Duca Consulting International is a management and economic consulting firm established in 2000 by Dr. Donaldo Hart. Grounded in the principles of open markets and free trade, Duca Consulting is dedicated to enhancing economic growth and improved social well-being in developing countries.
Within our core focuses on trade policy and facilitation, FDI, enterprise development, and research and evaluation, we ensure on-time, in-budget achievement of results. Duca Consulting's deliverables are known to be representative of the finest professional standards in analysis and presentation.
Our firm has in-house capabilities to offer professional services in the English, Portuguese, French, and Spanish languages. Our consultants and associates speak many more. But technical proficiency always precedes linguistic and cultural skills.
Duca Consulting has experience in over twenty-five countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. We have a close bond to and very special understanding of the Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa and the Americas.
From our branch office in Brasilia, we also conduct translation, interpretation, and editing jobs with our affiliated company, the Natural Language Institute.
WHAT WE DO
Duca Consulting International specializes in technical advisory services for regulatory regimes that promote national and regional economic competitiveness. Our technical assistance is grounded in fact-based analysis and international comparative data; our research and evaluations rely on quantitative assessments for practical solutions to programmatic issues.
A specialty tool we have developed is our Rapid Diagnostics, an analytic facility that offers quick response for programming offices with virtually no compromise of essential information. Our four practice areas are:
-International Trade
-Foreign Direct Investment
-Enterprise Formation and Promotion
-Research & Evaluation
International Trade
Duca Consulting offers both general and specialized services in trade policy analysis and trade facilitation. We are acutely sensitive to the governance and social ramifications of trade policy decisions—the implications for rural populations, the urban poor, and women. We are equally aware of the economic implications behind transaction and customs efficiencies and are one of very few firms to have the entire WCO Revised Kyoto Convention in-house. Our Rapid Diagnostics allow quick turnaround of abbreviated trade competitiveness assessments for a country or region. Above all, we ensure that our reports satisfy the needs of clients by addressing their development assistance programs.
ILLUSTRATIVE AREAS OF ASSISTANCE
-Policy analysis based on multilateral rules (GATT/Kyoto)
-Trade in Services commitments(GATS)
-Social dimensions of trade policy
-Regional Integration Agreements
-Trade facilitation assessments
-Customs diagnostics and reform
Foreign Direct Investment
Duca Consulting International has led or participated in numerous investor roadmaps or administrative barriers studies under both USAID and IFC funding. As an alternative to these exhaustively detailed, time-consuming studies, we also offer a Rapid Diagnostic for quick response in assessing a country's competitive position in attracting FDI. Duca Consulting has analyzed the effectiveness of Investment Promotion Agencies in many countries and even drafted successful legislation for a new IPA.
ILLUSTRATIVE AREAS OF ASSISTANCE
-Investor Roadmaps/Rapid Diagnostics
-Foreign investment laws and regulations
-Registering the foreign firm
-Trade policy and commercial presence
-Investment promotion agencies
Enterprise Promotion
Duca Consulting International houses some of the most comprehensive experience available in the formation and development of private businesses. We look at the overall policy and regulatory environments from both local and international points of view. We consider a proper regulatory environment part and parcel of national competitiveness. In the micro and small business sector, Duca Consulting favors policies that foster migration of microenterprises towards formal legal status.
ILLUSTRATIVE AREAS OF ASSISTANCE
-Rapid Diagnostics of the enabling environment
-Incentives to domestic investment
-One-stop-shop windows and proposals
-Commercial Code analysis
-Business registration and incorporation
-Permits and licenses for operating
Research & Evaluation
Duca Consulting International anchors its work in program evaluations to the finest standards of social science research. Our research projects adhere to the concept of total survey design, which proposes that any survey is only as good as the least of its parts. We avoid the anecdotal approach as always potentially misleading. Duca Consulting's core value of integrity is nowhere more evident than in our evaluations and assessments. Our evaluations of training and technical assistance follow a model well known in U.S. corporate circles.
ILLUSTRATIVE AREAS OF ASSISTANCE
-Monitoring and Evaluation design
-Full probability surveys
-Project/program evaluations
-Impact assessments
-Data Quality Assessments
