Includovate Pty Ltd

Who we are

Includovate is a female-founded and female-owned social enterprise and multidisciplinary research incubator operating globally. It was founded in 2019 by Dr Kristie Drucza, a neuro-diverse researcher and advocate, and is supported by a diverse international team of researchers and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) specialists. DEI refers to practices and policies designed to ensure all people are fairly represented and supported, particularly those who face discrimination or exclusion.

Includovate's mission is to incubate transformative solutions for measuring, studying, and changing discriminatory norms (the social rules and expectations that lead to unequal treatment) that drive poverty, inequality, and injustice. Its work is guided by four core values:

• Decolonial practice: challenging research and development approaches that centre Western knowledge and power structures
• Intersectionality: recognising that people experience overlapping forms of discrimination based on gender, disability, race, class, and other factors
• Participatory research: involving affected communities in the research process rather than studying them from the outside
• Reinvestment: directing profits back into research capacity led by researchers in the Global South

Includovate serves governments, UN agencies, NGOs, and businesses seeking rigorous, inclusive approaches to policy, programs, and organisational change. Its work is global in reach, with projects spanning more than twenty-two countries.

What we do

Inclusive Research

Includovate designs and delivers research that puts the people most often left out of data at the centre of the process, not just the page. Our teams combine rigorous mixed methods with feminist, decolonial, and intersectional approaches to uncover who is excluded, why, and what needs to change. We work across gender, disability, social norms, and marginalisation, always grounding our studies in local context rather than imported assumptions. As a research incubator, we pair experienced researchers with emerging talent from the community we observe, so the insights we generate are rigorous and the capacity we build is lasting. The result is evidence that clients can trust and act on with confidence.

Inclusive Evaluation

Includovate conducts mixed-methods evaluations that go beyond standard indicators to reveal how programmes affect different groups in different ways. We predominantly use participatory, gender-transformative, and disability-inclusive evaluation designs because they are less extractive than surveys. However, rigorous mixed methods do require surveys at times. We have completed household surveys with over 3000 household heads and know how to use the Washington Group Short Set of questions on disability functioning, to ensure no one is invisible in the data. Our evaluators have worked across education, health, agriculture, nutrition, water, and humanitarian response in East Africa, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Australia, and beyond. We do not just report what happened. We help programmes understand who was left out and design smarter ways to
reach them next time, turning evaluation into a driver of systems change rather than a compliance exercise.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Consulting

Includovate helps organisations build workplaces and programmes that are genuinely diverse, equitable, and inclusive, not just on paper. Our DEI consultants work with businesses, NGOs, and government agencies to run inclusion audits, review policies and culture, and design practical strategies for change. Through Includovate Pro, we
offer coaching, technical inputs, and structured learning for individuals and teams at every stage of their DEI journey. As a feminist social enterprise, we bring lived understanding of exclusion alongside technical expertise, so our recommendations are ambitious and achievable. We help you move from good intentions to measurable,
lasting culture change, without burnout.

Gender and Inclusion Audits

Includovate conducts gender and inclusion audits that give organisations an honest, evidence-based picture of how inclusive their policies, culture, and systems really are. We review structures, practices, and lived experience across gender, disability, and other dimensions of exclusion to identify gaps and blind spots that internal reviews often miss. Our audits combine document review, staff and stakeholder consultation, and participatory methods, grounded in feminist and intersectional analysis rather than generic compliance checklists. Businesses, NGOs, UN agencies, and government agencies use our audits to benchmark progress, meet donor and reporting requirements, and build a practical roadmap for change, not just a diagnosis.

Localisation and Community Engagement

Includovate was founded to challenge extractive research practices, and localisation sits at the heart of everything we do. We work through local researchers and community structures to co-design studies and programmes, rather than parachuting in with fixed agendas. Our teams bring a deep understanding of socio-development contexts
across the globe and use participatory approaches, including focus groups, transect walks, storytelling, and photovoice, to ensure communities shape the research, not just supply the data. This builds trust, improves data quality, and strengthens local ownership of results, while creating real opportunities for local researchers to lead, publish, and grow their careers.

Ethical Research and IRB Clearance

Includovate's Institutional Review Board provides ethical clearance for research conducted in low-resource and humanitarian settings, where standard ethics processes often do not fit. We offer full board reviews, expedited reviews of previously approved studies, and full re-reviews, with support for multi-country applications. Our board understands the practical realities of fieldwork, including power imbalances, limited access, unreliable electricity, and device safety, and applies pragmatic, context-appropriate approaches without compromising rigour. Clearances are available in English, French, Arabic, Amharic, and Spanish, with rates for INGOs, commercial and UN clients, and reduced rates for students and institutions. Ethical, responsive, and built for the field.

Capacity Strengthening and Training

Includovate designs and delivers training that builds real, lasting capacity in inclusive research, evaluation, GEDSI and programme design. We use adult learning principles, co-design, and hands-on application rather than one-off workshops, so skills stick. Through Includovate Pro and the Learning Hex, we package our feminist, decolonial methods into structured courses and community learning platforms for NGOs, donors, and corporate ESG teams. Our designs draw on participatory tools such as workshops, storytelling, and photovoice to make learning relevant, inclusive, and locally grounded, rather than relying on a generic curriculum applied the same way everywhere. The result is learning that participants help shape, building capacity they can genuinely use and pass on.

Gender and Social Inclusion Advisory

Includovate provides gender equality, disability, and social inclusion (GEDSI) advisory services to NGOs, government agencies, businesses, UN bodies, and corporations. We support organisations in integrating gender-transformative and intersectional approaches into strategy, policy, and programme design, drawing on deep expertise in disability
inclusion, CRPD compliance, and social norms change. Our advisors have shaped gender-responsive extension practices, disability-inclusion frameworks, national policies, and community-based programme design across multiple sectors. We do not offer generic diversity advice. We bring evidence-based, decolonised, and locally grounded recommendations that help organisations make inclusion a driver of impact rather than an afterthought.

Social Impact Consulting

Includovate helps organisations translate research and evaluation findings into strategies that create genuine, measurable social impact. We support governments, donors, businesses, and civil society in designing funding and resource mobilisation strategies, policy reforms, and programme models aligned with gender equality and social inclusion goals. Our consultants combine technical rigour with a deep understanding of exclusion, drawing on feminist and decolonial approaches to make sure strategies work for the communities they are meant to serve. As a certified social enterprise, we reinvest the majority of our profits into our mission, so every engagement contributes to a larger movement for equity, not just a single project outcome.