Closing 2025, and Looking Ahead

As the year comes to an end, we have been reflecting on what 2025 has clarified for us at Sentient.

Across our work in India and the wider region, one insight has stood out clearly: investigations only lead to lasting change when they are supported by strong systems, shared infrastructure, and collaboration across the movement. Over the past months, we have increasingly focused on building these foundations so that evidence can consistently reach campaigns, media, and reform.

In this newsletter, we share our long-term strategic direction for the years ahead, reflections from recent work in Asia, and a few early signals from 2025. A more complete year-in-review will follow in early January.

Thank you for continuing to stand with us as we work toward a more professional, safe, and connected investigative ecosystem for animals.

With Gratitude and For the Animals,

Abhishek Pandey, CEO

Sentient

Participants consistently emphasized the need for regionally grounded training, stronger safety and legal support, and deeper collaboration across borders. Many investigators shared that this was the first time they had connected with peers facing similar risks and constraints, highlighting how isolated the work often remains. Sessions that focused on practical field methods, ethics, and wellbeing underscored the importance of treating investigations not as ad hoc activism, but as a professional and supported practice.

These learnings are directly shaping how we think about capacity building, support systems, and ecosystem development in Asia. They reinforce why long term investment in investigative infrastructure is essential if evidence is to consistently lead to impact.

Our 2026–2030 strategy responds to this gap by investing in people, infrastructure, and collaboration. At the core of this approach is our Theory of Change, which focuses on repairing a broken evidence to impact pipeline. We will build a professional investigator workforce, establish legal and mental health support systems that allow investigators to work safely, and develop a steady pipeline of high quality investigations across both major and neglected sectors. By strengthening each link in this pipeline, from evidence generation to advocacy use, we aim to ensure investigations reliably translate into real world outcomes.

This strategy reflects a shift from isolated outputs toward long term field building. It outlines how Sentient aims to strengthen investigative work not only through our own investigations, but by creating the systems and connections that allow evidence to consistently support campaigns, media, legal action, and lasting reform across the movement.