Who we work with

Grateful to have CTDC providing support for feminist organisations on organisational strengthening. Nof and Nour's approach combines strong feminist values with practicality coming from long years of experience, and this is exactly what we needed when we were looking to develop our internal policies. They gave everyone in the team an opportunity to talk freely, and a space to discuss and give feedback collectively. They're committed, they deliver on time, and they're as kind as they are incisive.

Badael’s collaboration with CTDC dates back to 2019, and over the years, our partnership has taken many forms. What consistently stands out is CTDC’s unique ability to bring difficult, often uncomfortable questions to the table, questions that challenge power structures, unsettle assumptions, and spark deep reflection. Each time we work together, we leave not only with concrete outcomes, but also with new provocations that continue to shape our thinking and practice. CTDC’s intersectional feminist lens, commitment to decolonial praxis, and ability to bridge knowledge production with grassroots organising have deeply enriched our collective efforts. Their work affirms the transformative potential of feminist solidarity across geographies and struggles.

CTDC supported us to do power analysis in institutional partnerships as part of our two-year research on Ethical and Equitable Partnerships. Nour and Nof (co-directors of CTDC) provided professional and technical guidance and teased out the manifestations of power dynamics using an intersectional and decolonial approach. Their experience and previous skills on decolonial tools and frameworks enriched the analysis which generated so much learning across IIED, through a food for thought session. Their work informed the final research report on ethical and equitable partnerships which has also in turn informed IIED’s Manifesto for a thriving world.

As Kvinna till Kvinna in MENA, we have truly loved working with CTDC. They are professional, deeply knowledgeable about the MENA context, and bring a rare and valuable feminist perspective to their work—something few can do in the region. They excel at contextualising their approach and consistently centre the needs of our partners. Whether - facilitating safe spaces to discuss safeguarding, or developing a feminist M&E course, or developing a toolkit on Shrinking Civic Space, or looking deeper into localisation and what it means for us and our partners - every project we’ve collaborated on has had a meaningful and positive impact on our partners and target groups.

As an Alliance of over 250 organisations and allies worldwide advancing SRHRJ for women, girls and gender diverse people through healthcare and advocacy, working with CTDC to understand better how our partners define a humanitarian setting and what their response is to these settings was an essential and thought-provoking process that was successfully led by their expertise. We appreciated their visionary and intersectional approach, their willingness to dialogue and their fulfilment of the task at hand within the period agreed. They were able to positively create a conceptualisation that we are proud to adopt as our own.

We were fortunate to be able to engage CTDC for a number of training sessions on research ethics and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) within the context of international research. The sessions were delivered to a cross-sector, international team across the UK and North Africa (and across three languages!). Not only the sessions were informative but also highly engaging, tailored to the specific challenges and contexts of international research environments. Nour and Nof demonstrated deep subject matter expertise, a clear understanding of the ethical complexities and accountability frameworks that govern international research, and acute awareness and sensibilities to the issues at stake in Global North-South partnerships. Their ability to translate complex concepts into practical, actionable strategies was particularly impressive.

We have partnered with CTDC since 2023, they provided a consultancy focused on strengthening the governance and internal structure of Families for Freedom movement. Before this collaboration, we had actively searched for governance expertise that combined an intersectional feminist perspective with Arabic fluency but had found limited success. CTDC bridged this gap perfectly. Their approach was participatory and attuned to the nuances of the Syrian context and the issue of enforced disappearance, delivered through a culturally respectful intersectional feminist lens. Moreover, their work demonstrated a deep understanding of the relational dynamics within the movement, encompassing diverse cultural identities and perspectives. The collaboration was highly effective and warmly welcomed by the movement’s members. In addition to that CTDC delivered training courses to our staff members on different topics governance and advocacy from a feminist perspective.

In the early founding stages of the Syrian Women’s Political Movement (SWPM) and the development of internal governance, so that it distinguishes itself from other Syrian bodies as a political and feminist movement, we worked with CTDC’s Dr. Nour Abu-Assad and Dr. Nof Nasser Eddin, who provided thorough assessments, workshops, and meetings with SWPM members, assistance in: organisational development, anti-discrimination, and diversity, inclusion, and safeguarding, all of which remain essential and relevant in making the SWPM resilient and capable of standing out among all the other political players in Syria, despite all the changes and often politically and socially hostile environment in which it works.

As the principals of CTDC, Nour and Nof bring an incredible combination of dynamic thinking, fresh perspectives, academic rigour, and flexibility. Their ability to dive into difficult topics, analyse the data, and describe key findings in clear and compelling ways is extraordinary. I appreciate that they explain complex and nuanced topics in ways that are accessible to lay people but are also relevant and important to improving the quality of work and achieving our intended results. Furthermore, their collaborative approach and openness to different ideas makes working with them a pleasure. We look forward to partnering with them again in the near future.

CTDC has been a powerful learning space—one that taught me the value of collective thinking and speaking ideas into being. My journey with the Centre began in 2017, when I attended my first session facilitated by Dr. Nof Nasser-Eddin and Dr. Nour Abu-Assab, with support from WILPF. That session brought critical attention to the politics of knowledge transmission and how it can be used as a strategic and empowering tool for feminist movements. These principles continue to shape my work today, as I remain committed to sharing knowledge, ideas, and conversations with those around me. In 2025, I joined sessions that unpacked the structural forces impacting feminist thinkers and organisers in the Arab region, exploring how these forces intersect with other struggles.

Working with CTDC has been one of DocStream’s most rewarding editorial partnership. A true blend of professional rigor and intellectual curiosity. Few match CTDC’s respect for true language and original research, paired with such a warm and thoughtful approach. Since 2020, collaborating with Nof and Nour has meant exploring what clarity and precision really mean in the social sciences, while also enjoying meetings that meander, productively, into Arabic linguistics, political nuance, and occasional existential laughs.

Working with CTDC over the past eight years has been nothing short of transformative. Their intersectional feminist politics are not just theoretical, they inform every aspect of how they collaborate, facilitate, and co-create. Whether through their participatory approach, their ability to build genuine trust with partners, or their sharp and accessible analysis, CTDC consistently embodies the values and politics they work to advance. They have become an indispensable ally in our feminist movement-building efforts across the MENA region.

Working with CTDC on a research project on localisation within an advocacy programme promoting women’s economic rights demonstrated the capacity of my CTDC colleagues to adopt an approach that blends rigorous academic inquiry with hard core activism. This approach was highlighted through the way the group achieved a reasonable balance between the practicality of activists, who are biased ( strongly committed) to a cause, and the detached 'objective' attitude of the researcher in the field; using this hybrid approach allows addressing sensitive research topics such as localisation and international funding from a unique perspective that has the capacity to capture several dimension of such construct. Such an experience adds zest to the soul of a devoted activist and nurtures hybrids - like me - who keep striving to balance activism with academic rigour. Thank you for the experience.

In our journey as a feminist organisation working in complex and challenging contexts, we went through phases where we were completely alone — with no funding, no support, and with extremely limited resources. In those moments, we had only a few by our side — and the Centre for Transnational Development and Collaboration (CTDC) was among the few who chose to stand with us, believe in us, and support us unconditionally.

Our partnership with the Centre was never an ordinary one. It played a foundational role in our growth, not only organisationally but intellectually and politically as well. Through working with them, we learned the fundamentals of feminism — not just as a theoretical discourse but as a way of thinking and a daily practice. We learned that justice requires a deeper perspective, and that any issue must be examined from multiple angles to be fairer and more truthful. Together, we came to understand what it means to subject every step we take to an analysis of power dynamics, recognising this as a central tool in any transformative path we pursue.

From the Centre for Transnational Development and Collaboration, we also learned what women’s positionalities mean — how women’s experiences are not one and the same, and how differences in social, political, and economic positions create real distinctions that must be considered. These concepts have become analytical tools we use in designing our projects and in engaging with the communities we work with.

With them, we learned that every change begins with a question — a question or a word that dismantles, interrogates, and is revisited again and again. This has become our fundamental tool in our work, and many of our ideas and initiatives have emerged from it. For us, the Centre for Transnational Development and Collaboration is not just a partner. It is part of our struggle’s collective memory, part of our vision, and part of the tools we carry on our journey.

They stood with us through difficult times, encouraged us when we felt discouraged, and created safe spaces with us to think, reflect, and grow together.

They were friends, encouragers, and true partners in feminist work — and no matter how long the road, this partnership will remain one of the most genuine and impactful experiences we have ever had.