Evaluation of projects and programmes
We evaluate what matters — and tell you what the data actually says.
Development programmes operate in fast-changing environments, and the question is never simply “did it work?” but “what worked, for whom, under what conditions, and what should change next?”. IMACON conducts independent mid-term, final and ex-post evaluations grounded in the OECD-DAC criteria — relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability — and aligned with DeGEval quality standards.
Always mixed methods: desk review, key-informant interviews, focus groups, quantitative analysis where baseline data exists, and participatory feedback workshops that turn findings into recommendations together with the people who will implement them. We go to the field, speak the language and know the local context well enough to ask the right follow-up question.
Evaluation clients and donors include the European Union, UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, BMZ, ADA, Sida, DANIDA, USAID, EBRD, the Council of Europe, OSCE, Caritas and Renovabis.
Organisational development
Building institutions that outlast the project cycle.
The hardest problem in development is not designing a good programme but making sure the organisations delivering it keep going after the funding ends. IMACON works with organisations at inflection points: networks trying to professionalise, learning centres that need governance structures, confederations aligning strategy and accountability across dozens of members.
We treat organisational development as a structured intervention, not a generic workshop: a capacity assessment as the starting point, participatory strategic planning that produces documents people actually use, systems proportionate to real institutional capacity, and feedback loops that let organisations adapt. Our approach is documented in the Organisational Viability Toolkit and the IMACON Model.
Project design
From context analysis to fundable, implementable programmes.
Good project design starts with what is actually happening on the ground. We work across the full design cycle — situation analysis, stakeholder mapping, needs assessment, logical framework and theory of change, risk analysis and budget — and produce designs that are technically sound, politically realistic and score well in competitive procurement.
We also train project teams on their own real cases: workshops that end with a grant-ready logframe rather than a certificate. We know what EU, BMZ, ADA, Sida, USAID and multilateral procurement processes expect, because we compete in them regularly.
Applied research
Research that answers the questions practitioners actually have.
Applied research asks useful questions. IMACON conducts studies designed to inform programme decisions and sector strategies — multi-country comparative studies, rapid needs assessments and sector analyses in contexts where reliable secondary data is scarce and fieldwork requires local languages and cultural competence.
We offer standardised research products with predictable scope and timelines: thematic coding of interviews and focus groups (accelerated by locally run language models and validated by senior evaluators), feasibility studies, baseline studies, mapping studies and needs assessments. Our team and network conduct interviews in English, Russian, Polish, German, French, Turkish, Tajik, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Khmer, Armenian, Georgian and Albanian.
Business consulting
Making development organisations and social enterprises financially viable.
Development organisations and social enterprises exist to serve public goals, but they need viable business models to survive. IMACON helps organisations and companies build revenue strategies, financial systems and operational models that reduce dependency on any single donor — and supports businesses entering the EU market from the East.
We start with financial reality — actual revenue, actual costs, actual pipeline — and design models proportionate to organisational capacity. IMACON consultants have been accredited under the EBRD business advisory programmes since 2007.
