How Bond’s working groups spent 2024 and what’s to come in 2025

It was another eventful and impactful year for Bond’s working groups.  

Our diverse network of over 1,600 individuals from over 300 organisations came together throughout the year to strategise and take action around advocacy opportunities, to influence policymakers, share knowledge and learnings and produce outputs to support the development and humanitarian sector.  

Despite widespread political change, global challenges and humanitarian crises, Bond’s working groups have continued to convene and made a real push to help the sector evolve for the better so that we are able to support those communities facing poverty, conflict and climate change in lower-income countries.  

We asked our working group Chairs to reflect on the work they did in 2024 and look forward to 2025. Here’s what they had to say:  

Aid Effectiveness

In 2024 we have worked to bring the Aid Effectiveness and Transparency working groups closer together. We organised joint meetings to discuss the governments renewed aid transparency commitments and came together to plan work following the general election, particularly around further cuts to the aid budget and continued high in-donor refugee costs ahead of the Autumn Budget.  

We organised a meeting withnetweem the OECD DAC chair Carsten Staur and members to discuss important topics such as climate finance, locally -led development and continued pressures on ODA. We also launched a regular update with relevant information and resources for the AEWG.  

In 2025 we plan to continue to work closely with the Transparency group, with a focus on the upcoming Spending Review, and are planning a session with the FCDO ODA reporting team and members to provide feedback on how they can improve the Statistics in International Development. 

Child Rights 

The Bond Child Rights working group held two sessions this year. In July, following the general election, we met to discuss what a Labour government might mean for children’s rights in international development. We met again in October to discuss how we might mark World Children’s Day as a network. 

We contributed to a blog from Bond’s working groups outlining issues the UK government must prioritise in international development. Our call was simple: children need to be at the centre of UK aid and foreign policy, and their rights must be protected. 

On World Children’s Day in November, we wrote a blog highlighting how our network is promoting and protecting children’s rights and wellbeing around the world. Alongside the Bond SDGs and Disability and Development working groups, we submitted a proposal to the IDC for an inquiry into the UK government’s progress and commitment to ‘Leave No One Behind’, recognising that children are at significant risk of being left behind.  

We are pleased to have gained many new members this year. A key priority for 2025 is finding new ways to engage members more regularly. Look out for a short survey open to all members and a potential in-person networking event in London in the new year.  

Our quarterly working group meetings will kick off at the end of January. We have already started engaging potential guest speakers for these meetings so members can learn about exciting developments taking place in the child rights space. 

Communications  

The Communications working group held an in-person meeting that featured a ‘comms clinic’ on how participants were navigating organisational communications following the recent racist riots in the UK. We also explored members continued use (or not) of the X social media platform. In addition to networking, members spent time peer-to-peer learning on the most pressing issues currently facing communications practitioners in international development, including how to most effectively engage with this year’s nature and climate COPs i.e. managing different stakeholders and needs. 

We also held an online learning meeting on ‘AI and comms: ethics and practicalities for international development’, with panelists from across the sector and academia to share the latest thinking on how to safely and effectively apply AI to development and fundraising communications. This culminated in a short guide of practical tips to help people working in communications to begin engaging with AI, including advice on platforms to use, data protection considerations and how to write effective prompts. 

We are now planning our next workshop for early 2025, focused on sharing best practice for policy and advocacy-focused communications. This may include insights from the new resource co-produced by Bond, ‘This is the Work’, tailored for a communications audience, looking at embedding decolonial and anti-racist approaches. 

Disability and Development

2024 has been a year of “waiting in anticipation” which we hope will be delivered on favourably in 2025. It started with the then International Development Minister giving evidence to the Disability Inclusion in Development Inquiry of the International Development Committee (IDC), the IDC publishing their recommendations, only for a General Election announcement halting the UK Government response.  

Hopefully the new Government will publish this early in 2025 as the Global Disability Summit  (GDS) takes place on 1-2 April 2025. Ministerial attendance is crucial given an anticipated launch of a “refreshed” 2022-2030 Disability and Inclusion Rights Strategy at the Summit. This is the prime opportunity for the UK Government to demonstrate global leadership and ambition on championing disability inclusion, and placing the rights of persons with disabilities at the heart of all development and diplomacy approaches that Leave No One Behind, which the DDG are seeking to highlight.  

DDG has been at the heart of the Bond “Leave No One Behind” coalition alongside DDG working groups who have been busy across a wide range of areas including “Education” (including a lot of engagement with the FCDO Girls Education team prior to GDS), “Climate” (a disability inclusion climate justice report being commissioned and hoped to be finalised for the GDS) and “Children with Disabilities” (who hope to host a GDS side event) as well as interaction with the FCDO Disability Inclusion Team, who jointly hosted our Parliamentary Event on 3rd December on International Day of Persons with Disabilities with Ministerial contributions and MP attendance.   

Ethical Storytelling  

The (former) People in the Pictures group started the year with a change of name to Ethical Storytelling, which better reflects our remit. As we approach the end of the year we’re delighted to have nearly 300 members – compared to 15 when we started in 2018. It’s a positive sign that organisations are prioritising ethical storytelling. 

The group has had a productive year with three insightful sessions, an update to our ethical storytelling guidelines and two accompanying blogs. 

Our first session in February focused on anti-racist communications with Natalie Lartey, founder of Wood & Water consultancy in conversation with group co-chair Shagufta Yaqub. They discussed the progress since the Black Lives Matter movement propelled the sector to take anti-racism more seriously, and what still needs to be done. To view the session recording, please request to join the group and ask for the link. 

Next up in July was a co-creation storytelling session, with group co-chair Jess Crombie and Amy Griffin from Shelterbox, which centred around sharing power for editorial decisions with contributors while recognising different areas of expertise. See Jess’ blog for a brilliant overview. 

Behind the scenes, the group co-chairs worked with Siobhan Warrington and Bond to update the ethical guidelines for the collection and use of content, first published in 2019. They were launched with a blog by Jess Crombie outlining the main updates and how to use the guidelines, and an in-person group meeting which included roundtable discussions on participatory practices, AI and working in emergency settings. 

In 2025, we’re planning a session on historical image use and archiving and looking forward to planning further sessions in collaboration with our members. 

EU Funding and Policy 

The EU Funding and Policy group has continued to provide Bond members with information and advice on accessing EU funding and updates on upcoming changes in EC grant management systems and processes. We held two successful webinars, in June and November, on common EU development and humanitarian funding and policy questions, with great questions from Bond members that kept the presenters on their toes. It was great, too, that for the second webinar we were joined by colleagues from the FCDO Europe Directorate who spoke about the shift in the new UK government’s approach to engaging with the EU following July’s elections. 

The election of the new UK government earlier this year offers a potential opportunity to deepen the relationship between UK and EC aid, and for more positive engagement with DGs INTPA, NEAR and ECHO on collective programming with the UK and other international donors, with common objectives driven by the needs and rights of the most vulnerable. In this context, it has been great to resume our regular meetings with FCDO’s Europe Directorate to highlight key issues for UK civil society in relation to EC aid policy and programming.   

The group’s remit also includes identifying opportunities for policy advocacy for Bond members with the EU and UK on humanitarian and development issues. Although this has become more difficult for UK-based organisations since Brexit, the voices and experience of UK NGOs are still well-regarded by our European partners, and there are still opportunities to influence European policymakers on a thematic basis.  

In this regard we were pleased to welcome new steering committee members, Marie Raverdeau of Hope and Homes for Children and Jay Haque from International Justice Mission, who both bring a wealth of experience of influencing European policy makers. We are always looking to welcome new members to the group and the steering committee so if you are interested in joining, please reach out via the group page. 

Funding working group 

The Funding Working Group (FWG) held a Deep Dive into USAID Funding in April, where the USAID Industry Liaison Team, Mike Shanley (Konektid), Erika Macarty (Head of US Partnerships at Oxfam GB) and Jose de la Cruz (USAID Funding Advisor at Trocaire) spoke about current USAID funding trends and how to access USAID grants. This was followed by discussion in breakout groups, and a roundtable Q&A at the end. The recording of the meeting is here. 

At our meeting discussing USAID’s locally led commitments and opportunities in June, participants learned more about USAID’s commitments towards better supporting locally led work through their funding. Presenters from the Movement for Community-Led Development, Peace Direct, and Global Giving shared background on USAID’s work on localisation, what this has looked like so far, and where it might go next. The recording of the meeting is here. 

Representatives from the FWG contributed feedback to FCDO on their Accountable Grant Agreement documentation, in collaboration with Norwegian Refugee Council. After the UK general election in July, we worked with Funding Working Group members to put forward what the FWG would like to see from the new government to be included in a blog by Bond. 

In September we held a webinar entitled: ‘How dare you! How INGOs and donors need to change their funding practices to enable local organisations to do their job’. We heard from Njeri Migwi (Executive Director of Usikimye) and Hannah Wang’ombe (CEO of AWEIK) on why INGOs and donors need to change and their experiences of changing funding models and systems that try to shift the power balance. We also heard from Blandina Bobson (Director Programmes for Oxfam GB in Kenya) and Sam Crocker (Programme Development Manager for Peace Direct) about how their INGOs are changing their practices. The recording of the meeting is here. 

Our meeting discussing ‘The Challenges of Fundraising’ in October was in person – our first since the pandemic. During this face-to-face event in London, we explored the challenges faced by fundraisers and fundraising teams working in INGOs. There was also open space for networking. 

In January 2025 the FWG is planning a meeting on securing funding from multilateral development banks. We will also continue our engagement with FCDO next year, recognising the changing funding landscape facing CSOs. We hope to have more in-person opportunities in 2025 to facilitate learning and networking opportunities for members. 

Impact Investing 

The Impact Investing Group has had a quiet 2024, however, with renewed vigour, we have established a new Steering Committee and Co-Chairs. We are happy to introduce you to Sally Seddon, Edward Thomas, Paul Stuart, Anna-mai Andrews with Winnie Mailu of Ripple Effect and Nick Virr of Fred Hollows Foundation co-chairing the group. It is good to see the group channel has recent and increased activity and we invite Bond members to join and post on the group board. We had two Steering Committee re-launch meetings in late 2024 and started setting out a plan and objectives for 2025. 

In early-2025 we have two initiatives planned for the group. Firstly, a group meeting in March, which will set the scene for 2025 and respond to previous learning and requests, ideally with guest contributors from the impact investing community. Secondly, a survey will be shared to garner members’ needs, ideas and areas of interest and to understand the membership composition. This will help us ensure the group provides as much value for you during 2025. 

Meanwhile, please post your impact investing stories, insights, questions and any knowledge you wish to share on the channel. An item of interest from Co-Chair Nick: Spring Impact recently published a research report into the topic of “Securing Non-Profit Funding” with contributions from some Bond members. This has relevance as it poses a question in respect of blended finance and the role(s) that not for profits can take in these models.  

Have a safe, happy break. See you in 2025. 

International Financial Architecture

Previously the ‘Bridgetown Agenda’ working group, this group has been repurposed to reflect advancements in the conversation around international architecture reform.  

In the first half of the year, we coordinated the group to bring together members discussing Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) reforms. During the summer, work on the Fourth Financing for Development (FfD4) Conference started and we organised regular meetings to update members on Prep Comm sessions and the work of the global civil society mechanism, but also to coordinate joint engagement with the UK government.  

In 2025 we will continue to coordinate members around FfD and joint advocacy opportunities. We are also planning a number of roundtables around some of the key thematic areas of FfD to bring members and relevant government departments together to discuss these in more detail. 

Safeguarding  

Bond’s offer on Safeguarding continues to thrive – in 2024, the Safeguarding Steering Group continued and completed their skills mapping sessions for small organisations. This involved five well-attended sessions, and all attendees suggested that their knowledge had increased as a result. These sessions were recorded and have been collated here. The steering group also launched a recommendation form – allowing members to recommend local investigators to the Resource & Support Hub directory.  

I am so thankful for the blogs and events that were put together by members – WaterAid shared the benefits of investing in champions, International Health Partners shared how they set up a Safeguarding Action Group and Mercy Corps spoke to members on their Safeguarding Core Standards.  

We launched our policy templates into Polish, which is now the seventh language that this tool (which is the most downloaded tool on the Bond website) has been translated into.  

In 2024, safeguarding professionals welcomed CAPSEAH, we supported FCDO with the consultation and launch and continue to drive the endorsement of this framework. 

In 2025, Bond will be relaunching some of its safeguarding tools, including translating its Case Studies for FCDO Due Diligence into 7 languages. In addition to this, the Steering Group are working on a paper for survivors which we hope will bring to life InterAction’s standards for survivor centered support of SEAH.  

We look forward to another year of connecting Bond members with donors, key stakeholders and support learning through members sharing good practice. 

Transparency 

In 2024, the Transparency Working Group has continued collaborating with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) to advance its aid transparency goals and milestones outlined in the sixth Open Government Partnership (OGP) action plan. This collaboration has involved hosting quarterly meetings with the FCDO, offering feedback on specific data quality concerns, and evaluating the usability of FCDO data access tools such as Devtracker. 

Under the OGP action plan, the UK FCDO leads a government-wide community of practice aimed at enhancing transparency across other departments responsible for managing UK Official Development Assistance (ODA). As part of these efforts, the FCDO has recently initiated a second UK aid transparency review, building on the UK Aid Transparency Review (ATR) conducted in 2019.  

Scheduled for completion in August 2025, this review will provide non-FCDO departments with detailed feedback and a comprehensive analysis of their aid transparency, highlighting both areas of success and opportunities for improvement.