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

Canada ODA Overview 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 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.