David South Consulting Online for Seven Years | November 2017

When it first launched in 2010, the David South Consulting (davidsouthconsulting.com) website was beautiful but sparse. Designed by one of Iceland's top graphic designers and illustrators, Solveig Rolfsdottir, it was basically an online CV (curriculum vitae). 

A lot has happened since: the new global magazine Southern Innovator was launched, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) came to an end in 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) launched, and the UN adopted an innovation and South-South agenda, and so did many other countries, including China. And the content of the website has expanded to reflect this. The entire archive of the influential United Nations e-newsletter Development Challenges, South-South Solutions can be found here, as well as many resources chronicling the international development journey from the late 1990s.   

We even moved to a new studio and headquarters next to a bird sanctuary and nature reserve (matching our green words with green actions)!

The front page of the David South Consulting website.   

About David South Consulting.

Services at David South Consulting. 

David South Consulting had an Alexa rank of 7,243,014 in 2017.

David South Consulting international clients.

Practice Zones and HQ and Studio for David South Consulting.© David South Consulting 2017

Global Financial Crisis Response | 2008 - 2011

The year was 1997. I was hired by UNDP Mongolia to establish and head up its communications operations in the country (UNDP Mongolia Communications Office). At the time, Mongolia was experiencing “one of the biggest peacetime economic collapses ever” (Pomfret: 1994) . And it showed. Food was scarce, unemployment high, poverty was increasing, and the capital Ulaanbaatar consisted of decaying and shabby Soviet and Communist architecture. The country felt isolated and cut-off from a world experiencing the boom of the late 1990s and the information technology revolution. 

Working in the country for two years (1997-1999) taught me a great deal about how a country recovers from a severe crisis and rebuilds its economy. I learned about human resilience and how markets can restore economies; the key role information technology plays and the importance of unfettered information and knowledge sharing to give people the tools they require to re-build their lives and grow wealth. Read more about this experience here: http://www.davidsouthconsulting.com/case-studies/case-study-4-un-undp-mongolia-1997-1999.html

The unfolding Global Financial Crisis in 2008, while caused by the collapse of the financial system, also presented an opportunity to apply the lessons learned in the late 1990s. The crisis was a roller coaster ride and provided a front row seat to what happens when too much debt and fraud overwhelms the financial system. A conference in Switzerland on African trade opportunities in 2008 was disrupted by the crisis as participants received frantic calls from London and New York and grabbed their bags and fled. Later that year I joined my wife (a foreign correspondent) in Reykjavik, Iceland as demonstrations erupted resulting from the collapse of their banks. Later this was called the ‘Pots and Pans Revolution’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Icelandic_financial_crisis_protests). See pictures of the demonstrations here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/15195144@N06/albums/72157613009834677

In 2009 I attended a UN conference in Geneva, Switzerland to evaluate the crisis and forecast where it might go. I wrote a blog about it here: http://www.davidsouthconsulting.com/blog/2016/1/8/global-crisis-report-from-the-un-conference-on-the-social-an.html

On the streets of Paris in 2009.

As this was happening something very exciting was emerging. While researching the e-newsletter Development Challenges, South-South Solutions for the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), it became clear a quiet revolution was ocurring as a result of the rapid spreading of mobile and information technologies across the global South. That represented an exceptional crisis response tool where governments and the financial system were failing people. The e-newsletter was being sent to a global subscriber base across the United Nations and governments, reaching a highly influential audience in the global system. 

In 2011, this research went into the landmark first issue of the magazine Southern Innovator (called “a terrific tour de force of what is interesting, cutting edge and relevant in the global mobile/ICT space…”). This transformative magazine leveraged even greater change as it inspired many, as well as being cited as an influence on the UN’s and UNDP’s strategic priorities (the current innovation agenda and the focus on South-South cooperation). 

The repercussions of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis are still with us. Central banks continue with emergency measures (low interest rates, asset purchases, QE etc.) and consumer, government and corporate debt continues to rise. An ability to respond and recover will still be needed and David South Consulting will be there. 

© David South Consulting 2017

Message from Senior Partner | David South Consulting

DS Consulting has launched this website, www.davidsouthconsulting.com, and a WordPress blog, www.davidsouthconsulting.org, to explain developments and publish content relevant to health, human development and innovation. It is structured around key practice areas and features past case studies and successes. Over the last six years, the back catalogue of previous work has also been migrated online (http://www.scribd.com/DSConsulting). This includes work rescuing Mongolia’s economy from the biggest peacetime, post-WWII economic collapse and transformative work in child health with the UK’s National Health Service.

You can catch up on my archive of case studies as well at www.davidsouthconsulting.org, and keep abreast of the many changes coming for 2016 and beyond. The case studies are a mix of inspiring stories, insight, analysis and trends: A good snapshot of a fast-changing world.

A great deal of work has gone into laying the foundations for future growth at DS Consulting at its London, UK base. The fruits of this work will become more apparent as 2016 unfolds.

Please send an email if you would like to get in touch or share a thought: mailto: davidsouthconsulting@gmail.com.

David South 

Senior Partner 

DS Consulting

Senior Partner David South at the Sydney Opera House in 2013.

© David South Consulting 2017

Southern Innovator on PressReader Platform | 14 October 2015

Southern Innovator's fifth issue is now available for browsing on the PressReader platform. PressReader helps Southern Innovator reach even more readers. It does this through a PressReader app, allowing readers to create a personal news feed, and download complete issues of magazines and newspapers as they appear in print. A digital magazine rack and personal news wire service in one.

Issues 1 to 4 will also be available in the coming weeks. PressReader is based in Richmond, BC, Canada and "delivers an endless stream of top news stories to read, discuss and share. Get full issues of thousands of top newspapers and magazines just as they appear in print."

Southern Innovator on PressReader

Reflecting on What Has Been Accomplished: The Southern Innovator Impact Summary | 14 January 2015

 

The 2012 to 2014 Summary of Impact for Southern Innovator has been published. It sums up what has been achieved to date, details the top features of the magazine and why it is the way it is, and, most importantly, makes a pitch for the magazine continuing past the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) deadline year of 2015. Southern Innovator was founded to aid in the push to achieve the MDGs as the final years approached. It seized on two phenomena running in parallel that could super-charge the meeting of the goals, if seized upon by governments. One was the rapid and widespread take-up of mobile phones and information technology; the other was the 21st-century innovator culture this technology was shaping.

Now that the next goals are being debated, it is time for Southern Innovator to scale-up and build on its achievements to date. Have a read of the Impact Summary and dream with us of a bigger Southern Innovator!

© David South Consulting 2017