Developing the ecosystem of national OD consultants in East Africa with CRVPF

A transformative six-month learning journey to develop qualified and motivated organisational development (OD) consultants in East Africa. 

Children’s Rights and Violence Prevention Fund (CRVPF) is an African child rights and social justice intermediary organisation. Founded in 2015, they operate in four East African countries – Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. As an intermediary, CRVPF acts as a bridge between external funders and community-based organisations (CBOs) to build children and young people’s agency to make the right choices and access dignified employment. 

In 2021, CRVPF staff participated in an Oak Foundation-funded “Partner Capacity Strengthening” training facilitated by INTRAC. During this time, it became clearer to CRVPF that their ability to support their 100+ CBO partners was being hampered by a shortage of suitably qualified national consultants based in the region.  It is one thing to support large national NGOs, but it requires different skills to support small community-based organisations.  So CRVPF requested follow-on support from INTRAC, based on our strong interest and track-record in developing the supply of national OD consultants through our Consultants for Change programme, tailored to different contexts.  CRVPF were clear that they wanted to co-create the programme, and to play an active role in its development rather than simply to sub-contract the training design to INTRAC. 

As a result, we worked closely with CRVPF staff to co-design and deliver a six-month intensive programme focused on strengthening OD support for small, community-based organisations — a unique and often under-recognised challenge, which is distinct from working with larger national NGOs.   

Three INTRAC trainers from the UK, Kenya and Uganda then supported the 24 participants from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.  The format involved an initial in-person workshop in Entebbe, Uganda in late January 2025, an OD ‘action learning’ project with a CSO partner, online training, coaching and mentoring support and a final closing workshop in May 2025 to reflect on the OD learning projects and deepen the shared learning.   

Feedback was very positive. After the workshop, all but two participants said that they had changed in their commitment to work with CBOs in a deeper, more supportive way with better understanding and more self-awareness.  Participants were particularly positive about what they had learned about systems thinking, new tools, and the different roles of consultants in working with organisations. 

These consultants are now equipped and ready to provide tailored, hands-on support to CRVPF’s grantees, helping to build stronger, more resilient grassroots organisations across the region. 

We look forward to reconnecting with both the consultants and the community organisations they’ve been supporting in two years’ time, as part of an in-depth tracer study to assess longer-term impact.