About
Joachim Ramakers
Much of Joachim's working life has been spent in the space between what organisations intend and what people actually experience. Programme documents, strategies and accountability systems are necessary. They are also incomplete.
Over two decades he has managed and advised complex international programmes, and worked on crisis prevention and recovery, local governance, humanitarian and development programming, responsible data and digital practice, organisational change and leadership. That work has included time with UNDP, the Netherlands Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity International and SNV, alongside earlier international development organisations. These are places where he has worked; they are not presented as current clients or endorsements.
Alongside this, he trained and registered as a Confidential Counsellor in the Netherlands. The two strands are not separate. Both are about whether difficult information reaches the people who need it, and whether people retain agency over what happens to them.
In his own words
Why I founded Nexus
Organisations can have committed people, sound strategies and good information—and still miss what matters. The frameworks they use shape what becomes visible, whose experience is heard and which solutions appear possible. When people's perspectives are not taken seriously, the distance between organisational intentions and lived realities can quietly grow.
I founded Nexus Impact Consulting to help organisations recognise and close that gap. I work across organisational levels and with the people affected by decisions to uncover what may be overlooked and understand how strategies, programmes and working practices are experienced in reality.
For me, meaningful localisation is not simply about consulting people. It means recognising their knowledge, experience and opinions—and allowing these to influence what happens next. When an organisation listens carefully, responds honestly and demonstrates that people's contributions matter, it builds trust.
More than twenty years of international work across organisations and cultures has taught me to examine issues from different perspectives. Being external allows me to ask questions that may be difficult to raise internally, connect viewpoints that are often considered separately and offer an independent assessment.
This thinking connects the work of Nexus. Through consulting, confidential counselling and Moments That Matter, I create different ways for organisations and people to recognise what is being missed, bring important perspectives forward and make more informed choices.
Nexus exists to help organisations see beyond their own assumptions, build trust through meaningful engagement and turn what they learn into practical change.
What Nexus brings together
Strands that are often kept apart.
Programme delivery
The practical business of designing, running, adapting and closing complex programmes.
Leadership & organisational systems
How decisions are made, how information travels, and what structures reward.
Trust & listening
Whether people speak, whether they are heard, and what happens next.
Accountability & human agency
Understanding what is changing, for whom — while people keep control of their own choices.
Professional foundation
- More than twenty years of international programme and policy experience
- Joachim Ramakers is an LVV-registered Confidential Counsellor and holds the Dutch professional designation LVV-registervertrouwenspersoon®. He is registered with Hobéon SKO under certificate number VP-3283. His current certificate is valid through 14 November 2027.
- Experience across humanitarian action, development, crisis prevention and recovery
- Based in the Netherlands, working internationally
Working languages
Confidential conversations can be conducted in Dutch, English, Spanish and German. Joachim also speaks French and Portuguese at an intermediate level; whether either language is suitable for a particular conversation is agreed beforehand.
Nexus is deliberately small. When you talk to Nexus, you talk to the person who will do the work.
Let's talk about what you're working on.
Whether it is an assignment, a confidential counselling arrangement, or an idea you want to think through with someone independent.