Our Services & Approach

What We Do

Glasshouse is a Canadian international development consulting firm created and led by a team of women. Its activities cover anti-corruption, justice, security, peace-building and gender equality (including women’s economic empowerment, sexual and gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health). We have a network of 20 senior professionals in the development sector, two-thirds of which are women, half from the Global South. We work in a range of countries such as DR Congo, Mozambique, Mali, Armenia and Ukraine, on projects supported by a diverse set of development cooperation partners such as Global Affairs Canada, the Delegation to the European Union in DR Congo, the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the World Bank and UN agencies. Glasshouse takes an innovative and cross-disciplinary approach to the practical reform of governance. We oversee the implementation of projects, including the design and delivery of capacity-building activities and technical tools, and support project monitoring and evaluation. We also perform quality control and direction on technical work across the project, always focusing on the protection of exceptionally vulnerable victims.

Anti-corruption

Corruption assessments
Producing detailed corruption assessments, including identifying corruption drivers, legal frameworks, political dynamics, institutional relationships and entry points for development programming

Internal compliance reviews
Conducting confidential internal compliance (anti-corruption) reviews

Public sector governance reform
Strategic advising on public sector governance reform, including integrating accountability and transparency measures in new agencies and initiatives

Economic & social empowerment of women & girls

Gender, equity and inclusivity
Delivering technical support to governments on economic development reforms that generate inclusive growth and gender equity.
Implementing grass roots initiatives to realise the economic empowerment of women

Sexual and gender-based violence
Undertaking measures to prevent and respond to the commission of sexual and gender-based violence, particularly in conflict-affected settings

Sexual and reproductive health
Conducting strategic analysis and designing strategies to improve the realisation of sexual and reproductive health

Research & Evaluation

Programme evaluations and design
Conducting participatory evaluations and design of development programmes

Baseline studies
Design and implementation of mixed-methods baseline studies, including organisational capacity assessments and household surveys

Political economy analysis
Producing political economy analysis, including power analyses, stakeholder mapping, and identifying entry points for development programming

Justice, security & peace-building

Institutional reforms
Delivering technical support to justice and security sector actors on law reform initiatives, the conduct of investigations and prosecutions, as well as, delivering community-driven responses to local justice and security priorities

The Glasshouse approach

To ensure that our work responds to local needs and delivers lasting impact, our approach includes:

  1. Strengthening civil society capacity and engagement, including public-private dialogue
  2. Conducting comprehensive legal analysis and the design of legal reforms
  3. Enhancing the operation of social accountability mechanisms, including the formal media, citizen monitoring efforts and social media initiatives
  4. Improving the operation of public sector oversight mechanisms, including bodies responsible for recruitment, promotion and disciplinary action
  5. Designing policies and supporting initiatives that target equity, inclusion and diversity
  6. Tackling social norms that disempower marginalised groups, especially cultures of masculinity and practices that disempower women and girls