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Geopolicity offers an extensive range of tailor made consulting services to suite the individual requirements of governments, multi-lateral institutions and the private sector. We specialise in the provision of innovative services in the weak and fragile state environment, with a particular focus on the requirements of post-conflict reconstruction and development.
We provide ‘independent’ policy and analytical advisory services to a wide range of clients in the international arena, in the areas of security systems reform, public sector restructuringand management, public finance management, economic policy development, private sector development, energy policy and analysis of key factors that drive change in a given country context. All advisory services are provided by highly experienced consultants in their particular field. Our work is pitched at the highest market standard; providing practical solutions to policy and institutional constraints. Moreover, our services are informed by and contribute towards the latest analytical thinking in a given work area. Our services are client oriented, informed, comprehensive and analytical; and include: |
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Economic Policy: Support to strengthen macroeconomic policy, fiscal and monetary policy and management, public and commercial banking, micro-finance and investment policy. |
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Private Sector Development: Services to support the creation of an enabling environment for the private sector, as the engine of growth. Emphasis is placed on analytical work to remove the binding constraints to growth. Further, we provide services to corporate clients with regard to investment financing and market analysis; |
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Public Finance Management: To support the establishment of effective policy making, sound, transparent and accountable budgetary and treasury systems, as well the effective utilisation of external assistance through budget support operations, trust funds, and programmatic based investments. Work includes public finance management and expenditure reviews, and strengthening systems of expenditure and aid tracking. |
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Public Sector Restructuring: Analytical and advisory services in the administrative restructuring of central and sub-national structures of state, to enhance governance, fiscal sustainability and the effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery; |
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Political Economy: Analytical services to governments identifying the political economy drivers of change. |
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Security Systems Reform: Support for the development of security systems in weak and fragile states (in defence, law and order and justice) that provide higher quality services at a price that is affordable by the state in the longer term. Such reforms embrace national security policy development, institutional restructuring and strengthening, staff and pay reforms and public finance management; |
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Publications: We publish ad hoc, high quality independent not for profit publications and research findings. |
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Geopolicity provides bespoke services to governments, intelligence and security services and corporate clients to enhance  understanding of the drivers of change in a given country context. We work with experienced national counterparts and independent think tanks to deliver high quality analytical services related to national policy, political parties and processes, foreign policy analysis and political threat assessments. A particular focus of work is to better understand the politics of contestation in weak, fragile and post conflict states, with a view to limiting the risks of a return to violent conflict; towards the establishment of democratic and pluralistic societies. |
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Drivers of Change: We provide support in the development of drivers of change studies that seek to unpackage both positive and negative drivers of change in given context. |
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Foreign Policy Analysis: We conduct discrete foreign policy analysis for clients with regard to national, regional and international political relations, regional security arrangements, trans-national security issues, terrorism, and other contested state issues. |
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Ensuring macro-economic stability is an essential pre-condition for the attainment of broad based sustainable economic growth both across the entire economy and within emerging economic sub-sectors. Often working closely with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), Geopolicity provides advisory services to sovereign governments with regard to various aspects of economic policy, including fiscal, tax, monetary, interest rate, labour market and trade policy development. Areas of specialisation include national economic policy and strategy development, public private partnerships, private sector development and economic growth diagnostic work. We support economic policy development that maximises growth enhancement, limiting illegal economic activity and assisting in formalising the informal economy through the development of market based incentives. 
Improving economic governance and accountability is a key objective of most of our sovereign clients, as is fostering competition policy and creating an enabling regulatory framework. On the expenditure side, we work to strengthen prioritisation of public spending in core areas of the economy with a particular focus on banking, investment law, infrastructure development, trade and corruption. Recent examples of our work include support to the Government of Punjab in growth diagnostic work, drafting of national economic policies in Afghanistan, creating viable models for public-private-partnership in Asia, and work to limit the impact of the illegal economy on political stability. Clients include the governments of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Eastern Europe, the EU, UK Government and Asian Development Bank. |
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Fiscal Policy |
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Trade Policy |
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Competition Policy |
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Investment Law development |
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Sector and Sub-Sector Growth Diagnostic Work |
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International and Trade Financing |
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The collapse of state structures following conflict often provides an invaluable opportunity to reform the core structures of administration, as well as staffing establishments and pay and grading arrangements to enhance the provision of state functions in an effective and cost efficient manner. Moreover, given the narrow revenue base characteristic of weak and fragile states, ‘rightsizing’ institutions and  staffing arrangements is vital for the emergence of a lean and effective government, and one that is fiscally sustainable over the medium to longer term. Once a transitional policy and strategy framework has been established, the sequenced realignment of administrative structures to enhance implementation becomes a pre-condition for better policy implementation. Furthermore, given the need to reduce dependence on external aid, making appropriate structuring decisions is essential to stop the emergence of a bloated an inefficient government.
Geopolicity specialises in the provision of technical advisory services to strengthen public sector management and good governance. Services include support for administrative restructuring, civil service reform, staff management and training, as well as decentralisation and service delivery. |
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Administrative Restructuring: Proposals for reforming the size and structure of national and sub-national administrations through the application of standard public administration reform activities. Assistance in this area now extends to national security, law and order and justice institutions too. |
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Civil Service Reform and Staff Management: Support to either establish or strengthen existing civil service management capabilities, in particular with regard to senior civil service, Offices of the President, Cabinet Offices, Parliament, and executive portfolios. |
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Decentralisation and Service Delivery: Analytical and policy advisory services to assist in the development of appropriate revenue and expenditure assignment models aimed at enhancing service delivery, accountability and transparency of public office. |
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The adoption of established 'core' public finance management procedures following conflict is vital to support weak and fragile states to make effective and efficient use of scarce national resources; as well as to increase accountability and transparency in public spending. Unfortunately, in most weak and fragile states, national financial management capacities remain weak, undermining the linkage between policy making, planning and budget formulation and execution. Furthermore, once the budget is not established as the central instrument of government policy, the overall sequence of reconstruction and investment prioritization is also undermined. When set against a background of weak revenue mobilization and a tide of rising corruption, the challenge of strengthening existing systems remains critical to the whole reconstruction effort. 
Under such situations, external assistance often flows outside of government treasury systems, leading to the creation of parallel structures for service delivery and the excessive projectisation of the national budget. In many cases, Trust Funds are established to overcome many of the structural problems faced by governments and donors, with differing degrees of success.
Geopolicity provides support to governments and donors in strengthening existing public finance management systems, with a view to enhancing service delivery, fiscal and budgetary management arrangements as well as the effectiveness of external aid. |
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Services Include |
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Public finance management and reviews of public expenditures, encompassing traditional sectors such as education and health as well as national security arrangements; |
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Fiscal and tax policy advisory services to IFIs and national governments; |
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Support to governments to strengthen policy management, budget formulation, public expenditure and aid tracking systems; |
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Analytical services to support the restructuring of sub-national revenue and expenditure systems; |
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Establishing and strengthening the management of multi-donor trust funds; |
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Support to strengthen donor budget support operations; and, |
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Enhancing the effectiveness of external assistance, including strengthening national aid coordination and management systems, to support the implementation of the Paris Declaration. |
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 Following complex emergencies, re-establishing national security and the rule of law are fundamental pre-conditions for good governance, the delivery of basic services, protecting rights and assets, and sustaining economic growth. All too often government and partners focus heavily on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of former combatants whilst key policy, legal, administrative and economic management reforms are pushed back, undermining the sustainability of the reform program itself. The sequence of reforms, as well as the substance is vital to developing an effective, efficient and sustainable security sector. Poorly informed decisions, for example when restructuring army and police forces, can leave newly emerging governments with a fiscally unsustainable national security structure that requires long term external support. Furthermore, lack of investment in judicial reform, in supporting efforts in national security coordination and lack of fiscal work are common place. Our focus is on strengthening security systems reform, in line with the OECD Security System Reform implementiaon framework, and UN SSR policy to enhance the effectiveness, fiscal sustainability and service delivery aspects of security systems.
Recent work includes conducting expenditure reviews of the security sector in Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, and providing support to the OECD in developing the OECD Implementation Framework for SSR and as experts to the International Security Sector Advisory Team (ISSAT). |
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Analytical work on existing national security, rule of law policies/strategies towards developing a proposal for corrective measures. Emphasis is placed on determining the actual threat so as to structure an effective counter force; |
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Support for the administrative restructuring of national security institutions whilst enhancing core public finance management capabilities; |
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Conducting public expenditure and public finance reviews with security institutions to address key issues such as fiscal sustainability, appropriate pay and grading structures, and support for comprehensive budgeting; |
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Assistance and training to national oversight bodies, to members of parliament, to reinforce civilian oversight of security arrangements; and, |
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Support in establishing and managing trust funds to pay national army and national police forces. |
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Review of the Afghan Counter Narcotics Trust Fund (CNTF)
This report presents the results of the review of the Counter Narcotics Trust Fund (CNTF) review conducted by Middlebrook & Miller LLC during July and August 2007 on behalf of the members of the CNTF Management Board, funded by the UK Government.
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'Right Financing' Development: The Key to State Building and Sustained Economic Growth
Dr. Peter J. Middlebrook
This paper, presented at the 5th Annual ASEF Roundtable, draws upon the experiences of Afghanistan and Kosovo in particular, while incorporating examples from East Timor and Cambodia where relevant to address the following questions: what is the role of external aid in the post conflict setting? What is the optimal volume, sequence, composition prioritization of aid and when is aid too much? How should finance be channeled in line with the principles of the Paris Declaration? Do the principles and measures of Paris Declaration go far enough? the What are the indicators that a post-conflict country is making optimal use of financial aid? How can coordination of information, funding priorities, timing and even aid disbursement be achieved? What balance of grants and soft loans should be used? What kind of conditionalities could be attached to ODA and through what mechanism should such corrective measures be applied?
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Sierra Leone Security Sector Expenditure Review
Dr. Peter J. Middlebrook and Sharon M. Miller
Security and Law and Order are both essential public goods; the absence of which undermines the accountability and transparency of state, negatively impacts the sustainability of broad based economic growth and mobilisation of state revenues, further limiting the delivery of essential public services to contribute towards combating poverty . Moreover, unless the state is able to deliver services to people and the private sector that strengthen the enabling environment, the incentives that support the emergence of a strong formal economy may never materialise. The UK government commissioned this review of Public Expenditures in the Security Sector in Sierra Leone with a view to identifying core SSR reform issues and priorities...
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Agro-Economic Survey & Investment Climate Diagnostic: Bahawalpur, Bahwalnagar & Rahim Yar Khan
Dr. Peter J. Middlebrook, Iqbal Mustafa, Ben Fowler
This report presents an 'honest' and 'hard hitting' diagnostic of the drivers and constraints to economic growth, employment creation and poverty reduction in the cotton and wheat zones of the Southern Punjab. To overcome the many fundamental constraints and barriers to growth affecting small holder farmers and the landless, nothing less than the full transformation of the agricultural and non agricultural economies will guarantee sustained growth over the longer term. The many issues discussed are presented to stimulate vibrant discussion at a wider national level, to encourage Government's already proactive reform agenda, as well as to guide and give traction too the Bahawalpur Rural Development Project in supporting such a transformation.
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Improving Public Financial Management in the Afghan Security Sector
Peter Middlebrook, Nicole Ball, William Byrd and Christopher Ward
This is the first such report in the history of the World Bank to tackle this complicated subject head on. The report was commissioned amid growing concerns that the Afghan security sector was being established on an increasingly unsustainable basis. This ground breaking report views security as impacting on the 'full gamut of development issues faced by Afghanistan, ranging from state building and capacity development to revenue collection, service delivery, and encouraging private sector-led growth '.
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All Along the Watch Tower:
Bringing Peace to the Afghanistan Pakistan Border
Dr. Peter J. Middlebrook & Sharon M. Miller
Five years after US coalition forces commenced Operation Enduring Freedom, the steadily rising tide of insurgency in southern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan continues to characterise the beleaguered international stabilisation effort.
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Post Conflict Security Sector & Public Finance Management
Peter Middlebrook, Rima Simpson and Karene Melloul
Despite growing awareness of the importance of extending PFM reviews to the security sector, so far the challenge of moving beyond basic principles toward the adoption of a more comprehensive approach to building an effective and fiscally sustainable post-conflict security sector remains elusive. In countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Sierra Leone, national authorities and donors are struggling to regain control of unaffordable levels of security sector spending, much of it financed directly by donors.
http://www.worldbank.org/conflict
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Lessons in Post Conflict Reconstruction from Afghanistan
Peter Middlebrook & Sharon Miller
The challenges facing Afghanistan remain immense; and are further complicated by congenital insecurity within Afghanistan’s immediate neighbourhood, as well as the continued prevalence of a large illicit economy. Many of the emerging constraints are perhaps best described as "idiosyncratic" (unique and contextualized), whereas others are more "generic;" conforming closely to what has been seen in Kosovo, East Timor, Rwanda, and Iraq, among other cases of post-conflict reconstruction. This policy report offers lessons from the experience of Afghanistan for other cases of post-conflict reconstruction and development.
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Living on a Life Support Machine: The Challenge of Rebuilding Afghanistan
Jan 27th, 2006
Peter J. Middlebrook and Sharon M. Miller
The forthcoming "London Conference" on Afghanistan (January 31-February 1, 2006), to be attended by President Hamid Karzai, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and Paul Wolfowitz, head of the World Bank, brings together high ranking dignitaries from the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the international development community to endorse a new multilateral agreement to be known as the "Afghanistan Compact," the successor of the Bonn Agreement.
http://www.fpif.org/
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Beyond Bonn—Revisioning the International Compact for Afghanistan
Mark Sedra & Peter Middlebrook
With the parliamentary elections marking an end to the Bonn political process, it is time to take stock of the process' achievements and to assess whether it has indeed provided a firm foundation for a sustainable and sovereign Afghan state. It is also time to chart a new course for the next phase of Afghanistan's transition, through a post-Bonn compact. Perhaps more than anything else, this Herculean effort will require time. State-building is a resource-, time-, and labor-intensive process in which Afghanistan is only at an intermediary stage.
http://www.fpif.org/
Fighting Hunger and Poverty in Ethiopia
Dr. Peter Middlebrook
Drought, poverty, famine and war are not new to Ethiopia. However, in spite of the efforts of the present Government to address poverty and hunger, in 2003, a further 13 million people required international assistance, against an annual average of some 5 million, and GDP growth dropped 3.8%. A total of 1.85 million metric tons was provided at a cost of approximately US$800 million. Despite following an aggressive reform agenda, and establishing a Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program (SDPRP), levels of poverty and hunger remain almost unrivalled in Africa, and globally. As a consequence, international assistance to Ethiopia has been very substantially dominated by humanitarian assistance, much of it in kind.
http://www.drylands-group.org
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