Shifting the power in civil society support: amplifying ‘local knowledge’ and networking consultants for change 

An 18–month project with the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) to nurture a new regional network of consultants who champion local solutions and ‘consult with soul’.    

The West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), is a long-standing and close partner of INTRAC, sharing a commitment to strengthening locally rooted, sustainable ecosystems for civil society strengthening.  Since early 2024, with funding from Comic Relief, we have been collaborating on an ambitious project to transform civil society support in West Africa. The aim is to do this through fostering a new network of consultants from the region who are rooted in local cultures, methods, practices and knowledges, connected to global learning and debate, and committed to making a positive difference to civil society in the region. 

The idea for the project grew out of INTRAC’s 2024-2028 strategic framework and broader mission to develop a network of consultants practicing ethical and values-driven consultancy. There is also a strong connection with work done on the #ShiftthePower agenda by WACSI and Comic Relief.  We aim to live our shared values by paying particular attention to power dynamics and by addressing issues of decolonisation, equitable partnership, and power sharing.  Early in the project, WACSI collaborated on delivering a network learning session on decolonising consultancy practice. This was followed by further sessions led by other network members on decolonising language and centring equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in consultancy practice, resulting in some practical guidance for consultants. 

Building from the experience of INTRAC’s Consultants for Change (C4C) programme, WACSI recruited 18 consultants – 4 women and 14 men, from Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Cote d’Ivoire. These are a mix of highly experienced consultants – some with their own consultancy companies – and others seeking to develop their consultancy expertise and profile. From the beginning, the aim was to be ‘network-led’ – to build and learn from the consultants’ existing skills and expertise, and to be driven by and respond to their priority needs, interests, and challenges in delivering consultancy in the region. 

Based on a participatory needs assessment, we worked together to plan a series of online professional development sessions, including on resourcing for individuals and consulting firms and branding and positioning. These were designed to support peer learning and exchange and encourage reflective practice and collaborative working. Core to the project is the idea that ethical and values-driven consultants are key actors in supporting and catalysing change in civil society, and yet their role – and the skills needed for this – are often overlooked.  

Additionally, INTRAC developed and piloted an asynchronous version of our C4C training, which focuses on the importance of ‘consulting with soul’ to enable truly transformative change.  This was co-designed and delivered by Revy Sjahrial from C4Change.ID, a group of Indonesian consultants, and adapted to the West African context with the support of WACSI. 

Several of the consultants also joined a MEL working group to explore what decolonising MEL means in practice in West Africa. This built from INTRAC’s 2022 event on Shifting the power through MEL and a more recent scoping exercise to explore current thinking on decolonised approaches to MEL in the humanitarian and development sectors. 

In June 2025 WACSI hosted a successful and inspiring three-day Consultants for Change West Africa Learning Event in Ghana. This brought together the consultants, as well INTRAC’s Lucy Gray and Kate Newman, and staff from Comic Relief. The event explored professional development, resource mobilisation, ethical and values-driven consultancy practice and consulting with soul, as well as decolonising civil society support.  

The consultants expressed real energy and commitment to continuing collaboration and in the weeks following the event they put in place a co-leadership structure for the network, named West Africa Consultants for Change. They are developing a manifesto and guiding principles and have planned peer learning and awareness raising activities for the coming period. While the network is still in its early stages, we see its emergence as another step towards our vision for locally rooted sustainable ecosystems for civil society strengthening, and the transformation of existing power inequities in civil society support.