Aid Works Annual Report 2017

British Expertise International Awards SME Business of the Year Nominee 2018

www.aidworks.org.uk

The past year has been a year of seismic shifts on the global stage. Fake news, bad news, attention-grabbing headlines questioning the effectiveness of aid. But we believe that aid can work and statistics prove us right.

In 2017, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation shared some encouraging information about the progress the world has made. Since 1990, the number of children who die before their fifth birthday has halved – and this drop is accelerating. In the same period, the proportion of the global population living in extreme poverty has dropped from more than one-third to about one-tenth.

Here at Aid Works, 2017 saw us grow and strengthen our partnerships with aid organisations across the globe. We continued our commitment to transparency and learning, and creating a more diverse aid workforce. The British Expertise International Awards have recognised our success, with a nomination for International SME Business of the Year.

We couldn’t have achieved any of this without our diverse team of committed aid experts, the collaborative and open spirit of our clients, and the energy and enthusiasm of our training participants.

Thank you all – we look forward to making aid work better with you in 2018.

Aid Works is a high-impact social enterprise which provides tailored project support and learning services to aid organisations, and supports local and international aid workers to reach their potential through training and e-learning.

We believe that aid can work, improving the lives of those most in need.

We believe that every aid programme is unique, requiring tailored support to maximise its effectiveness and reach. Worldwide, we provide this tailored support through strong, solution- focused partnerships with aid organisations.

We believe that aid improves through transparency and learning. We realise this belief by creating clear, impartial information on our clients’ projects, and sharing it publicly.

We believe that greater diversity in the aid workforce leads to better programme outcomes. We empower existing and aspiring aid workers to reach their full potential and inspire the next generation of change makers.

Above all, I hope we can stop discussing whether aid works, and spend more time talking about how it can work better.

Bill Gates, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2014 Gates Annual Letter

Since 1990, the number of children who die before their fifth birthday has halved.

Mia Ali, Aid Works, Managing Director

WE BELIEVE THAT AID CAN WORK

TRANSPARENCYWe are open about what we do, and how and why we do it, and help our clients to be the same. We celebrate our strengths and successes, and acknowledge when things don’t go so well.

SOLUTION-FOCUSED We provide simple, practical and clear solutions and advice. We don’t reinvent the wheel.

Since our inception in 2014, we’ve grown exponentially. During 2017, we doubled our client base, and developed and strengthened new partnerships. We used the expertise of our varied and experienced team of staff and associates to enter new markets.

This has included working in new, less fragile countries (Ghana and Tanzania), with new, non-traditional development clients (such as the Royal National Lifeboat Institution), and in new sectors (such as fragile state climate change, and preventing drowning in developing countries). We are currently recruiting more

local consultants to ensure we can build sustainable capacity in-country.

Alongside this, we continued our commitment to transparency and learning, and to reinvesting our profits in international development schemes to benefit future generations (see later in the report for more on this).

Our most successful year yet has been recognised by a nomination for the British Expertise International Awards’ International SME Business of the year.

Worked on 14 projects with 13 aid agency clients

2017 has been our most successful year yet. We have:

Provided support in 16 countries

Run 31 training courses and workshops with

669 participants

Supported workshops with Voluntary Service Overseas

and Ignite imaginations.

Provided workshops to four universities: Cambridge, Derby, Leeds and Sheffield

Our website draws visitors from across the globe. In 2017:

www.aidworks.org.ukpeople visited our website

14,383

people accessed our resources and tools

2,136

people accessed e-learning materials

1,876

people viewed our publications

403

THE YEAR IN REVIEW: GROWING IMPACT AID WORKS’ REACH IN 2017

• Monitoring, evaluation and learning systems development for IAVI

• Evaluation of the DFID- funded Building Resilience in Chad and Sudan for Concern Worldwide

• Evaluation of the DFID- funded Talent Development Project for Save the Children

• Health education project evaluation for the RNLI

• Humanitarian response training simulation for Care UK

• Project management support services for the DFID-led Health Pooled Fund South Sudan for Crown Agents

• Evaluation of the South Sudan Health and Education Supply Chain for UNICEF

• Project design support for Terres des Hommes

• Evaluation of the EU- Integrated Health Project for GOAL

• Project design support for Ecorys

• Project design support for an EU-funded monitoring project for Charlie Goldsmith Associates

• DFID’s Supply Strategy development via Oxford Policy Management

• Advice and support on monitoring US government funded health programmes for MSI

• Qualified to DFID’s Evaluation Quality Assurance and Learning Service roster of experts  

Our 2017 projects:

Our clients:Care International UK

Charlie Goldsmith Associates

Concern Worldwide

Crown Agents

DFID

Ecorys

GOAL Sierra Leone

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI)

Management Systems International (MSI)

Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)

Save the Children

Terre des Hommes

UNICEF

PARTNERSHIPWe create strong, resourceful partnerships with our clients, to maximise impact. OPTIMISM

We are optimists, and strive to be positive about the power of aid to make the world better.

IAVI is a complex not-for-profit organisation that focuses on the development of an AIDS vaccine and other biomedical tools. To measure the progress of its new five-year Strategic Plan, IAVI contracted Aid Works to develop an organisation-wide monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) system.

Aid Works provided support in designing and delivering activities with IAVI’s Senior Management Team, global offices and thematic experts. Our team:

• Developed the MEL system including the MEL Strategy and Plan• Developed and documented supporting processes • Created learning products and initiated activities to strengthen the MEL culture and capacity.

Aid Works created a participatory and interactive process that involved all of the organisation’s offices and departments.

Aid Works provided exactly the support we needed to fit our complex needs. They produced a monitoring, evaluation and learning system founded on participation, and led an innovative process to produce exactly the foundation we needed for moving forward as an organisation.

Fiona Barr, Senior Director - Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning at International AIDS Vaccine Initiative

Monitoring, evaluation and learning systems development for IAVI

South Sudan has some of the worst health indicators in the world, and is one of the most challenging environments to work in. Since 2014, Aid Works has provided project support to the £246m DFID-led Health Pooled Fund (HPF) South Sudan, providing real-time reviews, advisory services and bespoke project support.

This year, our team:

• Conducted two participatory lesson-learning exercises (with donors, government and the HPF, and with the implementing partners) to enable better project planning for the current and next phase of the project.

• Led the development of the Emergency Preparedness and Response strategy and procedures, and Monitoring and Evaluation plan.

• Developed a guidance note for Water Sanitation and Hygeine (WASH) in health facilities.

• Led the establishment of the Technical Advisory Group to help shape and improve the project implementation.

• Led reporting to the donors via monthly, quarterly and annual reporting.

Aid Works provided unprecedented support during a difficult time in the country’s history. Aid Works managed to provide project support when it was needed, developing solutions tailored to the project and our needs. The team is flexible, practical and experienced.

Kaitlin Keane, Crown Agents, Former Programme Manager (2016/2017)

Change management support for Crown Agents, Health Pooled Fund South Sudan

UNIQUENESSWe treat every client and every project as unique, carefully assessing their needs and creating tailored solutions. RESOURCEFULNESS

We maximise the diversity of experience within our team, allowing us to respond creatively to our clients’ unique challenges. We bring innovative ideas to our work, but only when appropriate and not for its own sake.

CASE STUDY CASE STUDY

As our colleagues and friends across the humanitarian sector know, when you’re sitting in your UK office on a rainy day, working on a report or spreadsheet, it can be difficult to appreciate the crucial role that you are playing in helping the world’s poorest. Sometimes it’s hard to ensure that all of your staff – from finance to fundraising; programmes to policy – understand and feel part of your overseas work.

That’s just what Aid Works helped Care International UK do in our interactive, fast-paced and fun simulation for over 120 staff in central London.

Aid Works designed and ran a simulation, set within a fictional humanitarian crisis. CARE staff took on the roles of field workers, local government officials, IDPs, and local partners and donors. They completed tasks such as meetings, focus group discussions and media interviews. Actors brought an element of realism – and chaos! – to the situation. But beneath the fun, learning was taking place on key issues CARE had identified during the simulation planning process. As with all of our training, we completed the simulation with a debrief and evaluation, and finished off with some inspiring stories about CARE’s achievements.

We set Aid Works the very challenging task of running a humanitarian scenario focussing on getting everyone to understand the realities of delivering aid in emergencies. Aid Works delivered exactly what we asked for and transported our staff into a scenario they quickly forgot wasn’t real. Because Aid Works is run by highly experienced humanitarians they understood exactly what we needed and how to meet our somewhat unusual request. It was a pleasure working with them, and an eye-opening experience.

Tom Newby, Head of Humanitarian (Technical Team) CARE International UK

Before the Ebola virus epidemic erupted in 2014, Sierra Leone had made considerable progress in public health, including improving maternal care and reducing child mortality. However when the Ebola crisis hit, health services were overwhelmed and health systems stretched.

In 2017, Aid Works evaluated a multi-faceted health project in Sierra Leone, that GOAL was implementing. This was one of the first evaluations to review development- orientated activities in the country since the end of the Ebola crisis. The project focused on systems strengthening and community-level behaviour change, targeting improved maternal and child health.

The evaluation drew out findings about local healthcare provision at community and facility levels. We interviewed and held focus groups with young mothers, staff at health centres and local government, community based organisations and volunteers, and wider development partners. The evaluation also assessed the project’s value for money in terms of efficiency.

Aid Works provided an experienced team, who were able to design and deliver a quality evaluation on time. We’ve used their recommendations for future project designs.

Anna Fraenzel, Country Director, GOAL Sierra Leone

The European Union, Integrated Health Project Final Evaluation, for GOAL Sierra Leone

FLEXIBILITYWe recognise that aid is complex and not everything goes to plan. We adapt to the changes, roll with the punches and give our clients as much flexibility as possible.

VALUE FOR MONEYWe are a social enterprise, a non-profit organisation set up as a business. We assess and maximise the economy, efficiency, effectiveness and reach of every piece of work.

CASE STUDY

Creating chaos for CARE International UK

CASE STUDY

As a social enterprise, we reinvest our profits in international development schemes to benefit future generations. We are committed to getting more people in the north of England interested in international development and run jargon-free, interactive public events. We also run a fun and participative schools programme, igniting a passion for international development in children from deprived areas in Yorkshire.

In 2017 we continued to implement our social enterprise activities both in the UK and overseas.

Last year we:

• Ran career workshops for the general public and for four universities, in Cambridge, Derby, Sheffield and Leeds.

• Continued to do our bit to ensure greater transparency in the sector, through our publications, tools, resources and podcasts.

• Empowered the general public to take action on global issues such as the Syria humanitarian crisis, producing a practical guide to contacting your local MP.

• Were inspired by Jo Cox, and have partnered with local charity Ignite Imaginations on an arts project that connects women and refugee groups throughout Sheffield. This project is being funded with the generous support of the Evan Cornish Foundation and the J G Graves Charitable Trust and will conclude with a public art exhibition in March 2018.

• Funded 100 family food packages for impoverished communities in South Sudan as part of our annual Christmas grass roots project support.

• Were interviewed on BBC Radio about our work and our focus on being a social enterprise.

OUR SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

Our Social Enterprise Partners

The hard work doesn’t stop here! In 2018, we aim to reach the following goals:

RESPONSIBILITYWe minimise our environmental impact and buy locally whenever possible. We are committed to paying our fair share of taxes in our countries of operation, and endeavour to choose suppliers that do the same.

CONTINUOUS LEARNINGWe help our clients to learn and act. We always strive to improve what we do, seeking feedback that we use to make our work better.

2018 GOALS

Partnerships and support

Percentage of clients saying our support was well-tailored

to their needs

Percentage of clients rating our partnership as ‘Strong’

100% 80%

Transparency and learning

people visiting our website

16,000

people accessing our resources and tools

2,500

people viewing our publications

600

of clients who’ve used our work for action

80%

Training and coaching

people trainedof clients reporting that our coaching has led to

a positive change

85%7 0 0

Aid Works Designing effective projects that improve lives. Evaluating projects and distilling actionable learning. Creating monitoring systems that grow efficiency and impact. Training and coaching dedicated local and international aid workers. Informing the general public and inspiring the next generation.

Making aid work better. Together.

Visit us at www.aidworks.org.uk

Email us at info@aidworks.org.uk

Aid Works Ltd Company No: 8950939 Copyright © 2018 Aid Works Ltd