Louise Coventry is a passionate advocate for social justice and inclusion for all. Louise has worked variously in senior roles in state and local government in Victoria and in the community-based sector where she has accumulated significant expertise in social policy analysis, research and management. For the past ten years, Louise has lived and worked in Southeast Asia contributing to peace and development through the provision of executive support to local and international NGOs.
Louise has led organisational reviews and strategic planning processes, as well as project design processes and project evaluations across multiple countries. She regularly works with local counterparts and always uses a highly facilitative and empowering style. This is because Louise recognises that her counterparts and all other organisational stakeholders are rights-holders who have different expertise and intelligences that can add significant value to the results that are achieved. Louise’s work in Southeast Asia has required a close examination of power relations and her own experience of privilege. When asked what she has learned from her time in Southeast Asia, Louise said that what she has unlearned is just as important as what she has learned.
Louise holds a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Social Work and Master of Social Science. Her PhD – which is nearing finalisation – explores how learning processes can support the effective governance of NGOs in Cambodia.
Role: Louise has served as Motivation Australia’s CEO since 2020. Louise is responsible for overall direction, strategy and impact; developing partnerships; and inputs into programmes with a focus on training and education tools; policy development; monitoring and evaluation.