"Consultancy costs can be a large budget item for many NGOs and so getting the best out of it is essential. This guide provides tips that will help you learn from good practices and avoid common mistakes. It is for staff involved in commissioning and managing consultants, particularly in programmes, ... grant management and monitoring, evaluation and learning. In this guide, the person or the organisation who is hiring a consultant is called ‘the client’. This guide is a summarised and updated version of a longer publication produced by Oxfam. It follows a sequence of steps in managing a consultancy, but each can be read as a stand-alone section." (Introduction, page 3) more

"Using detailed checklists, the authors explain the stages of a typical consultancy, paying close attention to the practical, ethical, financial, and legal aspects of the process. Drawing on their own extensive experience and a wide-ranging survey of international NGOs and freelance consultants, the ... y discuss how to develop more effective working relationships with all the relevant stakeholders, including donors, partners, programme managers, local staff, and local communities. They also show how development agencies can manage particular consultancies in order to promote long-term learning and thus improve the general quality of their programmes." (Oxfam website) more