SALASAN Consulting Inc.

Profile of a Canadian International Development

Consulting Firm

Founding of SALASAN

• Founded in 1982 in Manitoba;• Specialized in education and human

resource development;• Significant work with First Nations

across Canada;• Gradually moved into CIDA projects,

development bank consulting;

Evolution of SALASAN

• In 1989, won a large-scale training project in Zimbabwe and moved office to Harare;

• Established an office in Sydney, B.C. in 1992;

• By 1998, involved mainly in monitoring & evaluation of education projects, especially in the Caribbean;

• Purchased by Big Picture, a Calgary-based software company;

Evolution of SALASAN (2)

• In 2001, merged with Geospatial International Inc.;

• Established Geospatial/SALASAN office in 2002 in downtown Victoria

• Moved out of education and into more land management projects;

• Geospatial/SALASAN attempted to leverage CIDA Inc. to design and develop projects that were complementary to their own expertise and interests.

SALASAN 2005 - 2011

• By 2005, SALASAN had completed over 200 projects in Canada, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and the Middle East;

• Completed a large-scale UN survey on land mines in Cambodia in 2005;

• Focus on Southeast Asia with a large-scale human rights project (SEARCH);

• Implemented ADMAC, LMAP in Cambodia.

SALASAN 2011 - present

• ADMAC finishes in 2010; • SEARCH finishes in 2011;• Nepal evaluation 2011-2013;• CLASP (LMAP) finishes in 2013;• Purchased by Bob Francis in mid-

2013;

Canada ODA Overview 2011

• 2011 high of $5.723 billion• 41% in LDCs• 44.7% in Africa• 23.6% in Asia• 21% in health; 8% in agriculture;

9.5% in education

CIDA Merges with DFATD

• Foreign aid budget frozen at $5 billion in 2013;

• Greater synergies between aid and trade;

• Aid budget diverted to trade promotion?

• “Core developmental assistance will remain intact”

Canada’s ODA 2013 - 2015

• Bilateral project pipeline slows down;• Cambodia program closed, China program

closed; • Increased focus on conflict areas –

Afghanistan, Ukraine, Iraq;• 2 bilateral projects approved in 2015,

$12M agric cooperatives to SOCODEVI;• Afghanistan government operations $10M

and 5 other NGO projects; no bilateral

SALASAN’s Future

• Strengthen partnerships with B.C. agencies;

• Build on evaluation expertise;• Explore new funding windows;• Maintain 1-2 responsive projects; • Follow new ODA policies, programs;• Become B.C.’s premier international

development firm.