Innocent Chukwuma is a the Director of West Africa for the Ford Foundation. Before joining the foundation Innocent founded and led the CLEEN Foundation, to promote public safety, security, and accessible justice in West Africa. In addition, Innocent has held various posts within the Civil Liberties Organization, one of Nigeria's first human rights organizations. He was also the chair of the Altus Global Alliance, a global network of nonprofits.

Innocent He served as visiting lecturer at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, where he designed and taught a course on the management of nonprofits in the Global South. He holds a master's degree in criminal justice from the University of Leicester and a bachelor's degree in religion from the University of Nigeria.