MilkWood.
SITE IN PROGRESS 2026
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Why MilkWood?
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MilkWood is lean by design
The old consulting model was built for a different era. We embrace technology for impact and scale. The specialist you hire is the specialist who does the work. We ensure depth without bloat.
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We trade on trust and discernment
Research and output are abundant in the age of AI. What remains scarce is judgement. We value critical thinking and ethical practice.
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We're from here
Africa is a continent defined by its youth population and rapidly shifting political and economic landscape. This is where the decade's defining policy questions are being worked out, and we're here for it.
We thrive where neither politics nor policy is settled.
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Services
You're trying to engage governments, shape regulation, and earn social license in dynamic markets.
You need strategies that are deeply informed, agile, and ahead of change. MilkWood acts as a thought partner and executor: nuanced insight to shape your strategy, and hands-on capacity to deliver it.
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Policy Intelligence & Monitoring
African jurisdictions are writing and enforcing their own rules, amid rapidly shifting geopolitical realities. Our tailored monitoring tools and insight briefings help you see change coming and the openings it creates, so you can act early, on good information.​​
Deliverables
+ Quarterly horizon scans
+ Regular reporting
+ Bespoke risk dossiers
+ Real-time alerts
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Strategic Advisory & Positioning
We help you align organisational goals with policy realities: developing engagement strategies, sharpening your narrative, and making your case legible to the institutions that matter most to your success.
Deliverables
+ Stakeholder mapping
+ Engagement strategies
+ Messaging design & architecture
+ Executive positioning
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Campaign Design & Execution
The most effective engagement is run the way political campaigns are run: one objective, one narrative, every function coordinated. We coordinate tactics, matching messaging, voice, and tactics to each audience across media, digital, events, and partnerships to achieve your objectives.
Deliverables
+ Campaign design & sequencing
+ Audience segmentation
+ Integrated channel strategy: media, digital & events
+ Partnerships & coalitions
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Research & Policy Development
For foundations, multilaterals and research partners, we design and execute research and policy projects that explore new approaches to regulation, inclusion and innovation.
Deliverables
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+ Original research
+ Policy frameworks & whitepapers
+ Practitioner workshops
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The Model
The model. MilkWood is principal-led. Engagements are run and delivered by Frances Eberhard, with a network of senior specialists drawn together for the work, each owning what they deliver.
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The craft. We are translators and interlocutors. We make the policy landscape legible to you, and you legible to it, earning you the insight and credibility you need.
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The proof. Our longest client relationship is in its tenth year. We have decades of experience delivering for some of the world's most scrutinised companies and most effective foundations.
Frances Eberhard · Director · Cape Town
Frances is a South African policy specialist with over two decades of experience at the intersection of law, politics, and geopolitics. She clerked at the Constitutional Court and held fellowships at the University of Cape Town and Duke School of Law before moving into policy and advocacy.
Frances has led cross-continental teams and advised leading global corporations and foundations on policy, regulation and reputation across sub-Saharan Africa and emerging markets. Her current work centres on the political economy of technology regulation in Africa.
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Talk to us about how we can
help your organisation.
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Schedule a call
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Get a plan built around your objectives
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Let's get to work