Client Feedback

Karen Ross – Head of Programmes and Acting Director during the maternity leave at the Mikhulu Child Development Trust

Since 2021, Carolin regularly offers practice-related workshops for our international students in the MA programme in Development Management at the Institute of Development Research and Development Policy, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. The focus of these workshops is on proposal writing and funding in the development cooperation context. Students really benefit from Carolin’s in-depth knowledge and experience in this field. Overall, we very much appreciate her hands-on way of knowledge sharing and strong ability to interact with students from different backgrounds. We are looking forward to future cooperation!

Dr Anne Siebert – Postdoctoral Researcher and Coordinator MA in Development Management at the Institute of Development Research and Development Policy, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany

In May 2023, the Advancement Office at Stellenbosch University hosted a two-day conference for African Partner Universities within the African Research University Alliance (ARUA) network. The event brought together delegates from across Africa with the aim of fostering a shared understanding of African institutional advancement among leading research universities on the continent, while also strengthening collaboration and partnership among these institutions. Carolin Gomulia from The Workroom played a key role in the programme development and session facilitation. Her exceptional ability to engage a diverse group of participants and skilfully guided them towards achieving desired outcomes significantly contributed to the conference’s success. We are deeply appreciative of her outstanding work and would enthusiastically recommend her services.

Mr David Marupen – Fundraising Director, Stellenbosch University

War Child has been on the path to developing a deeper understanding of the concepts behind Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, against the background of the Decoloniality initiatives evolving in the humanitarian and other related sectors for some time. However this discussion had been for a long time at the Global level with limited open interaction within the so called Programme Countries. Carolin assisted War Child in Africa to bring this discussion to our Africa context and reflect on the past work and how we see the best course of action going forward. From this dialogue facilitated by Carolin, we have established a new understanding among Country Leadership colleague about the responsibility that comes with our roles in facilitating this dialogue and ensuring that staff and partners engage with it to the right depth when as War Child we continue with the process. Carolin’s steering of this first step in the DEIB dialogue on the War Child Africa Regional team is much appreciated.

Kevin Z Ndemera, Regional Representative-Africa /CD Uganda, War Child

Carolin took the time to really understand our model and our work and was able to make very strong inputs, in terms of identifying potential funders to approach and making recommendation on how best to do so, even contributing directly to our proposals. She is a pleasure to work with and we will continue our working relationship with her into the future.

Joshua Cox, Executive Director, Fix Forward

Carolin Gomulia and her colleague Vanessa Buvens from The Workroom were contracted in 2023 to research and develop an Institutional Funding Scoping Report for Operation Smile sub-Saharan Africa in 2023.  Drawing on their extensive knowledge and experience they delivered a hugely valuable report, which included detailed insights and recommendations, necessary to support our growth and development in this area.  Carolin and Vanessa completely understood our brief, delivered the project on time, were a pleasure to work with and I’d have no hesitation in recommending them.

Karen Jaques, SVP sub-Saharan Africa, Operation Smile

Carolin worked with us in 2022 to support the development of a large proposal with our teams in Latin America. This was the largest proposal we had developed, and Carolin played a key role in reviewing and editing the drafts of our programme. She liaised superbly with the UK and Peru bid teams, ensuring timelines and accountabilities were always clear. Her feedback and suggestions were very clear and appropriate to the technical programme and the donor call. Carolin was a pleasure to work with and provided work of a very high standard, we will definitely call her first next time we need business development support.

Victoria Ireland – Head of Business Development Strategy – December 2022

Working with Carolin Gomulia is a great pleasure and enrichment for our entire team. We learned a lot. Carolin has a special talent for preparing, explaining, supporting and preparing organizational strategies and funding applications precisely and professionally. We found her spontaneity, creativity, communication, reliability and, above all, patience particularly remarkable! We can expressly recommend working with Carolin if you want to make great progress and success in your NGO or company. She opened many doors for us, for which we would like to thank her for.

Taraneh Amir-Haeri – Executive Director Zusammenleben Willkommen – December 2022

Carolin Gomulia (The Workroom) assisted Book Dash with further developing our fundraising strategies, drawing on her vast experience and best practice in the social sector. She’s introduced new ideas and new leads into our organisation as well as supported the team to implement them. We look forward to continuing this work with her as the organisation grows our reach and impact.

Julia Norrish – Executive Director Book Dash – December 2022

Within three months, The Workroom (through Carolin Gomulia and Vanessa Buvens) was able to tailor a resource mobilisation strategy that lays the foundation for future sustainability of Twende Mbele. One of the virtues of this process is that it has led to organisational introspection regarding our future trajectory, with social impact and change being at the core. Through this reflective process, Twende Mbele is conscious of what it needs to do to deliver systems impact through social change, which is the primary reason for evidence-based work.

Dr. Ayabulela Dlakavu – Programme Manager Twende Mbele – November 2022

Workshops on anti-bias, anti-racism and decolonisation

In six months, we completed a three-part workshop with the Workroom (Carolin Gomulia and Friederike Bubenzer) on anti-racism and decolonisation in development cooperation. The team accompanied us in a needs-oriented and structured way on our personal and work-related path with the topics. They enlightened us about the power of language and racist structures and worked with us on concrete steps and tasks for our department to make us even more aware of the issues in our work. Through their guidance, we could critically question our work and define structures within our department that allow us to work even closer together as a team in a safe environment.

Lara Biel – Referentin für Entwicklungspolitik – November 2022

2-day Online Seminar: Decolonising Humanitarian Action

We have commissioned the Workroom, to run a two-day seminar on “Decolonising Humanitarian Action” for our member organisations and their partner organisations. Friederike Bubenzer and Carolin Gomulia delivered the training for the Workroom and advanced the joint preparation of the seminar with their good ideas, professional knowledge and own experiences as well as their pleasant and open manner. During the seminar, they managed to create a trusting atmosphere for the participants in which they could exchange openly. Many thanks for the good cooperation!

Karoline Krähling – Policy Advisor Humanitarian Assistance – October 2021

Carolin is since November 2021 a senior consultant at MzN International. Supporting various of our NGO and INGO clients across the globe with funding support, strategy and organisational development, Carolin offers fresh insight and critical thinking. She doesn’t shy away from complex tasks, which she performs with excellence and integrity. Her well-established client-handling skills and experience of working with diverse clients is a great asset for MzN International. I am glad to have her as part of our team.

Chris Meyer zu Natrup – Director – MzN International – October 2021

The Kwando Carnivore Project was guided through a strategic planning and fundraising process by Carolin in order to develop capacity and resilience within our programme.  Carolin grasped the concepts and issues of our conservation work in a very short space of time and imparted insightful guidance that has been hugely beneficial to the management and operation of KCP.  We look forward to including her skills in furthering our development.

Lise Hanssen – Director – November 2020

Carolin convinced us with her clear and structured way of working, she quickly familiarised herself with our requirements and the requirements of the project proposal. We could always rely on a fast, detailed and elaborate feedback and the adherence to the agreed tasks and deadlines. It was a very pleasant and fruitful cooperation, during which we never doubted that the final result would be very good. She brought in her own ideas and experience and always kept up the communication flow between the different actors involved.
Kindernothilfe e.V. – October 2020

We (the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria) embarked on an evaluation of one of our projects, the Capacity Building Programme to Advance Human Rights in Africa (CAHRDA) in September 2020. From the outset, we were keen to find an evaluator that would fully appreciate the nature of our work, and therefore provide objective feedback on the Project. The Workroom team (consisting of Carolin and Elena) worked very well with us and demonstrated a high level of professionalism. They invested time to understand our work and our rather complex operating environment, and were able to provide constructive feedback throughout the process. They were swift with communication and responsive to any queries we had throughout the period of evaluation. We were satisfied with the process, and final report of the evaluation.

Nkatha Murungi (Assistant Director) and Frans Viljoen (Director) – September 2020

Carolin ran a 5-day project planning workshop for us. It was very well planned and thought through. Importantly, she easily translated the sometimes difficult to understand Logframe requirements into simple, practical terms that our staff could relate to. Her style is calm and easy-going, which was great since there was some robust discussion and contested ideas amongst the participants. She was very intuitive and could respond to the group dynamics. I appreciated her availability and flexibility throughout the process, during and after office hours. In the end, we got a very workable and clear plan out of the process. I am in full support and would recommend Carolin for any related work in her field of expertise.

Limeez Botha – Executive Director – September 2020

Carolin is a thoughtful and engaged practitioner who was able to accurately capture GFSA’s strategic vision, at the same time as being able to drill down into some of the detail, demonstrating an extraordinarily fine appreciation of the nuances and complexity of our work and the way in which we work. She is curious about organisations and organising in the current context both in South Africa and globally and provided a space for enquiry and reflection. Her recommendations included some very practical immediate actions as well as some innovative ideas for reframing how we think about ourselves and our role in helping to build a vision for a more just and equitable world. Carolin is a delight and pleasure to work with.
Adèle Kirsten – Executive Director – November 2019

The outcome of our workshop with The Workroom was a clear understanding of the link between our organisational strategy and core values, and the fundraising strategy we adopt. With that in mind fundraising is not something we do in addition to our “actual” work, it is inextricably linked to our work. That realisation has shifted the way we view and do fundraising! Thank you for your time and expertise.

Karen Nelson – Director – August 2019

Carolin has contributed greatly to the development of our work and of clearly defining our goals and strategies. Her calm demeanor and consistent work ethic has helped to create a space that is intentional and meaningful; we have been very lucky to be able to work and engage with The Workroom!
Chris Meintjes – CEO – August 2019

Carolin was the just right person at just the right time for us. We needed someone to help us up our fundraising game, and to design a strategy that met our unique needs. Carolin was able to learn the ins and outs of our organization quickly, and provided solid suggestions for reimagining the fundraising landscape for the Children’s Radio Foundation. She helped us set realistic goals, and provided a clear guide to get there. Her knowledge of the donor landscape is extensive, and reaches far beyond South Africa.
Michal J. Rahfaldt – Executive Director Children’s Radio Foundation – June 2019

The institute for Justice and Reconciliation is happy to endorse and recommend the work of Carolin Gomulia of the Work Room. She has helped us to conceptualise and implement an ambitious new initiative which has yielded excellent results in a short space of time.
Stan Henkeman – IJR Executive Director – June 2019

Deinen Report habe ich mit großem Interesse gelesen und danke Dir für Deine Mühe. Du hast wirklich ein sehr gutes Talent, alles wunderbar zusammenzufassen und in Worte zu kleiden. Großes Kompliment! Du hast einen super Job gemacht, alles toll analysiert und uns den Weg in die Zukunft gewiesen!
Rev. Otto Kohlstock – Director – April 2019