The nature of conflict in the world has changed; the impact on communities is very different than in the recent past. Weak, poor governance, ethnicity, religion and ideologies are the triggers and modern wars are often short leaving behind lengthy restructuring and rebuilding needs. Upper Quartile specialises in the provision of support to Governments and Aid Agencies in two areas – economic development and governance / policy change management.
Economic Development
Extreme poverty, exacerbated by the socioeconomic impact of war, can create precisely the framework conducive to renewed or continued violence. If stability and economic reconstruction are to be sustainable, efforts must focus on rebuilding the livelihoods and economic development capacity quickly. One of the key issues in post-conflict societies is that of employment. Commonly businesses need to develop from a very low base in an environment where traditional business and economic support facilities do not operate and, those that do, require much higher financial commitments than in developed economies. Upper Quartile’s Economic Recovery and Development programmes are implemented using field tested best practices for SME and livelihood recovery.
Governance and Policy ChangeMost of today's conflicts are the result of failed states and dysfunctional systems; when good governance principles are applied and supported by a functioning civil society and the rule of law, imbalances can be corrected quickly. Upper Quartile has been assisting communities post-conflict to create basic institutions responsive to the populations' needs, to ensure communities have a voice within those institutions, and that they have the capacity to manage them for sustainable socioeconomic development. This is traditionally delivered in programmes aiming at supporting civil society, enhancing protection and rebuilding ties between local governments and their constituencies, focusing on decentralisation policies.
Project Examples
Iraq – Provincial Reconstruction Team (Basra)
The UK Government has made significant commitments to the restructuring of Iraq; a country with a long and proud trading history and some 23% of the world’s known oil reserves. Upper Quartile has been part of a 24 man Provincial Reconstruction Team based in the British Embassy in Basra and Baghdad since early 2008 running a parallel programme of short term high impact economic development work and longer term policy development programmes.
Upper Quartile is responsible for the Investment Policy development and the policy and legislative changes required in the business environment.
Investment Policy - we are using the well established OECD Policy Framework for Investment with an established Benchmarking system to measure the current investment policies that Basra operate against best-international practice. This will allow the changes required as part of a change management process to be justified.
Business Environment - we have selected the World Bank’s “Doing Business” series of annual reports to measure the need and nature of changes in business legislation and policy. This excellent series of reports produces numeric measures of internationally comparable data showing how easy it is to do business in 178 countries around the world and the reforms that are proving the most effective change-agents.
In both the Investment and Business Policy a 10 year plan of competitive changes to policy will be worked through with a series of senior Government and Private Sector businessmen and implemented as part of a regional economic development strategy.
Serbia – Supplier Development
The World Bank has had a significant regional commitment within the Balkans to build regional cross-border trade back up to the post-conflict levels seen pre 1990’s. This is represented by a large commitment through a regional Investment Promotion Agency based in Vienna promoting all countries in South East Asia as an destination for mobile investment. To support the efforts made in attracting and retaining FDI and maximising the economic gain from successful FDI a supplier development programme was developed in Serbia following the conflict there.
The Supplier Development programme involved 30 companies of various sizes selected by SIEPA (Serbian Investment and Export Promotion Agency) and the World Bank with a target of raising the capacity of the companies to service the higher-value needs of international investors in the region. Upper Quartile was responsible for working closely with these companies to bring the costs, quality and management performance up to international standards. Three examples include:
- A printing company (sales €50 million)
- A polyurethane manufacturer (sales €5 million)
- A beverage manufacturer (sales €5 million)
A total of €4 million was removed from the cost base and the value-added per employee increased by 14% over the project period.
Bosnia – National Capacity Building
Upper Quartile has been supporting the transition in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the war there ended and has been involved in the post-conflict restructuring for almost 12 years in a variety of projects and support roles that have developed as the economy has.
In 1998 – Upper Quartile was central in a 28 man-month programme to introduce Finance, Accounting, Commercial, Foreign Investment and Foreign Trade policy and legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina at a national, regional and cantonal level. Upper Quartile prepared the content and coordinated the negotiation of acceptance of legislation in the areas of foreign investment, free zones, the expropriation laws and economic development institutions across Bosnia Herzegovina at a national, regional and local governments with the 3 main ethnic groups.
In 1999 – following on from the development of the legislation and the integration of the legislation at various levels of Government, Upper Quartile was invited back for an 8 man-month programme to establish the National Investment Promotion Agency for Bosnia Herzegovina and to prepare marketing material for investors in various Free Zones within the two principal regions (entities) of BiH.
In 2000 – as the investment agency bedded down Upper Quartile was involved in the identification and the preparation of investment programmes for:
- Enterprise Privatisation Agency (€ 2 million)
- Enterprise Restructuring / Economic Development Agency (€ 3 million)
- Textile and Agri Business Restructuring Agency (€ 1.2 million)
- Electricity Privatisation Agency (€ 3 million)
- Insurance Industry Association (€ 1 million)
In 2001 – as the economy developed and the economic support became more sophisticated and demanding Upper Quartile completed a review of several inter-regional and internal private sector development institutions, programmes and tools to re-establish trade within a still divided country and extend the localised trade regionally. Assessments and Capacity Building in a developing post-conflict environment included Special Economic Zones, Business Zones and Free Zones, grant-in-aid support to encourage post-conflict population relocation, Micro Credit loans, Economic Development Institutions, Capacity Building of local/regional governments in economic development and the establishment of urban and rural re-development initiatives in several major towns.
In 2003 – Upper Quartile was invited back to support the design and delivery of a SME and Business Service Provider (BSP) development programme as well as the provision of technical training to local consultancy companies in developing and delivering the specialist assistance required by SMEs. A parallel role included was the development and introduction of a suite of SME Development Services and Tools into the LESPnet (a voluntary association of local Business Service Consultancy companies) and the Confederation of Employers and the implementation of a Business Zones and self-sustaining quality assurance and skills up-grading / improvement system for the members of the Association and major employers. To do this we worked with the local consultants and 30 businesses, achievements included:
- € 2.98 million invested in micro enterprises
- All participating SME’s with “bankable” business plans
- 84 jobs safeguarded
