A practice built on
judgment, not bandwidth
MNPQ is a Brussels-based strategic advisory practice. The work centres on enabling clear decisions in complex environments, building stakeholder and policy relationships that hold, and ensuring organisations can sustain what matters. Clients are not passed to a junior team. Every mandate is owned at principal level.
What
MNPQ is
MNPQ was founded in Brussels in November 2022 by Martijn Pakker. It operates as a boutique advisory practice — deliberately small, deliberately focused, and deliberate about which mandates it takes on.
The practice works across communications and stakeholder engagement, EU policy and advocacy, and partnerships and resource mobilisation. Not as separate service lines — but as an integrated set of capabilities deployed based on what each client actually needs. In most engagements, all three are in play at once.
The rationale for staying small is straightforward. Organisations in values-driven sectors do not lack consultants. They lack senior advisors who will take genuine ownership of a problem, apply independent judgment, and be honest when the answer is inconvenient. That is the gap MNPQ is designed to fill.
Martijn Pakker
Senior Advisor · Advocacy · Governance · Stakeholder Engagement
Martijn brings over 20 years of experience advising senior leadership and boards at the intersection of advocacy, governance, policy, and strategic communications. His career has taken him from EU institutions in Brussels to UN bodies in Geneva and New York, from research institutes in the Philippines and Colombia to health organisations in Bangladesh.
He has worked across climate, food systems, global health, biodiversity, and digital rights — not as a generalist, but as someone who operates where governance, political sensitivity, and values-driven funding intersect.
Selected assignments
A cross-section of recent and representative work. Sector, context, and mandate vary. The nature of the challenge does not: complex governance, high institutional stakes, and the need for trusted senior-level judgment.
Integrity Forum Facilitation & Governance Support
Designed and facilitated the GCF Integrity Forum, convening Board members, senior management, independent accountability units, civil society observers, and external experts. Led structured dialogue on transparency standards and accountability mechanisms. Synthesised all contributions into practical recommendations that fed directly into institutional reform.
Global Advocacy Strategy 2020–2025
Designed IRRI's Global Advocacy Strategy linking research portfolios to SDGs, food security, climate adaptation, and resilient livelihoods. Led engagement at UNFCCC COPs, UNGA, SDG Summits, and the World Health Assembly. Positioned IRRI as a recognised voice in global climate and food systems debates.
EU Antenna for Sustainable Fuels
Acted as OG's principal EU representative for hydrogen and e-fuels policy across aviation and maritime transport. Tracked FuelEU Maritime, ReFuelEU Aviation, RED III, and Fit for 55 files. Engaged directly with MEPs, Member State delegations, and Commission directorates.
EU Alliance on Children's Rights Online — Acceptability Study
Designed and led an acceptability study assessing feasibility and appetite for a proposed EU Alliance on Children's Rights Online. Conducted stakeholder mapping, key informant interviews, and analysis. Produced scenario-based governance models and a final report used directly for EU advocacy planning.
Policy Communications Effectiveness Review — Asia Programme
Led a review of SEI's policy communications effectiveness across Asia programme teams. Assessed alignment between policy objectives, target audiences, communications outputs, and internal governance structures. Delivered recommendations that strengthened research uptake and enhanced regional policy influence.
Strategic Relations, Partnerships & Resource Mobilisation
Led the team responsible for IEEP's governance, networks, events, and strategic partnerships. Oversaw the third edition of the European Green Deal Barometer. Drafted IEEP's Resource Mobilisation and Research Uptake Strategy (2023–2027). Strengthened institutional relationships with EU bodies, member state governments, and philanthropic foundations.
How MNPQ works
Direct accountability
Every mandate is owned at principal level throughout. There are no handoffs, no junior teams, no account management layers between client and advisor. When you engage MNPQ, every conversation, every deliverable, every piece of judgment is Martijn Pakker's direct responsibility.
Decisions, not deliverables
The question at the start of every engagement is: what decision does this enable? If a piece of work cannot be connected to a clear decision or outcome, it is either rescoped or removed. Reports filed for compliance purposes are not the product. Sound decisions are.
Honest advice — including when inconvenient
MNPQ will tell you when a proposed course of action is unlikely to work, when the fit is not right, and when the problem is different from the one you think you have. This is not a service feature offered as reassurance. It is a basic professional obligation and a condition of the engagement.
Limited mandates, full attention
MNPQ takes on a limited number of engagements at any one time. This is a deliberate structural choice — not a capacity constraint. It ensures that every client receives undivided attention, independent thinking, and the institutional focus that serious advisory work requires.
