It’s been a busy end of the year for us at Sustineo! There’s been a flurry of business development activity, and the usual end-of-year deliverables crunch. But we couldn’t miss reflecting on the year gone by — read on below for a few highlights.
Our team
While we said farewell to Alison May this year, we were excited to welcome two new consultants to the team in August. Dr Saule Burkitbayeva strengthens our quantitative analysis capacity with her impressive economics and international development background. On the flip side, Lauren Waring brings strong qualitative research skills and insights into development program management. We are super proud of our team culture and our latest additions only add to it, while also ensuring we maintain a quant vs qual balance.
Left: Saule Burkitbayeva feeling at home at a pickleball court. Right: Lauren Waring with the Sydney Harbour Bridge and CBD in the background.
We also welcomed (and then had to say farewell to) Isabel Bremner, our intern as part of the Australian National University’s (ANU) Australian National Internship Program (ANIP). Isabel’s project on carbon standards for small-holder coffee farmers in PNG was closely aligned to our own work. While she mainly worked with Dr Matt Allen and Ellis Mackenzie, writing papers and co-facilitating workshops, Isabel was always happy to dive in to help out with other projects. Thank you, Isabel!
Congratulations go to Dr Rob Hortle for stepping up into a Research and Operations Manager role. While he will continue to work as a senior consultant on some projects, we’re excited that Rob is now leading some of our organisational process improvements and professional development.
Our impact
A key research theme for us this year was climate adaptation, which we explored through projects on carbon trading, climate resilience, and livelihoods. We’re keen to continue growing in this space and furthering our understanding of the most critical climate change impacts facing our region. Here are a few project highlights from the year in this space:
- Strengthening Competitiveness, Agriculture, Livelihoods and Environment – Natural Resource Management (SCALE-NRM) baseline study. SCALE-NRM is designed to address the underlying causes of forest degradation in the Solomon Islands, with a current focus on Malaita Province. We delivered the baseline study for this project, which involved working with our longstanding Solomon Islands partner, Dignity Pasifik, to conduct and analyse 438 household surveys, 647 perceptions surveys, and 45 qualitative engagements.
- Development of relocation guidelines for Solomon Islands. Dr Matt Allen led this project to develop evidence-based guidelines to support the relocation of Solomon Islands villages in the context of slow environmental change and sudden onset disasters. Based on detailed case studies and community consultations, the guidelines were publicly launched by the IOM and Solomon Islands Government in July.
- Climate and related information for Pacific food systems: Preparedness and planning. This project is developing a climate information tool that will support improved decision making in agriculture, forestry, and food systems in Pacific countries. We undertook a series of expert interviews to provide the evidence base for the tool. We really enjoyed strengthening our collaboration with the ANU Institute of Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions (ICEDS) through this project.
- PNG industry and government engagement regarding potential carbon trading. As part of a broader DFAT funded project we interviewed key government, civil society, and private stakeholders in PNG. Our goal was to understand the governance structures that will enable PNG to implement a productive and beneficial carbon trading scheme. This project also included Isabel’s work on carbon standards, and an international stakeholder workshop at ANU. Matt and Ellis presented this work at the 2022 Australasian AID Conference at ANU in November, where Rob also presented his paper, ‘Citizen wellbeing in hybrid regimes’.
- Fairtrade impact study in PNG coffee communities. We delivered an independent study for Fairtrade ANZ on the benefits of being Fairtrade certified for producers, farmers, and communities. Although we had to work remotely with in-country researchers for data collection, next time we’re keen to travel to the PNG Highlands ourselves and sample the goods…
Giving back
Coffee and fun run for Femili PNG
Staying with the coffee theme, arguably one of the biggest shifts we made internally this year was swapping out our old coffee pod machine for Femili PNG ground coffee and a plunger. Coffee time in the office is now more social, sustainable, feel-good, and delicious! We highly recommend you try this women-empowering coffee for yourself, either at home or in the office. You can thank us later.
Our new office coffee ritual featuring Femili PNG coffee
Also in support of Femili PNG, some of the Sustineo gang once again laced up their runners for the Canberra Times Marathon Festival in April. As their main fundraiser for the year, Femili PNG raised over $34,000! These funds enable Femili PNG to continue supporting hundreds of people affected by family and sexual violence and delivering education programs to even more.
Left: Tom Sloan (L) with his support crew after completing the half marathon. Right: Nina Davis (L) and Ellis Mackenzie (R) after their 5.4km fun run.
Friends of Grasslands
We’ve been helping out Friends of Grasslands, a Canberra-based volunteer organisation dedicated to the conservation of natural temperate grassy ecosystems in south-eastern Australia. We’re hosting one of their project officers, Aaron Midson, at our office and providing mentoring as he works on a range of advocacy and communications projects.
YWCA Great Ydeas Grants
Sustineo once again supported the YWCA Great Ydeas Small Grants Program which provides grants up to $2500 to support women, girls and non-binary people in the ACT to pursue their passions and improve our community. The winner of our Great Ydeas Empowerment Grant was Deborah Martin with her project Yurwan Bulan (Strong Woman). Yurwan Bulan aims to support and empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women with information and skills to help prevent domestic and family violence in a culturally informed and inclusive way. Congratulations to Deborah! We’ve seen and heard first-hand about the devastating impacts of domestic and family violence through our work across the Pacific, and we’re proud to support such an important cause here at home too.
If you’d like to learn more about the Grants Program and why we choose to get involved, this interview with our CEO, Tom Sloan, is a great read.
International Development Contractors Community
Our Executive Director, Nicky Thatcher, continues to hold a position on the International Development Contractors Community (IDCC) Board. IDCC is the peak body representing international development consultants and contractors working with the Australian aid program. Nicky plays a huge role advocating for smaller firms – like us – in the vast ‘Australian development ecosystem’.
Great Cycle Challenge
For the second year, we entered a Sustineo team in the Great Cycle Challenge. With the Canberra team members hanging out working at the office a few days per week and the weather warming up, we were all encouraged to use pedal power and rack up the kilometres while fundraising for the Challenge. Together, the team rode a whopping 657km and raised $3,778.54 for the Children’s Medical Research Institute, an independent organisation committed to finding treatments and cures for serious genetic conditions affecting kids. We are incredibly grateful for everyone’s generosity and support. Congrats Sustineo Super Cyclers!
Looking ahead
We are signing off for 2022! Thank you to our clients, associates, partners, and our whole network for your ongoing support this year. It’s been a blast.
The Sustineo office will be closed from 19 December 2022, reopening on Monday 9 January 2023. We look forward to seeing more of you in-person in 2023 — perhaps at our SIDER drinks… follow us on LinkedIn to know when the first of 2023 will be!
For more information on Sustineo’s work, feel free to reach out via email: enquiries@sustineo.com.au. You can also follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter