Small-sized mammals are ecological sentinels that face a silent extinction – often neglected in conservation programs. In West Africa, evidence-based conservation is a budding enterprise, limited by in-country capacity for actionable science, infrastructure, and funding for scientists and conservationists. In addition, despite shared threats and policy limitations, scientists and conservationists in the region remain isolated, limiting the ability to mount effective landscape scale responses to the biggest challenges of our time. The Mammal partnership will bridge the gap for neglected small-sized mammals through local/regional/international collaborations, and transformational capacity strengthening for the next generation of scientists and conservationists. Invited partners represent seven countries: Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mali. Partners are scientists with a PhD in their early to mid-career stages, who are eligible to supervise postgraduate students recruited into the West Africa Mammal Fellowship (WAMFell). The inaugural meeting of the Mammal Partnership held in July, 2023 during a three day meeting that will explore collaborative work across the West African region. Organized by SMACON through generous donations from the Otterfonds Foundation, and Future for Nature to SMACON, and HerpGhana.