Institutional & International Projects

From concept to funded project - cultural, linguistic, and digital

Direct operational experience of multilateral project environments: consortium building, grant applications to the European Commission, Council of Europe, and OIF, and delivery of complex cross-border initiatives in the cultural and linguistic domain.

Five languages Voice-recorded translations Project unworkable

A major Dutch municipality built a health-access app for recent immigrants.

Voice-recorded translations in five languages, including Arabic and Berber. The project quickly became unworkable – visible tensions between the Arabic and Berber contributors, missed deadlines, and content no one could agree on.

A single cultural and linguistic briefing would have prevented this.

Services

What BNM delivers

For NGOs, cultural organisations, public institutions, and international bodies working in the linguistic, cultural, and digital domain.

Local Partner Identification

Identification and qualification of relevant institutional, associative, and civil society partners in target countries - particularly in Francophone Africa, post-Soviet states, and minority language communities in Europe. Based on direct knowledge of the terrain.

€900 - scoping · 1-2 weeks

Francophone Africa & Swahili world · Post-Soviet states · Minority language orgs

Project Structuring & Grant Applications

Full project structuring: consortium architecture, work package design, budget planning, and writing of grant applications to relevant funding bodies. Direct working knowledge of EU, CoE and OIF programme logics, reporting requirements, and evaluation criteria.

from €1,500 - scoping to submission · 3-8 weeks (call-dependent)

EU - CoE - OIF

Cultural & Geopolitical Analysis

Non-aligned analysis grounded in primary sources. Specialist depth in post-Soviet political and ethnolinguistic dynamics, European minority language policy, Francophone African history and institutions, and the cultural landscape of the Maghreb.

€1,500 - analytical note · 5-10 working days

Post-Soviet dynamics · Minority language policy · Risk assessment

Multilingual Dissemination

Web presence, content strategy, and dissemination planning for project outputs in multiple languages. Includes SEO-aware content for project websites, portal development, and publication of results for multilingual audiences.

from €800 / language · Per deliverable

Project website · Portal development

Audience Cultural Profiling

Map the symbolic, historical, and linguistic assumptions of a target audience before a campaign, publication, or policy goes out. Delivered as a structured brief or workshop. Particularly valuable for organisations engaging post-Soviet, Francophone, or minority language communities.

€1,200 - regional brief · 5-7 working days

Post-Soviet states · Francophone Africa · Minority communities

Expert Contributor

Available as named expert or specialist contributor for projects in minority language policy, post-Soviet cultural dynamics, or multilingual web infrastructure. Also available for advisory boards. Remote only.

Day-rate - on quote

Named expert · Advisory

Case studies

Projects delivered

Operational experience across multilingual and multicultural project environments.

Linguistic planning - Middle Volga - 2005 - CoE / UE

Chuvash Ministry of Culture - Middle Volga minority language cooperation

Cooperative project between language planning bodies in four republics of the Russian Federation: Tatarstan, Mari El, Mordovia, and Chuvashia. The objective was to establish a shared framework for minority language standardisation, digital tools, and intergenerational transmission across the Turkic and Finno-Ugric language communities of the Middle Volga region.

BNM Consulting drafted the project proposal submitted to the Council of Europe and under the TACIS programme (EU technical assistance to the CIS). Work included consortium design, partner briefs, budget structuring, and writing of the full application in line with CoE and EU TACIS framework requirements.

CoE - UE Proposal writing Tatarstan - Mari El - Mordovia - Chuvashia Minority language policy

Oral memory - Francophonie - 2006 - OIF

Les Mnémophores - intergenerational memory collection, Francophone communities

A cultural project built around school pupils collecting oral memories from the elders of their communities across five Francophone countries. Students conducted structured interviews with elderly members of their local communities, documenting personal histories, traditions, and cultural practices at risk of disappearing with the older generation.

The project was structured around a network of institutional partners in Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Senegal, and Romania. BNM Consulting led consortium coordination, managed relationships with local institutional partners in each country, structured the project framework, and presented the application to the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).

OIF Consortium building Oral memory - Intergenerational Algeria - Côte d’Ivoire - Guinea - Senegal - Romania

Localisation - Celtic languages - 2001 - EU-funded

Opera Browser - Celtic language localisation

Specialist contributor on the EU-funded localisation of the Opera browser into four Celtic languages: Breton, Welsh, Irish, and Scottish Gaelic. Coordination between language community organisations and Opera Software. Part of a broader EBLUL programme to expand digital tool availability in minority language contexts.

EU & private sector funded Breton - Welsh - Irish - Scottish Gaelic Software localisation

Multilingual portal - 30 languages - 2002 - EU / CoE

Pan-European Linguistic Resources Portal

Design and delivery of a multilingual portal covering linguistic resources in 30 minority languages across the EU and Russia. Built in Python. Content and interface localisation coordinated across partner organisations from the Atlantic to the Urals. Funded by the European Commission and Council of Europe under EBLUL auspices.

EU - CoE 30 languages Python - Portal development
Regional expertise

Where the knowledge is real

These are areas built on field presence, institutional contacts, and primary-source research.

Post-Soviet states - Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Baltic. Historical and current political dynamics, ethnolinguistic minority issues, language planning institutions.
European minority languages - Celtic, Finno-Ugric, and Romance minority languages. Policy frameworks at EU and Council of Europe level. Direct project experience across 30+ language communities.
Francophone Africa & Maghreb - Institutional landscape, post-colonial cultural dynamics, OIF ecosystem. 3 years resident in Morocco, direct partner relationships in Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Senegal.
East Africa - Swahili-speaking zone, cultural and institutional context for linguistic projects.

Funding frameworks known

European Commission Council of Europe OIF

Formats: single-day advisory briefs, written analytical notes, project applications, multi-month consortium coordination, expert contributor. Project-based and day-rate arrangements available.

Start the conversation

Discuss a project

Whether at concept stage or ready to build a consortium - describe the project and we will assess fit honestly and quickly.

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