Local ChampionsBring us a project
Nikita Gicanda Vervelde leading a women's football strategy session in Kigali

About Local Champions

We work where community knowledge meets institutional power.

Built between London and Kigali, we help the people shaping change and the people living through it build stronger answers together—wherever the work takes us.

Our story

Our work grew between London and Kigali.

Local Champions was founded in 2022 to close the distance between ambitious development plans and the communities they are intended to serve—and between local talent and the opportunities created around it.

Today, we combine inclusive economic development, community research, co-design, enterprise and sport. We operate across boardrooms, football pitches, community spaces and cross-sector partnerships because credible development needs institutional ambition and local knowledge in the same room. London and Kigali are where the method has been forged, not the limit of its ambition: we adapt it to each place rather than exporting a fixed template.

The method in action · Wisdom Exchange

Create the conditions for knowledge to move both ways.

Young entrepreneurs from our Haringey network met local elders and advisors to exchange experience, stories and practical knowledge. Ali Kakande of Carib Eats—one of our advisors—helped hold the room.

Young entrepreneurs, local elders and advisors gathered for the Wisdom Exchange
A room built around exchange—not a one-way transfer of expertise.
Local Champions advisor Ali Kakande facilitating the Wisdom Exchange
Ali Kakande · Carib Eats · Local Champions advisor
A young entrepreneur and older participant sharing knowledge across generations
Close conversation makes experience practical and personal.
A Haringey entrepreneur listening closely to an older participant at the Wisdom Exchange
Listening is part of the infrastructure.
Nikita Gicanda Vervelde leading a Local Champions working session in London

Founder & CEO

Nikita Gicanda Vervelde

Nikita is a Rwandese–Dutch strategist, programme designer and football leader working across the UK and Rwanda. She founded Local Champions and serves on the FERWAFA Executive Committee as Women’s Football Commissioner.

Her work combines lived experience, institutional fluency and practical delivery—bringing communities, developers, funders, public bodies and sport institutions together to shape change and create real local opportunity.

Her research sits at the intersection of sport ecosystems, data, institutions and the pathways that turn overlooked potential into opportunity.

The people behind the work

The team combines global expertise with local knowledge.

Our team brings together lived experience, institutional strategy and practical delivery across the UK and Rwanda. We are researchers and product builders, programme leaders and coaches, creatives and community organisers—people who know how to think at system level and make things work on the ground.

Mafalda Silva, Non-Executive Director at Local Champions

Governance

Mafalda Silva

Non-Executive Director

UK team

Marie Bashiru

Research ConsultantMarie works across research scoping, survey design, qualitative enquiry, evaluation and learning—turning evidence into practical recommendations for programmes and partners.
Emmanuel Lawal, YEA! Project Officer at Local Champions

UK team

Emmanuel Lawal

YEA! Project OfficerEmmanuel supports founder recruitment, community engagement, facilitation and programme delivery—helping YEA! cohorts and partners move from onboarding to opportunity.
Varsha Alexandra Bailey-Gunputh, Sport for Development Project Officer at Local Champions

UK team

Varsha Alexandra Bailey-Gunputh

Sport for Development Project OfficerVarsha develops sport and mentoring pathways for women and young people, combining coaching, partnership development, talent identification and reflective learning.

UK team

Aku

YEA! Community Manager

Creative team

Malaika Uwamahoro

Storyteller & Producer

Creative team

Baba Weah

Photographer
Ruth Haley, Product Owner at Local Champions

Product team

Ruth Haley

Product Owner

Programme-specific teams sit with the work they lead.

Meet the Academy team Explore the YEA! faculty

How we work

A team built around the place and the challenge.

We combine global expertise with local relationships and lived experience. Senior leadership stays close to delivery, while specialists join around the context, capability and outcome each commission requires.

StrategyResearchProgramme deliveryProductCoachingCreative production

Advisors

Experience that strengthens the decisions.

Our advisors strengthen our decisions across enterprise, sport, education, community leadership, human rights and organisational development.

  • Nana BaduFounder, BADU Sports and BADU Community
  • Orlene BaduLeadership consultant, author and former headteacher
  • Kat CraigHuman rights lawyer; founder, Athlead and Candi FC
  • Abigail IngramGirls United
  • Ali KakandeFounder, Carib Eats
  • Rebecca TrevalyanCo-founder, Library of Things and Platform Places

Organisation & assurance

Registered, governed and accountable.

We combine the pace and proximity of a small senior team with the evidence and assurance serious partnerships require.

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Senior oversight

Founder and CEO Nikita Gicanda Vervelde leads the work alongside Non-Executive Director Mafalda Silva and project-specific delivery teams.

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Responsible delivery

Safeguarding, consent, data protection and proportionate evidence are built into work with children, communities and partner organisations.

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Clear evidence

We distinguish direct support from wider reach, and jobs from other paid opportunities. Commissioners can request supporting reports and due-diligence information.

Review reports and learning ↗

Build with us

Help grow what works.

We welcome experienced volunteer fundraisers and CSR or corporate investment specialists who can help build ambitious partnerships around our UK and Rwanda platforms.

Express interest

How we show up

Joy

Ambitious work should create energy, dignity and possibility.

Discipline

We turn ideas into clear decisions, accountable action and delivery.

Communication

We listen deeply, speak plainly and keep people aligned.

Collaboration

We build with people closest to the work and the challenge.

Accountability

We own the result, learn honestly and strengthen what comes next.