What the Bond working groups have been up to in 2025  

Another year has passed, and it has been one of significant momentum and impact for Bond’s working groups.  

Over the past 12 months, our dynamic community of members – made up of more than 1,600 people representing over 300 organisations – have come together across their respective groups to shape policy conversations, pursue advocacy opportunities, share learning and ideas, and develop practical tools that strengthen the sector.  

Amid major political shifts, global pressures and ongoing humanitarian emergencies, Bond’s working groups have continued to convene, collaborate and push for meaningful progress. Their collective efforts have helped the sector to adapt and improve, enabling Bond members to better support marginalised communities affected by poverty, conflict and climate change in low- and middle-income countries.  

As the year draws to a close, we asked our working group chairs to reflect on 2025 and share their priorities and aspirations for 2026. Here’s what they told us: 

Child Rights Group  

The Child Rights working group held three sessions this year. In February, we heard from Bede Sheppard from Human Rights Watch on the proposed optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to recognise children’s rights to early childhood education, free pre-primary education and free secondary education.  

In June, we discussed global aid cuts and the opportunities for collective action to protect children. This was our first hybrid meeting, following a suggestion for more in-person opportunities.  

In October, we explored child rights in FCDO’s emerging priorities and heard from David Bailey, Head of Care Reform at FCDO, about the Global Charter for Care Reform. 

We welcomed four new steering group members. The group met monthly to agree priorities and we issued a survey to improve engagement. Following UK aid cuts, we developed a collective policy briefing from child-focused organisations. The steering group met for an in-person workshop to develop the briefing, then shared it for feedback from the wider working group. 

Looking ahead, we aim to build on 2025’s policy development and strengthen joint advocacy. The steering group will start 2026 with a strategy workshop to discuss championing children’s rights in UK foreign policy and improving ways of working. Our first full CRWG meeting in 2026 will be a Town Hall for members to feed into our draft strategy and workplan.  

If you are interested in children’s rights and want to be more involved, please join the group. 

Communications Group  

The Communications Working Group continued to provide space for practical learning and honest reflection in 2025 — shaped directly by feedback from our annual survey, which called for more informal peer learning opportunities that offer take-home insights for communications teams navigating a turbulent sector. 

Our first session of the year, held in July, created a supportive forum to reflect on how organisations are responding to recent aid cuts and the ripple effects on communications strategies. Members shared openly about rescoping campaigns, aligning messaging with shifting institutional priorities, and supporting colleague wellbeing through prolonged uncertainty. The discussion reinforced the value of a strong peer network during periods of instability. 

Our second deep-dive event explored “strategy in action”, welcoming back two members who had presented to the Communications Group more than a year ago when they were at the initial planning stages of major organisational change processes.  

This session focused on what happens after strategy turns into implementation: one case study examined the lessons from a rebrand and trial of a flat team structure, while the other reflected on embedding anti-racism commitments across communications work. A key theme that emerged across both experiences was how to strike the right balance between centralised and devolved decision-making during moments of transition — ensuring equity while maintaining accountability. 

Looking ahead, we plan to offer informal peer learning sessions more regularly, guided by the evolving needs of our membership and — where possible — through in-person connection. We also hope to host a follow-up to the “Neoliberal Narratives: Social Justice Alternatives for Communications” webinar from 2023, inviting back Dr Noske-Turner to share new research in the context of tightening political backlash against DEI, social justice and climate action. 

Conflict Policy Group  

Over 2025, the Conflict Policy Group (CPG) responded to the sweeping aid cuts and made the positive case for conflict prevention, resolution, peacebuilding and other conflict actions like de-mining and Women, Peace and Security.  

In early spring, we responded to an imminent cliff-edge in UK Integrated Security Fund programmes, working with Bond to coordinate members to input into a story by Politico. Despite a fast turnaround and minimal public opportunities for external engagement, the CPG lobbied the National Security Strategy process with a letter to the Foreign Secretary and engagement with officials involved in the process.  

We also built a campaign to push for greater efforts to tackle conflict. In June, the CPG worked closely with the APPG on Conflict Prevention, Resolution and Peacebuilding on a letter signed by 60 leaders in national security, parliament, NGOs, academia and faith institutions, calling for a greater focus on tackling conflict in the UK’s National Security Strategy. The letter appeared in The Times, Independent, Sky News and other outlets, generating new interest in peacebuilding. Since then, we have continued to support the APPG with numerous briefings and meetings as they champion these issues in parliament and the media.  

With the future of UK support for civilian conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts still uncertain, the CPG is planning the next phase of its campaign, beginning with a strategy retreat in January, followed by workstreams to update and repackage our evidence and create new communications and advocacy materials.  

Disability and Development Group  

The DDG started the year by meeting with then Minster for International Development Annelise Dodds to highlight the need to push for Disability Inclusion to remain central to UK government and FCDO work. Throughout 2025, DDG representatives continued this advocacy, meeting Minister Timms at the Global Disability Summit in April and connecting with Kemi Williams, the new FCDO Deputy Director of Equalities at COSP in June.  

On 3 December, we marked International Day of Persons with Disability with joint DDG/FCDO/CPA event with contributions from the Rt Hon Baroness Chapman, Minster for International Development and Africa, Marsha de Cordova MP, Chair of the APPG on Disability, and powerful testimonies from people with disabilities around the world. On 8 December we met with Chris Elmore MP, PUSofS FCDO (Human Rights) to discuss disability inclusion in development.  

This year we made formal submissions to two International Development Committee inquiries – on Value for Money and Future of Aid – and contributed to Bond blogs on Value for Money and the Global Disability Summit. We also commissioned and launched Unequal climate justice for people with disabilities, a report drawing on data from across members and partners globally to bring insight and practical guidance from a disability perspective and evidence-based recommendations for cooperative action.  

DDG also supported the Leave No One Behind campaign and its Call to Action launched at the APPG for UN Goals.  

We are grateful to our Steering Group and members for continued work in our working/reference groups – External Relations, Inclusive Education, Children with Disabilities, Disability Inclusive Climate Action and Mental Health. Also, a thank you to the 60 CEOs who signed our letter urging the Foreign Secretary not to deprioritise Disability Inclusion amid funding cuts. This will remain a central focus for us in the coming year, alongside a refreshed FCDO Disability Inclusion and Rights Strategy.     

Faith in Development Group  

In recent years, the role of faith in shaping responses, partnerships, and community outcomes is no longer considered anecdotal but has been clearly evidenced. Across Bond’s membership, many organisations are faith-based, faith-originated, or work closely with faith actors at the local level. Others partner with faith leaders because they are trusted, embedded, and are essential in reaching communities that are in fragile or hard-to-reach contexts. 

Recognising this strength and need to articulate it clearly, the Bond Faith in Development Working Group was launched at the working level in May this year, aiming to facilitate and encourage learning, collaboration, and open exchange related to the growing evidence for faith participation. We then hosted a parliamentary event the week after, marking the group’s public launch and engaging parliamentarians and donors in a conversation about the role of faith in the sector.  

What stood out the most in these engagements was the clear value add that faith-based organisations bring. Our members said: “we are the communities…their way of life is also our way of life”. But there is the call for faith actors to be regarded equal partners in shaping strategies or frameworks for change.  

Over the coming weeks, we are developing a Value Proposition Resource, including a Theory of Change, articulating the unique role and contribution of faith in development. This resource is one of the key asks we received from our members. We finished two Focus Group discussions already, using this to guide the design of a two-day Workshop on 3-4 December to develop this Theory of Change piece. This will culminate in a parliamentary launch of the resource in 2026, strengthening understanding and collaboration across the sector. 

Funding Working Group  

In January, the Funding Working Group (FWG) held an online session on how NGOs can engage with Regional Multi-Lateral Development Banks (MDBs). We were joined by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Asian Development Bank, who shared how regional MDBs are a key part of the development finance ecosystem, how MDBs work, and tips for NGOs to meaningfully engage with them.  

In February, we convened FWG members on the USAID stop work order as an opportunity to share Bond’s sector response, for members to share initial feedback on how their organisations were affected, and as an opportunity for solidarity as the sector responded to a seismic shift in the funding landscape.  

In April, we held a learning meeting on Participatory Grant Making. Members learned about new funding models where people and communities with understanding of the issues help make the decisions on who or what is funded, with speakers from Mama Cash, The Karibu Foundation, World Voices Uganda, and Oxfam’s Locally Led Emergency Response Fund.  

In June, we held an online meeting on ‘Fair Overheads for All: Recommendations for a Sustainable Approach by FCDO’. Speakers from Development Initiatives and Humentum shared their research and insights, and members participated in a deep dive into how to transform cost recovery and had their say on how practices should change. We also held a meeting on Due Diligence Passporting to explore the idea of passporting to reduce duplication and complexity. Members heard about groundbreaking initiatives from FCDO, Charter for Change, Philanthropy in Ukraine and Oxfam GB.  

In November, we held an in-person meeting on Impact Investing and Social Finance models, in collaboration with Bond’s Impact Investing group. As competition for funding increases and organisations look to diversify funding streams, members learned about impact investing and social finance models, the key differences between grants funding and impact investment models and other social finance models, when impact investing is right for their organisations, where to start, and how to navigate internal conversations on this.  

In 2026, the FWG will continue to support members to learn about diversifying income streams, progress engagement with FCDO and support members as they adapt to the challenges the international development sector is facing.  

Humanitarian Group  

Bond’s Humanitarian Working Group has focused this year on active engagement with FCDO and local actors navigating an era of disruption, spiralling violence and climate crisis.  

Over the past year, both humanitarian action and respect of International Humanitarian Law have come under increasing attack, with UK and wider global aid cuts leading to increased suffering by people experiencing war and natural disasters. The Bond Humanitarian Working Group has mobilised its members and collaborated with others including local civil society actors and academia, to share analysis, develop joint messaging and engage with FCDO and the government. In doing so, the new co-chairs have sought to foster connections with Crisis Action, Humanitarian Directors in the DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee) and FCDO officials responsible for humanitarian policy and countries affected by crisis.  

A series of ‘deep dives’ have contributed to FCDO’s new humanitarian system reform policy, and guidance that was circulated by FCDO’s Director for Humanitarian, Food Security and Migration to all UK embassies to inform their planning of UK spend on humanitarian over the coming years. Deep dives included staff from FCDO headquarters and embassy-level FCDO Humanitarian Advisors, and local NGOs from DRC, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Ukraine and Somalia.  

In March, Humanitarian Working Group members collaborated with two universities and local actor networks in Syria, Kenya and Ukraine to organise a one-day conference on localisation in humanitarian action, which attracted over 100 participants, and 9 FCDO officials. Deep dive sessions have tackled issues like protection and respect of International Humanitarian Law, and how aid cuts are impacting on inter-agency humanitarian ‘enablers’, such as coordination, logistics and security services to the humanitarian sector. 

Impact investing Group  

The Bond Impact Investing Group (IIG) aims to build members’ understanding, confidence and capability in impact investing and innovative finance. Through participatory sessions, we explore capital types, organisational readiness and practical mechanisms for mobilising investment to deliver social and environmental outcomes. 

Our session in March refreshed members’ understanding of the impact investment ecosystem, including investor motivations and mechanisms such as blended finance, debt, equity and guarantees. Guest speakers shared examples illustrating how capital shapes risk, return and impact. 

In July, we held a meeting on ‘Unlocking Finance for Climate-Resilient Agriculture: The Green Rice Bond’. This real-life case study showcased a pioneering USD 50 million Green Rice Bond created to address financing gaps in Africa’s rice sector, enhance climate resilience and support gender equity. Lucas Tschan of iGravity presented findings from the feasibility study and how such models can catalyse systems change in food security and sustainable finance. 

In our October session, members examined the organisational shifts required to adopt impact investing, from governance constraints to stakeholder alignment. Discussions highlighted a key mindset shift: from grants to blended-value approaches where INGOs act as convenors, originators and technical experts. 

In November, we teamed up with the Bond Funding Working Group for an in-person session on the ‘Internal Journey’ and Navigating Impact Investing. Facilitators introduced frameworks for organisational change, stakeholder mapping and identifying investable programmes, supported by a four-step alignment methodology and evidence-led strategies. 

The momentum of 2025 positions us to explore external stakeholders in 2026 and understand how INGOs can engage the market strategically. New Steering Committee Members are most welcome to join.  

Project Management Group 

This year, the new steering committee focused on reviving the Bond Project Management Group, with the aim of growing a community where peers could come together for mutual learning, sharing and capacity strengthening.  

We kicked off the year with an insightful hybrid session led by John Cropper on Adaptive Project Management, featuring an engaging scenario-based discussion along with reflections on what a framework for adaptive management might look like.  

In July, we had over 50 colleagues join us virtually for a session on Integrating MEL in Project Management. Mariyum Amjam (HIVE Pakistan) and Ruby Quantson Davis (Peace Direct) shared their decolonising MEL journey and practical strategies for doing things differently.  

In October, we hosted a webinar on AI and Project Management. We heard from Andressa Trivelli, who shared her research on the challenges, opportunities and risks associated with the use of AI in civil society in Brazil, spotlighting important questions on how AI can perpetuate unequal power imbalances or lend itself to democratisation and decolonising processes. Fiona Kastel and Sanchi Lokhande also contributed key learnings on how 3ie (International Initiative for Impact Evaluation) is using AI to strengthen evidence building and evaluation.  

We are currently planning a career development in Project Management and networking event for 22 January 2026, hosted at Peace Direct. If you want to learn more about roles and opportunities for progression within Project Management and meet some of your peers face-to-face, we look forward to seeing you there. 

Sanctions and Counter-Terrorism Group  

In the last year, the Sanctions and Counter-Terrorism working group has worked with government officials and financial institutions as part of the Tri-Sector Group (a multi-stakeholder dialogue convened by government with banks and NGO members) to clarify and strengthen the legal operating environment for humanitarian and peacebuilding actors in high risk contexts. With the Charity Finance Group and Bond, we informed the government’s risk assessment of the charity sector and maintained progress towards legal exceptions for humanitarian and peacebuilding assistance. The 2025 national assessment of the UK’s terrorism financing and money laundering risk classified the charity sector as ‘low risk’, a key factor in shaping the financial sector’s appetite to service non-profit organisations. 

Meanwhile, through letters and dialogue, the working group has continued to press the government on its commitment to integrating a humanitarian exception in UK autonomous sanctions in legislation, following UN Security Council Resolution 2664 in 2022, and to ensure that General Licences for humanitarian crises are designed in ways that allow legitimate humanitarian assistance to go where it is needed, while maintaining compliance with the regulations. 

The group has also pushed for alignment between any exceptions in sanctions and the Terrorism Act. We will be responding to recommendations made by the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation in his annual review on the Terrorism Acts in 2023, to ensure counter-terrorism regulations do not needlessly obstruct humanitarian and peacebuilding activities.  

Finally, the working group has facilitated the flow of practical advice and information between members who are grappling with the complexity of the regulatory framework.