Project formulation

Over the years, Bert has formulated countless development projects and programmes, evaluated projects and acted as project monitor as well. This was done for many funding agencies, including the EU, World Bank, IFC, and Netherlands government. Most assignments related to private sector development, SME development and employment creation, as well as agricultural finance.

Some formulation assignments followed on preliminary policy studies, of which Bert prepared many. In some formulation projects Bert was subsequently associated with implementation in an advisory or monitoring capacity, notably in Burundi and South Sudan. In evaluation, Bert undertook both project and programme evaluations. Of special interest was an agricultural finance impact study undertaken in the Balkans, based on detailed interviews with 660 agricultural borrowers and non-borrowers.

Date	Location	Description
Jan – Oct ‘23	NL, Brazil	Team Leader. Evaluation of AGRI3 – agricultural investment fund (credit enhancements for investment in sustainable land use, forest protection and rural livelihoods) Now proceeding to monitoring phase, until 2025
Mar – Jun ‘23	NL	Team Leader. Mid-Term Evaluation of “Mobilising Finance in Agriculture”, Ghana. Mixed methods programme evaluation.
May-Dec '22	NL	Team Leader. Mid-Term Review of KfW-AGRA agricultural development programme in Ghana and Burkina Faso. Mixed methods programme evaluation.
Mar-Nov '22	NL	Evaluator. Evaluation of (RVO) PSD Toolkit programme. Private sector development through assorted Dutch Embassy Programmes.
Aug '21 - Mar '22	NL	Financial expert. Evaluation of Dutch FNS programmes in West Africa (cocoa and oil palm, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone)
Aug - Dec '21	Mozambique	Financial expert. Scoping study for German PSD and FSD programmes in Mozambique
Feb - Jul '21	NL	Team Leader. Mid-term review of the 2SCALE programme (Toward Sustainable Clusters in Agribusiness through Learning and Entrepreneurship).
May - Aug '20	NL	Financial expert. Evaluation of the FMO-MASSIF programme (Financing SMEs in developing countries through investment funds, banks and MFIs)
July ’18 - May ‘20	NL, Kenya	Financial expert. Evaluation of the Dutch Good Growth Fund (Financing SMEs in developing countries through various channels, including investment funds, co-investing and export finance)
June ’16 – Dec '19	Myanmar, Cambodia	Team Leader. Impact evaluation of investments made by the Dutch Good Growth Fund in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Ghana and Ivory Coast. Set Baseline (2017) and End-line (2019).
Jan-Sept ‘16	Egypt, BiH	Evaluator. Evaluation of the PSOM/PSI (business development through J/V collaboration), company visits to Egypt and to Bosnia and Herzegovina
Dec '15	Mozambique	Monitoring expert. Monitoring of Business Associations support project (SME development)
Nov '15	Ethiopia	Monitoring expert. Monitoring of Transformation Triggering Facility (SME development)
Oct '15	Egypt	Senior expert. Formulation MasterCard Strivers programme (micro enterprise development)
Sept '15	Nigeria	Monitoring expert. Monitoring of ECOWAS regional private sector competitiveness programme (region-wide standardisation and quality systems, and reform of investment policies)
Aug – Oct ‘14	Worldwide	Global Agriculture Food Security Programme (GAFSP) - Formulation of programme options to more effectively invest in smallholder farms and producer organisations
Jan – Sept ‘14	MENA	Evaluation of the IFC advisory services in MENA region, with field research in Morocco and Pakistan
Nov - Dec ‘13	Burundi	Formulation of the third phase of the Burundi microfinance development programme
Mar - Jul ‘13	Worldwide	Evaluation of the Dutch Employers Cooperation Programme (DECP)
Jan ‘13	South Sudan	Monitoring reviewof an agricultural mechanisation programme
Oct – Nov ‘12	Zambia	Evaluation of the “Zambia Emergent Farmer Programme” (finance, technical assistance)
March - May ’12	Burundi	Formulation of an agricultural (micro) finance programme (agricultural credit guarantees, warehouse receipts, technical assistance to MFIs, small grants) (2 missions)
Nov ’11, Sept ‘12	Ethiopia	Formulation of a development programme in the apiculture value chain, including financing beekeepers and other value chain partners
Oct ‘11	Haiti	Formulation of a technical assistance programme for two MFIs in Haiti (EIB)
May ’11 – Dec '23	South Sudan	“South Sudan Agribusiness Development Programme” (BDS, credit guarantees). · Formulation of the programme after market and needs assessment · Tender management (recruitment of the programme manager) · Monitoring of the programme (6 missions so far) · Formulation of 2nd phase, 2018 – 2022 · Monitoring of the 2nd phase (3 missions)
Feb ‘11	Ethiopia	Formulation of a support programme in favour of growth-oriented women entrepreneurs (market development, BDS, financing)
Sept ’09 - Mar ‘10	Balkans	Study on the impact on end-borrowers of agricultural loans in Moldova, Kosovo and Albania (banks and MFIs). Survey of 660 borrowers and non-borrowers (with publication)
Mar ’06 - Jan ‘09	Burundi	· Formulation of a rehabilitation programme for the financial sector and microfinance in Burundi. Tender management for selection of the programme manager (2 missions) · Monitoring of the financial sector rehabilitation programme (grants for microfinance institutions, small enterprise loans, MFI refinancing) (6 monitoring missions) · Formulation of the 2^nd phase microfinance development programme (1 mission)
Mar ‘06	Belgium	Evaluation of “Africalia” - cultural collaboration with Africa
Feb - April ‘06	Netherlands / USA	Review of the Netherlands - IFC Partnership Programme (Technical assistance facilities for SME development)
Jun - Nov ‘04	Netherlands	Evaluation of “Programme of Economic Cooperation” - Export promotion programme of Min of Economic Affairs
Mar - May ‘04	Kenya	Formulation of a project in support of MSE development and microfinance
Nov ‘03	Kosovo	Feasibility study and preparation of ToR for setting up bankers association and bank training centre (with PCM workshop). Training needs assessment
Jun ‘97	Macedonia	Microcredit identification mission, developing instruments for small enterprise and farm financing – proposal of a credit scheme managed by local banks
Oct ‘97	Albania	Development of Dairy Credit Systems – analysis of demand and supply for dairy credit, proposals for dairy credit scheme, and procedures for loan administration
Jul ‘96, Nov ‘96	Romania	· Development of cooperative credit for newly privatised small farms (1^st mission) · Definition of rural co-operative credit scheme, and training of credit officers and agricultural engineers in credit applications (2^nd mission)
Mar - Apr ‘96	Ghana	Evaluation of the Ghana Regional Appropriate Technology Industrial Service (technology development and training, enterprise support, SME credit)
Jan ‘96	Netherlands	Deskstudy “Best Practices in Europe in SME development”
Nov - Dec ‘95	Moldova	Design of bank credit schemes for post-privatisation agricultural enterprises
Sept ‘95	Tunisia	Evaluation “Assistance to employment creation in 12 provinces of Tunisia”. Credit, training and business incubation

Closely linked to the above project formulation work, Bert undertook a number of SME and agricultural finance policies studies, which are listed below. The work included banking and finance studies, policy and project development, development of financing instruments, in particular SME credit, agricultural credit and micro-lending programmes.

Date	Location	Description
Nov '20 - Mar '21	Netherlands, South Sudan	Country team lead. Challenge Fund for Youth Employment, preparation country programme South Sudan (grants for youth employment and entrepreneurship)
July '19	Burundi	Team Leader. Agricultural finance study, in the context of value chain development
Aug '17-June '18	Worldwide	Team Leader. Research into risk capital for Agri-Food SMEs in Africa. Case studies in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Mali. Database of investment funds updated and expanded to SE Asia. (with publication)
Jan '12-Jan'13	Worldwide	Team Leader. Fairtrade: development of strategy and business plan for Global Producer Finance Unit (FLO-GPFU) (based on 6 agricultural value chains in 10 countries)
Mar ’11 – Oct ‘12	Worldwide	Study into financing of the agricultural sector - horizontal study of innovations in agricultural finance in Cambodia, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania, Thailand, and Tunisia (with publication)
Nov ‘99	Kazakhstan	Policy advice on Rural Credit to the Ministry of Agriculture · Developing instruments for farm lending, including leasing and credit guarantees
Nov ‘97	Moldova	Grains Policy Project - Rural Finance Study. Developing policy instruments to stimulate lending to the agricultural sector
May ‘96	Armenia	“Linking banks and SMEs” (Banking study and SME financing)
1995/96	Netherlands	Deskstudy on “Lessons Learned” by Dutch organisations in SME development – advisory services and SME lending programmes / revolving funds
Jan-Feb ‘94	Guinea-Bissau	Preparation of United Nations private sector development programme
Nov ‘93 – Jan ‘94	Guinea-Bissau	Study Structural Adjustment Programme for Guinea Bissau
Oct ’89 - Nov ‘91	Malaysia (visits to Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam)	Programme Officer, industrial and private sectors (UNDP / UNIDO) · Management of the industrial development programme, in particular projects in follow-up of the Industrial Master Plan · Preparation of industrial and economic studies · UNDP 1992-1996 private sector development programme · Assistance to SME-support organisations · Training in preparation of investment projects

· Prepared various economics publications, including studies on the Structural Adjustment Programme for Guinea-Bissau (1994 and 1996), case studies on exchange rate forecasting in Malaysia and Zambia (1991), and an economic analysis of Zambia during its structural adjustment programme 1985 / 87 (1987).

· Also prepared various papers on enterprise development and financing, including the paper “SME lending models”, presented during a private sector development conference in Yugoslavia (1999).

· Two papers on “Post-Privatisation Enterprise Restructuring”, presented during a seminar in Mongolia (2000 – updated and published in 2001).

· Study “Creating Access to Agricultural Finance” (AFD, series à savoir #14, 2012).

· Study “Critical Capital for Agri-Food SMEs” (ICCO, Jan 2018, for FoodFirst Conference June 2018).

· More than 100 technical studies and papers. Over 100 training manuals, syllabi and training cases.

For comparative study of Innovations in Agricultural Finance in Cambodia, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania, Thailand and Tunisia see the publication: "Creating Access to Agricultural Finance" (July 2012)

For Critical Capital, based on case studies in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Mali, see the publication "Critical Capital for Agri-Food SMEs" (Mar 2018)