Since the MDI’s inception in 1984, it has had a specialised department dedicated to Research & Consultancy and over the years it has built up a reputation as the leading economic consultant in The Gambia.

You only need to look at the department's client list to see proof of its success. Clients include such reputable international organisations as the World Bank, USAID, Economic Development Institute, Irish Institute of Public Administration, African Development Bank, West African Management Development Institute Network, United Nations Development Technical Cooperation Department /UNDP.

Local clients have come from both the public and private sector.

The way MDI differentiates research from consultancy is that research is an independent assignment, identified and carried out by a staff member for numerous unidentified users. Consultancies, however, are done contractually on behalf of specific clients.

Types of consultancies:

All MDI consultancies are management consultancies. A management consultant offers professional advice, guidance and structural information to organisations for the solution of systemic mal-functions. This advice and guidance spans across a whole range of organisational issues such as planning information, human resource management, financial advice, organisational structuring and restructuring, policy planning and analysis, etcetera.

We offer a range of consultancies, examples of which are listed below:

MDI’s professionalism:

In carrying out consulting contracts, we have one key advantage that differentiates us from our competitors. We are able to provide a wide range of consultancies because we have a team of experts across many disciplines and we can tap on their knowledge at any time when carrying out consultancies.

And, if a consultancy warrants it, we are also in a position to offer custom-designed training, work shops, etcetera.

Also, many consultants just submit a report as the end-product, leaving the facilitation and monitoring of these changes to the organisation itself. At the MDI, we like to be with the client for that important step, when the organisation actually implements the recommendations.

Below are some of the principles which underlie our consultancies:

• use of innovative techniques and approaches;
• provision of an objective insight/perspective;
• ensuring the full participation of the client when diagnosing the organisation’s problems;
• offering periodical reviews of the change strategy implementation upon request.

On the research side, the Institute has just published a research study on Women in Top Management in The Gambia.