Law and regulation
At Bond we take action to try to improve the regulatory framework so that NGOs can carry out their work more effectively.
We monitor changes in law and policy that particularly affect development NGOs, and let our members know about them. We feed in our members' views to the Government and other public bodies.
Counter-terrorism legislation is an area of legislation that has had a particularly significant impact on NGOs working internationally in recent years. Bond has been active on this issue for a number of years and has co-ordinated the responses of development NGOs.
Charity law
Most development NGOs in the UK are registered charities - so are subject to charity law and regulation. Bond liaises with the Charity Commission to ensure that any changes do not adversely affect NGOs' ability to carry out their objectives.
Charities face restrictions on political campaigning. Bond has lobbied for the freedom to campaign, because it is crucial that our members can argue for political changes to further their aims.
The Charity Commission revised their definition of poverty in 2008 - Bond argued for a wide definition which would better serve the needs of NGOs' beneficiaries, and some of our points were taken up.
The voluntary sector
International development NGOs are part of a wider group of civil society organisations (CSOs) such as other non-profit voluntary organisations, trade unions, social enterprises and faith groups.
Within the UK Government, the responsibility for civil society organisations and their operations lies with the Office for the Third Sector in the Cabinet Office.
The Compact is an agreement between government (and other public bodies) and the voluntary sector in England which sets out how the relationships are meant to work. Two of the key areas it covers are funding arrangements and consultation procedures. NGOs can use the Compact and its related codes of conduct to challenge government bodies if there are problems in working together. Local Compacts also exist between local authorities and voluntary agencies in their areas.
The Compact has often seemed more relevant to domestic third sector organisations than to NGOs working internationally. However, it applies to all UK-based NGOs, and can be used by NGOs to improve their working relationship with DFID.
A revised version of the Compact was published in December 2009.
For more information, see the Compact Voice website.
To find out more about the voluntary sector and its regulation, see the website of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.
