Amy Stevenson

Background

About Amy Stevenson

I am passionate about supporting community-driven initiatives that create meaningful and lasting change. My work focuses on climate action, cultural resilience, and economic empowerment, with over a decade of experience across Timor-Leste, Australia, and Asia in designing, implementing, and managing programs with social, environmental, and economic impact. As CEO of xpand Foundation, I oversee community forestry and carbon farming initiatives that support reforestation, biodiversity, and rural livelihoods in Timor-Leste. Working closely with my colleagues, I help scale the impact of the Rai Matak program and the WithOneSeed initiative, engaging subsistence farmers in long-term reforestation efforts while ensuring they and their communities receive sustainable benefits. Before this role, I was Project Lead of the EU-funded Rai Matak program, helping lay the foundations for this 50 year initiative. Beyond environmental sustainability, I am committed to culture-based development that values and respects community knowledge and expression. I played a role in founding Timor-Leste’s first Lautem Cultural Alliance, established to safeguard traditional knowledge, strengthen cultural identity, and enable creative expression. I also spent nearly a decade with Many Hands International, first as a volunteer and later as Executive Officer and Director, working on projects that integrate cultural heritage and creativity into community development, build partnerships, and support community voices in shaping their futures. Earlier in my career, I worked in research, policy, and capacity-building roles, including as a Research Assistant at the University of Melbourne and a Program Research and Administration Officer at the Cultural Development Network. My contributions to planning and evaluation frameworks, cultural impact assessments, and governance strategies continue to inform cultural initiatives and policy development at various levels of government in Australia.