Employment is the key concept for sustainable development. It is key in the sense that it paves the way to growth and prosperity. It also has strong linkages with other sectors such as education, i.e. for one who is trained and educated in accordance with his/her skills and career prospects, the likelihood of being employed is higher.

Employment is one of the main core business sectors that RAGNA is involved in. We have implemented large-scale employment sector projects that targeted attracting and attaining more people in employment. Our projects primarily focused on better delivery of services for recent graduates and job seekers and their placement in right jobs matching their skills. RAGNA has designed active labour market programmes and models customised specifically for increasing the employment of women and youth. These include, but are not limited to, training delivery for the personnel of public employment agencies, organising awareness raising campaigns, model development, and organisation of study visits for best practice exposure. Moreover, we have produced and implemented models that specifically targeted increasing the entrepreneurship capacities of young men and women, and subsequently created more employment.

Private sector development is a key element in sustaining growth and reducing poverty. It focuses on building private enterprises, strengthening markets and achieving competitive markets with a view to globalisation of production and services delivery.

RAGNA has been actively involved in projects on SME development and competitiveness and delivered services in preparation of business plans and operational plans, competitiveness assessment, marketing and branding, business development services, improving production techniques and development of common use facilities in a variety of sectors. Clustering has also been one of the key areas RAGNA intervened on and supported public and private institutions.

Our globalising world increasingly necessitates innovative approaches to tackling development issues. Providing ICT solutions for challenges in the developing world is now more than a need, it is a must.

Corresponding to changing needs in project implementation, the RAGNA ICT Team has been actively involved in developing innovative approaches to project management through design and development of customised software for our clients. What is more, RAGNA ICT consultants have specialised in designing and developing management information systems, databases for a variety of purposes, and web-based communication platform for projects in which multi-level communication between different stakeholders is required. Our ICT Team also works for private sector clients and develops customised software in a variety of sectors. RAGNA ensures the usage of the latest ICT in every step of project implementation in order to provide the most efficient, effective and qualified delivery of project activities.

Unless proper visibility and publicity is maintained, a project is less likely to achieve successful closure. Communication has become more and more important in development projects particularly because the intervention fields in these projects usually have direct effects on the daily lives of millions of citizens.

RAGNA specialises in design and delivery of a large variety of communication tools and organisation of communication campaigns customised in accordance with its clients’ specific needs in the scope of international donor funded projects. The services we deliver include, but are not limited to, design and preparation of communication plans and strategies for private and public institutions, implementing campaigns for specific target groups, graphic design services, website design and maintenance, material preparation (brochures, bulletins, posters, flyers, etc.) as well as event management (conferences, seminars, etc.). Most recently, RAGNA has been focusing on social media and organising communication campaigns, especially in socio-economic development issues targeting youth, through the professional use of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Successful event management requires attention to details, excellent communication skills and adoption of previously determined principles. No matter how high quality the products or services you deliver are, if an event of any sort – conference, training delivery, study visit, etc. – fails to be flawless, you would be the target of an unprecedented level of criticisms as a Consultant.

Bearing in mind the importance of event management, RAGNA adopts professional tools in the organisation of events such as conferences, training workshops, working group meetings, roundtable meetings, seminars, etc. RAGNA has extensive experience in event management and is always proud with its clients’ feedback on the quality and success of any event its consultants manage. Our network and partners in a number of different locations in the world also makes it possible for us to deliver high quality and successful events.

One of the most important topics of international development is health, which is an indispensable area to be addressed. Considering its importance, RAGNA provides worldwide consultancy services in healthcare services via its solid knowledge and experience in the field. RAGNA’s experience covers significant impact areas such as;

Providing assistance to the improvement health services such as mental health care services and drug addiction treatment services
Development of approaches / models for health services in developing countries line with international standards
Development of diagnostic tools for different fields of health
Development of models including early diagnosis, assessment and treatment of target groups
Implementation of capacity building activities for target groups such as public health staff
Design, development and delivery of pre-service and/or in-service training to healthcare personnel
Development of software programs for health related departments of public institutions in the developing world in line with international standards
Assessment and evaluation of health related tools
Conducting quantitative research in the scope of needs assessment for better health services delivery

Governance is another core area, in which RAGNA provides comprehensive consultancy services to public institutions for their effective and efficient improvement in administrative and process-oriented elements of governing. Our main consultancy services offered at RAGNA cover important key areas addressed below:

Institutional capacity building: Providing assistance to various public institutions in developing countries for their achievement of measurable and sustainable results towards more effective organizational structures with effective methods of management

Civil society dialogue: Providing assistance for strengthening contacts and mutual exchange of experience among civil society organisations of different countries

Legislative strengthening: Arrangement of legal procedures in line with the project needs, providing assistance to public institutions through preparation of action plans and strategies including legislative and administrative measures in order to comply with international standards

Grant Management: Providing capacity building activities such as training and workshops for grant beneficiaries on grant scheme implementation, procurement rules, monitoring, report preparation, project cycle management, visibility and lessons learnt; providing assistance to funding agencies for smooth and effective implementation of grant schemes / funds; conducting evaluation for grant schemes / funds; design, development and maintenance of customized ICT based tools such as Monitoring Information Systems (MIS) for multi-stakeholder and multi-region grant schemes / funds.

Local Government Management: Providing capacity improvement services for local administrations, including governorates and municipalities; increasing capacity of administration/governance at local level for the management and monitoring of services delivery; and providing consultancy in good governance

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Justice is one of the core elements in welfare and peacebuilding. It is one of the most important human values, which paves the way for equality, equity, fairness, and respect for other rights. In this regard, in addressing socio-economic development, one must ensure the presence of a fair and peaceful environment.

RAGNA believes justice is of fundamental importance because of its potential ramifications towards socio-economic development. The scope of services provided by RAGNA in relation to justice and legal affairs can be mainly categorised as promoting justice and increasing access to justice among all segments of society. In the promotion of justice, RAGNA fosters legal reform processes and increases capacity of public and private institutions working in the justice sector, including penitentiary institutions, ministries, courts, independent judicial institutions and civil society organisations. Furthermore, for the purpose of increasing the quality of services in the justice sector, RAGNA reviews and develops legal frameworks and supports legal reform processes with due consideration of local dynamics. Last but not least, RAGNA enhances access to justice through administrative simplification procedures.

Specifically, RAGNA contributed to the development of rehabilitation systems in prisons with due consideration of international standards, developed national strategies and action plans for legal approximation to the EU laws and standards in different parts of the world.

“Some values must be universal, like human rights and the equal worth of every human being.”

As one of the most sensitive issues, human rights falls under RAGNA’s greatest focus area. While RAGNA provides consultancy services for the projects related to moral principles and norms such as human rights and gender equality, it always ensures preservation of those certain values as cross cutting issues under the implementation of projects in different fields. In the scope of consultancy in human rights, RAGNA provides the following services:

Existing Situation Assessment

Standard Setting in human rights monitoring

Conducting field investigations

Development of mechanisms ensuring communication and coordination between related institutions that work in the field of human rights at the national and local level

Capacity building of the staff working in related institutions

Development of customized software such as complaint taking mechanisms

Implementation of awareness raising activities and communication campaigns for human rights

“The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life.” These words of Plato have always guided us, they continue to do so today. Considering the vital repercussions of education in one’s life, it is of great importance to promote education via enhancing access to it and implementing any necessary reforms seeking to increase the quality of education.

RAGNA has been a key actor as an education promoter, providing numerous and invaluable services to public and private institutions and civil society organisations, and social partners in the developing world. The institutional and human resources capacity building services provided by Novus PM include education reform; increasing enrolment and attendance rates of children and especially girls; development of curricula and educational materials; promoting lifelong learning, design and development of training programmes for personnel from the institutions working in the education sector; developing strategy papers and action plans; designing and implementing awareness raising activities to promote education; promoting vocational education and training; and strengthening the link between education and employment and avoiding skills mismatch.

Agricultural performance is still a strong variable to be considered in alleviation of poverty. In this regard, we believe for the alleviation of poverty, agriculture and rural development must be addressed a key parameter considering the fact the majority of the poor population earn their livelihood from agriculture.

In relation to fund management, RAGNA has provided services to public and private institutions in relation to management of funds which are to be distributed to a number of grantees / recipients. Marking strong success as a robust fund manager, RAGNA also worked in close cooperation with grantees in order to ensure that they are well informed on procurement and sound management of finances and project implementation.

For a project targeting society to be sustainable with strong ownership, it is sine qua non to ensure the involvement of the civil society organisations (CSOs) in each step of development. In this regard, vibrant and agile nature of CSOs should be promoted in order to ensure that the services targeting society will be delivered at the closest level possible with a bottom-up approach.

In strengthening the capabilities of numerous CSOs operating in different fields and sectors, RAGNA has delivered services, including, but not limited to, institutional and human resources capacity building through design and implementation of training programmes, study visits and on-the-job training programmes; and promoting the integration of CSOs in the design and implementation of projects through constant monitoring and support.

RAGNA supports multiple funding agencies in grant scheme implementation, procurement rules, monitoring, report preparation, project cycle management and visibility.

An important parameter in project management for success is to ensure the sound management of finances. A mismanaged fund or grant cannot provide the desired outcomes as planned. In this context, for the common benefit of enjoying the desired outcomes and results with intended impacts, it is of great importance to support institutions or organisations in the field of grant management in line with the internationally recognized principles of monitoring and evaluation.

In relation to fund management, RAGNA has been providing services to public and private institutions in relation to management of funds which are to be distributed to a number of grantees / recipients. Marking strong success as a robust fund manager, RAGNA also worked in close cooperation with grantees in order to ensure that they are well informed on procurement and sound management of finances and project implementation.