Archipelago Books & Knowledge

Turning fragmented
knowledge
into strategic decisions

An independent strategic intelligence and institutional consulting service for Small Island Developing States and the francophone Indian Ocean region.

Our Services About ABK
Archipelago Books & Knowledge
Knowledge Structuring & capitalising institutional knowledge
Intelligence Strategic monitoring & analytical publishing
Advisory Institutional design & governance architecture
Vision & Missions

Governing by knowledge,
not by urgency

Vision

ABK's vision is to be the reference partner for island institutions that want to govern by knowledge rather than by urgency.

We transform the dispersion of knowledge across island worlds — reports, projects, archives, local practices, traditional and oral knowledge, information flows — into strategic intelligence that informs decisions, strengthens institutions and amplifies the voice of islands in regional and international spaces.

Our Three Missions
Mission 01

Never lose what you already know

Every project, programme and conference produces knowledge. Lessons learned, local practices, oral knowledge, field experience — most of it disappears at the end of a cycle. ABK recovers it, structures it and puts it to work for the next decisions: better-informed strategies, fewer repeated mistakes, stronger institutional continuity, a solid foundation for convincing partners and donors.

Mission 02

Know what others don't see yet

The trends that matter for islands — political, regulatory, financial, institutional — exist before they become visible. ABK tracks them for its clients: Small Island Developing States (SIDS), island territories, regional organisations. The result: decision-makers better positioned in negotiations, organisations that anticipate rather than react, strengthened credibility with international partners.

Mission 03

Decide with confidence, act with clarity

Knowledge is only valuable if it translates into action. ABK supports institutional decision-making: how an organisation structures itself, coordinates its actors, capitalises on its experience and governs its knowledge over time. Recommendations co-built with local teams — realistic, transferable, and grounded in island realities.

ABK transforms dispersed island knowledge into decision-making power.
What We Do

Three service lines,
one strategic intelligence operation

01
Knowledge Services

Knowledge Structuration & Capitalisation

We help island institutions organise, capitalise, and audit their knowledge systems — from project portfolios to documentary foundations.

  • Project & portfolio capitalisation — structured knowledge transfer at programme close
  • Knowledge management audits — diagnostic of institutional knowledge systems
  • Knowledge Box — capitalisation kit (templates, preconfigured databases, tutorials)
  • Conference Intelligence Report — strategic synthesis, actor mapping, SIDS implications
  • Documentary collection audits — gap analysis and acquisition strategy
02
Intelligence

Strategic Monitoring & Analytical Publishing

Customisable intelligence products that track political, institutional and financial trends shaping island worlds — by design, not easily automated.

  • Island Intelligence Brief — monthly customisable strategic monitoring
  • MONITOR — quarterly island intelligence review (trends, policy focus, institutional & regulatory watch, funding & document watch, signals)
  • Strategic Briefs — thematic deep dives: island governance models, blue economy, inter-island cooperation, parliamentary systems
These products integrate field contacts, interviews, weak signals, and non-indexed sources — beyond what automated monitoring can reach.
03
Advisory

Institutional Design & Knowledge Advisory

We translate intelligence into institutional solutions — from governance architecture for regional organisations to the valorisation of local island knowledge.

  • Institutional design — governance architectures for regional organisations and SIDS institutions
  • Knowledge valorisation — support for publication and dissemination of local and institutional knowledge
  • Strategic advisory — bespoke consulting on knowledge management and institutional intelligence
About ABK

A specialist at the intersection of knowledge and island governance

ABK is not a documentation service. It is a strategic intelligence and knowledge management operation dedicated to the institutions and actors that govern island worlds.

Archipelago Books & Knowledge (ABK) was founded on a simple observation: the institutions that govern island worlds — ministries, agencies, parliaments, regional organisations, universities, think tanks, development actors — face a structural knowledge challenge. Their policy agendas are globally significant; the knowledge systems supporting their decisions rarely match that ambition.

ABK combines knowledge management, strategic intelligence, and institutional consulting to serve governments, regional organisations, development actors and international institutions working on island governance — with a particular focus on Small Island Developing States. Its three service lines — Knowledge Services, Intelligence, and Advisory — correspond to three moments in the journey from raw information to institutional action.

Few advisors combine direct elected office experience, senior governance programme delivery across the Indian Ocean, and a dedicated knowledge intelligence practice for island worlds. ABK brings all three together.

Languages
FrenchNative
EnglishProfessional
Moroccan ArabicNative
Geographic Focus
Indian Ocean Comoros Seychelles Mauritius Réunion Madagascar Pacific SIDS Caribbean
The Founder

Hamza Fassi-Fihri

Senior Governance & Democracy Advisor · Founder, ABK

Hamza Fassi-Fihri — ABK Founder

Shawiri Project, Comoros (EU-funded)

Governance and democracy advisor with over 20 years of experience working on democratic institutions, governance programmes and island governance across Europe, Africa, the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia.

His background combines 12 years of elected office in Belgium — including Member of Parliament, Speaker and Deputy Mayor of Brussels — with senior advisory roles in international governance programmes and consultancies funded by the EU, US, UN and bilateral donors, including direct advisory work with the African Union Commission. That dual experience — inside democratic institutions and in the field — shapes an advisory practice grounded in how reform actually happens.

His island governance focus developed through field work in Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles, the establishment of the Association of Parliaments of the Indian Ocean Commission (AP-COI), and advisory work for UNDP Indonesia on the institutional design of the Archipelagic and Island States (AIS) Forum. ABK translates that accumulated expertise into intelligence and knowledge services for island institutions.

Selected Experience

COI / AP-COI — Parliamentary governance and inter-parliamentary cooperation, Indian Ocean Commission

UNDP Indonesia — Institutional design, AIS Forum (51-state archipelagic coalition)

African Union Commission — Electoral assistance methodologies and governance advisory

EU programmes (ECES) — Electoral governance, institutional reform and parliamentary strengthening, Nigeria, Kenya and 12+ Eastern, Central and Western African countries

US programmes (NDI & DI) — Political party development and democratic governance, Tunisia and Ethiopia

Comoros — Shawiri project (EU-funded) — Institutional governance and dialogue on youth, gender and civil society

Proprietary bibliographic base — 1,500+ references, SIDS and Indian Ocean governance

Selected Publications

Comparative Study of Parliamentary Systems and Practices of Member States of the Association of Parliaments of the Indian Ocean Commission (AP-COI) — May 2025

Publications & Briefs

Research notes, strategic briefs,
and documentary analyses

ABK publishes thematic notes, strategic briefs, and documentary analyses on SIDS governance, island knowledge infrastructure, and the francophone Indian Ocean region.

◈

Publications and strategic briefs will appear here as ABK's research programme develops.

Subscribe to the newsletter to be notified of new releases.

Contact

Get in touch

ABK works with a focused number of partners and clients to maintain the quality and depth of its engagements. Enquiries are welcome from SIDS institutions, research centres, international organisations, and regional bodies.

Email hamza@archipelagoknowledge.com
Website archipelago-knowledge.org
Region Indian Ocean · Global SIDS
Languages French · English · Moroccan Arabic

"Island institutions face a distinctive knowledge challenge: rich oral traditions, dispersed archives, multilingual literature, and donor-driven research that rarely makes it into accessible repositories. ABK exists to bridge that gap — not by adding to the noise, but by helping institutions find, structure, and act on what matters."

— Hamza Fassi-Fihri, Founder, ABK