Our Story


With the establishment of INCAS in 2003, and our regional hubs in the years following, we are one of the oldest companies working in the sustainability, peace, and security nexus. Our capabilities have grown in the 17 years since our first assignments in the Niger Delta, Russia and the Caucasus region. Today we have excellent technical capacities, along with extensive field and political networks in over 40 countries. We reach across Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central and Latin America, and Asia Pacific.

Our Networks

Europe

Europe

7 non-EU conflict-affected or fragile countries, including Ukraine

MENA

MENA

11 North African and Middle Eastern countries, including Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Syria and Yemen

Asia

Asia

11 Asian countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Myanmar, India, and Indonesia

Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa

16 Sub-Saharan countries, including Nigeria, Somalia, DR Congo, Zimbabwe, and South Sudan

Central and Latin America

Central and Latin America

5 Central and Latin American countries, including Colombia, Brazil and Nicaragua

  1. International Conflict and Security (INCAS) Consulting Ltd. is one of the oldest companies working in the social performance, peace, and security sector. Established by a group of experienced practitioners in 2003, the United Kingdom-based company pursued an approach that remains at the heart of how it operates to today: combining high-calibre expertise with strong field, technical, and political networks in transition, fragile and war-torn countries.

       London Eye and the Shell Building, Christine Matthews

  2. As the company grew, we decided to expand in and from the regions of our expertise, rather than growing a large UK-based company. This region-centric growth model helped us maintain and nurture regional capabilities in a more systematic manner, and made us “local” in key geographies. In line with this growth model, we established INCAS Eurasia (a joint venture with an NGO-network called FEWER International) in Russia in 2008.

       Village elders in the Caucasus, Anton Ivanov

  3. In 2009, INCAS Consulting (Nigeria) was established following a flurry of projects in Nigeria. A permanent presence in that country allowed us to develop and consolidate our West African networks, harness our knowhow and methods, and paved the way for much of the work we do in the region.

       Oil theft in the Niger Delta from the air, David Nyheim

  4. In 2012, we made shift from country to sub-regional focus. This prompted the establishment of West Africa Conflict and Security Consulting Ltd. (WACAS) in Abuja, replacing INCAS Consulting (Nigeria).

       Dakar from the air, Emmanuelle Diehl

  5. In 2014, INCAS Consulting Ltd. (UK) was rebranded as Europe Conflict and Security Consulting Ltd. (ECAS), with a regional focus on Europe (including the CIS countries), Middle East and North Africa. Our headquarters became INCAS Consulting Ltd. (Malta), with offices in Valletta.

       Old man in Cairo, Emmanuelle Diehl

  6. In 2016, we established Asia Conflict and Security (ACAS) Consulting Ltd. in Hong Kong to bolster our work and networks in Asia and the Pacific.

       Worker accommodation at a mine site in Mongolia, David Nyheim

  7. After five years of assignments across the continent, WACAS was re-organised into Africa Conflict and Security (AfCAS) Consulting Ltd. (Nigeria) to reflect our broadening geographic reach on the continent.

      Police officer training in Mali, Emmanuelle Diehl

  8. Today, we work out of INCAS in Malta, and run operations as needed through ECAS, ACAS, and AfCAS. We provide our clients with that rare combination of excellent field insight, strong in-country networks, and top-notch sector expertise

Our Approach

WE ARE CREATIVE

We develop evidenced and creative solutions that address the task at hand and client requirements. As a group we encourage our experts to seek out innovative approaches, take considered risks, and influence wider thinking and practice.

WE ARE FIELD TESTED AND PRAGMATIC

Our experts have significant experience in the regions we operate in and have played leading roles in field delivery. We are hands-on, unpretentious and credible with key players on the ground.

WE OPERATE A LEAN AND NETWORKED MODEL

As a network of high-calibre experts and with low company overheads, we are able to configure the right team for client requirements and do so at competitive rates.

WE BRING INCISIVE LOCAL INSIGHT

We are from, live and work in the regions we cover, and we invest time and resources to cultivate strategic networks. This enables us to gauge and ground-truth social and political dynamics, appreciate cultural sensitivities, and access hard-to-reach stakeholders.

Artraker


We maintain an institutional relationship with Artraker, an NGO co-founded by INCAS Chairman, David Nyheim. Artraker supports visual art that shapes how people and organizations understand, engage, and respond to violence and awards extraordinary artistic contributions to peace around the world.

 

Our Group has funded Artraker since the very first exhibition at Goldsmith’s University in 2013 and more recently the 2017 Awards given by the President of Malta at St James Cavalier in Valletta.

 

We are very pleased to feature the work of several Artraker artists on this website. Each image tells a different and remarkable story from countries where we work. We invite you to read more about each image and the artist.

A Dictionary of the Revolution is an experiment in multi-vocal storytelling. Hanafi created a box of 160 words in Egyptian colloquial that were frequently used between 2011-2013 in public political conversation. She then held conversations: choosing cards, people talked about what the words meant to them, who they heard using them, and how meanings had changed since the uprising. The digital publication of the project contains 125 imagined dialogues woven from transcription of this speech.

Hassani uses graffiti and 3D street art painting to demonstrate the power of art for all people. The subject of the artworks is an Afghan woman with and without the burqa. Since everybody forgets women in society, painting women in public ways can encourage other people to see women in society differently. Freedom is not to remove the burqa, it is to have peace.

Street Art

Shamsia Hassani

The orphan is wrapped in the traditional Pagne fabric, which is representative of the culture, power, heritage and fashion of central Africa. The irony of the Pagne is that it was imposed by colonial rule on locals to ensure that they did not adopt European dress. After decolonization, the Congolese adopted it for their own cultural identity. Today, the major distributor of Pagne is Belgium and the cheaper, mass-produced versions come from China. No Pagnes are actually produced in central Africa. DRC imports $25 million-worth of textiles a year.

We Are The Future

Aydin Matlabi

From Kabul to Kirkuk through the mountains of Pakistan, Iraq, and Colombia, Luisset seeks to raise questions about the representation of conflict and how we perceive it. In Theatre of War, the artist stages deliberately very mannered scenes to betray the process and question the theatricalization of the image of conflict. We are here with real fighters, in a real war zone, and yet, we are in a staged reality. 

Theatre of War

Emeric Luisset