February

2016
Newsletter
THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FOR SYDNEY DEVELOPMENT CIRCLE

HELLO AND WELCOME to the first edition of the Sydney

Development Circles newsletter for 2016. Here we aim to keep
our members informed of whats new in the Sydney development
world. Feel free to keep in touch with us, we love hearing from our
members!
Whats new in February
1. New Sydney Convenor!
2. 2016 strategic planning day
3. Floating fundraiser for Congo, 3 April
4. Tectonic shifts in the development sector
5. Social networking event, 29 February
New Convenor for Sydney Development Circle!
In early February, after two years as Convenor of SDC,
Patricia Garcia stepped down from this role to focus on
her research and publishing. Thank you Patricia for all
your hard work; you will missed! The new Convenor is
Michael Nest, who has worked in the area of governance,
accountability and corruption prevention for 20 years,
including on international development projects for DFAT,
USAID and GIZ in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, as well as
in dedicated anti-corruption roles in East Timor and
Australia. He has authored three books related to
development issues, including Coltan (Polity Press, 2011)
about efforts to reform the global supply chain for conflict minerals.
Michael works as a consultant focusing on public sector reform and
building organisational capacity to improve decision-making around
transparency and accountability, especially in the mining sector.
SDCs 2016 Steering Committee includes: Patricia Garcia, Dean Wood,
Valentina Ba, Caitlin Barrett, Samantha Chivers, Priya Shaw, Kiran Hutchinson,

Robyn Hutchinson,
Lucy Hobgood-Brown and Yordanos Negassy.
If you are interested in being part of our dynamic group, please contact
sydney@developmentcircle.org

2016 STRATEGY
PLANNING

On Sunday, February 7th, the SDC steering committee met to discuss last years
actions and plan for the future.
For more
growing as a
knowledge
people in the
development
discussed
popular, and
coming year.

than 8 years, SDC has been

successful social network and
sharing platform to connect with
international aid and community
sectors. The Committee
past actions that were useful and
brainstormed new events for the

We crafted a
everyone in
with
on improving
the word
and building
groups.

new organising structure, so

the Committee would have a role
responsibilities. Were working
our communications, spreading
through facebook and twitter,
partnerships with like-minded

Debating the plan for the next three years was exciting and challenging.
Everyone had brilliant ideas on where they wanted SDC to go, and contributed
novel ideas. We were particularly excited by the discussion on working with our
members to advocate for change and build awareness of the Sustainable
Development Goals.
3

The Committee is currently working on a calendar of events for the upcoming

year.
Our planning day was kindly facilitated by Sharon McGann, a longtime friend of
SDC who brings many years of experience as a professional Facilitator.

CONGO FUNDRAISER
Please join SDC members Dr Vera Sistenich and Lucy
Hobgood-Brown on Sunday, April 3 2016 for a floating
fundraiser benefiting the first emergency medicine
education project in the Democratic Republic of
Congo.

What a contrast between these two boats the overloaded canoe is

how the majority of Congolese travel, while we in Australia have the
pleasure of travelling by ships like the one pictured above. Radiance
of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean International vessel, is contributing to
leading change in a less privileged part of the world, by hosting an
April 3 floating fundraiser on Sydney harbor benefiting Congo.
Enjoy a 3-course lunch on board the ship, African-inspired
entertainment, VIP ship tour and a silent auction. Tickets are $60 for
lunch or $80 if a tour is included.
Matthew Neuhaus, Assistant Secretary of DFATs Africa
Branch, and former Ambassador to the Democratic Republic
of Congo, will be a special guest and share his views on Why Africa
is important to Australia. Vera Sistenich will share the plans
underway to introduce life-saving medical training to Congolese
health care professionals. This emergency medicine education
program is the first in Congo, a nation of more than 70 million people
who have access to few ambulances and no paramedics. Vera and
Lucy will leave shortly after the fundraiser for Congo, where Vera will
conduct resuscitation and other emergency medicine skills in
hospitals in six provinces.
Please follow the link for bookings:
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/all-aboard-for-congo-tickets5

21108691665
For more information contact Lucy Hobgood-Brown: 0417 272 101 or
lucy@claypartners.com.
TECTONIC SHIFTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT SECTOR
2016 promises to be a challenging year for the development sector.
Tectonic shifts are occurring as the government promotes more and
more private sector involvement in project delivery and program
design, and makes funding for some projects dependent upon
partnerships between businesses and NGOs a trend already
entrenched in Indigenous Affairs. Paths of entry into the
development sector will be shaped by these changes, as DFAT seeks
graduates who do not fit the profile sought by AusAID. Changing
recruitment patterns will have a flow-on effect across universities
development studies programs as DFAT, NGOs, project management
firms and other development stakeholders will look for recruits with
non-traditional development experiences.
The Sydney Development Circle will organise a series of events to
illuminate these changes and their impact on the sector, especially
new opportunities for jobs and funding.

SOCIAL NETWORKING
EVENT
The year starts with a social
networking event on Monday
29 February, 6-8 pm, including
an overview of development
sector changes for 2016
including funding, project
management, jobs and
recruitment followed by a
facilitated speed
networkingevent. Opportunities will be available for
volunteering, mentoring, meeting the new SDC committee, and
pitching ideas for events.

When:
Where:

6-8 pm, Monday 29 February

Door 1, 2 Arundel Street, Forest Lodge
Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University
6

of Sydney
Please bring something to drink or a snack to share.
Register via Eventbrite (registration is free, but entry is by
donation):
$5 at the door for students;
$10 for non-students.
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/social-networking-event-sydneydevelopment-circle-tickets-21606859699