Chemonics President and CEO Susi Mudge explains what Chemonics' new tagline, "development works here," means to her.

Today you may have noticed that Chemonics looks a little different. We have a new look and logo, which you can see on our website, our social media channels, and, of course, here on our blog. The new logo retains the heart of our old logo—the compass rose—and updates it to align more with who we are today.

Another new addition is our tagline: development works here. We have never had a tagline before, but we felt that now was the right moment to share with the world what is important to us and how we see ourselves contributing to our industry’s shared goal of helping improve the world. Our new tagline is anchored in three ideas we have always held close to our hearts.

We advance our mission by bridging the gap between isolated technical fields

First, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, we must acknowledge that the world’s problems are complex and interrelated, and that their solutions must be as well. After all, a person’s life is much more than their income, their education, or even their health. For us, this means working every day to learn from our work so we can document, share, and apply lessons across the regions and technical areas where we work, and design and implement truly integrated development programs.

Effective systems are the foundation of our work

For us, development is more than a passion. It’s a profession. Internal systems like M&E and grants management are not always the flashiest part of our narrative, but they are critical to maximizing impact for our beneficiaries at minimum risk to our clients. We believe in building strong systems and continually improving them so our projects run more efficiently, and our technical staff worldwide can focus on what they do best — development work. Our ISO 9001-certified Quality Management System requires us to rigorously evaluate and improve all our processes and systems, which then allows us to start up programs more quickly and manage them responsibly.

Our global workforce is at the heart of Chemonics

Our staff, our partners, and our development colleagues motivate me every day. Their commitment to achieving development impact in their own countries and beyond is humbling, and I consider it my job to invest in Chemonics’ staff and partners so that they can reach their potential. When I visit our projects and talk with staff, I am continuously inspired by their dedication and hard work. We know that by working together, by connecting either in person or through Skype, and by sharing what works and what challenges us, we will be able to deliver better results and ultimately improve people’s lives.

That’s what “development works here” means to me. It combines our mission, our systems, and our people, three things that have been fundamental to Chemonics since our founding in 1975. So today we may look a little different, but we are the same Chemonics we have always been. And I look forward to challenging us all to ask ourselves how and where and why development works. When we do that, we can achieve great things together.