Staff Profile

Simon Henderson //
Principal Consultant

I have over 20 years of experience working with public and civil society organisations to improve performance, lesson-learning and accountability in more than 20 developing countries and in the UK.  I combine a sound grasp of evaluation and performance assessment methodologies with practical experience working in and with organisations to analyse performance, communicate results to policy makers and bring about improvement.

For the last ten years, I have been designing and managing high profile evaluations and value for money studies for donor organisations and the UK’s National Audit Office - most recently, a value for money study of skills development in UK departments, which has informed the Cabinet Office’s programme ‘Transforming the Civil Service’. In delivering my work, I have had to respond to and manage external accountability expectations as well the sensitive political and organisational dimensions of evaluation.

My experience spans assessment at organisational, programme and project levels and the design and delivery of complex evaluations – such as a recent evaluation of a decade of Australian support to basic services (health, water and sanitation and education) in six countries. Much of my work has a strong focus on advisory support and capacity building.

My principal personal skills are the ability to solve problems through team working and relate results to strategic and organisational change; establish good working relationships across interdisciplinary teams in different cultural environments; and communicate effectively with different types of stakeholders. Underpinning these, I am experienced in project appraisal and planning techniques, including logic modelling and cost-benefit analysis; evaluation and audit research methods; and in applying organisational improvement models - Balanced Scorecard, Burke-Litwin, process management techniques and EFQM Business Excellence (qualified assessor).  I am trained in facilitation skills, training of trainers and De Bono’s Six Hats Thinking as well as management development, team building and media skills.