We work where systems meet people

CTDC is an independent organisation working globally on safeguarding, governance, accountability, organisational culture, institutional change and responsible innovation.

Founded by two sociologists in 2013, we have worked with more than 120 organisations across over 50 countries, in English and Arabic.

We conduct research and assessments, design policies and systems, develop learning, facilitate difficult processes and support implementation. We connect these forms of work because institutional problems rarely sit within one discipline, department or intervention.

Since 2013

50+: Countries worked in
120+: Organisations
4,500+: People trained
2: Languages at full scale

Why we exist

Institutional problems are rarely caused by one gap.

Organisations are often expected to address complex problems through a single policy, training course, assessment or strategy. They are shaped by structures, histories, relationships, resources, organisational cultures, legal contexts and the distribution of power.

A policy review that examines only the wording can miss why the policy is not being used. Training cannot change practice when organisational systems reinforce something different. A strategy developed without the people responsible for implementing it may not reflect the realities in which they work.

CTDC was created to connect these parts. We bring together evidence, systems, learning and relationships to develop responses that are grounded in context and can be put into practice.

What we are known for

Five things a client can hold us to.

Evidence before conclusions.

We do not start with an answer the research is expected to confirm. Our findings follow the evidence, including when it challenges what the organisation commissioning us believes.

Systems, not individuals.

We assess conditions, decisions and institutional responsibility. Most organisational failures have structural causes and individual symptoms; working only on the symptoms guarantees repetition.

Design that survives contact with reality.

A framework is finished when the person who has to use it at eleven at night knows what to do. Not before.

Native bilingual practice.

English and Arabic across research, drafting, delivery and analysis, not translation applied afterwards. A consultation run in someone’s second language produces different findings.

Honesty about scope.

We decline work we cannot do well, and we say when a smaller intervention would serve you better than the one you asked for.

Our story

Founded in 2013 by two sociologists.

CTDC was founded in 2013 by Dr Nour Abu-Assab and Dr Nof Nasser-Eddin, two sociologists who saw a persistent gap between how institutions understood complex problems and how they responded to them.

Policies and strategies were often developed far from the people expected to implement them or affected by them. Academic knowledge did not always reach practice, while knowledge held by practitioners and communities was frequently excluded from formal analysis.

CTDC was created to work across these divides. From the outset, our work has been guided by an intersectional and transnational understanding of justice, recognising how power, identity, history and geography shape institutions and the conditions in which they operate.

Since then, we have worked with more than 120 organisations across over 50 countries and trained more than 4,500 people. We have also collaborated with academic institutions including the London School of Economics, SOAS, UCL, Birkbeck, the University of Edinburgh and the American University of Beirut.

Partnership has always been central to how we work. We choose collaboration over competition because complex problems require different forms of knowledge, experience and expertise.

Today, CTDC continues to connect rigorous research, practical institutional work and collective learning, while remaining grounded in the contexts and relationships that shape meaningful change.