Independent advisory for institutions responsible for major social investments.
Sustenra advises institutions responsible for major social investments on the structural conditions that determine whether funded commitments hold.
Large social investments lose performance not because of poor intent, but because governance and delivery conditions break down under pressure. Sustenra exists to strengthen those conditions, from first commitment through to final evaluation.
How we think about social investment performance
Across corporate, philanthropic, financial, and public environments, the same structural pattern appears. These are the conditions Sustenra is built to address.
- Governance structures that cannot surface material risk early enough to act
- Oversight that weakens under the same pressure it was designed to manage
- Partner accountability assumed through contracts rather than verified through structure
- Reporting that describes activity rather than structural health
- Performance signals that arrive too late for governance to respond
- Programmes with genuine delivery capacity losing viability because funding structures have shifted around them, leaving funders without a reliable way to identify what remains worth backing and on what terms
What sets Sustenra apart
Most advisory firms work at the strategy level and hand off. Sustenra works across the full lifecycle, present at every point where performance can be lost.
Inside knowledge
We have held the roles our clients now carry, inside the institutions they now need assessed.
- Direct experience inside public research funders, multilateral health bodies, and complex delivery environments
- We recognise structural risk before it surfaces in reporting
- We understand what delivery partners actually face, not just what they report upward
Independence
Sustenra provides independent assessment with the rigour to identify what is working and what is not, and the continuity to support what comes next.
- Structurally separate from implementation
- Accountable only to the funder commissioning the work
- Conclusions that boards and trustees can stand behind
Continuity
Sustenra stays present across the full investment lifecycle, from first commitment through to final evaluation.
- Every engagement is led at principal level throughout
- We return after formal engagement ends to assess whether findings held
- Our accountability standard is the same one we apply to any delivery partner
How Sustenra began
Isabel and Antonia first worked together in Tanzania more than twenty years ago, where they saw both what strong programmes could achieve and how quickly that performance could become invisible to the funders responsible for it.
Across later work spanning funded research, institutional philanthropy, and large scale delivery environments, the same pattern repeated. Funders were left without a reliable way to assess which commitments remained viable, which partners could still perform, and what the real picture was beneath the reporting.
Our principals
Every Sustenra engagement is led by a principal with direct experience inside the systems being assessed.
Full profiles are on the Team page.
Isabel Litwin-Davies
Founder and Managing Director
Antonia Morzenti
Director of Advisory
Agnes Nanyonjo
Director of Programme Delivery
Work with us when credibility and performance matter.
If you are approving, renewing, restructuring, or overseeing a significant social investment commitment and need independent senior advisory support, contact us.