asia-pacific

australia & new zealand

fiji & the pacific islands

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indonesia &
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AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND

ANGUS, Kate
Consultant, Ngunnawal Country

Kate’s expertise is in leading collaboration and co-design processes that build shared strategy and practical frameworks to drive collective action in the international development space. Kate has built sector-wide and specialist communities-of-practice and has extensive experience working with technical, inter-governmental and community committees, many producing evidence-based advocacy and innovative learning resources for practitioners, such as a Systems Thinking and Collaboration toolkit for working with complexity and implementing the SDGs as a transformational agenda. She recently worked with Pacific and Australian partners to co-create ‘How-To’ Tools and Reflection Questions for practitioners wanting to engage personally and professionally in decolonization and locally-led development. Kate has a postgraduate qualification in international development and emergency practice with a focus on conflict transformation and peace building.

BARRACLOUGH, Steven
Principle Consultant

Steven Barraclough comes from a 25-year background in the public service including the last nine as part of the senior executive service in DFAT.   He has experience in aid, foreign policy and trade, with a large part of his career centred on Indonesia.  As Minister Counsellor (Jakarta 2015-18) for trade, Steven led on infrastructure (KIAT)  economic governance (PROSPERA), as well as contributing to the conclusion of the free trade agreement with Indonesia (IACEPA).  Before leaving DFAT, Steven oversaw the regional program for South Asia.  He has also worked on the Pacific, but mostly with a foreign policy background.  In 2021-2022 Steven was temporary head of the Consulate General in Noumea.Before Government, Steven was a High School teacher, including two years in Lahore under the Australian Volunteers International program.   He is looking forward to working in a flatter structure than the public service, to learning new skills and insights, and to bringing to bear some of his experience.  Steven will be working three days a week as he takes on the main carer role for his adult daughter, Lucy, who has Down Syndrome. 

BEGHIN, Natalia
Senior Consultant

Natalia is a Canberra-based consultant, with significant experience leading gender equality and social protection evaluations for government and multilateral organisations. She is passionate about evidence-based aid and development, and supporting clients to establish collaborative and sustained solutions to wicked problems, and has worked and volunteered in Borneo, China, Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste. Natalia was previously A/g Director, International Gender Equality Policy at the Australian Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, where she led Australia’s implementation of the UN Women, Peace and Security Agenda, and advised on gender equality positioning within the UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly. She led aid and development programming for Australia’s national Behavioural Economics Team, and supported the Prime Minister’s strategic engagement with numerous multilateral forums including the G20, G7, APEC, and ASEAN. She holds a postgraduate qualification in international affairs and was named Global Winner of the Global Undergraduate Awards in 2016 for her research on the intersection between peace and gender equality. She speaks French and Mandarin.

BETTERIDGE, Ashlee
Communications & Visibility Manager, Australian Humanitarian Partnership Support Unit

With more than 15 years experience in strategic communications and policy analysis, focusing on development issues across Asia and the Pacific, Ashlee is an experienced communications and visibility manager. Previously, Ashlee was Manager at the Development Policy Centre, Australian National University, supporting the centre’s growth, policy influence and visibility for a decade while coordinating a range of research-driven projects across Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific. Areas of focus in her work include gender, humanitarian aid, Australian aid policy, media development and climate change. She brings applied skills in web development and multimedia production to her projects to support clear, impactful messaging.

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BROWN, Jason
Partnership Director, Australian Humanitarian Partnership Support Unit

With 20 years’ experience in international development, Jason spent 16 years working in Indonesia specialising in disaster risk management, disaster risk reduction, disaster response, risk governance, community development, and participatory monitoring and evaluation. During this time, he worked with the Australian Government (AusAID/DFAT), INGOs and for managing contractors on bilateral development programs. Jason is passionate about disaster risk management, climate change adaption and conflict resolution and believes collective efforts are required across government, international agencies and civil society partners to ensure that at-risk and vulnerable communities and groups are adequately protected from the ever-increasing challenges they face. Fluent in Bahasa Indonesia, Jason implemented and managed an array of disaster management and development programs across the archipelago. Between 2009 – 14, he was Training and Outreach Manager for the Australia-Indonesia Facility for Disaster Reduction. This was the flagship disaster risk reduction partnership between the Australian and Indonesian Governments and engaged with a wide range of Indonesian government agencies, national civil society partners, international NGOs and UN agencies. Jason has postgraduate qualifications in international and community development.

CROSS, Ryan  
Senior Consultant

Ryan has more than 10 years’ experience working in the international development sector across Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific. His roles have included program implementation, research, activity design, stakeholder engagement, and evaluation. He has worked extensively with NGOs and CSOs in the design, delivery and monitoring of activities and projects, and has experience in program management roles in the governance, community development and rural development sectors. Ryan has a degree in international politics and post graduate qualifications in International and Community Development. 

CULINA, Ika 
Consulting, Proposals and Opportunities Manager

With 14 years’ marketing experience in bid/tender management, award submissions, campaign management, stakeholder engagement, marketing collateral development and specialist communications, specifically in the Property sector, Ika is an impactful and results-driven marketing leader. Some of her most notable achievements include driving the tender submission process including large and detailed government tenders across the PTW Architects Sydney practice in a timely and efficient manner, in conjunction with her marketing responsibilities. Ika also assisted in the tender documentation for the successful two-stage tender for the acquisition of an masterplanned community, nbh at Lachlan’s Line while at Greenland Australia. Having developed and delivered project marketing for new housing estates, off-the-plan apartment projects and mixed-use precincts throughout her career, she has entered various industry award submissions and achieved finalist status. Most recently, she submitted the 3 Parramatta Square project, part of the Parramatta Square precinct, one of Australia’s largest commercial business precincts to achieve finalist status for three esteemed industry awards while at Walker Corporation. Ika holds a degree in Bachelor of Business and Commerce, majoring in Marketing with a sub-major in Public Relations.  

DELFORCE, Dr. Julie
Senior Consultant

Julie is a development professional and economist with nearly 40 years’ experience, including 22 years with the Australian Government. Her experience includes providing technical leadership across Australia’s overseas aid program as DFAT’s Senior Sector Specialist, Agricultural Development and Food Security. Her expertise extends to trade, market systems development, women’s economic empowerment, and labour mobility. Julie’s career has included periods as Economic Adviser to the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Director of AusAID’s Pacific regional and Asia transboundary programs, and Senior Analyst with the International Economy Branch of Australia’s Office of National Intelligence. Julie’s writing experience includes authorship of reports for Australia’s senior Ministers, working papers and journal articles, and numerous policy papers and briefs. Julie holds PhD and Masters degrees in agricultural economics and an undergraduate qualification in social anthropology.

FRIENDSHIP, Sarah
Co-Chief Executive Officer 

Sarah Friendship is a perfect fit for Alinea; dynamic, smart, a great leader and development professional with over 20 years of experience. Since 2015, she has driven successful bids totalling over AUD 900 million for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), with a focus on health, governance, and women’s economic empowerment. Sarah has a strong track record of guiding organisations through strategic growth, driving revenue, and diversifying portfolios in highly competitive markets. Her career spans multiple sectors, including Defence, aerospace, energy trading, and infrastructure, before finding her home in international development in 2014. Known for building and mentoring cross-functional teams, she has strengthened partnerships and consistently delivered on key business objectives. In her current role as Business Coalitions Lead for Investing in Women, Sarah supports locally owned business coalitions to become impactful advocates for workplace gender equality.  

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HALE, David
MEL Portfolio Director and Principal Consultant

David is an accomplished monitoring and evaluation specialist, working to support conflict transformation, facilitating long-lasting systemic change, and fostering societal and cultural regeneration. David’s evaluation experience has spanned partnerships with UNOPS, DFAT, DFiD, NORAD and Sida, focussing on humanitarian programming and locally-led transformation across the Pacific and South-East Asia.David draws on over 15 years’ experience working across government and civil society, including as a senior-advisor in Myanmar and Timor-Leste.  Most recently, David has led reviews into Australia Assists, PSEAH effectiveness among Australian NGOs, and collective peacebuilding impact of Australia’s humanitarian technical assistance.  

HEHIR, Thomas
Chief Operating Officer

Thomas is an experienced executive and worked closely with the Founder to establish the company in Asia Pacific, growing it from a micro-enterprise to a medium-sized organisation. His technical expertise spans all aspects of corporate management including overseeing and managing growth, strategic planning and day-to-day functions for business development, human resources, finance, procurement, and policy development. He has worked on a variety of donor funded programs and tenders. Thomas is passionate about corporate ethics, impact investing and market systems development, and holds a postgraduate qualification in social policy.

HOLBECK, Laura
Monitoring & Evaluation Manager

Laura is a monitoring and evaluation specialist, with 15 years applied international development experience and a focus on the Pacific region. Her career spans multiple sectors including labour mobility, gender equality, governance, disaster risk reduction, disaster response, natural resource management, climate change and the environment, across government, international NGOs and the private sector. Laura’s passion lies in poverty reduction, gender equality and environmental sustainability. Her technical expertise includes all areas of monitoring and evaluation, including data collection, analysis, reporting, learning events and products. She has experience promoting evidence-based decision making and learning in large programs to promote continuous improvement and progress toward outcomes. A seasoned program manager, she also has experience leading geographically dispersed technical teams. Laura holds postgraduate qualifications in evaluation, international development and environmental management.

JACOBS, Kurt
Finance Manager

Kurt is a senior finance professional with more than 20 years of financial experience in international development, financial services, oil & gas, and IT, across South Africa, the UK, and Australia. Kurt’s experience ranges from spearheading financial strategy and growth in startups to managing A$20bn budgets. Kurt has a mission-driven and people-focused passion for maximising financial growth & integrity. Kurt is a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) through membership of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and holds a postgraduate qualification in Development Economics.

JASNIEVSKI, Beatriz
Operations Officer

Beatriz joins Alinea’s Operations Team as an Administrative Assistant based in Melbourne. She brings over 5 years of knowledge and experience in business support and customer management. Inspired by social justice, she believes in the importance of equality for all communities in systems, structures, and institutions. Her experience accounts for an associate degree in Community Services and certified qualifications in Business Development between Australia and Brazil.

JONES, Kelly
Senior Consultant, Climate and Environment Portfolio

Dr Kelly Jones (Strzepek) is a climate and energy advisor with almost 15 years’ experience delivering technical advice and programming for evidence-based decision making that creates and fosters agency within developing countries. She has worked within the Australian Government for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Geoscience Australia, most recently designing interventions in response to the Pacific’s call for a just and equitable transition to renewable energy. This work has been showcased at multiple COPs in partnership with the Government of Vanuatu and is discussed as model for energy transition assistance for Small Island Developing States. Previously, Kelly served as the first Innovation Champion for the Australian Embassy in Vietnam where she fostered new partnerships between Australia and Vietnam around a flagship science and innovation program. She has a wide range of experience designing and communicating highly technical information to different audiences, this includes remote sensing products to inform Australia’s response to the 2015 Papua New Guinea (PNG) drought, making highly technical geohazard modelling and data accessible to the public, as well as providing advice and review of aid investments for climate and sustainability considerations.

KAMAR, Melissa
Policy, Risk and Compliance Coordinator

Melissa (she/her) is an experienced corporate professional with extensive history working in the social purpose sector across India, Thailand, Myanmar and Australia. She holds a Master of International Conflict and Security and a Bachelor of Media and Communications, and is skilled in capacity development, impact assessment, incident management, training, and operations.
Most recently, Melissa has provided executive-level support at Life Without Barriers to assist company Directors and stakeholders to drive continuous improvement in their service delivery, and in their engagement and empowerment of client voice.
Melissa feels extremely passionate about inclusion, and lives and works by the guiding principle that relationships and collaboration are key to creating effective and sustainable change.

KING, Rebecca
Senior Principal Consultant

Rebecca has over 15 years of experience as a program performance and quality specialist, concentrating on design, monitoring, accountability, evaluation and learning of international development and humanitarian programming.  During this time, she worked on public health research in Mongolia, MEL systems for a large scale roll out of a USAID WASH initiative in East Africa, cross-border monitoring of a humanitarian response in Syria, and most recently managed MEL systems for 15 strategic projects across the Asia-Pacific, collaborating with government and civil society partners. She also conducted the 2024 meta-review of Oxfam’s global humanitarian practice and facilitated an agency-wide program quality culture initiative. Rebecca’s experience spans a wide range of sectors, including climate change, economic justice, gender justice, health systems, education, and humanitarian development, working with major donors like USAID, DFAT, UNFPA, and the World Bank. A seasoned trainer and facilitator, Rebecca is passionate about using human-centered, collaborative approaches to build impactful, localised and culturally appropriate programming. Rebecca holds three university qualifications, including a post-graduate degree from Oxford University.  

LAKOS, Benjamin
Operations Manager

Ben is a senior operations and organisational development professional with extensive experience successfully managing projects and systems and improving operational effectiveness & efficiency. He is passionate about continuous improvement and excellence through challenging self and colleagues, and considering how what we do today can shape and respond to what happens tomorrow. Ben has more than 15 years experience in the International Development sector across not-for-profits and consultancies. Ben holds a degree in Commerce and postgraduate qualifications in International Development. 

LAVEY, Jo-Hannah
Principal Consultant

Jo-Hannah draws on more than 20 years’ experience in management, operational and policy roles in Australia, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the US. She led drafting of Australia’s foremost humanitarian policies, including its previous humanitarian action policy and protection in humanitarian action framework. She advised the Australian Government’s Mission to the UN on humanitarian issues during its time on the UN Security Council, managed multi-million dollar partnerships, and contributed to global policy development in roles with the United Nations. Jo-Hannah also worked as an Executive at Humanitarian Advisory Group, leading research, design, monitoring and evaluation projects—bringing fresh thinking to challenge the status quo of humanitarian aid. Her operational background with UN OCHA, UN World Food Programme and NGOs includes designing, establishing and managing country-level response teams and programs delivering cash for work, conflict sensitivity, community engagement and feedback mechanisms and implementing multi-donor grant funds. She has also worked at DFAT’s innovationXchange, partnering with Google and Atlassian to identify transformative solutions to intractable development problems using technology. She holds a postgraduate qualification in international law and is a member of the RedR Australia expert pool.

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MATAI, Vilimaina
Administration Officer 

Vilimaina has over five years supporting Administration in the development sector in Fiji. Prior to joining Alinea International, she was part of the USAID OurFish OurFuture Programme. She holds a Higher Education Diploma in Industrial Relations and Human Resources Management and is working towards her Bachelors in Economics and Human Resources. She is passionate about improving the economic opportunities of women particularly those in the remote areas of Fiji. 

MUIR, Tim
Senior Communications Specialist 

Tim joins Alinea with over 15 years’ experience in the sector working largely in humanitarian communications roles. He has worked at both Australian based INGOs that are partners of AHP, and in country and regional offices implementing humanitarian responses including Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Iraq, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Syria, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and South Sudan. Tim is committed to implementing safeguarding practices in humanitarian communications and has designed and run multiple online trainings to ensure that colleagues and partners are properly representing the communities while adhering to the ‘do no harm’ principle.

MURRAY, Rachael
Program Support Officer- Australian Humanitarian Partnership Support Unit 

Rachael holds a Masters in International Development and has lived and worked in rural communities in South Africa, India and Fiji.  With a background in journalism, she has 10 years of experience working in community organisations including the disability sector, not-for-profit management and education.  Rachael draws on extensive knowledge of development theories and perspectives and is passionate about working to create a more just, equitable and inclusive world. She is skilled in social research, monitoring and evaluation and has managed various projects aimed at improving social outcomes for the most vulnerable.  

NIGHTINGALE, Craig 
Operations Manager for the AHPSU

Craig has worked in development for over twenty years. He worked for Oxfam, CARE, Save the Children and Mines Advisory Group, with long spells in Papua New Guinea, Vietnam and Myanmar and shorter assignments across Asia, Africa and South America. Most of his roles have been focused on organizational and operational leadership. Originally from the UK, Craig is qualified as Chartered Accountant having started his career with KPMG and has also substantial experience in program management. Prior to coming to Australia, Craig worked as a Director of Myanmar Education Consortium, a multi-donor program working with civil society organisations supporting the education of children unable to access government education, especially in conflict-affected areas. 

NOONAN, Lucy 
Consultant

Lucy is a social scientist with 10 years of professional experience in international development and sustainability.  She brings skills in program administration, project management and monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL).  Lucy has provided tangible consulting services and capacity building support to private, government and NGO clients. She has substantial experience also in direct delivery and partnership support to projects funded by donors AusAID/DFAT, USAID, AFD, EU and private investment groups. Lucy has lived and worked in Mauritius, Australia and France over the course of her career. She has carried out fieldwork in South Africa and Fiji and supported in-country partners, operations and projects across Africa, South-East Asia and Indo-Pacific regions. She is fluent in English and French.

NORTHEY, Christina
Principal Consultant for Design

Christina is a highly accomplished humanitarian specialist with over 25 years in the sector, including 15 years field experience in senior management roles for non-government organisations in Africa, Afghanistan, Turkey and Vietnam. She is experienced in research, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programs in fragile and developing contexts. Her specialty focus is on programs for women and girls in conflict-affected and fragile contexts and the localisation of aid programs. Christina initiated and led the nationalisation of senior NGO management teams in Afghanistan and Turkey and undertook mentoring assignments with leaders from national and community based organisations in Afghanistan, Turkey, Syria and Bougainville. Christina holds postgraduate qualifications in humanitarian and refugee studies.

O’FARRELL, Sue Ellen
Lead, Quality, Learning & Performance, Pacific Labour Facility

Sue Ellen is a design, monitoring, evaluation and research specialist with more than 15 years’ experience implementing international development programs. She is experienced leading monitoring, evaluation, research and social inclusion activities for large donor-funded programs, and is passionate about undertaking evaluation and research in an inclusive and culturally-sensitive way. She has worked across a variety of modalities and multiple sectors including labour mobility, water and sanitation, infrastructure, social protection and human rights. Sue Ellen is drawn to working in partnership with stakeholders to address complex development programs, and has worked in Government (AusAID/DFAT) and for the private sector. She loves collecting data and converting it into knowledge products that inform policy and programming. She holds significant experience working in Indonesia and is fluent in Bahasa Indonesia. Sue Ellen holds a postgraduate qualification in evaluation.

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PARKER, Louise
Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Coordinator – Disaster READY

Louise comes to Alinea with almost 15 years’ experience in the international development and humanitarian space, with a focus on monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) and the Pacific region. Having previously worked for World Vision, CARE, Humanitarian Advisory Group and as an independent MEL consultant, Louise has a broad range of experience across countries and sectors, including economic empowerment, gender-based violence, disaster preparedness and emergency response. She enjoys collaborating with implementing staff and using data to drive programmatic improvements. Louise holds a degree in International Development and postgraduate qualifications in Evaluation.

PHELAN, Jake
MEL Manager, Australian Volunteers Program

Jake is a monitoring, evaluation and learning specialist with a passion for questioning the causes of inequality and injustice, and working to understand processes of social change. He is committed to participatory approaches, accountability and transparency, and to supporting processes of organisational learning and using evidence to improve programme quality. Jake has experience leading monitoring, evaluation and learning for large global programs and managing teams of MEL experts. He has previously held monitoring and evaluation advisor positions with the NGOs ActionAid and Plan International, where he was involved in a range women’s rights and gender equality programs, education, governance, resilience building and humanitarian response programs. His experience includes working in Afghanistan, Sudan, South Sudan and Sierra Leone, and supporting colleagues and partners in several other countries particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Jake has a postgraduate qualification in the anthropology of development.

POULTON, David
Consultant

David’s passion lies in social change and environmental sustainability. With a background in animal welfare, David brings more than 15 years’ experience working in the not for profit sector where he designed and facilitated education programs and community engagement initiatives across two Australian states, New South Wales and Victoria. David has been involved in supporting agricultural system evaluations, village development and municipal administration program designs, and gender and social inclusion evaluations throughout Asia and the Pacific. David holds qualifications in development and environmental sustainability, and in business management and social enterprise.

RABO, Kuini
Field Manager on Pacific Women as Island Guardians (PWIG) project

Fijian Development Specialist with over 13 years’ experience collaborating with communities specifically diverse women’s networks and groups in Fiji and region. Has experience and technical skills in grants management, projects/program management, aid coordination, capacity building, partnerships engagement, gender equality and social inclusion. Professional work experience with Women’s Fund Fiji, Pacific Community, University of the South Pacific, and Government of Fiji. Holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Management and a Postgraduate Diploma in Social Policy from the University of the South Pacific. Has also served as a Steering Committee member for the Prospera International Women’s Fund – GIFT Grant Making mechanism and Co coordinator for the Prospera Asia and Pacific Regional Chapter. 

RAMSBOTHAM, Duncan
Program Officer- Australian Humanitarian Partnership Support Unit

Duncan Ramsbotham has 5 years of experience of project and operations management at both international and local NGOs as well as in the public sector. Highlights include facilitating the introduction of mobile money as a service in Ethiopia through a range of workshops at the GSMA and supporting the business architecture of the NDIA scheme reform. He holds a degree in International Disaster Management and Humanitarian Response.. 

RAORI, Mary
Regional Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Coordinator (Pacific) 

Joining AVP from UNDP where I worked for two and a half years as Monitoring, Reporting and Learning Analyst for the Governance for Resilient Development in the Pacific Project. Before UNDP, I was Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Coordinator for the Australian Pacific Training Coalition for about 3 and a half years and before that worked as Program and M&E officer for the Global Fund project with the Ministry of Health Fiji for about 7 years. First degree in Pharmacy and postgraduate qualifications in Business Administration. More than 20 years of professional work experience, a little over 10 years of which has been in M&E and development. 

SAKLANI, Udisha
Portfolio Director and Principal Consultant for Climate and Environment

Udisha has over 10 years of experience in the evaluation and research of development programs and policy, with a focus on climate resilience, natural resources governance, climate finance, sustainability transitions, community participation and social inclusion. She has published extensively on water, energy and climate governance, and has provided consulting services to the UNDP, The World Bank, Oxfam, and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development. Most recently, Udisha served as Lecturer at Monash University where she taught postgraduate courses in the corporate sustainability stream. Udisha holds a PhD degree in human geography from the University of Cambridge, a master’s degree in public policy from the National University of Singapore, and an undergraduate (honours) degree in mathematics from Delhi University.

SANGEETA, Dolli
Portfolio Director and Principal Consultant for Climate and Environment

Finance Specialist with over 14 years of experience in international development and the NGO sector, specializing in financial management for donor-funded projects. Expertise includes office administration, financial and procurement management, and human resources. Comprehensive understanding of accounting and financial planning, with a proven track record in managing finance, human resources, grants, project management, and procurement for donors such as USAID, EU, DFAT, MFAT, UNFPA, and others.Before joining Alinea International, Dolli served as the Finance and Administration Manager for Nathan Associates, a Cadmus Company, on the USAID Digital Connectivity and Cybersecurity Partnership Pacific Project in Fiji. Previous experience includes roles with the International Planned Parenthood Federation and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Holds a Diploma in Project Management and Accounting and is pursuing a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting from the University of the South Pacific. Passionate about diversity and inclusion, believing it is key to fostering stronger, healthier, and more successful organizational cultures.  

SHARP, Liam
Disaster Ready Coordinator

Liam is a global operations and grants management specialist. He is passionate about contributing to making projects work well, meeting and working with great people and engaging with important international issues. His experience includes management of a variety of Australian Government funded projects with a focus on disaster response and risk reduction in the Pacific region. He has held a variety of other roles including working in government procurement and international banking, trade and finance. Earlier in his career, Liam worked for a small NGO in Vietnam in microfinance. He holds a postgraduate qualification in development studies.

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THORPE, Joel 
Senior Consultant

Joel has 14 years’ experience promoting innovative approaches to evidence in aid, with a particular focus on monitoring, analysis, design and remote management in complex and protracted crises. Joel has worked across government, NGOs, the UN and private sector. He spent 10 years in the Middle East, including as Head of Cooperation for the Australian aid program to Palestine, leading ACAPS’ analysis hub in Yemen and supporting programming in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. More recently, he has trained Papua New Guinea’s Provincial Disaster Committees on post disaster needs assessment and analysis and advised aid organisations in Myanmar on how to adapt to a challenging delivery context. Joel is a Canberra local, with a degree in Asian Studies and Economics from the Australian National University. He speaks English and Arabic.

TOMASELLI, Silvana
Program Coordinator

Silvana joins the Australian Humanitarian Partnership Support Unit as a Program Officer and brings extensive knowledge and experience in administration, operational support and community development. With a range of volunteer and professional experience, Silvana has a well-rounded perspective on the community services and international development sectors. She is passionate about building the capacity of communities through climate resilience and gender equity strategies and is driven by this interest within the international development space. She also holds a master’s degree in international development which provides sound knowledge and skill in international theory and practice.​​​​​​​ 

TUIONETOA, Telusa
Senior Consultant 

Telusa has more than 15 years’ experience working in the international development sector in Tonga and Pacific Island countries. Her roles have included program design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Telusa worked with a variety stakeholders including Government of Tonga partners, NGOs, bilateral donors and multilateral organisations. She has extensive experience in managing programs in governance, education, gender and disability. Telusa is passionate about making a difference in the lives of those experiencing hardships and adopts a ‘working smarter’ attitude in all that she does. She is a MA Public Policy graduate from the Australian National University and finishing off a PhD at the Australian National University focusing on the social impact of the labour mobility program on Tongan households’ care arrangements.

URBANO, Mia
Co-Chief Executive Officer, Asia and the Pacific

Mia has more than 15 years’ experience in international development, specialising in gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) and social development. Prior to joining Alinea International, Mia was based in Hanoi for eight years, serving in senior advisory roles for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). This included as the gender equality and social development adviser to the embassies in Vietnam and Myanmar, and as Australia’s first regional social development adviser to mainland South East Asia and the ASEAN Mission. Mia is experienced in providing advice to donors and partners on women’s economic empowerment, gender equitable leadership, and ending violence against women and children. She has participated as GESI specialist on over 20 design and evaluation missions, spanning a range of sectors including human resource development, humanitarian assistance, education, economic growth and trade, livelihoods, labour migration, human trafficking, peace programming, and infrastructure. She has published on a range of contemporary social issues in South East Asia, and has recently led a multi-agency country gender assessment in Vietnam as a baseline on women’s status at the onset of COVID-19. Mia holds qualifications in humanities, law and social sciences (international development), and speaks basic Vietnamese and Mandarin Chinese, and conversational French.

WHITELUM, Dr. Bernadette
Principal Consultant

Bernadette is CEO, Alinea International (Asia-Pacific) and founder of the Whitelum Group, which joined the Alinea family in 2020. Her commitment to building thriving communities and responsive governments spans more than 25 years. She specializes in supporting organizations and programs to apply adaptive management principles and practices to their work and utilize evidence to inform policy and practice directions. Bernadette’s background includes working within the Australian community development sector, NGOs, Australian Government aid program and United Nations Development Program. Her notable roles have included Counsellor for the Aceh Reconstruction Program in Indonesia in the wake of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami; Head of the Poverty Reduction Unit for UNDP overseeing the Papua Development Program and HIV/AIDs portfolio; and Program Director for the Australian Civilian Corps Deployment Support Services.

DR. WULANDARI, Primatia Romana
Senior Consultant

With over 15 years of monitoring and evaluation, program design, research, knowledge management and learning experience, Prima is passionate about ensuring development programs generate and use evidence to improve their effectiveness. Her experience ranges from community-level engagement, working in international NGOs, USAID and DFAT funded programs. Prima has worked on a variety of programs in the areas of humanitarian response, community development, maternal health, GEDSI, poverty reduction, bureaucratic reform, governance and knowledge-to-policy. She also has experience leading dispersed teams with technical acumen and an innovative mindset. She earned her PhD in policy learning and politics from the School of Social and Political Sciences at The University of Melbourne. She also holds a Master of Arts in Management and Development, with a specialisation in social inclusion and gender, from Van Hall Larenstein-Wageningen University, the Netherlands.

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FIJI AND THE PACIFIC ISLANDS

MAUD, Irene
Consultant

Irene is a versatile professional specializing in environmental management within the mining industry, labour mobility and Pacific education. With a keen focus on fostering sustainable practices and facilitating research and programs in the field of labour mobility, Irene brings a wealth of expertise and dedication to her work. She led the creation of labour mobility profiles across nine Pacific Island countries as well as supported the development of Environment Impact Assessment and Environment Management Plans. Her work experience also includes supporting the implementation of the Pacific Regional Education Framework having served as the Program Facilitator – Strategic Engagement at APTC.  She holds a degree and post graduate qualifications in Environmental Studies and Climate Change. As a passionate advocate for responsible resource management, she is committed to finding holistic solutions that balance the needs of industry, communities, and the environment.  

TAUTALAASO, Taule’alo
Consultant

Tala has extensive Consulting experience across multiple sectors with key areas being Education, Climate Change and Safeguards. She had a leading role developing the first ever Samoa Education Sector Climate Change and Disaster Resilience Strategy and has produced Environmental Impact Assessment Comprehensive reports, Strategic Plans and Project Evaluation reports, showcasing her thematic interests and skills. She has significant research experience, having worked with UN Women, WHO, World Bank, and with our own team in the QLP PLF as a Social Researcher. In addition, she’s been a Researcher for academic institutions including University of the South Pacific, University of Sydney and the University of NSW.  

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INDONESIA & ASIA

BRITTON, Jack 
Consultant

Jack is an international development professional with versatile analytical and writing skills. Recently, Jack was a consultant with the World Bank’s social development team in Indonesia, providing upstream ‘Gender Tag’ support to cross-sectoral task teams during project design and performing various analytical work, including on the care economy and gender-based violence. He also led preparation and implementation support to a recipient-executed pilot project to increase vulnerable groups’ access to social protection programs and legal identity documents. Previously Jack was a consultant with the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (MAMPU) and prior to that worked with the Indonesian National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) in Jakarta. He has been published in several Indonesian and international media outlets and worked as an Indonesia analyst providing services to government. Jack is fluent in Bahasa Indonesia and has undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in International Relations.

BROWNELL, Don
Director

With more than 45 years of experience in international development, Don has managed governance and civil society projects and designed and evaluated poverty reduction and institutional strengthening programs in several Asian countries, including China, Pakistan, Nepal, Thailand, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. He has extensive program experience in Sri Lanka, including as Field Manager of the National Languages Equality Advancement Project. Don’s background includes working as Director for Canada’s Tsunami Results Monitoring Project; Local Government Policy Advisor to the USAID-funded Transparent and Accountable Local Governance Project; Senior Advisor to the GAC-funded Sri Lanka Canada Development Fund; and Field Coordinator for Canada World Youth.

GUNASINGHE, Nimesha
Regional MEL Coordinator

Nimesha is a monitoring, evaluation and learning specialist with more than 15 years’ experience in development, relief and emergency, and rehabilitation contexts. She has extensive experience in handling multi-disciplinary NGO, multilateral and bilateral programs covering many thematic areas including volunteering, child focussed programming, monitoring and evaluation systems, capacity development, landscape studies and trend analysis, baseline studies and evaluations,. Nimesha is passionate about evidence-based programming and adaptive management as key drivers of success. She is an expert in both qualitative and quantitative data analysis and dedicated to applying data driven system approaches in project management. Nimesha holds a postgraduate degree in organisational development.

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TRAN, Huong
Regional MEL Coordinator

Huong has over 15 years’ experience working in the development sector and has supported the delivery of aid programs in Cambodia, China, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, and Vietnam through national execution and managing contractor models. Her work has included strengthening East Asian countries’ capacities in public finance, public health, education, governance, justice, agriculture, transport, and climate change resilience. She is experienced in generating evidence to inform decisions that improve program performance and is familiar with systems and processes of the major donors (DFAT, DFATD, UNDP, UNICEF, USAID, and World Bank). Huong has been involved in client satisfaction surveys in urban water and sanitation services and in public health services at disadvantaged communes, mid-term evaluations, final evaluations, situation analysis, and public expenditure reviews at provincial and national levels. She holds a qualification in economics, majoring in international trade, and undertook training with The Evaluators’ Institute.  

TRIYANANDA, Athina (Lupi)
Regional MEL Coordinator

Lupi is an experienced monitoring, evaluation and learning specialist, with strong experience working across a wide range of issues including volunteering, sanitation, food security, governance, and renewable energy. Lupi is skilled in monitoring and evaluation practice including development of frameworks, outcome harvesting, theories of change, data analysis and reporting. She is passionate about accountability mechanisms, community group participation and social inclusion, and has experience contributing to NGO, bilateral and multilateral programs. She holds a postgraduate qualification in governance and development policy. 

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