Ann
Morton Hyde
Validated Lead Expert
Generic Skills
B.1. Understanding of integrated and sustainable urban development:
My professional career has been about sustainable urban development in various contexts, not the physical regeneration side but the social, economic and community engagement actions that are essential for local change. I have over 25 years’ experience working on social and economic exclusion in different countries. I started in Government (UK) on social protection policy then I moved to work for a large Regional Authority working in an Unemployment Initiatives Unit responsible for developing and delivering area regeneration and labour market projects for disadvantaged communities.
Since 2000 my work has been about social and economic inclusion, focusing on the Roma population in Europe. In 2005/6 I was the lead author of the publication The Glass Box; Systemic Exclusion from the Labour Market. I am a labour market economist, and in 2006 I consolidated my work experience with a Masters’ of Science from the University of Glasgow, the subject of my thesis was Roma Unemployment in Central and Eastern Europe. From 2009 – 2013 I had the opportunity to be lead expert on two URBACT Networks, ROMA-Net I and II, both focusing on engaging and building the capacity, know-how and commitment of the local authorities and local stakeholders to develop and deliver local integrated action plans for Roma inclusion.
B.2. Understanding of exchange and learning processes at transnational level:
My professional expertise has been about delivering different types of transnational learning and exchange practices for 15 years. From December 2014 I led a team for DG Justice which engaged 20 local authorities from 12 EU Member States in transnational exchange and learning activities. I applied a range of methods to motivate information sharing, peer learning and co-production between practitioners. I developed a methodology to for exchange and learning between 140 journalists from 21 EU Member States.
I was an URBACT lead expert from 2009 – 2013 when I designed and delivered transnational exchange and learning actions between nine local authorities. From 2002 to 2014 I was either component leader in transnational Twinning programmes or mission leader of multi-country monitoring and evaluation teams when learning was at the core and the transnational exchange dynamic created a forum that consolidated this learning.
For me the art of transnational exchange is much more than setting up meetings between people from different countries. It is about creating an environment where participants share experience and are open to learn from each other to grow their expertise. It is not about lecturing on how things should be done, but about putting practitioners into a situation where they can examine and question their existing practices and beliefs. In that way they can feel empowered to question, adjust, improve working practices even change negative perceptions.
B.3. Proficiency in English:
English is my mother tongue. But that is not enough, the skill is about being a good communicator. I am able to listen, to understand, to interpret, and to add knowledge so people actively engage with me in conversation or debate.
I have lived and worked in many countries in Europe and Asia and through this I have developed the skills to communicate well with people who use the English language, but it is not their mother tongue. I have led teams of professionals working, speaking and writing in English although not their mother tongue. My monitoring and evaluation work has put me in the situation of having to conduct many face-to-face information gathering meetings with officials from different countries, including senior Government officials who speak English as a second language.
My international team leader experience means I have grown the skills to read, understand, edit and improve documents written by people writing English as a second language. My recent years as lead expert on an URBACT network has allowed me to further develop my skills to lead and facilitate group exchanges and discussions with people who have English, but not as their mother tongue.
I have good listening skills which help me understand the points people are trying to articulate.
More than having good English it’s about good communication and inter-personal skills, which I have proven, over and over again with my ability to sustain international work for more than 15 years
Expertise for the design and delivery of transnational exchange and learning activities:
Summary Expertise for the design and delivery of transnational exchange and learning activities:
The art of transnational exchange, for me, is much more than simply setting up meetings between people from different countries it is about creating an environment where participants share experience and are open to learn from each other to grow their expertise. It is not about lecturing on how things should be done, but about putting practitioners into a situation where they can examine and question their existing practices and beliefs. In that way they can feel empowered to question, adjust and improve working practices, even change beliefs.
I’ve been delivering various transnational learning and exchange practices for the last 15 years. As the lead expert for Roma-Net I facilitated the creation of a supportive and developmental exchange and learning environment for 9 local authorities to come together to and build knowledge and capacity. The success of this network was about building common interests, common understanding but at the same time recognizing that the approach to situations can be different but equally successful.
For two years until early 2017 I led a project team on a DG Justice contract which engaged 20 local authorities from 12 EU Member States in transnational exchange and learning activities. In 2016 I co-produced and was lead facilitator of 8 transnational anti-discrimination seminars for European media/ journalist with Roma people.
Thematic expertise:
Theme / Policy:
Active Inclusion of Target Groups
Summary Thematic expertise:
My knowledge and professional expertise is about social and economic inclusion and local economic development. Most recently my focus has been on inclusion of Roma in Europe. Early in my working life I was a development practitioner working in an unemployment initiatives unit responsible for the development and delivery of a many new initiatives to tackle unemployment, such as the intermediate labour market for supported employment. I was also team leader of a social inclusion partnership tackling poverty and exclusion in several disadvantaged communities in Scotland, UK.
I am a labour market economist, I have an MSc from the University of Glasgow and post graduate certificates in relevant subjects like dynamics of the labour market, social and economic exclusion, training and human resource development and strategic decision making.
From 2009 – 2013, as an URBACT lead expert on Roma-Net I had the opportunity to transfer my knowledge and experience into working with local authority practitioners responsible for developing and implementing local Roma integration plans. Roma-Net strengthened the capacity of local practitioners to influence change in local polices and local service delivery.
In 2006 I evaluated EC funding for Roma Minorities in – Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia. This was one of the first publications that highlighted the extent of Roma exclusion in Europe and brought it to the attention of the European Commission.
Expertise support to local authorities and other stakeholders in designing & delivering integrated and participatory policies
E.1. Knowledge on participatory methods and tools for co-production and implementation of local polices :
As lead expert on URBACT Roma-Net, I developed and delivered participatory methods such as proactive outreach to support individual practitioners during information gathering and to motivate local authority practitioners during the development of their local action plans.
Between 2006 – 2009 I was delivering training in project cycle management for public officials in Romania, Bulgaria, Kosovo and the UK. I am experienced at using logical framework methodology to develop realistic and achievable intervention logic for various projects. I use this knowledge in most areas of my work as it provides a well-tested participatory framework for setting objectives, goals, expected results and indicators to measure results.
My specialist field is about tackling discrimination and challenging the stereotypes that limit life opportunities for many Roma in Europe. This field is complicated, often generating differing views between practitioners from different countries. There have been times mediation has been required to promote discussion between different stakeholders. In one situation I put different stakeholders in to small action learning sets to enable the practitioners to unpick their complicated situations, this promoted stronger engagement and a level of peer learning which allowed practitioners to gain insight from each other. This provided a forum for practitioners to express their views and to challenge the working practices, and attitudes, of their peers.
E.2. Knowledge on integrated approach for the design, delivering, monitoring and evaluation of urban strategies/policies:
I have completed more than 30 independent evaluations of European Commission funded projects. From 2000 to 2004 I was the team leader of a team evaluating the pre-accession funding (PHARE) in Hungary. As a thematic expert I contributed to evaluation of social, economic and civil society programmes being delivered in the then pre-accession countries.
I am also a result oriented monitoring expert and have delivered over 20 ROMs in the Western Balkans and Turkey. These have included monitoring and evaluation of urban strategies and policies in various countries.
I am experienced in project cycle management so understand the role of ongoing monitoring and evaluation for all development situations. I understand indicators, and how they can be effectively used to measure change and recognise results. I have been a trainer in project cycle management on an ad hoc basis since 2005.
My field of expertise is in social and economic inclusion which demands an integrated and cross sectoral approach to achieve results. The area of Roma inclusion is not a field where change happens quickly. It is a field where significant effort and resilience is required to ‘influence’ change in policies and local practices. In this context, setting milestones and measuring change against defined indicators is essential to evidence social change. During the Roma-Net delivery pilot, I supported the participating cities to develop indicators to monitor and measure change.
E.3. Awareness of the main policy and funding schemes for sustainable urban development at EU and national level:
I use the internet to keep up to date with about sustainable urban development policies, trends and funds. After years working in this field I know where to look and what to look for. I also use social media Facebook and Twitter and I am on mailing lists with DG Regio, DG Employment and DG Justice which help to keep me aware of announcements about forthcoming funding opportunities. I attend conferences and events to keep up to date.
Keeping up to date with funding opportunities has been part of my working life for over 20
years. During that time I have identified funding opportunities and developed project concepts to attract funding in a range of circumstances.
I keep a group of local authority contacts up to date about funding opportunities from a range of community programmes relevant for Roma inclusion related actions, such as previously Progress, and most recently the Rights and Citizenship programme.
In 2015 I prepared and won a contract with European Commission DG Justice to deliver a pan-European activity campaign to challenge discrimination and stereotypes against Roma. This involved working with schools, local authorities and the media across Europe.
E.4. Ability to understand specific local situations and adapt tools and content to different local realities:
As the Roma-Net lead expert I supported 9 local authorities to design and deliver a Roma inclusion plan relevant for their city. Each plan recognized that actions were required in the main policy areas of education, health, employment and housing but at the same time the plans had to reflect local needs and take account of local service delivery.
In my earlier working life in Scotland I worked for Unemployment Initiatives Unit and was responsible for designing, developing projects to tackle unemployment in different localities in Scotland. Each project had to Prior
Similarly in the DG Justice for Roma, with Roma campaign I supported the 20 local authorities to develop and deliver an action relevant in their local community. The actions were required to connect Roma and non-Roma people and to challenge stereotypes and in this context there was consistency in the theme and the aims of the actions, but the content was successfully adapted and delivered to take account of local situations.
Summary Expertise:
I work in social and economic inclusion which demands an integrated and cross sectoral approach to achieve results. This is an area of work, especially when it focuses on Roma and other disadvantaged communities, where change does not occur quickly. I am experienced in project cycle management so understand the role of ongoing monitoring and evaluation to monitor and measure development situations. I understand indicators, and how they can be effectively used to measure change and recognise results.
My specialism is about tackling discrimination and challenging the stereotypes that limit life opportunities. This work can generate differing views between practitioners from different countries. In Roma-Net I used various methods to engage and create the right environment to extract experience from local authority practitioners and to build a strong dynamic for sharing practices and views. This required innovation to stimulate active engagement. Roma-net, with my guidance, empowered practitioners to challenge the views and experiences of others in a positive and proactive environment with a strong exchange and learning focus.
I am well connected to pan-European networks to keep up to date with current policies and practices in sustainable urban development and Roma integration. I keep informed about funding opportunities, and in the past have successfully supported different organisations to develop and attract funding from the European Commission.
Informations
Residence location:
United Kingdom
Languages:
English - Mother tongue
Email:
ann@think-international.com