Selection of Projects

Good Practice Infrastructure Projects (GPIPs)
Client: BAPPENAS and USAID

Sarah in a community consultation with women traders at a traditional market planned for upgrade in North Sulawesi, Indonesia

In 2024 I worked as the Gender and Social Inclusion lead to develop feasibility studies for five transport and logistics infrastructure projects in Sumatra, Sulawesi and Bali.

It was a fast moving assignment with many parts. I worked with a national team of social and gender specialists, and designed research tools and methodologies for baseline studies. We trained and worked with local partners to design a grievance redress. This included a survivor-centered approach to counter Sexual Exploitation Abuse and Harassment (SEAH) and Trafficking in Persons (TIP)

A personal bonus was visiting my son during a field visit to Manado. He was in his final year of an anthropology degree at Sam Ratulangi university.

Blue Pacific Finance Hub
Client: Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Global Environment Facility (GEF)

*Sarah interviewing staff from a women’s NGO in Tuvalu about blue economic priorities*

In 2023 I worked on a full GEF proposal to design a pipeline of projects for blue ocean positive economic growth in four Pacific Island countries. I traveled to the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Kiribati for consultations with government ministries and civil society organizations.

Lae Market Redevelopment, PNG
Client: Economic and Social Infrastructure Program (ESIP) and DFAT

*Fruit sellers at the old Lae Main Market, in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.*

In 2022 I assembled a team of local social scientists and we conducted a rapid baseline GEDSI study of the Lae Main Market. This report included a list of recommendations for the design of the new Lae market and future rebuild and management.

Circular Economy for Reducing Marine Plastics
Client: Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Global Environment Facility (GEF)

*Marine plastic is a threat to marine environments, a root cause solution is to create circular economies*

In 2021 I worked with a team to mainstream gender in two full GEF proposals to promote the building of a circular plastics economy to end the marine plastic pollution crises. These plans one Asia regional and one Indonesia specific – helped secure Global Environment Facility (GEF) funding and placed women, informal waste workers and other marginal groups at the heart of project activities.

Waste Management system upgrade – Jakarta
Client: BAPPENAS, Kemitraan Indonesia Australia untuk Infrastruktur (KIAT) and DFAT.

*Sarah interviewing waste pickers so that she can incorporate their needs and aspirations in waste management system upgrades.*

In 2021 I integrated GEDSI in a preliminary study to support the Jakarta city government improve waste management, collection and transport arrangements.

Post-disaster infrastructure reconstruction
Client: United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW)

*Sarah listening to a teacher sharing what female students need for incorporation into architectural design plans*,

In 2019 I produced a GESI technical report with a checklist, specifications and recommendations for 42 critical public infrastructure projects. I traveled to the post-disaster regions of Lombok and Sulawesi and listened to over a hundred stakeholders share their wishes for the project designs as part of UNDP’s ‘Programme for Earthquake and Tsunami reconstruction Assistance’ (PETRA)

Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Client: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and DFAT

Policy advocacy work for a cultural-religious based gender violence involved many long meetings at a ministerial level.

In 2017 I was involved in developing the evidence base and policy advocacy for politically sensitive and complex form of gender based violence. I produced a consolidated research report from the data of mixed methods study of FGM in ten Indonesian regions.

The findings and recommendations of my report was the basis of policy advocacy work with a range of stakeholders, including national ministries and community-based organisations (CBOs).