UK expertise.
Middle East context.
Sustainia Academy is a Glasgow-based academy that helps governments, charities and companies across the Middle East turn global sustainability standards into programmes that fit local reality.
Organisations our team has worked with
Learn it. Play it. Apply it.
Three ways we help organisations move from good intentions to work that lasts.
Programmes that build people
The Sustainable Trustee certification and leadership training for boards, executives and community leaders.
Sustainable TrusteeThe SDGs Game
A facilitated serious game where teams make real trade-offs across the 17 Goals, then connect every decision back to their own plans.
How the game worksEvidence before action
Community needs assessments, research and strategy that start from local data, not assumptions.
Community Needs AssessmentSustainable Trustee
Better boards build better organisations. Sustainable Trustee is a four-level development and certification pathway for trustees and board members of charities, foundations and social enterprises.
- Grounded in UK charity governance practice, adapted to regulation and culture in the Middle East
- Short, practical modules built around real board decisions
- A clear pathway from new trustee to sector leader
Sustainability is a set of trade-offs. Play them.
In the SDGs Game, teams run a city, a charity or a company through a decade of decisions. Every choice moves the dial on several Goals at once, some up and some down. Players leave understanding why progress on one goal can stall another, and what to do about it.
Book a game session
Community Needs Assessment
Know the community before you design the programme.
We combine existing data with surveys, interviews and community sessions to show what people actually need, which needs matter most, and who is already working on them. You receive a clear priority list, recommended actions and baseline indicators you can measure against later.
How we run an assessment
How ready is your organisation to localise the SDGs?
Answer 12 questions and get an instant score across leadership, local context, measurement and partnerships, with practical next steps.
Two contexts, one team
Learning from Scotland
Scotland has legislated for net zero by 2045 and gave communities new rights through the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015. Its social enterprise and community sector is mature and well documented. We bring those lessons, and the mistakes, with us.
Context first
We never copy and paste a UK model. Every approach is tested against local values, regulation and national agendas such as Saudi Vision 2030 before it reaches your team.
One team across regions
Our founders work across the UK, the Gulf and Africa, supported by associate consultants in ten countries. You get one team that understands both sides.
The RCI model
Everything we design passes three tests.
Research-driven
We start from evidence: data, literature and the people affected. Opinions come later.
Context-sensitive
Culture, regulation and local priorities shape the design. What works in Glasgow may not work in Jeddah, and the reverse.
Innovative
Games, simulations and practical tools make ideas stick long after the workshop ends.
Built by practitioners
Ali Eizaldeen
Social sustainability consultant with more than 15 years of work with foundations, charities, companies and government agencies. Doctor of Business Administration; Certified Management Consultant; Certified Sustainability Consultant.
Abdelsalam Alkhateeb
Co-founder of SustainiA Games, a serious games studio building simulations on the SDGs and national development goals. Leads the Academy’s game-based learning, including the SDGs Game.
Shape a programme with us
We are selecting a small number of organisations in the Middle East to co-design and pilot a programme with us in 2027. Pilot partners get early access, a programme adapted to their context and a published case study of the results.
Apply to be a pilot partnerOne question. One hour. Once a month.
A free online conversation on a single sustainability question facing organisations in the Middle East, with a short written summary afterwards.
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