COWI A/S is the lead partner of the consortium and is one of the leading multidisciplinary consulting companies in Scandinavia with more than 75 years of experience. It is a private limited company owned by the COWI Foundation, with head offices in Denmark. We have subsidiary companies and affiliates in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. Our range of services includes social sciences in the field of economics and management as well as development assistance, the latter being one of the primary core areas of competence of the firm. Infrastructure, development assistance and environmental projects accounted for more than 50% of a total turnover of around €350 million in 2006. Our clients mainly comprise the international development agencies of Danida, Sida, DFID and NORAD as well as multilateral organisations and regional development banks such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, as well as the European Community, UN agencies, and OECD. We are currently engaged in about 3,200 projects in Africa, Europe, Central and South-east Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America.

Maxwell Stamp PLC (MSP) is one of the world's leading economic development consultancy firms. Established in 1958, MSP has experience in 165 countries worldwide. We are based in London, have a permanent office in Bangladesh and project offices around the world. MSP continually operates in fragile conflict-affected and post-conflict environments, working with many of the world's leading consultants, academics and advisors. The firm currently manages headline rehabilitation, livelihoods, and social development programmes for DFID in Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, for the European Commission in Kosovo and Bosnia, for the Asian Development Bank in Sri Lanka, and for the World Bank in Afghanistan. In addition, the firm has recently completed assignments in Iraq, Tajikistan, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Serbia, amongst others.

Channel Research is a Belgium-based independent consulting company specialised in evaluations and social impact assessments, training and contract research, community relations and risk assessments. We advise organisations in unstable or fragile environments. Our fields of expertise are emergency aid, rehabilitation assistance, human rights, good governance, and conflict resolution. We also assist the corporate sector in community relations. There are four permanent staff members based in our office in Brussels and one in our office in Burundi. We also work with a wide network of independent consultants with various profiles and high expertise. We are always involved in the projects we run, either as team leader/team member or as project manager for quality assurance. Over the past two years, we have undertaken work in a variety of conflict-affected environments, including Sri Lanka, Eastern DRC, Sudan, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Liberia.

Cowater International Inc. (Cowater) is a private Canadian management consulting firm specializing in international development since 1985. It offers services in programme and project management as well as in policy analysis and development for international donor agencies, national governments and their agencies, rural and urban communities and the private sector in both developing and transitional economies. Cowater's team of professionals are able to handle multi-million dollar project works, from design and planning through implementation, to monitoring and evaluation as well as policy development studies, sector reviews and training activities. Cowater havs worked on numerous social development projects in conflict-affected countries including Pakistan, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Indonesia and Sri Lanka and has therefore developed good working relations with a large network of social development professionals, which our consortium would be able to access at short notice.

The Post-war Reconstruction and Development Unit (PRDU) was established in 1993 at the University of York and is based in the Department of Politics. Its central role is to provide outstanding teaching, research and advocacy in the field of post-war recovery. The Unit's philosophy is premised on the understanding that post-war reconstruction requires a multi-disciplinary 'problem solving' approach which addresses social development as a way of mitigating conflict. The PRDU has extensive experience in social development in conflict-affected environments. The Unit regularly undertakes technical assessments, programme design and development, policy review and support and monitoring and evaluation of social development programmes in a wide variety of post-conflict environments for donors, UN agencies, international and national NGOs and governments. In addition the Unit routinely designs and delivers innovative training to civil servants and NGO workers.

IDD at the School of Public Policy, University of Birmingham, undertakes development research and consultancies related to governance, social development, aid effectiveness and decentralisation. Many IDD staff operate in the dual role of project consultant and academic, therefore all consultancy work is guided by the latest thinking in the field.