What is UBORA?

In Kiswahili “ubora” means “do things right, being eager to, excellence” which leads us here to a system of learning and good organisational practices.
The term “good practices” has different meanings, but could be defined as a certain status in which all elements or components of an organisation (strategy, operational aspects, structure and organisational culture) work closely in an efficient manner as to reach long-term measurable advances.

UBORA is an organisation offering services and guidance mainly to governmental bodies & local authorities, social entities and CSOs. However, further assistance has been also provided to CSO regional and global networks.

UBORA gives advice to organisations helping them to reflect on who they are, how things are done and organised, how internal management should be improved and, above all, use all this knowledge as a learning-oriented tool in order to upgrade their organisational practices.

Our approach

Argonauts used to say:

“Sailing is necessary, Living is not necessary”.
I Want to keep the spirit of such statement, but transformed. The way is has to match its essence with what I am: Living is not necessary, what it is is creating.

Fernando Pessoa

We believe that, as Argonauts stated, “sailing is necessary”. In this view, sailing will help us overcome all obstacles of all seas, but in order to do that we need a new map to orientate us. We think that, as Fernando Pessoa reflected upon, what is necessary is creating, so that is, learning and “unlearning”, understand and adapt to new emerging opportunities.

We believe that keeping a process or activity going, keeping it alive, requires renovation and reinvention. Life, in order to maintain itself, needs transformation, which is a great challenge since transforming is not the same as replacing, putting something different in its place.

Transformation in people and organizations occurs when we are able to trust nature and simply flow, which implies facing obstacles, channelling the energy we spend ignoring them, and discovering what changes and processes need to be carried out and that allow us to build alternatives for social change.

“We have been collaborating with UBORA for several years now. What initially began as an external evaluation of a grant-funded project quickly became something much more meaningful, thanks to UBORA’s approach. Their focus on processes and levers of change, as well as their ability to prompt reflection on our broader ecosystem of relationships, has been a valuable learning experience. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with UBORA as they accompany us on our journey of continuous organizational improvement”

Nina González Fernández-Argüelles
FETS Coordinator

“Working with Ubora has been a truly enriching experience. They have helped us pause and recognize all the work we’ve done—including that invisible labor which often goes unnoticed but is essential to what NGOs do with people, communities, and movements.We’ve also learned a great deal from them about theory of change and about ways of seeing and working from more holistic, innovative paradigms that are deeply connected to reality.What really stands out is their ability to adapt to each context, pace, and the resources available—without ever losing depth or care. And something we deeply value is their way of engaging with teams: close, respectful, capable of accompanying complex processes, and gently helping to overcome resistance or entrenched ways of doing things that needed to evolve.”

Elisabeth Llamas
Global Education Coordinator at Farmamundi Catalonia

“At Ubora, we have found the ideal partner for the evaluation of our Global Education (EPD) projects over the years. They bring a critical perspective that enriches both strategy and implementation, with a close and committed team that drives us toward continuous improvement and helps us maximize the impact and quality of our work.”

Dilara Ekmen
Co-Director of CCAR

“UBORA is one of the best consultancies we have worked with—not only because of the high quality of their work, but also for the innovation in their proposals, their ability to adapt to available resources, and the outstanding qualities of their team.At Cooperacció, we asked them to support us with several different projects, all very diverse in nature, and in every case, the results exceeded our expectations.What we value most is that they never lose sight of the organizational perspective of the entity they are supporting. This ensures that their services are highly strategic and constructive for the organization as a whole.”

Estrella Ramil
Executive Director of Cooperacció

“I worked with UBORA on the evaluation of the Civil Society Education Fund, an ambitious project aimed at strengthening civil society’s capacities in education across countries in the Global South.The level of involvement of the UBORA team throughout the evaluation process showed not only their high level of professionalism, but also their deep sensitivity and commitment to the issues they work on”

Toni Verger
Coordinator of the evaluation conducted by the GEPS research group (Globalisation, Education and Social Policies)

“There aren’t many ways to measure achievements in the social field. As practitioners who support and promote processes, we witness the changes—but conveying and demonstrating them to others is much more challenging. That’s why learning about the Most Significant Change methodology was very important for us. This approach was applied at Ceprodih with very good results”

Mariela Pérez Defacio
Coordinator of the Opportunity Program, Center for the Promotion of Human Dignity, Ceprodih

“UBORA is one of the most trustworthy and human-centered organizations that ADIS has had the opportunity to collaborate with. As a consultancy, their ability to innovate and adapt to an organization of migrant women like ours has truly earned our trust.The qualities of their team have helped us participate more fully in this new society, enabling us to implement our projects on our own—an experience that has made us feel like true citizens.”

Bombo Ndir
President of the Association of Sub-Saharan Immigrant Women (ADIS)

Equipment

Chevy Solís

I currently work in social research and the development of training processes focused on human rights, gender equality, and racial justice, with a particular emphasis on Afro-descendant and Indigenous communities. I bring over 15 years of experience in international consultancy, social research, and advising social organizations, United Nations agencies, and civil society networks.

I am convinced that training is a key factor that contributes to both organizational strengthening and social transformation. That’s why my work focuses on designing training processes, evaluating projects, and facilitating participatory processes from a decolonial and anti-racist perspective.

My career includes research on the rights of Afro-descendant women, access to resources and services for historically marginalized communities, and the prevention of gender-based violence from an intersectional approach.

I am currently the Research Coordinator at AfroResistance.org, where I lead studies on the rights of Black women, girls, and trans people in Latin America. I have also collaborated on research for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), AECID, and the National Coordinator of Indigenous Peoples of Panama (CONAPIP), and I have participated alongside the UBORA team in various evaluations for organizations both in Spain and Latin America, among others.

My purpose is to foster collective transformation processes by combining training, research, evaluation, and facilitation to contribute to building more just and equitable societies

Alex García-Alba

I worked for ten years as Head of the Department of Development Education, University Cooperation, and Public Administration Capacity Building at the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation (2002–2012), including a year and a half at a United Nations organization specialized in training and training evaluation (United Nations System Staff College).

Since 2012, I have combined this work with independent consultancy as a trainer, advisor, and evaluator for projects led by development NGOs and universities from both the Global South and the Global North. Between 2012 and 2024, my work has focused on supporting processes of institutional strengthening and enhancing the technical capacities of public administrations, universities, NGO networks, and NGOs from both the Global North and South. I have also worked on training and the evaluation of projects, programs, and strategies—developing theories of change for organizations or programs and their associated monitoring and evaluation systems.

My approach incorporates innovative perspectives and mixed methodological frameworks, including logical framework combined with theory of change, outcome mapping, a rights-based approach, and training evaluation methodologies such as Kirkpatrick’s model. In addition, from 2017 to 2024, I have been evaluating European projects and programs under the ROM (Results-Oriented Monitoring) framework

Noemí Bertomeu

I am co-founder of UBORA and bring over 20 years of international experience working in diverse organizational contexts—especially in Africa, and to a lesser extent in Latin America and the Middle East—mainly in the field of international development cooperation. This includes advising civil society networks and global development funds.

I am passionate about what I do: advising teams and organizations committed to social transformation, while fostering a global and dialogical approach that bridges strategy (the what and the why) with management (the how). I believe in empowerment not only at the individual level but also at the organizational and collective levels, enabling ideas to become reality. To achieve this, I favor the use of innovative methodologies that support project and program monitoring and evaluation, rooted in experience and focused on learning and continuous improvement.

My purpose is to help organizations improve their ability to fulfill their mission—by identifying and monitoring the strategies that enable them to drive change (developing their Theories of Change), and by gathering evidence and clearly communicating the impact they are generating (Evaluation).

Through consulting with teams, groups, projects, and individuals, I work toward a more inclusive society, integrating an anti-racist and decolonial perspective that begins with my own self-reflection. My aim is to co-design services and communities committed to real social transformation