What we do

Five practices. One value chain.

Our services are organised as five practices — from seeing a situation clearly to sustaining the solution. Together they form a value chain: a client can enter at any point, and each practice opens naturally onto the next. Doors one and two understand the complexity; doors three to five navigate it.

Practice 1

Diagnosis & Assessment

We see clearly what others oversimplify.

Before anyone can act on a complex situation, they need an honest, rigorous picture of its real state. Our core practice — and the natural first step in any engagement.

The through-line is scientific, objective and multi-perspective: we hold ourselves to the standard of evidence, not opinion, and bring more than one expert mind to every complex question.

Sub-services

  • Organizational capacity diagnostics — structured, scored assessment across governance, financial systems, strategy, monitoring, and adaptive capacity.
  • Institutional & structural review — whether an organization's structure fits its mandate and environment, and where it is misaligned.
  • Context, conflict & risk analysis — conflict dynamics, risk factors, drivers of instability, political economy, and Do No Harm considerations.
  • Market & livelihoods assessment — labour market analysis, value-chain mapping, market systems, and self-reliance pathways.
  • Stakeholder & needs assessment — who matters, what they need, and how they relate — the foundation for any sound intervention.
What lands on your desk
A diagnostic report: a clear, multi-dimensional picture of the current state, the evidence behind each finding, and a prioritized path forward.
Practice 2

Research & Evaluation

We generate the evidence, and judge what works.

Credible, independent evidence to inform a decision, satisfy a requirement, or learn what happened and why.

Diagnosis reads a current state to act on it; research and evaluation generate knowledge or judge results — distinct by purpose, shared in rigor.

Sub-services

  • Applied & policy research — commissioned studies producing publishable, decision-grade evidence.
  • Program & strategy evaluation — mid-term, final and real-time evaluations against OECD-DAC criteria.
  • Monitoring, evaluation & learning — MEL systems, indicators, and data architecture.
  • Data collection & analysis — qualitative and quantitative field research, from design to synthesis.
  • Evidence synthesis — what is already known, pulled together into an actionable form.
What lands on your desk
A research report or evaluation with findings, evidence, and clear, usable recommendations.
Practice 3

Strategy & Design

We turn understanding into a plan.

Where insight becomes forward action — strategies, programs and structures designed for the specific context in which they must work.

Rarely the first purchase from a stranger; the obvious next step from someone who has just assessed their situation. This is where understanding becomes a plan built for the real context, not a borrowed template.

Sub-services

  • Program & project design — full intervention design: logic, components, workplan, and implementation approach.
  • Organizational restructuring & redesign — structures, roles and processes rebuilt to fit mandate and environment.
  • Strategy development — institutional, thematic and sectoral strategies with operational action plans.
  • Theory of change & results frameworks — how and why change is expected, and how it will be measured.
What lands on your desk
A program design, strategy, or restructuring plan — implementation-ready, evidence-based, and tailored to context.
Practice 4

Capacity Building & Tools

We build the capability to sustain it.

We don't only recommend — we equip. Practical capability that outlasts the engagement.

The most naturally productizable practice: some clients buy only training or tools, and the instruments we build let an organization apply a method without us in the room.

Sub-services

  • Training & training-of-trainers — designed and delivered for varying capacity and literacy levels.
  • Curriculum & learning-tool development — structured curricula and learning pathways.
  • Coaching & mentoring — sustained individual and institutional accompaniment.
  • Toolkits, guides & methodologies — instruments that let an organization apply a method independently.
  • Facilitation & workshop design — participatory processes, consultations, and multi-stakeholder sessions.
What lands on your desk
Trained people, a curriculum, a toolkit, or a facilitated process — capability that stays.
Practice 5

Donor & Portfolio Advisory

We help funders invest where it works.

Support for the funders and mechanisms deciding whom to back — de-risking portfolios and strengthening results.

The most distinctive practice, aimed at the best-funded buyer. Most consultancies serve grantees; few serve the funders deciding whom to back. As an advisor that neither takes grants nor implements programs, Complexia brings genuine independence to this work.

Sub-services

  • Grantee selection & due diligence — structured assessment of candidate organizations to inform funding decisions.
  • Grantee performance tracking — systems and reviews to monitor portfolio health over time.
  • Portfolio strategy — allocation across organizations, themes and geographies for optimal results.
  • Grantee capacity building — the support that lifts a whole portfolio's performance.
What lands on your desk
Selection frameworks, due-diligence assessments, portfolio reviews, and capacity strategies — the tools to invest with confidence.

Not sure which practice you need?

That is often the first question worth answering together. Most engagements begin with a diagnosis — an honest read of where things actually stand — and the right next practice becomes clear from there.

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