(I'm currently redoing my website, it might be a bit messy for a while)

Independent Consultant in International Cooperation

My name is Aurélie, I work as an independent consultant for NGOs, public authorities and social enterprises. My main areas of intervention are project development and evaluation, in the international cooperation and humanitarian sectors.

I love what I do (well, 90% of the time) and I strongly believe in the responsibility of project developers and evaluators to promote social justice, equity and environmental protection.

Like many people in recent years, I have trained myself to do much of my work remotely (yes, I mentioned environmental protection above), with the support of a network of consultants based in the countries of intervention. When justified, I also carry out missions in the field.

Services

Project evaluations are at the heart of my work. However, I happily consider opportunities to work on inclusive and impactful project development/fundraising and capacity building, in my areas of specialty.

Project evaluation

I carry out mid-term and final evaluations for different types of international solidarity projects. The tailor-made approach I use is inspired by equity-focused evaluation methodologies, and aims to make the evaluation process a collective learning experience, and to foster positive changes within organisations.
Écouter les voix des groupes les plus marginalisés et prendre au mieux en compte les contextes locaux - aussi bien leurs contraintes que leurs opportunités - sont des principes fondamentaux que je m'efforce d'appliquer pour faire en sorte que le processus d'évaluation révèle la valeur réelle d'une intervention, plutôt que de se contenter de "cocher des cases" en terme de résultats.

Project development

Having worked with a very wide range of financial and technical partners, I have extensive experience in developing and writing concept papers and project proposals.
I have been involved in the development of projects in a wide range of fields (health, food, emergency response, social inclusion, education...) and for some years now I have specialised in education and access to employment for young people, women and vulnerable populations. Here too, I use a participatory approach and ensure that the voices of future target groups, even - and especially - the most marginalised, are integrated into project planning.

Capacity building

I am trained in teaching adult learner, and have had the opportunity in my career to support and empower teams and individuals through training (face-to-face and distance learning), and mentoring. My areas of specialisation are: - Protection mainstreaming, i.e. ensuring that projects take into account and adapt their intervention to better involve and respond to the needs of the most at-risk groups (such as people with disabilities, women, children, ethnic minorities... and others, depending on the specific context) - Accountability to target groups - Project design and management - Project monitoring and evaluation

My career path so far

I am an enthusiastic project development and evaluation professional, with almost 15 years of experience, in 12 countries / 4 continents. In my not so long but quite intense career, I have successfully developed, implemented and evaluated a very wide range of projects, mainly for international and local NGOs, in sometimes quite volatile contexts (such as the Gaza Strip, North Kivu and the Sahel, among others). During this time, using an organisational development approach and a passion for change management, I had the opportunity to supervise and build the capacity of individuals to form effective and dynamic project teams (up to 40 staff and 100 volunteers). With a Master's degree in International Cooperation and Multilingual Communication, I am constantly building my own capacity through online training and resources, in order to broaden my skills and stay up-to-date.

Past cooperations

"Aurélie made a valuable and insightful contribution by conducting an evaluation for ADA in Burkina Faso. Despite the difficulties caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, the results of her mission allowed for a significant improvement in the implementation of the Tuuma project, in the context of the deteriorating security situation. Aurélie's previous experience in Burkina Faso, as well as in programme management, was very useful in this context. I highly recommend her".

John Buchwalder – Team Leader, Austrian Development Agency

"During the course of the project evaluation and her work with Caritas Bangladesh, we found Ms Viard-Cretat to be competent, professional, objective, hardworking and energetic. She has strong analytical and communication skills, a curiosity to learn and a great respect for the local culture. She is creative and has excellent writing skills. She believes in the participatory evaluation process and has implemented it in this evaluation."

Francis Atul SARKER, Executive Director, Caritas Bangladesh

"Any organisation wanting to make a difference and mobilise its staff and resources as effectively as possible would benefit from Aurelie's support. She is an exceptional person who has transformed our organisation in a lasting way, and has also transformed the lives and opportunities of the children and families we work with."

Elizabeth GOWING, Co-founder, The Ideas Partnership Kosovo