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Consultants
Director: F. Harry Cummings , Ph.D., R.P.P. email: hcaconsult@hotmail.com
Harry Cummings has Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Geography from Clark University and a B.A. Honours from Western. He is a Registered Professional Planner and a member of the Canadian Evaluation Society. His experience includes international rural development and project management of large interdisciplinary rural development projects. In Canadian and international contexts he has also worked on rural-urban issues including migration, land use and regional planning. His urban planning experience includes water conservation, retail planning, transportation planning, industrial planning, economic and financial analysis and zoning and severance issues. He has experience in Canada , USA , Poland , Ethiopia , Malawi all of Southeast Asia , India , Nepal, Turkey, Portugal and Panama . His specialty areas include economic impact assessment, evaluation, economic impact of agriculture, survey and research methods. He has managed over 75 major consulting projects with budgets as high as $40 million and as many as 40 staff.
Harry is a full professor at the School of Rural Planning and Development at the University of Guelph . He has supervised over 120 graduate students and teaches graduate courses in Regional Economics, Program Evaluation, Community Economic Development and Research Methods, He is an active community member and has served on the boards of many community organizations. Harry is fluent in French and Indonesian.
Don Murray , B.A., M.Sc.
email:
donald_787@hotmail.com
Don has a Masters Degree in Rural Planning and Development from the University of Guelph and a Diploma in Agriculture from the Ontario Agricultural College. Don possesses a solid background in evaluation planning, design and implementation. He is a member of the Canadian Evaluation Society. More...
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The Mission of HCA ...
Is to provide the best services combined with the best research and advice in program & project planning & development. We specialise in program & project evaluation, monitoring, performance review and measurement, as well as economic & social impact assessments to clients in government, the private sector & non governmental organizations. HCA offers a diverse range of professional development workshops including Results Based Management and Evaluation, Performance Indicators, Survey Design, Participatory Evaluation and Outcome Mapping.
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HCA has worked on a variety of projects and programs. The following is a sample of some of our projects in recent years:
Food Flow Study, Dec. 2005
Recently Harry Cummings and Associates performed a study as part of a plan to increase local food production, processing, and consumption in the region of Waterloo. The plan consists of five interrelated studies, one of which being the Food Flow Study which HCA conducted.
Food Flow Study PDF
Economic Impact Study of the Agriculture and Food related Sectors, October, 2003
There has been a shift in focus in the Waterloo Region, from the agri-food industry to emerging industries like information / communication technology, biotechnology and high tech manufacturing. In October 2003, HCA conducted a study of the Waterloo Region's agri-food products and services to refocus on this important part of the area's economy.
Economic Impact Study PDF
Evaluation of a Vegetable and Fruit Behavioural Intervention:, Nov. 2003
Take 5 is a program developed by Cancer Care Ontario and was evaluated by Harry Cummings and Associates. Take 5 is a community based, multi-component, skill and knowledge based intervention program. The initiative for the program stems from consistent scientific evidence that points to increased vegetable and fruit consumption as an important factor in the prevention of a number of chronic diseases including cancer (World Cancer Research Fund, American Institute for Cancer Research, 1997; Steinmetz and Potter, 1996), cardiovascular disease (Ness and Powles, 1997; Joshipura et al., 2001; Gillman et al., 1995), diabetes (Ford and Mokdad, 2001) and associated risk factors including obesity.
Evaluation of a Vegetable and Fruit Behavioural Intervention PDF
More...
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| The Approach of HCA is to fulfill our Mission Statement in the following ways...
* Maximize client ownership of the process and results
* Recognize the perspectives of all groups involved in the process
* Use the most appropriate/effective combination of qualitative and quantitative methods
* Maintain the highest ethical and professional standards
CANADIAN EVALUATION SOCIETY AWARD FOR SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO EVALUATION IN CANADA, AT THE MONTREAL CONFERENCE IN MAY 2000
Benefits
In general, our program evaluation and planning services will benefit
organizations & communities seeking to develop new, and/or improve existing, programs, projects and services.
Our main areas of professional expertise are economic impact assessment and program/project evaluation and monitoring (performance review and measurement). Program evaluation benefits organizations by providing information essential to program planning, improvement and success. Economic impact assessments can be done for commodities, regions, projects or sectors like agriculture. Moreover, in the current climate of fiscal restraint, formal program evaluation has also becomea requirement for funding by many government and private funding bodies.We offer training in program evaluation and planning, which helps to build the capacity and self-reliance of organizations and communities.
In addition, our experience and skills will benefit organizations that require:
* Needs assessments and feasibility studies
* Research and consultations
* Strategic planning
* Facilitation
* Environmental or socio-economic impact assessment
* Institutional development/capacity-building
* Community economic development
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