all this happen.
In short, this kind of understanding is important for a wide range of things – engaging with people and recognising their contribution to shared outcomes as well as monitoring, planning and evaluating a wide range of processes underpinned by, or influenced by, this. We have here the essence of the ‘human dimension’ and the essence of creating solutions for and guiding frameworks towards sustainable futures.
My approach, philosophy and social research ethics are important to me and are focused on collaborative and participatory values and methods which are focused on your priorities. This is important to me because it frames my approach and my professional practice – it’s who I am as a professional. Therefore, because we work collaboratively, it’s important you know about it.
So here is my ethical and philosophical statement which is the foundation of my work.
1. Applied social analysis is not straightforward – it is understanding, and working with, complexity.
2. My specific inputs reflect my professional philosophy, knowledge and practice, and is at the cutting edge of national and international experience. Predominantly I use a wide range of qualitative techniques and methods, including those oriented to action-based outcomes.
3. For me, what’s important is a professional practice that brings a wide range of national and international experiences, has a well-defined and well-regarded ethical foundation, and uses a highly developed conceptual foundation for analysis, action and support for and with the organisations, agencies and communities with which I work. We develop these approaches together and so develop a creative combination of our own experiences.
So please get in touch if you’d like to know more – we can see where our paths cross.
