Message from the Managing Director: December 2025

And so we make it to the end of another busy year! This past six months in particular have been marked with important milestones, years in the making, that bring me great satisfaction and a sense of pride, that I hope is shared by the rest of our team and our valued colleagues.

Brian Garcia is an LEI Associate and currently works as the Team Leader for our team providing technical assistance to support the digitalization and decentralisation of Nepal’s land administration sector, as well as the establishment of an integrated land and property valuation and taxation system. Brian has more than 20 years’ experience in the land sector working for government, NGOs and the private sector on donor-funded projects. In addition to his work on the Nepal Project, Brian also held various positions across all three phases of our Mekong Region Land Governance Project.

Attending the FIG Working Week 2025 in Brisbane was, for me, both a professional milestone and a thought-provoking experience. As somebody who is new to the world of land administration, and a first-time attendee of the event, I approached FIG2025 with curiosity, anticipation, and more than a few questions. Over the course of the week, I found myself repeatedly surprised and inspired by the diversity, complexity, and urgency of the issues discussed. What I initially assumed would be a technically focused gathering of surveyors revealed itself to be a dynamic forum grappling with some of the most pressing global challenges of our time: climate resilience, gender equity, Indigenous rights, and the future of work.

If 2024 was a day out of the office, it would have been to a theme park. We took many rides (a couple too many) on the roller coaster with tender proposals and travel, and not enough time at the picnic tables to exchange and connect. The unpredictability and sometime rapid pace of work in our field is what we have come to know. Very fortunately at LEI, we have a strong team who embrace the demands that allow us to pivot quickly and progress effectively.  We aim to find a steady pace for impactful work in 2025 as we see our projects move into implementation, wrap up and roll-over phases.

Naia Webb (on the far right in the photo above) joined the Land Equity International team at the end of last year in a new position in the company as a Research and Communications Officer! Naia brings with her experience in climate advocacy and a passion for impactful storytelling. Naia is a recent graduate from the University of Wollongong and over the coming years we look forward to fostering her career in environmental advocacy. We are keen to use Naia’s skills to strengthen our communication materials and company strategy for project knowledge, while also advancing our research initiatives to support good land governance worldwide.

You’ll play a pivotal role in project reporting, research, and stakeholder engagement, ensuring timely and high-quality project deliverables. With a focus on access to land and the land-people relationships, you’ll collaborate with our global project teams. If you have at least three years of relevant experience and a keen interest for professional growth in international development, we want to hear from you!

I have been very warmly welcomed by the LEI team, who quickly began sharing articles, lecture material and online resources to help me transition into land administration for the internship. I have felt so lucky to share an office with such passionate individuals who collectively carry with them decades of experience and knowledge in the industry. Aside from the work I am doing, what has been a huge highlight of the internship to date is hearing the stories of the LEI team and how they got to where they are now. As someone just starting out in this field, the various pieces of advice and wisdom being imparted on me are invaluable. I was able to continue these conversations last week with other local individuals working in international development at a networking event I was invited to through LEI.

The webinar discussed ideas of shaping land administration design with a better-informed political economy approach. The webinar pre-meetings with each of the panellists leading up to the event along with the research on this topic are incredibly thought provoking. LEI are keen to continue contribute in this space, not only from insights of Tony Burns’ PhD candidacy, but also through reflections on LEI projects. As a start, and given the nature of the project, we have revisited the Mekong Region Land Governance project in a paper by LEI and our MRLG Team Leader, Micah Ingall’s, that was recently accepted at the FIG Congress, Warsaw. Tony and Kate Rickersey will be presenting this in a session on the 13th of September to be broadcast virtually. We are interested in your feedback if you’d like to take a read of the paper “ Thinking and Working Politically in the Land Sector in Mekong Region”.

The LEI team from our homes or largely vacated office, continue through the pandemic to consult virtually on advisory teams for projects in Nauru, Pakistan, Philippines, Punjab-India, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam. Beyond our locked borders of Australia, our hard-working project teams in the Mekong and Indonesia have continued to show astounding resilience and adaptation to maintain project momentum. They are continuing to achieve project objectives as they work through issues with their trusted partners and co-implementers most often colleagues from government and civil society.