Child Action Lanka
Deborah Edirisinghe, Trustee of Child Action Lanka, writes:
“I am pleased to write this letter of recommendation in support of the invaluable work carried out by Ian Ferguson and Rosie Leyden.
Child Action Lanka (CAL) is a very small organization that has grown, and continues to grow, at a rapid pace. Having Ian and Rosie at CAL was the best thing that could have happened. They took on board our requirements and were happy to work at the varied levels we were at. They made recommendations for best practice, in consultation with the team. Their study and evaluation of our project was excellent and continues to be useful to us.
Ian and Rosie also delivered first-class training that was both enjoyable and of immense assistance to CAL and its way forward. They tailor-made their training to meet the different needs of the team according to the individual stage of development of each member of staff. Ian and Rosie showed their abilities as trainers, demonstrating exceptional effort, planning and efficiency. They worked tirelessly, making extensive preparation and offering practical advice during the training sessions.
I am extremely grateful to Ian and Rosie for their commitment and total dedication in working with our charity. Following our first-hand experience of their standards and excellence as trainers and evaluators I am delighted to recommend them to you.”
Charlotte Riaz, Trustee of Child Action Lanka, said:
“Ian and Rosie provided consultancy for Child Action Lanka (CAL) in Sri Lanka in April and May 2015.
One of the particular areas they worked on was helping to develop income generation for our projects and in particular the mothers for the children attending our centres. This has been an area over-ready for further development and Ian and Rosie’s input enabled us to take a big step forward.
Through their ideas, contacts and networking they were able to link us with like-minded organisations and other commercial organisations with the potential for partnership in both the long and short term. Indeed they made numerous introductory meetings to explore options.
It was great to have consultants who were also able to ‘get their hands dirty’ to make things happen and give us the right level of hand-holding to make sure the work was effective once they left. As a result we already have a pilot project off the ground which will be rolled out across the organisation once established. This provides genuine livelihood opportunities for mothers plus income generation for CAL. We also have lots of leads and ideas to take forward both for income generation for CAL and for the communities we work with. These are not just ideas but concrete meetings and people with whom we can explore next steps.
One of the most refreshing things about working with Ian and Rosie is that they are excellent planners and ‘completer-finishers’! They always do what they say they are going to do when they say they will. They are very open to our input and ideas and flexible to cultural differences. They really ‘met us’ as people and an organisation at the right pace and level and made sure there were training options in place (or did the training themselves) to ensure that their recommendations actually made a difference. Our project managers greatly benefitted and became more business-aware as a result of their training so that they gained a better understanding of income generation. I highly recommend Ian and Rosie as consultants to any organisation and really hope that they will be back to review with us in the future.”