Bond members elect new trustees at AGM

Stella Opoku-Owusu, Rainatou Sow and Monowara Gani were elected to the Bond board of trustees by members at our annual general meeting (AGM) yesterday.

Harpinder Collacott and Paul Smith Lomas were also re-elected to the board at the online event.

Members were presented with the draft for our new rolling strategy, as well as our key achievements over the last year.

New trustees

Stella Opoku-Owusu is the deputy director at African Foundation for Development (AFFORD). She has 18 years’ experience in the development sector at community, national and international levels, working with diverse communities.

Stella told us that “high level policy and advocacy strategy, fundraising and business models are key to the support that Bond provides its members, not least because of the impact policy makers make on international development, but even more so now in the current climate.”

“The development sector faces new challenges and opportunities ahead. Bond’s role in supporting members and the development sector to navigate its way will be particularly crucial.”

Rainatou Sow is the executive director at Make Every Woman Count. She started working in the development sector when she was just 13, and has been advocating for women’s rights and girls’ education ever since. Her commitment to women’s issues has earned her recognition, such as being named the “Most Inspirational Woman of the Year 2012 “by Women4Africa.

Rainatou is a passionate advocate for inclusion, telling us “we are living in challenging but also exciting times, we need to make the most of this current situation to change things for the better. Bond is a great platform which is capable of achieving a lot, however, this will not happen if the people we are working for are left out.”

Monowara Gani is the chief executive at Doctors Worldwide. She has more than 16 years multi-sector experience in leading, developing and managing successful organisational strategies and transformation.

Monowara told us that “having managed, recruited and campaigned for systems and sector change on diversity, equality and inclusion over the last decade, I believe Bond has a role in leading the way (and away from the tick box exercises) on diversity and inclusion.”

A big welcome to all our new trustees. We look forward to working with you.

Returning Bond trustees

Harpinder Collacott, executive director at Development Initiatives, was re-elected to the board. Harpinder’s career spans human rights, international law and development. She believes in the power of data and evidence to build sustainable solutions that create a resilient and equitable world.

Paul Smith Lomas, chief executive at Practical Action, also returns as a trustee. He has a successful track leading humanitarian and development organisations at senior level across the world.

Presenting our rolling strategy

The members who joined us for the AGM were presented with our draft strategy. It is a rolling strategy, allowing us to be agile and responsive to an ever-changing and challenging environment. We have set goals for 2030 that take us towards our purpose.

We’re looking forward to receiving feedback from our members and continuing to develop something that works for the sector as a whole.

Our annual review

As part of the AGM, we presented our annual review, looking at 10 key achievements from previous year. Peruse the report yourself and see what we’re most proud of in 2019-2020.