Our people...
Our biggest team update this year is the change of guard with our CEO of 6 years (and staff member of 11 years) Tom Sloan stepping down and Principal Consultant Dr Veronica Doerr stepping into the role! We thank Tom for his many years of dedicated Sustineo service and wish him all the best in his next chapter! We also welcome Veronica into this exciting role and look forward to her leadership in 2026 and beyond.
This year we were thrilled to welcome two new colleagues – Ali Thwaites (Consultant) and Suzie Gaynor (Business Manager) – and welcome back Dr Asenati Chan Tung (Senior Consultant/GEDSI Specialist). Associate Principal Douglas Smith took on the role of Chair of the Board, and we sadly farewelled two of our Senior Consultants: Nina Davis and Daniela Medina Hidalgo.
As we approached our 15th year, we thought it was time for a refresh! Thanks to Nina and our communications team, we have a fresh look with a new logo and website.
We’ve also been busy cementing our speciality streams, with the principal consultant cohort leading 3 core offerings, allowing us to work across a wide range of sectors: Economic & private sector development; Governance & civic engagement; Climate & resilience.
Our places…
We’ve been racking up stamps on both our physical and virtual passports too. This year we had projects that featured us or our partners in:
- Australia
- Federated States of Micronesia
- Fiji
- Indonesia
- Kiribati
- New Caledonia
- Papua New Guinea
- Republic of the Marshall Islands
- Samoa
- Solomon Islands
- Tuvalu
- Vanuatu
It’s been amazing to adapt, learn, and deliver impactful projects in such diverse contexts, and in some cases, have our multi-citizen, Australian-based staff occasionally ‘work from home’ in Vanuatu and Samoa.
In addition to the many countries worked in, we’ve been expanding our geographies internally in countries like PNG, where Senior Consultant Almah Tararia had projects in Goroka (Eastern Highlands Province), Chuave (Simbu), Lae and Markham (Morobe).
Our partnerships and projects…
This year we teamed up with old and new partners, strengthening our relationships with like-minded organisations like Asples Pacific Research, Dignity Pasifik and Talanoa Consulting. We have also formally joined up with new partners to form the Nabanga Loss and Damage Consortium comprising Sustineo, Pacific Advisory, the Institute for Study and Development Worldwide and the Santo Sunset Environment Network.
As part of the Nabanga Loss and Damage Consortium, we’ve been providing technical assistance to the Government of Vanuatu via the Santiago Network – the first such arrangement since its establishment in 2019. We’re working with government and other stakeholders to develop Vanuatu’s long-term Loss and Damage investment plan and their submission to the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage.
In 2025, we expanded our work in program and investment design, working on the design of the next 5-year PACER Plus support program for DFAT and developing the next iteration of the Pacific Agriculture Scholarships and Support program for ACIAR. We look forward to further growing this area of our business in 2026 and beyond.
We continued to build our experience and understanding of Pacific mobility across a range of activities focused on remittances, worker reintegration, worker rights, and visa/mobility pathways. Clients have included the International Labour Organisation, the PACER Plus Implementation Unit, Cultural Pulse, and the Pacific Labour Mobility Support Program. Our expertise was showcased on the regional stage with Asenati Chan-Tung and Nicky Thatcher invited to present at the 2025 Pacific Labour Mobility Annual Meeting in Honiara.
Pitching in at home and abroad…
Throughout the year, we continued to provide board, advisory and fundraising support to a range of local and international organisations.
For the third year in a row, we supported YWCA Canberra’s 'Our Lives' report with a survey seeking to better understand the lives and experiences of women, on topics such as personal safety, financial wellbeing, housing, and future outlooks.
Through Tom’s role as Deputy Chair of FemiliPNG, we assembled the SIDER Striders team again for another year of running at the Canberra Marathon, contributing to a fundraising record of $41,000 to support survivors of family and sexual violence in Papua New Guinea. We also enjoyed their annual trivia night!
Other highlight engagements included:
- Nicky completing her tenure on the International Development Contractors Community, and our team attending the Australasian AID conference.
- Hosting another ANU intern through the Australian National Internships Program, Zahra Zafira, whose research piece on Vanuatu's renewable energy transition got the attention of Vanuatu's Minister of Climate Change!
- Bekah and Veronica representing Sustineo at the Adaptation Futures Conference in Christchurch, with Veronica presenting multiple sessions on climate adaptation practice around the Indo-Pacific.
- Hosting 11 SIDER Sips in Canberra, co-hosting two with the Researchers in Agriculture for International Development Network, one with the Research for Development Impact Network and one with Femili PNG.
Positioning for 2026…
We have lots in store for next year, with new leadership and a growing team, exciting partnerships and work areas, and rising to the challenge of doing meaningful work in a changing and increasingly complex world!
