Global goals.
Local design.
Sustainia Academy helps governments, nonprofits and companies turn global sustainability frameworks into strategies, programmes and capabilities designed for the communities they serve.
Our clients and partners
The goals are global. Delivery is local.
With the 2030 deadline approaching, most of the SDG agenda is off track, and much of what remains depends on action in specific places, by local institutions and communities.
of SDG targets are on track or making moderate progress. Nearly half are moving too slowly and 18% have regressed.
SDG targets will not be reached without the proper engagement of sub-national governments.
The missing link is rarely commitment. It is the fit between global frameworks and local values, institutions and needs. That is the gap we work on.
Context-sensitive design
We read a place through five lenses before we design anything, then move through five stages from understanding to ownership.
- Values & cultureBeliefs, faith, norms and identity that shape what people will accept and own.
- Institutions & policyLaws, regulators, national strategies and the way decisions are really made.
- Economy & livelihoodsHow people earn, spend and invest, and who carries the cost of change.
- Environment & resourcesClimate, water, land and energy conditions specific to the place.
- Community & relationshipsNetworks, trust, leadership and who is heard or left out.
- UnderstandRead the context through the five lenses, using data and the voices of the people affected.
- TranslateMap global frameworks such as the SDGs and reporting standards to local priorities and language.
- Co-designShape solutions with the communities, staff and leaders who will carry them.
- MeasureAgree a small set of indicators that mean something locally and can be tracked.
- EmbedBuild the skills and governance that keep the work going after we step back.
Capability, evidence and strategy
Six services, each built on the same approach. Use one, or combine them into a programme.
Sustainable Trustee
A four-level development and certification pathway that equips trustees and board members to govern for long-term sustainability.
Learn moreThe SDGs Game
A facilitated simulation in which teams manage real trade-offs between the Goals, then apply the lessons to their own strategy.
Learn moreLeadership programmes
Practical programmes for executives, professionals and community leaders who are responsible for delivering sustainability.
Learn moreCommunity Needs Assessment
A structured study of what a community needs, which needs matter most and where an organisation can add the most value.
Learn moreSDG Localisation Review
An independent review of how well your strategy and programmes connect global goals to national priorities and local needs.
Learn moreStrategy & impact
Sustainability strategy, theory of change and impact measurement that funders, boards and communities can trust.
Learn moreSustainable Trustee
Boards decide what an organisation prioritises, funds and measures. Sustainable Trustee prepares them to make those decisions with the long term, and the local context, in view.
- Four progressive levels, from Foundation to Fellow
- Case-based learning built on real board dilemmas
- Certification at each level, with a personal development plan
The SDGs Game
Progress on one Goal can set back another. The SDGs Game makes those trade-offs tangible. Teams manage a city, an organisation or a region over a simulated decade, with limited budgets and unexpected events. A structured debrief then connects each decision to the participants’ own context and plans.
View the game
Community Needs Assessment
Every context-sensitive programme starts with evidence. We combine existing data with surveys, interviews and community sessions to establish what people need, which needs are most pressing and who is already responding. You receive a prioritised needs profile, recommended interventions and baseline indicators to measure change against.
View the method
Why we founded Sustainia Academy
Global sustainability frameworks are sound. What fails, too often, is the fit between those frameworks and the places they are meant to serve.
Programmes designed in one setting are transferred to another with little change. Global language meets local values and institutions, and the two never quite connect. We founded Sustainia Academy to close that gap: to design sustainability for its context from the start, and to build the local capability that makes it last.
How ready is your organisation to localise the SDGs?
Twelve questions across leadership, local context, measurement and participation. Instant results with practical next steps.