Services for a sustainable future

• Email: scanteam@scanteam.no 
• Visit address: Tordenskiolds gate 2, 0160 Oslo
• Postal Address: P.O. Box 593 Sentrum, NO-0106 Oslo, Norway
• Phone: +47 977 44 380

Our Mission

To provide knowledge and services for a sustainable future.

Our Vision

To be a recognized centre contributing to a rights-based and sustainable future.

Methodology and good practice

Scanteam’s core competence is methodology.

Our services are based on field-proven knowledge and the robust use of international standards, methodology tools and good practice.

The scope of our experience allows Scanteam to innovate with different approaches, according to the needs of each client. Since 1990, we have completed assignments in over 100 countries, with a broad range of clients.

Scanteam helps our clients achieve results over the full programme cycle, with:

• The design of instruments for the delivery of international assistance
• Feasibility studies, needs assessment, planning and appraisals
• Risk assessment and risk management strategies
• Stakeholder mapping, consultation and social dialogue
• Developing results-based performance monitoring frameworks and systems
• Performance monitoring over the full life of a programme or investment
• Mid-term reviews, final evaluation and lessons learned studies
• Conflict assessment and analysis
• Capacity development and training
• Mainstreaming gender equality into all business areas

Use of international standards

Scanteam Partners use international standards, guidance and good practice, including:

• Those used by the OECD DAC, the World Bank, the United Nations and European Union, for appraisal, monitoring and evaluation. We also work regularly with the standards of major bilateral donors and non-governmental organisations.
• International responsible business due diligence standards, among them the United Nations Guidance on Human Rights and World Bank IFC Performance Standards for Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, among others.
• World Bank standards for Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability.

Quality Assurance

Scanteam’s Quality Assurance (QA) is based on ISO 9001 standards, and consists of external QA, process management, inclusive consultation, client feed-back, and a focus on data reliability and validity.

• Data/information is the evidentiary core of all tasks. Attention is paid to the reliability and validity of data by validating as far as possible against other sources (triangulation), and discussing sources and data with clients and informed stakeholders.
• External QA is provided by one or more senior experts in the field. The quality assuror is to monitor the team at particular points in the process: reviewing the TOR; clarifying roles; agreeing on methodology and instruments to use; ensuring that deliverables address the TOR and are of high quality; and that the process is on time and on-budget.
• Process management is based on a check-list that the task leader uses to verify that key issues are addressed and critical steps implemented properly along the delivery process. The check-list is based on international “good practice” standards for evaluation tasks.
• Inclusive consultation means Scanteam always tries to involve relevant stakeholders in the entire review process, both to ensure full knowledge and engagement on their side, but also to improve learning and understanding on ours, and that our local partners are fully engaged and contributing.
• Client feed-back is requested through a standard Assessment Form where clients rate our work and provide comments that help us improve our work in the future.

Legal and Financial Status

Scanteam is owned by its consultants, and registered with Norway’s Business Registry, and thus operates in full compliance with Norwegian law.

Scanteam is audited annually by a certified external auditor, with the accounts publicly available on the Business Registry web-site. Our credit rating has been done annually since 2004, with the rating systematically being AAA or AA. Scanteam is fully insured and has never relinquished on a contract.

Our history

Scanteam was established in 1990 as a partner-owned consulting firm, working on development effectiveness issues.

An early focus was on identifying and developing better methodologies for project and program management. A first handbook on planning for Norwegian aid was produced by Scanteam and published by Norad in 1992, and ended up being translated into a dozen languages and used around the world. This was followed by handbooks in evaluation for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Danida, Sida and for the Japanese Foundation for Advanced Studies in International Development. Scanteam subsequently assisted the OECD developing and standardizing the evaluation definitions and criteria that are now in use around the world as the OECD-DAC Evaluation Glossary.

Methodology-based work remains at the core of Scanteam’s activities, with over 300 planning, appraisal, monitoring and evaluation tasks carried out in 100 countries over the last 15 years.

Looking ahead

While effectiveness at project and program levels were core fields of concern when the company started up, the world today is dramatically different. 

The UN Sustainable Development Goals, Climate Change agreements, the funding approach identified in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Global Partnership for Development Effectiveness Cooperation point to more ambitious agendas involving new and emergent actors across a more challenging range of fields. 

In order to address these issues and provide relevant advice to a wider range of actors, Scanteam is continuously “re-tooling” by establishing new partnerships, upgrading own skills, and working with new partners.