Satya Development International LLC was founded by Michael Brown in February 2008. Satya means truth in Sanskrit. The “Satyagrahas” were the seekers of truth who stood by Mahatma Gandhi in his passive resistance to British colonial rule in the 1940s. Building on this inspiration, Satya Development International LLC's mission is to provide objective analysis to a select group of clients interested in benefiting from skill areas where Satya Development International LLC enjoys clear comparative advantage. This analysis can prove fundamental in the design of appropriate and feasible strategies that will lead to best results in a range of challenging situations. To succeed, strategies must be tailored to the specific social, political and economic circumstances that organizations face. Only then can feasible action plans be developed that will produce optimal activities whose impacts are measurable, and that lead to achieving milestones on the path to sustainability. Satya Development International LLC staff has the experience and skills to achieve this.
The start-up of Satya Development International LLC was motivated by the most recent work that Mr. Brown undertook while President and CEO of Innovative Resources Management (IRM), the non-profit 501(c)(3) organization he founded and ran from 1997 through January 2008. IRM was well known for its work in mobilizing developing country communities to:
- Take effective action in natural resources management and community development;
- Seek means to facilitate the peaceful resolution of complex conflicts based on natural resources, ethnic differences and weak governance;
- Participate effectively in decentralized governance and in combating corruption;
- Work to improve food and livelihood security systems through capacity building and better management systems; and
- Mobilize multi-stakeholder coalitions to solve complex environmental and development challenges around the world.
In forming Satya Development International LLC, Mr. Brown is capitlaizing on lessons learned and experience gained over the past 30 years in over 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, the South Pacific, the Middle East, and Europe. SDI is working towards establishing and sustaining support services to a select group of clients from the non-profit, multilateral, and private sector communities to address a targeted cluster of strategic issues as described in the pages below.
