Bond's annual review 2019-20

Bond's annual review 2019-20 10 achievements from a year of uniting civil society to drive global change

Our network in numbers (as of April 2020)

444 diverse civil society organisations in the Bond network, including new members: Start Network, Project Everyone, Better Cotton Initiative, Bonsucro and Pratham UK.

2,895 people signed up to our online members' platform.

1,802 people attended 111 events and meetings held by Bond and 31 working groups.

"97% of members have benefited from engaging with Bond, according to our membership survey. We've seen increasing levels of engagement within the network, higher satisfaction with our services, and increasing cut through with our communications and media work. When the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, our members turned to Bond to help steer them through the unfolding crisis." Mike Wright, director of membership and communications at Bond

1. We campaigned for international development and humanitarian aid during the UK general election and beyond.

Our election manifesto set out the sector’s vision for UK leadership on international development, which was taken up by most major political parties. Our detailed work on what a redesigned Commonwealth Development Corporation could like shaped the Labour Party’s manifesto.

We secured commitments to maintaining the UK’s 0.7% of GNI aid spending target and an independent DFID during the Conservative Party leadership contest and the general election.

125 CEOs of NGOs signed our statement calling for political parties to maintain an independent DFID.

2. We celebrated our members’ life-changing work and inspiring people online.

As the pandemic broke out, we held the 2020 Bond International Development Awards online, showcasing 74 organisations, programmes and people.

Our new Small NGO Impact category shone a much-needed light on 13 small organisations that are making a big impact with limited resources.

Our online awards attracted 21,888 views and 194,708 Twitter impressions for #BondAwards.

3. We encouraged NGOs to campaign with confidence through our advocacy.

We secured new guidance from the Electoral Commission on charity campaigning during election periods. The new guidance had a positive impact on campaigners’ confidence, according to SMK campaigner survey.

We co-signed a second manifesto on freedom to campaign with the other national civil society platforms.

We influenced the Cabinet Office to make changes to anti-advocacy clauses in government contracts for NGOs.

4. We empowered 1,790 people from 409 organisations to develop their skills through our practical training.

We ran 118 courses in-person and online, including a new course on powerful storytelling and ethical content gathering.

Three months after training, 89% of participants said they successfully applied what they learnt to their work and 85% shared learning with colleagues.

5. We advocated for integrated government action on the environment emergency and climate crisis.

We shared key policy recommendations for the COP 26 with the UK prime minister, which we developed with the Bond Development and Environment Group and the Climate Coalition.

We helped DFID shape its response on climate adaptation and climate finance, and developed a learning paper on climate resilience with the Overseas Development Institute.

6. We led the UK development sector to advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals.

We successfully influenced the UK’s Voluntary National Review (VNR) through our comprehensive report on the UK’s international contribution to the SDGs. 49 members and 14 networks fed into our analysis and recommendations for UK government across all goals.

The report’s findings were taken up by the International Development Committee and shared at the UN High-Level Political Forum.

7. We challenged INGOs to address the sector’s equity, diversity and inclusion problem.

We convened a group of people of colour working in international development to share experiences and learning on anti-racism, which later became the Bond People of Colour in Development Group.

We brought together women leaders in development to explore barriers to women’s progression within the sector.

We launched an apprenticeship programme with WhiteHat to train and support people from disadvantaged backgrounds and minority groups into careers in international development.

8. We supported NGOs to diversify their income and access funding beyond government grants.

We continued working with DFID on a new system for NGOs to recover their overhead rates on grants, enhancing their financial sustainability.

Our third annual Funding for Development Conference brought together 155 NGOs, government, donors and civil society leaders.

Our funding opportunities directory attracted 322,982 views, a 22% increase from the previous year.

9. We improved organisations’ safeguarding practice through our support and resources.

We delivered new resources on a range of safeguarding topics, including report-handling mechanisms, feminist leadership, governance guidance for boards and partnership agreements.

Our Safeguarding for Development Conference brought together 239 people to increase NGOs’ knowledge of safeguarding and evaluate collective progress.

10. We responded swiftly to the Covid-19 outbreak and adapted our services to support our members.

While we had to cancel our conference this year, we moved quickly to online webinars to support our members through the initial stages of the coronavirus response.

We provided advice and insight across a range of areas where members needed support, from understanding the government’s funding support to issues of organisational strategy and adaptation.

We regularly engaged with UK government to help shape the UK's response to Covid-19 globally.