2022-03-31-accounts

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MÉDIA ACTION Ann al Repor ccoun

A BBC Media Action Bangladesh team films Shabjan (right) and her neighbour for our Living Climate Change series. Fresh water is scarce in their village in southern Bangladesh because water sources have become too saline to drink, impacting their health. / BBC Media Action Bangladesh

A year of hardship and hope	page 4
About us, our vision and mission	page 6
Where we work	page 7
Highlights from our year	page 8
Strategic overview	page 12
How we are funded	page 14
How we serve our stakeholders	page 18

~~OUR IMPACT IN 2021/22~~
Our response to COVID-19	page 21
Our work in health	page 25
Our work in media development and media freedom	page 28
Our work in climate action	page 32
Our work in equity, diversity and inclusion	page 36
Our work in humanitarian response	page 41
Our work in governance and civic participation	page 43
Looking forward	page 46
Thanks and acknowledgements	page 47
~~OUR ORGANISATION AND FINANCES~~
Our organisation	page 49
Managing risk	page 54
Managing our fnances	page 59
Statement of trustees’ responsibilities	page 61
Auditors’ report	page 63
~~ACCOUNTS~~
Financial statements	page 68

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

A Y E A R O F H A R D S H I P A N D H O P E

A year of hardship and hope

A message from our Chair, Vice Chair and Chief Executive Officer

Fran Unsworth Chair

Awo Ablo Vice Chair

Caroline Nursey OBE Chief Executive Officer

This has been a year of incredible challenge. COVID-19 continues to damage people’s health, well-being and livelihoods – made worse by vaccine hesitancy, misinformation and inequity. And the pandemic has affected our colleagues and partners. War in Ukraine, and political turmoil and insecurity in Ethiopia, Myanmar and Afghanistan, have endangered the lives of media workers and changed the nature of our work in these countries. Cuts to UK overseas development aid have required quick pivots in some projects and the closure of others, as we work to secure funding from elsewhere. We are mourning the loss of four dear colleagues.

This year, the BBC turns 100 – marking a century of educating, informing and entertaining audiences in the public interest, here in the UK and all around the world.

BBC Media Action has been part of the BBC family (though separately funded) since the World Service founded us in 1999. We bring the BBC’s world-class editorial values and standards to local media houses around the world. And we apply the creativity, innovation and rigour of the BBC to media and communication for health, improved governance, and the development of more fair and equitable societies.

As we look back on 2021/22, it is clear that BBC Media Action’s work with media for good is just as important now as when we began.

And yet: BBC Media Action reached over 118 million people in the 2021/22 financial year. We have continued to deliver badly needed health

Caroline Nursey, centre, with our team in Ethiopia. / BBC Media Action Ethiopia

communication to audiences under challenging circumstances in Myanmar, Ethiopia and Afghanistan. We have continued to support independent media partners in Ukraine and elsewhere in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, to deliver the trusted information that is so badly needed.

around the world. We are determined to transform who we are, what we do and how we do it, so that both our organisation and our work reflect the rich diversity of the societies in which we work, and include meaningful representation from those people who are most often marginalised by society.

The pages that follow capture just some of the remarkable work carried out by our staff and partners, and its impact on individuals and communities. As we present this year’s annual report, we are grateful to everyone who makes BBC Media Action’s work possible, year after year.

We expanded our research, our policy thinking and our programmatic work on climate action. We won awards for our health communication, and for our humanitarian work with the Rohingya refugee community and aid agencies.

We are especially proud that, after months of consultation, we launched our new Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Approach in January 2022, with nine goals and an action plan that involves every single staff member

Fran Unsworth, Chair Awo Ablo, Vice Chair Caroline Nursey OBE, Chief Executive Officer

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

About us

We are the BBC’s international charity, and we believe in the power of media and communication for good.

Our vision

BBC Media Action is the BBC’s international charity, registered in the UK and working in international development.

A world where informed and empowered people live in healthy, resilient and inclusive communities.

Working to the BBC’s values and editorial principles, we support the independent media essential to democracy and development, and we inform, connect and inspire change in our audiences — by sharing trusted information and stories that generate debate and discussion and challenge prejudice.

Our mission

With our partners we reach millions through creative communication and trusted media, helping people have their say, understand their rights, responsibilities and each other, and take action to transform their lives.

Public benefit

As of 31 March 2022, we work from 18 offices and in 22 countries, serving some of the most fragile and divided societies in the world. Our projects and programmes reached over 118 million people last year, helping to save lives and improve health, protect livelihoods and our planet, counter misinformation, and build more peaceful and democratic societies.

The trustees approved BBC Media Action’s Strategic Plan in January 2018. When reviewing the charity’s aims and objectives and in planning future activities, the trustees confirm that due regard has been given to the public benefit guidance as published by the Charity Commission, as required under the Charities Act 2011.

While we benefit from strong partnerships with the World Service and other parts of the BBC, we rely on the generous support of donors to continue our vital work.

Our charitable objectives include education and training, the advancement of health, the prevention or relief of poverty, and overseas aid.

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Where we work
18 offices around the world
11 countries in Africa
8 countries in the Middle East and Asia
4 countries in Eastern Europe and Caucasus
Boston, USA office
Moldova Ukraine Georgia
London HQ
Armenia
Tunisia
Iraq Afghanistan
Tunis office
(to autumn Kabul office
2021)
India
Delhi office
Algeria
Libya Nepal
Kathmandu office
Myanmar
Yangon office
Cambodia
Ethiopia Phnom Penh office
Addis Ababa office
Bangladesh
Dhaka office
Somalia
Hargeisa,
Sierra Leone Somaliland office Indonesia
Freetown office Jakarta office
Nigeria Zambia
Abuja office Lusaka office Tanzania
Dar es Salaam office
South Sudan Kenya
Juba office Nairobi office
BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022 7
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BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

H I G H L I G H T S F R O M O U R Y E A R

Highlights from our year

We reached more than 118 million people around the world last year – in 23 countries and more than 50 languages!

In Nigeria our radio programme, Story Story, returned to the airwaves after a three-year hiatus. With funding from Inclusive Futures, we delivered Africa’s first fully inclusive radio drama – focused on disability and inclusion, from writers and storylines through to casting and production. In Nigeria, Story Story reached an estimated 13.7 million people across the country; it was also aired across the continent on the World Service, available on BBC Sounds, and featured on the BBC Fifth Floor podcast.

We reached 7.6 million people in Afghanistan , or 46% of the adult population, with our COVID-19 prevention public service announcements, short dramas and other programming. Our audiences included some of the poorest and hardest-to-reach nomadic populations.

In Indonesia we launched our first television drama , produced in partnership with a large private national television network. #CeritaKita (Our Story), a drama about five friends that addresses environmental and governance issues, was nominated for Best Drama at the prestigious Bandung Film Festival and won an award for its environmental content.

In Cambodia our Klahan9 Facebook page – focused on youth empowerment and civic engagement – had over one million followers by February 2022. Between May and December 2021, we reached an average of three million Facebook users each month. Viewers watched a total of 16.5 million minutes of content and viewed our page over 17.7 million times.

In Myanmar we stood fast in a difficult environment, continuing to produce sexual and reproductive health and rights information aimed at young people through our social mediabased project Ma Shet Ne (Don’t Be Shy). It has reached 1.8 million people online – despite a military occupation, protests and resistance.

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

H I G H L I G H T S F R O M O U R Y E A R

We launched a new policy note on climate action and a new film in a hybrid event at BBC Scotland during COP26, hosted by the BBC’s Sam Poling . Our panel featured experts in climate and in communication, making the case for the important role of media and communication in climate action at all levels.

In Tanzania , our radio show Safari ya Malezi (A Parenting Journey) is broadcast on Radio Free Africa and community radio in six regions. Our team produced over 50 national episodes and supported local radio partners to produce another 380 shows. Our national

radio programme reached nearly 2.5 million parents and primary caregivers of children under 18 across the country.

Our pioneering project in Ethiopia produced valuable insights into the employment ambitions and needs of the country’s young people, in a country where nearly 20% of the population is aged 15-25.

In South Sudan , we produced and broadcast 38 episodes in our seventh season of our popular radio drama, Life in Lulu . This season we tackled themes including genderbased violence, early marriage, the abduction of women and the belief that women should remain in abusive relationships for the sake of their children.

We also delivered a series of six films from Bangladesh, Kenya and Nepal showing the frontline impact of climate change on health. Our Living Climate Change films aired on BBC World and the COP26 Resilience Hub, reaching policy- and decision-makers.

Our work with mobile health technology in India was the focus of a special supplement in the BMJ. A randomised controlled trial demonstrated that our approach is a cost-effective way to improve the health of pregnant women, new mothers and their babies, saving an estimated 15,000 lives.

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

S T R AT E G I C O V E R V I E W

Strategic overview

In 2021/22, BBC Media Action pledged to:

— Deliver our programming in support of our strategy to the value of at least £31 million,

— Build a more inclusive culture

reflected in a new global policy on diversity and inclusion, covering the work that we do and how we operate. We will discuss our values among our staff, include a behaviour goal in each employee’s objectives and will agree steps to make each office more inclusive.

on time, and use our learning approach to increase our impact – including via our COVID-19 response, scaling up work on climate change adaptation and interconnected issues, and providing sectoral leadership around media in development and for democracy.

In January 2022 we were proud to launch a new global strategy and approach on equity, diversity and inclusion, covering who we are, what we do and how we will do it. Each employee has a behaviour goal in their objectives, and all teams across the organisation have agreed to take concrete steps toward achieving our ambitious goals.

The 2021/22 financial year proved extremely challenging. Cuts to UK overseas development aid, slowdowns in work from ongoing COVID-19 disruption, and conflict and humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Ethiopia and Ukraine directly affected both our ability to deliver projects and programmes, and our funding. Despite these challenges, we delivered programming to the value of £27.5 million.

— Reach and engage audiences,

innovating as habits change, using traditional and digital platforms to maximise impact for audiences, and building new partnerships.

We have expanded our work and our policy thinking on climate action and related issues during the year. We continued to deliver our major media development programmes, and other projects incorporating media development into our priority themes of governance, health and humanitarian work. The International Fund for Public Interest Media – conceived by our head of policy, although a fully separate entity – has also taken flight this year, with pledges of support from governments around the world. More details on our achievements appear throughout this report.

We continued to build and diversify our digital presence, while recognising that radio and community outreach is still the most effective approach in many contexts. BBC’s 2021 Global Audience Measure demonstrated that our social media reach grew 61% over five years, as well as showing growth in syndicated radio. We have a new TikTok presence in Indonesia, a new Twitter account in Nepal, and are using Instagram in innovative ways in Tanzania and Indonesia, where young audiences are our primary focus.

A BBC Media Action Tikambe! team interviews young people in Zambia for our radio programme. / BBC Media Action Zambia

— Refresh our strategic plan, and diversify and secure our donor funding

with existing and new donors. In January 2022, in light of the changing social and economic environment, our trustees reviewed our 2018 strategy. and found the strategic objectives continue to reflect the changing needs of of the communities whom we serve. Trustees agreed to invest in an ambitious business development plan to ensure we are agile in pursuing new opportunities and can scale up our funding. This plan requires us to dip into reserves, with a planned deficit for the next two financial years, ending in March 2024. We will continue to review our strategic plan annually.

This financial year was extremely challenging for all international NGOs funded by overseas development aid. UK cuts in Overseas Development Assistance from 0.7% to 0.5% of Gross National Income resulted in cancellations and reductions to funding for contracted projects, and continued to have a negative impact on our income. However, we maintained strong relations with the UK FCDO while continuing to pursue new opportunities

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

H O W W E A R E F U N D E D

How we are funded

— Adobe provided free software and Creative Cloud licences for our whole organisation

BBC Media Action is grateful to the wide range of funders who make our work possible. This includes national governments, the UN and other international organisations, foundations, corporate partners and private individuals. Together, our donors funded our work to the value of £27.5 million in 2021/22 (2020/21: £29.6 million). As of 31 March 2022, we had 120 (2021: 132) active projects around the world.

— Atos provided IT support to our London office, and discounted laptop hire fees

— Getty Images provided access to its professional image library for our publications

— Imagen provided us with an audio-visual archive for all our production materials, consultancy on development, and a bespoke resource for our climate work

The FCDO remained our largest donor in 2021/22, providing £7.74 million towards our work. Sida was our second-largest donor, providing £2.87 million, and Global Affairs Canada was third at £1.85 million.

— Inmarsat provided connectivity bandwidth for our Sierra Leone office

Corporate donors, events and individual giving

— The Langham London continued to support us, even though we were unable to hold our annual BBC Correspondents’ Charity Dinner fundraising event

As part of the BBC family, BBC Media Action’s scope for public-facing fundraising is limited. However, we benefit from a range of corporate partnerships. Our 15 corporate partners in 2021/22 helped us in valuable ways, donating income and gifts in kind in the form of IT support, technical equipment, software and professional advice.

— Meta provided free advertising credits through Facebook to help reach our audiences and promote our work

— Synology and Seagate provided equipment to store our content in several country offices, and safely and securely share them with our London office

These included:

— Accenture provided specialist consultancy services to our finance and leadership teams, and support for our communication around COP26

Sophos provided us with cyber-security protection across our entire network

— Access Bookings provided us with credits for hotel accommodation for our annual leadership residential week[1]

Twitter provided technical training and support for our social media accounts

1 Although gift-in-kind credits were offered, we were unable to use them in 2021/22 as activities were postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

‘And...Action!’, our COP26 event was livestreamed from BBC Scotland. / Abby Williams, BBC Media Action

Fundraising governance and compliance

— Universal Music Publishing provided access to its music library for our production teams

At BBC Media Action, we ensure that our donors are protected by using wellestablished, reputable platforms that display clear terms and conditions, including on UK General Data Protection Legislation (GDPR) compliance. JustGiving adheres to the Code of Fundraising Practice and subscribes to the Fundraising Regulator. Our prize draws with Givergy.com are subject to review from the BBC interactivity technical advice and contracts unit.

— Walgreens Boots Alliance gave us valuable unrestricted funding

Due to the pandemic, we delayed our annual BBC Correspondents’ Charity Dinner event from February to July 2022. We would like to thank the event committee for their continued support for this dinner and auction, which raised valuable unrestricted income.

We would also like to thank the following donors for their generous support: Dr Chai Patel CBE FRCP and Bright Future Trust; Jamie Angus; Stephen Clarke; and BBC Studios. In 2021/22 we also benefitted from support from individual donors via BBC payroll giving, and through our JustGiving page accessed from our website and social media accounts.

Our communications team monitors and moderates our social media accounts according to BBC Editorial Policy. There have been no formal complaints regarding our fundraising activity but any future complaints or concerns about our fundraising activities will be investigated and responded to. We voluntarily subscribe to the Fundraising Regulator.

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

H O W W E A R E F U N D E D

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UN Development Programme
(UNDP) £722k
International Rescue Committee
£1,058k
BMB Mott MacDonald £683k
Norwegian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs £1,134k
UK Foreign, Commonwealth and
Development Office £7,741k
European
Commission
£1,148k Top 10 donors
2021/22
Norwegian Agency
for Development
Cooperation £1,763k
Swedish International Development
Global Affairs Canada Cooperation Agency £2,866k
£1,854k
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation £1,881k
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UNOPS £873k
BMB Mott MacDonald £909k UN Development Programme (UNDP) £868k
Danish Refugee Council
£914k UK Foreign, Commonwealth and
Development Office £9,843k
European
Commission £1,163k
Top 10 donors
2020/21
Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation £1,464k
Norwegian Agency for Global Affairs Canada £2,361k
Development Cooperation
£1,784k
Swedish International Development
Cooperation Agency £2,320k
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H O W W E A R E F U N D E D
NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS £8,732K
UK GOVERNMENT £7,741k
Swedish International Development
Foreign, Commonwealth Cooperation Agency £2,866k
and Development Office £7,741k
Global Affairs Canada £1,854k
Norwegian Agency for Development
Cooperation £1,763k
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs £1,134k
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS
USAID £358k
AND CHARITIES £2,850k Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation
£331k
International Rescue Committee £1,058k Irish Aid £125k
Action Against Hunger £524k GIZ (Germany) £120k
Sightsavers £492k Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade
NDI £207k (Australia) £70k
Terre des Hommes £140k Dutch Embassy in Tunisia £68k
Danish Refugee Council £138k Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland £24k
Deutche Welle £96k Government of Belgium £19k
International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies £73k
IFES £62k
Ground Truth Solutions £28k
International Labour Organization £23k UNITED NATIONS £2,621k
Norwegian Church Aid £9k
UN Development Programme (UNDP) £722k
UNOPS £505k
PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS £3,353k Unicef £479k
World Health Organization £355k
Bill and Melinda Gates United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Foundation £1,881k £273k
BMB Mott MacDonald £683k UN Women £250k
H & M Foundation £621k UNHCR £37k
Packard Foundation £160k
Luminate £8k
EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS
AND PRIVATE SECTOR £1,047k EUROPEAN UNION £1,148k
Unilever £467k
European Commission £1,148k
Auxilium £340k
DAI £204k
Options £21k
University of Bristol £15k
£27,492k
RESILIENCE
£6,171k
GOVERNANCE
AND RIGHTS
HEALTH
£14,136k
£7,185k
Our areas of work
BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022
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BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

H O W W E S E R V E O U R S TA K E H O L D E R S

How we serve our stakeholders

BBC Media Action complies with section 172 of the Companies Act 2006. Our board of trustees acts in the way it considers, in good faith, is most likely to enhance BBC Media Action’s impact for the people we serve, while considering the long-term effect of decisions on our organisation and our stakeholders. Our mission sets out our need to work with partners to reach our audiences.

help local media partners stay on air during crises, most significantly in Ukraine where audiences have been in critical need of trusted and timely information.

— The BBC:

We enjoy strong support from across the BBC. The BBC World Service founded us. Many of our trustees come from the BBC – our chair, Fran Unsworth, was the BBC’s director of news and current affairs until her retirement in January 2022. We work closely with the World Service and other parts of the BBC. Senior BBC correspondents and personalities help us with fundraising and publicising our work.

Our external stakeholders include:

— Our audiences:

Our audience members are our primary beneficiaries, reached directly and through our partners. Our research into what viewers and listeners need helps inform our work, while our project evaluations ensure we learn from our work and achieve positive impact. We continue to expand our work across digital platforms as our audience members’ media habits change, while ensuring we fully include people who still live in media-dark or mediapoor communities. We follow BBC and sector best practice in obtaining consent from anyone who participates in, or features on, our media outputs. We have a strict code of conduct and safeguarding requirements for our staff and partners.

— Our partners in project delivery and sector learning:

Partnerships are critical to our success. We work in several project consortia, we participate in sector collaborations and events, and we are members of Bond, the umbrella group for UK-based international NGOs. We work with a large number of local media organisations and local NGOs.

— Our donors:

Our donors are primarily institutional,

including the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Global Affairs Canada and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). They also include UN bodies, private foundations and corporate partners. We are committed to delivering high-quality work, and reporting on our impact to donors, and to others via our website, social media channels and elsewhere.

— Journalists, media workers and media houses:

We work to the BBC’s Editorial Values. We mentor journalists and media workers in long-term projects, and work with media organisations on business planning, marketing and economic viability. This year, we had to pivot some of our media development work to

In Cambodia, our Klahan9 SPACE project included training of local partner organisations in engaging young people. / BBC Media Action Cambodia

— Our wider communities and our planet:

Our internal stakeholders are our employees. Employee engagement is essential to success in delivering our work. Our employees enjoy opportunities for learning and development through the BBC and beyond. All our employees have access to an employee assistance programme, with enhanced support during the COVID-19 pandemic and in times of crisis in the countries where we work. We have competitive salaries. UK-contracted employees are tied to BBC pay bands, while accounting for the difference in salaries between the charity sector and media organisations. Salaries for employees in other countries remain competitive with local non-governmental organisation (NGO) rates.

An increasing proportion of our work relates to climate change adaptation, and we are seeking to be greener in our operations. We implemented a new environmental policy in 2021/22 and have begun a wider project to calculate and then reduce our global carbon footprint. With a return from home-working, we are using a home- and office-based hybrid working model in the UK and in several of our country offices, which will reduce our carbon footprint in our offices and in commuting. Our global “green team” continues to generate ideas and hold staff and managers accountable for our office environmental practices.

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

Our impact in 2021/22

Media and communication for good

Our response to COVID-19

“Since this [coronavirus] disease arrived, it Abdirahman from affects everybody. Somaliland is one of It affected those many children whose who can walk and education has been those who can’t. I interrupted by COVID-19. depend a lot on my His parents, who earn a mum and dad… living through labour and Since I depend on a small shop, listen to them, it affects our radio programmes on their ability to BBC Somali, learning how earn a living.” to protect themselves and how to adapt their livelihoods during the pandemic. / Ahmed Fais, BBC Media Action Somalia

training remotely. Around the world, our staff and partners used creativity and innovation to adapt to fast-changing pandemic restrictions.

During the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, BBC Media Action teams around the world continued working on projects and programmes to help people protect themselves against COVID-19, share trusted information about vaccines, dispel myths and rumours, and support people to cope with related issues, such as mental health and unemployment. Many of our teams continued to work from home, or in hybrid home-andoffice-based arrangements, and conducted

We completed the design of a data collection tool for the World Health Organization (WHO), to collect timely insights into people’s changing needs, and to ensure that WHO country offices’ COVID-19 response and service delivery reflects these. Our methodology and research tool was piloted in

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

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Nigeria and Zambia; the WHO has since run an online course in how to use our tool effectively and is now exploring a wider rollout. These insights are valuable in project and programme design to understand people’s attitudes, their difficulties and whom they trust to provide information.

In North Africa, we delivered Lifeline humanitarian training to EPTV (Algerian Public Establishment of Television), Radio Algerie (Algerian public radio) and to Algerian civil society organisations (CSOs), ensuring that in a crisis, journalists are prepared to meet their audiences’ needs for information – reporting for them, rather than just about them. We also adapted media literacy training for Algerian CSOs, to support their COVID-19 response. Through El Kul (For Everyone), our online news and current affairs outlet serving Libyan audiences, we shared content on COVID-19 prevention measures, vaccine confidence, mental health and other related issues.

In Ethiopia, we produced and published social media content – including short videos and infographics – on a variety of COVID-19 related topics. These focused on the impact of the pandemic on women and girls, highlighted stories of adaptation and resilience, and tackled mis- and disinformation. We mentored a community radio station to co-create content, and produced training modules for Ethiopian journalists in the Amharic and Oromifa languages to ensure local journalists could communicate more effectively around COVID-19 and any future disease outbreaks.

In Kenya, we worked with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to train journalists to report more effectively on communicable diseases, including COVID-19.

In Nigeria we completed formative research for a vaccine information project, to counter false and misleading information around vaccines for COVID-19. Our research found that while most

people knew about the vaccine, respondents who had not been vaccinated said they did not know enough about its efficacy and side effects. Those who had been vaccinated believed it to be safe and effective, but were concerned about whether it would be effective against newer variants.

These insights have informed our radio programming and social media content to address vaccine hesitancy in the country.

In Somalia, we produced a radio show aired on the BBC Somali Service, and video and radio public service announcements, on COVID-19 awareness, prevention, treatment and vaccinations. We also shifted our project on women’s economic empowerment to include advice on safely operating a business during a pandemic, and ways to adapt in changing circumstances. Our research found that our COVID-19-related content reached an estimated 3.7 million people (51% of the adult population), increasing their knowledge and understanding, tackling stigma, and helping people to more effectively identify misinformation.

“Usually, it is my neighbours who have a rather superstitious belief about COVID-19. I always use the information given by BBC Media Action as a reference to judge whether information is correct or not.”

—Person with a disability, Hagaha Nolosha (Life Guidance) listener, Mogadishu, Somalia

While schools remained closed in South Sudan, we produced public service announcements to raise awareness of COVID-19, remind parents to support their children to learn at home, and address issues such as early marriage and pregnancy that became more prevalent during the pandemic. We also adapted our community mobilisation approach, running family listening

Manimegalai is one of the informal waste-pickers featured in our multimedia campaign #Invaluables in India, to raise awareness of COVID-19, and tackle myths and harmful rumours about vaccination against the virus. / BBC Media Action India

groups for our radio shows instead of larger community groups, to minimise risk from COVID-19, and used technology to conduct training remotely.

while adopting safer practices. We produced a series of public service announcements in English and local languages on COVID-19 prevention and awareness, and we conducted Lifeline training to ensure local journalists could report effectively to support people impacted by the pandemic.

In Tanzania, where the government initially denied the presence of COVID-19, we were able to produce 11 radio shows addressing various aspects of the virus and its impacts, all integrated into our existing radio programmes.

In Afghanistan, we completed our role in The Hygiene Project, bringing public service announcements, social media content and fast fiction drama to hard-to-reach populations, including the nomadic Kuchi people and

In Zambia, we supported more than 30 partner stations to cover the pandemic accurately

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

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the urban poor. In addition to reaching an estimated 7.6 million people, our research found that about 74% of the audience reported discussing the public service announcements with others. Two-thirds (66%) reported having learned about the benefits of handwashing with soap, while 64% said they had learned to take COVID-19 seriously as a result of this content. The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 dramatically changed how we work in the country. However, we were able to continue serving audiences through a new health-focused radio programme, Where There Is No Doctor, tackling everything from COVID-19 to antenatal care and how best to care for sick relatives at home.

In Bangladesh, we published bulletins for NGOs and produced more than 100 pieces of content – including public service announcements on radio and social media - to share and address people’s concerns about COVID-19. Our content targeted hard-toreach people, including indigenous groups and people with disabilities, with timely information about COVID-19 that tackled myths and misconceptions.

We also trained 18 community radio station partners to improve their COVID-19 programming, working with them on special episodes tackling school dropout, child marriage and gender-based violence.

Our work on COVID-19 extended to displaced Rohingya people in Cox’s Bazar, getting information to them in the right language, using door-to-door volunteers and through local mosques. Our research has found that Rohingya people who were exposed to BBC Media Action content about COVID-19 were more knowledgeable about preventative measures such as handwashing, mask wearing and self-isolation.

In India, we addressed vaccine confidence and misinformation as part of our work with informal waste-pickers in Bengaluru. We produced two films in collaboration with our local partners Hasiru Dala and Save the Children India, featuring people from the waste-picking community, and offering a clear call to follow the advice of trained doctors rather than hearsay from friends and family. Our outreach activities included using a mobile van to play the films to 30 hard-to-reach areas in one month. We are working with Save the Children to monitor the effectiveness of the films; our research team trained Save the Children’s outreach workers to collect data in the field, using our research tools.

In Myanmar, where the February 2021 military coup disrupted our television and radio work, we continued to produce COVID-19 prevention and response programming on our digital platforms, through four popular online programmes that reached over six million people. Communities under military occupation faced a lack of health services and an estimated 20,000 deaths from COVID-19. We provided information on referrals to humanitarian health service providers, and advice on home prevention and quarantine to audiences nationwide.

In Nepal, we completed the third phase of a Lifeline communication project to address an ‘info-demic’ around COVID-19. We produced 30 episodes of Milijuli Nepali (Together Nepal) in partnership with national radio stations and social media platforms. The programme drew on health experts and well-known personalities to address multiple issues around the risks and transmission of COVID-19. These included how to identify false and misleading information, how to deal with stigma and discrimination, how to access psychological support, and how families can better protect themselves – including through improved water, sanitation and hygiene practices.

Our work in health

“I listen to the programme Let’s Talk About Us on Eye Radio and Miraya. I like this programme because it talks about issues that are important to me. Also, my neighbour found it… helped her learn about the benefits of family planning. For example, I listened to the programme… about the risks of having multiple sexual partners and this made me realise how I have been putting myself at risk when I had more than one man without protection. But now, because of the programme, I decided to choose one partner with whom I’ll be faithful and who is faithful to me. We both know each other’s [HIV] status.”

Mary, 28, is a listener of our Let’s Talk About Us programme, on sexual and reproductive health and rights, in South Sudan. / BBC Media Action South Sudan

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

O U R W O R K I N H E A LT H

‘In the past, I Hamis is a 67-year-old farmer didn’t attend living in Kigoma, Tanzania. the clinic with He has 14 children and 26 my wife. I felt grandchildren, and lives with I didn’t have his wife and four of his younger time as my children. responsibility was to get an Before listening to our radio income so I programme Safari ya Malezi left it to my (A Parenting Journey), he wife to go to raised his children based on the clinic or how he was raised. But now, take my child having listened to on Safari ya there’. Malezi , he has learned more about modern approaches to parenting. He says he has learned that it is important to attend antenatal and postnatal care sessions at the clinic with his wife, and to discuss them at home with her, too. / BBC Media Action Tanzania

While much of BBC Media Action’s healthrelated work remains focused on COVID-19, we have continued to meet audience needs for more general health information. This includes information on sexual and reproductive health and rights, antenatal, neonatal and maternal health, parenting and family care, and improved sanitation practices.

In Tanzania, our Responsible Parenting and Family Care project is aimed at parents and caregivers, covering parenting issues from pregnancy and birth until children reach the age of 18. We produced over 50 national episodes of Safari ya Malezi (A Parenting Journey), our radio show broadcast on Radio Free Africa and community radio in six regions. We also worked with eight community radio partners to produce 380 local spin-off shows. Our national radio programme reached nearly 2.5 million parents and primary caregivers of children across the country.

In South Sudan, our Amplifying Women’s Voices project examines sexual and reproductive health and rights through our Let’s Talk About Us radio programme in three local languages. It dispels myths and misconceptions, and shares trusted information about sexually transmitted infections and HIV, modern contraceptive use and how to access reproductive health services. The project also covers gender-based violence through episodes of our ongoing radio drama Life in Lulu, in which characters address early marriage, abduction, and the common belief that women must remain in abusive relationships for their children’s sake.

In Zambia, our Tikambe! (Let’s Talk) project with Restless Development tackles the sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people, using mass media and face-to-face engagement in co-operation with local radio stations. Weekly radio programmes help increase young people’s knowledge and enable them to make informed decisions, while radio dramas explore common beliefs and social norms. This project also supports young

people to present evidence on the quality of sexual and reproductive health services to decision-makers, to demand improvements. Our research shows that Tikambe! improves knowledge around subjects including teen pregnancy, early marriage, substance abuse, peer pressure and condom use, and sexual consent. Listeners are more likely than nonlisteners to take action to protect their health.

“ Tikambe has a big impact in our community because it influenced me to join [the] youth-friendly space at our local clinic, where we get to learn a lot and also socialise… by playing football, volleyball and other activities that keep us busy rather than involving ourselves in drug abuse.”

— Male focus group discussion participant, Kabwe, Zambia

In Bangladesh, we produced audio-visual content on sexual and reproductive health, covering modern contraceptive methods, antenatal care, safe delivery and obstetric care, postnatal care including postpartum haemorrhage, eclampsia and fistula, sexually transmitted infections and the importance of cervical cancer screening. We also produced a comprehensive and customised information hub, communication materials and a user manual for family welfare assistants.

Also in Bangladesh, under our Water for Women project, we produced a mobilebased app for water, sanitation and hygiene facilitators, and developed a health communication and behaviour change approach on water, sanitation and hygiene for rural communities.

In India, our integrated campaign featuring our faecal sludge monster – Malasur, the Demon of Defeca – was presented in an international conference in Indonesia, was awarded Best

Communication in Sanitation by an independent jury for the India Sanitation Coalition and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry Awards, and featured in a Government of India publication as an example of best practice. The campaign, aimed at encouraging families to clean out septic tanks regularly to help prevent water pollution and disease, appeared in cities across seven Indian states.

This year we also prepared to launch Life Navrangi (Nine-Hued Life), an online drama series on urban sanitation that is a sequel to our 26-episode television drama on safe sanitation, Navrangi Re (Nine to a Shade)! The drama aims to spark further conversations about safe sanitation practices, and launched in May 2022 on YouTube.

Finally, our mobile health work in India was in the spotlight in 2021/22 with publications in a special supplement in BMJ Global Health. An evaluation of our Mobile Kunji (Mobile Guide) job aid for frontline health workers by Stanford University experts found that the service improved families’ trust in their frontline workers, increased women’s likelihood of taking vitamin supplements while pregnant, and improved delivery preparedness and infant nutrition practices.

And a randomised control trial of Kilkari (A Baby’s Gurgle), our service providing antenatal, postnatal, newborn and child health advice to new and expecting mothers, conducted by Johns Hopkins, found that the service had significantly increased vaccination of newborns, and increased use of modern contraception, particularly among low income families. Johns Hopkins also conducted a cost effectiveness study of Kilkari , which concluded that according to WHO standards, Kilkari is a very cost effective intervention at scale, saving an estimated 15,000 lives between December 2014 and April 2019; publication of this study is forthcoming.

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

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Our work in media development and media freedom

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Shola Darwesh Yousufi is a presenter at the all-women Hareem Zan radio station in Badakhshan, near Afghanistan’s border with Tajikistan. Amid continuing restrictions on women’s ability to travel independently and work outside the home, the radio station – a long-term BBC Media Action partner – was permitted to return to the airwaves early in 2022, after six months’ absence following the Taliban’s takeover of the country. / Photo courtesy of Shola Yousufi

In a year of multiple crises and threats to democracy, it has never been more important to shore up trusted, impartial public interest media, while countering false and misleading information. BBC Media Action’s media development work is rooted in deep understanding of local contexts, changing media environments and how people access information in an increasingly digital world.

In 2020/21 we continued to implement two flagship projects on media development: Protecting Independent Media for Effective Development (PRIMED) in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone; and Support to Independent Media in the Eastern Partnership Countries. Through PRIMED, we are working with leading media development organisations to understand how to best support public interest media. We share our learning with the wider media sector, through publications and participation in global conferences on media freedom. We were proud to receive an A+ grade in an independent evaluation of this project in autumn 2021.

In Myanmar, we faced a grave challenge in supporting local media to operate in an extremely risky media landscape, following the military coup in February 2021. We provided financial, security and editorial support to 25 local media partners amid a dramatic crackdown on media, in which more than 100 journalists were arrested and hundreds of journalists went into hiding or on the run. We implemented this support via staff working from the Thai-Myanmar border, and a small team working online with high-level security systems to support our in-country media partners. Many of our media partners were arrested, including one of our freelance producers, Htet Htet Khine, who also presented our well-known Khan Sar Kyi (Feel It) TV programme. At the time of writing she was sentenced to six years of hard labour in a Myanmar prison, after more than a year in detention. We remain concerned for her safety and well-being.

In Afghanistan, our work to support local public interest media shifted after the fall of the country to Taliban control in August 2021. In subsequent months, we were able to deliver Lifeline training to media partners around the country, to support them to deliver vital information during a worsening humanitarian crisis. And we were proud to support the return to the airwaves of Hareem Zan, a radio station run by women, featuring programming for women, in Badakhshan province.

In Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Armenia, we continued to work with public interest media, mentoring and training journalists based on BBC editorial standards and values, working with them on efficient newsroom management and workflows, and supporting them to improve their business development and income generation to ensure they can survive fast-changing economic environments. We also conducted training in how to verify stories and identify mis- and disinformation.

The project’s evaluation found that the flexible support provided to media partners helped them to adopt a stronger audience focus and increase their reach. For example, our partners Netgazeti and Batumelebi were supported to launch a new Russian-language service for underserved audiences in Georgia; Suspilne (‘Public’, formerly UA:PBC) was supported to re-launch in Ukraine, and, in Moldova, Ziarul de Garda was able to improve their video offer for digital audiences. The evaluation also found significant contributions to changes in our media partners’ revenue. For example, Hromadske Radio in Ukraine grew their nondonor revenue to 16% of total revenue in 2021, from 4% in 2020.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, we immediately shifted our focus to support our local partners to continue delivering essential news operations: moving to safer parts of the country, shifting to online and digital formats, and working from underground bunkers. At the time of writing,

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

O U R W O R K I N M E D I A D E V E L O P M E N T A N D M E D I A F R E E D O M

Htet Khine was our freelance producer and presenter of our well-known TV programme in Myanmar, Khan Sar Kyi (Feel It). She has been in detention since August 2021 amid a fierce government crackdown on independent media and opposition figures, and was sentenced to a total of six years of hard labour in September 2022. We remain concerned for her safety. / BBC Media Action Myanmar

with war continuing, we have been able to extend our Eastern Partnership project to ensure this support continues.

In Sierra Leone, we worked through PRIMED to support efforts to update the country’s Media Code of Practice and have it passed into law. This entailed discussion across all districts and regions, involving over 500 civil society leaders, media practitioners and partners. A new code has now been endorsed by the Minister of Information and Communications and is expected to be submitted for parliamentary approval later in 2022. Also through PRIMED, we began mentoring three radio stations on public interest journalism – including the country’s national broadcaster – and

In North Africa, we continued to support El Kul , our online news and current affairs portal serving Libyan audiences. We conducted research into the flow of mis- and disinformation in Algeria and Libya, and presented recommendations to UN agencies, embassies, and civil society and media partners. The same study is now underway in Tunisia.

supporting an internship programme for students from the University of Sierra Leone Fourah Bay College, to prepare the country’s next generation of journalists.

In Ethiopia, we continued to deliver our PRIMED project despite a difficult security situation. We conducted film and digital media training with our local media partners. With support from Africa Check, we also delivered fact-checking and verification training to both PRIMED media partners and members of the Ethiopian Media Women’s Association. In addition, we supported our partner Addis Maleda to add Afaan Oromo and Somali language programming alongside Amharic language in order to reach the largest ethnic groups in the country.

In Bangladesh, we worked through PRIMED to support our partner media outlets and others through the Broadcast Journalist Centre via training sessions, mentoring and workshops. These aim to build public interest journalism skills, improve digital content production, strive for greater gender inclusion in newsrooms and media content, improve safeguarding practices and develop stronger business models among media practitioners. Our partners report increased audience engagement levels and rising revenue as a result of this training. We are also providing consultancy and advocacy support to the Broadcast Journalist Centre, as it plays a pioneering role in building a media coalition to address the rights and safety of journalists in the country.

In South Sudan, our work through Amplifying Women’s Voices and Life in Lulu includes training local radio stations on content production as well as supporting them with purchases of studio equipment. One of our aims is to ensure their content becomes more gender- and conflict-sensitive.

In Zambia, we supported media stakeholders to develop and implement a mechanism for self-regulation while upholding media freedoms, in a first for the country. Through our Radio Waves project and work with Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia, we supported media associations to ensure that changes to a Zambia Media Council bill did not compromise media freedom and freedom of information. Our Zambia team also worked with our London office to create three online training modules on election coverage, creating podcasts and factchecking, and rolled them out to local partners.

In Cambodia, we launched the media support strand of our Klahan9 SPACE project, supporting journalists and media workers to produce public interest content aimed at, and representative of, young people. We also recruited and, with partners, trained 22 media trainees to produce mobile video content, podcasts and documentary films.

In partnership with the Press Council of Indonesia, we trained 4,000 journalists from across the country on topics including green growth, digital literacy and COVID-19. We also worked with the Local Public Service Broadcasters’ Association to train over 40 local and regional public service broadcasters, conducted a capacity-strengthening programme for the Ministry of Communication, and worked with several local NGOs to deliver storytelling and production training to local citizen journalists and content creators.

Finally, we were proud to see the International Fund for Public Interest Media – of which we are a founding organisation – become a reality, with pledges of support from around the world including the United States. The fund is co-chaired by journalist and media freedom advocate Maria Ressa and Mark Thompson, the former BBC director-general; it has established a secretariat and aims to raise US$1 billion in funding for public interest media in crisis.

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

O U R W O R K I N C L I M AT E A C T I O N

Our work in climate action

“Every day I read news about disasters, including ice melting in the North Pole, drought during the dry season, forest fires, clean water crisis, global warming, floods, and other disasters that happen even where I live. However, I still have faith that we can fix this, so the Earth will be better for the next generation. One thing that we have to do is take action. Start with simple actions like planting trees, reduce electricity consumption from unsustainable energy sources, save water, and use public transportation. The next step is to have a voice – inform and spread the message of the danger of the climate crisis, so more people can take action.”

Firda, 23, Makassar, Indonesia

Firda was interviewed by BBC Media Action in support of the BBC’s Climate Voices, featured on BBC Minute on the World Service and in Glasgow. / BBC Media Action Indonesia

Wambaz, 25, has had to change from herding livestock to farming to adapt to the changing climate.

“Climate change has affected my life.

“Being a pastoralist, there are a lot of challenges... such as lack of water and pasture.

“People need to be trained and to gain skills so (they can) cope with the situation. I would encourage the youth to use social media and radio stations to gain information, especially on climate change.

‘I have really learned some skills...I started a kitchen garden, and water harvesting.”

Wambaz, 25, artist, radio presenter and farmer, Marsabit, northern Kenya

Wambaz was interviewed by BBC Media Action in support of the BBC’s Climate Voices, featured on BBC Minute on the World Service and in Glasgow. / Diana Njeru, BBC Media Action Kenya

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

O U R W O R K I N C L I M AT E A C T I O N

This year BBC Media Action’s climate action work took centre stage at the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, where we launched a new policy note on the role of media and communication in climate action at a high-level event hosted at BBC Scotland’s Pacific Quay broadcasting centre.

We were part of the wider BBC’s campaign, Climate Voices, featuring the hopes and fears for the future of young people from across the world. With funding from Wellcome, BBC Media Action created Living Climate Change – a series of six short films from Nepal, Bangladesh and Kenya – focused on the health impact experienced by people on the front lines of climate change. These films were broadcast on BBC World in a segment hosted by Anne Soy, shared during our COP26 event and featured on the COP26 Resilience Hub – amplifying these voices in front of policymakers and duty-bearers from across the world.

In Kenya, through the EU project Down2Earth, we trained and mentored five radio stations in drylands areas to produce content on climate change adaptation, food insecurity and water scarcity. We also developed an online course on climate change reporting for journalists in Africa, in both English and Swahili.

In North Africa, El Kul covered environmental and climate topics, and our ProSol project focused on soil protection and rehabilitation for food security, as part of a wider global project. We have used communication for development approaches and strategies

Esther walks with her daughter from the water hole in rural northern Kenya, featured in our Living Climate Change series. / Diana Njeru, BBC Media Action

to achieve a change in understanding and behaviour on soil degradation.

In Tanzania, we launched A National Conversation 5, looking at governance with a focus on gender, climate change and civic participation. This is an extension of previous projects that underpinned our flagship Haba Na Haba (Little by Little) programme.

In Cambodia, our project Not Waiting for Rain kicked off in September 2021. We created a feature-length TV episode of Don’t Wait for Rain and four public service announcements, which aired on national television, to raise awareness of the local impacts of climate change, highlight what communities can do and motivate action. The project built on our previous Don’t Wait for Rain climate adaptation project, which supported people in Cambodia to adapt to the effects of extreme weather.

Angyel Bista and his wife walk through their buckwheat farm in rural Nepal, featured in our Living Climate Change series. / Anish Bastola for BBC Media Action

In Indonesia, we launched our first television drama, co-produced with a large private national network. #CeritaKita narrates the story of five friends while addressing environmental and governance themes. This is accompanied by a social media brand, AksiKita Indonesia (Our Action), and an Instagrambased discussion programme called Ngobrolin (Chats). Overall #CeritaKita and related content reached 24.5 million, with an overall brand awareness of 35 million, based on a survey of 5,000 respondents aged 16-55 in Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan. The show was nominated in the Best Drama Show category at the prestigious Bandung Film Festival and won a special award for a TV Programme on the Environment. Our impact evaluation, including experimental research in partnership with Columbia University, is underway. A chapter on the drama is currently under review for the Accelerating Climate Solutions publication (Springer, expected 2022).

Parbati Bhat, a community health volunteer in Nepal, was profiled as part of our Living Climate Change series. / Anish Bastola for BBC Media Action

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

O U R W O R K I N E Q U I T Y, D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N C L U S I O N

Our work in equity, diversity and inclusion

In Sierra Leone, 15-year-old Aminata was unable to go to school after her father died. But, determined to continue her education, she learned to read and write through a local girls’ group. Aminata appeared as a copresenter on our national radio programmme Wae Gyal Pikin Tinap (When the Girl Child Stands) to tell her story – demonstrating to listeners that age is no barrier to learning, and school is not the only place to learn. Research on the impact of our radio programmes in Sierra Leone has demonstrated that including real-life success stories from girls like Aminata increases hope among out-ofschool adolescent girls that they might fulfil their dreams of a successful future.

/ BBC Media Action Sierra Leone

After months of consultation, in January 2022 BBC Media Action launched our new Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Approach, outlining who we will be as an organisation, what we will do, and how we will do it, as we strive to become more fully representative of the people and communities we work with and for. With specific, measurable objectives and targets, we will measure our progress against this strategy over the next two years.

We continued to be active partners in the BBC’s 50:50 Project equality initiative, aiming for equal representation among men and women in both media contributors and content. Our evaluation found that our core BBC Media Action social media channels featured women in 63% of our posts, while 61% of our blogs were either written by women, or featured them prominently. Our projects in Eastern Europe, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Ukraine have also joined the scheme, although the participation of our Ukrainian partners was paused when war began in February 2022 when Russia invaded the country.

Gender

Our Sierra Leone office became the first of our country offices to join the BBC’s 50:50 Project, in October 2021, supporting two local partner radio stations to track contributors by gender. They have found that women often lack confidence to become contributors, while men are more often in positions of power. To overcome these barriers, BBC Media Action Sierra Leone tailored the 50:50 approach to better explain the concept, simplify the tracking methodology and prepare training materials on gender mainstreaming.

In India, where 75% of men but only 55% of women own a mobile phone, we are tackling this gender digital divide through our Digital Women’s Economic Empowerment project. Our landscaping studies are designed to

“50:50 is a simple system to effect long-lasting change on a large scale, with no compromise on quality. It was a Herculean task after the training to implement The 50:50 Project, but the management of Classic Radio made it part of our editorial policy… I have observed… a remarkable impact in terms of the content and fair representation of our audience in our programmes, and this has resulted in a cultural change. The project has helped to increase our audience and there is much improvement in the content of our programmes… Seeing more women and other marginalised groups speaking out on governance issues and holding their leaders accountable… has resulted in improvement in service delivery.” Beatrice Sao Bundor is a presenter with Classic Radio 99.7FM in Bo, Sierra Leone / BBC Media Action Sierra Leone

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

O U R W O R K I N E Q U I T Y, D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N C L U S I O N

better understand gender gaps, then apply this learning to help address them – for instance, by focusing on the barriers to women accessing and using digital technology, rather than focusing on skills. We have shared our research and learning with the wider health sector in a series of webinars with the UN University throughout 2021, and we are now applying it in pilot projects in rural, low-income communities.

In Somalia, we continued our Somali Women Economic Empowerment and Transformation (SWEET) project, through discussion and drama programmes on BBC Somali radio, supporting women to start or adapt small businesses during pandemic restrictions. Our evaluation showed that women who listened to the programmes were inspired by hearing stories of other women who had succeeded, and learned how to improve their own businesses. Male listeners reported having a greater understanding of the role women could play in business, more confidence in women’s ability to succeed, and being more willing to support their wives in business.

“[Before listening to the programme,] I used to believe that women can’t be a success in business and in life. By listening to the programme, I learned that a woman can start her business from the lowest level. I have a good knowledge of the problems a woman will face when she starts small business.”

—Radio Hargeisa listener, husband or father of woman in informal business, Somaliland

In Tanzania, Niambie 2 (Tell Me) is our five-year gender empowerment project, supporting young women and girls to make informed decisions about their social, economic and

civic rights. In 2021/22 we supported seven local radio partners to produce 152 episodes of the local spin-off show Sanuka (Open Up), focusing on gender inequality, and we launched a new radio show, Tuyajenge (Let’s Build It), focused on women’s and girls’ rights and aimed at an older audience. Our project team produced 49 episodes of Niambie , which was broadcast every Saturday morning by our national partner Clouds FM, and 35 episodes of Tuyajenge , broadcast every Saturday and Sunday by our national partner Radio Free Africa.

In Nepal, we worked with local media partners on the rights of women and girls, and girls’ education – which has become particularly important as the pandemic has contributed to a high percentage of girls never returning to school. We trained local media partners, and co-produced and broadcast 10 separate radio programmes – a total of 70 episodes featuring drama, discussion and storytelling – in support of girls’ education. We also produced digital content on girls’ education and issues including gender-based violence, gender inequality and child marriage, and podcasts, public service announcements and radio programmes in support of UN Women’s 16 Days of Activism. Our research showed listeners discussed the information and issues with friends and family members, and encouraged them to listen, too.

In Cambodia, our project WE are Klahan (Brave), in its third year, continued to build on our Klahan9 brand. We developed social media content for young women entrepreneurs and those interested in starting their own business, to increase their knowledge and understanding and to develop opportunities for discussion with decision-makers. Our research found that 83% of those aged 15-35 reached by the project knew more about business-related issues and rights, and that 72% of them discussed these rights with others.

“What impresses me about Story Story is the scripting. Being able to put together this thing, in very plain terms, so that every kind of person listening to it will understand and get the message clear. Giving me the character of Bulous, and then noticing this character was not a character with a disability, was exciting for me… It’s not because you have a disability that you should come and act [in] this.”

Emmanuel Buzabeye, or E Daniels, is a Nigerian musician and producer who lost his sight at birth. He played a shop owner in our Nigerian radio drama, Story Story, which focused on disability and inclusion

/ BBC Media Action Nigeria

Disability

In Nigeria, we celebrated the return of our drama serial Story Story to partner radio stations across the country and on the BBC World Service across Africa. As part of the Sightsavers-led Inclusive Futures consortium, the programme focused on disability and inclusion. Our fully inclusive writing team and cast created storylines to challenge stereotypes, stigma and exclusion, and reinforce the need for greater equality and inclusion in Nigerian society. Our research found that listeners were more likely to understand what constituted a disability, and more likely to report a positive change in their behaviour. BBC Media Action Nigeria’s online following has grown to over 500,000 as a result of this new programming. In 2022, we began another Disability in Development

project with Sightsavers, aiming to change social norms around access to health services for women and girls living with disability.

In Myanmar, we started a new project focused on the rights of people with disabilities and their access to healthcare. Tu Tu Pae (We Are the Same) launched on Facebook on International Day for Persons with Disabilities, 3 December 2021, aiming to amplify the voices of people with disabilities, increase their access to health information, and challenge widespread stigma and exclusion relating to disabilities. Amid a rapidly worsening security context, daily bomb threats, military raids and protests, Tu Tu Pae is a testament to the resilience, creativity and determination of our team to work for equality for all.

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

O U R W O R K I N E Q U I T Y, D I V E R S I T Y A N D I N C L U S I O N

Vellu was featured as part of our Invaluables project in India, tackling stereotypes around informal waste-pickers. / BBC Media Action India

In South Sudan, we worked with Humanity and Inclusion who have provided training for our staff and partners around disability inclusion. We also worked with Leonard Cheshire to ensure our radio programme Our School includes the viewpoints of children living with disabilities, and covers issues important to them.

Young people

In Cambodia our multimedia Klahan9 (Brave 9) Phase 3 initiative, designed to support young Cambodians to navigate livelihood opportunities, ended in 2021. Building on research insights, and the reach and “being brave” ethos of the Klahan9 brand, we delivered a television series, digital content and outreach to target groups who face the greatest livelihood challenges and barriers: low-educated, low-skilled and rural young people aged 15-24, and women. Research showed that Klahan9 has been a positive influence for young Cambodians. Audience

members said they found it educational and entertaining, and they reported increased confidence, negotiation, communication and networking and life skills after watching. Some 65% of 15-24-year-olds exposed to Klahan9 said they had taken action or made a change, such as saving money, seeking support to help deal with problems, and getting parents to accept their job goals. Klahan9 has now pivoted to civic engagement, with sustained levels of interest – its Facebook page remains popular, with nearly 1.1 million followers as of February 2022.

In Ethiopia, we developed a communication strategy for the Ministry of Labour and Skills, to engage, empower and motivate young people to navigate their work and life choices, tackling issues of unemployment, job creation and health. We used deep audience segmentation to guide the strategy, examining young people’s current situations, their ambitions and priorities, their influences and how best to reach them through media. The strategy contributes to an overall government objective to create 14 million jobs by 2025; it formally launched in January 2022 and we are now implementing a one-year follow-up pilot project.

Marginalised groups

In India, our Pathway to Respect, Identity, Dignity and Empowerment (PRIDE) project aims to shift the negative perceptions about informal waste pickers in Bengaluru, who experience systemic marginalisation. Our project – centred around a social media campaign, #Invaluables, and outreach – aims to highlight how waste pickers’ work is interconnected with the general population in this environmentally threatened city. Our firstphase evaluation shows that people exposed to our campaign content have a higher awareness of informal waste pickers, and are more likely to discuss their role in a positive way.

Our work in humanitarian response

“They are really heroes, because they are doing all the work together.”

Before the war in Ukraine, Yaroslava Kaminska was manager of the UA:PBC Academy – a training programme attached to the Ukrainian public broadcaster, more popularly known as Suspilne. But after a terrifying escape from her village northwest of Kyiv, Yaroslava began working to support the exodus of staff and equipment from Suspilne’s brand new studio in central Kyiv to regional locations, where teams have been broadcasting from temporary buildings and underground, in bomb shelters, metro stations and parking garages. BBC Media Action has supported the broadcaster with funding in order to remain on air, and training in Lifeline programming to ensure that Ukrainians get the trusted information that is so needed in wartime.

/ Photo courtesy of Yaroslava Kaminska

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

O U R W O R K I N H U M A N I TA R I A N R E S P O N S E

In 2021/22, as multiple crises unfolded in the countries where BBC Media Action works, we expanded our work to support humanitarian responses in Myanmar, Afghanistan and Ukraine, and continued humanitarian work in Somalia and in Bangladesh, where we have had a presence in Cox’s Bazar since 2017.

In Ukraine, Russia’s invasion in February 2022 prompted Europe’s fastest-growing refugee crisis. In response, we are supporting our local media partners to continue critical news operations and have conducted Lifeline training to ensure that audiences can access information that helps them make critical decisions – from the latest on curfews and air raid alerts, to where to find shelter and medical help. We are examining ways of working with our partners in Moldova to support the growing refugee crisis.

In Myanmar we conducted two national research projects to better inform our future work on humanitarian response, identifying a rapidly contracting media landscape, a reduction in access to – and trust in – broadcast media, and a rapid move to digital and online information sources. Based on this knowledge, we are designing several projects for 2022 to meet the humanitarian needs of communities across Myanmar, working with local media, civil society organisations and online platforms.

In Afghanistan, we had to rapidly adjust our work following the Taliban takeover in August 2021. We have been able to continue our Community Voices bulletins, surveying families directly to find out their immediate needs and concerns to support a better targeted response from aid agencies. We conducted Lifeline training with local radio partners to ensure they are better able to meet their audiences’ needs during the worsening

humanitarian crisis. Our factual radio programme, Where There Is No Doctor, has connected listeners with medical experts and provided trusted health information on a wide range of topics.

In Somalia, we carried out a short project on migration, focused on the tradition of tahriib – the difficult and dangerous route to Europe often taken by young Somalis in search of employment. We produced radio programmes, short video clips, photo stories and a panel discussion to examine the dangers of unsafe and illegal migration, and to share real-life experiences and opportunities that can be found at home. We also delivered a short radio series on humanitarian aid, sharing the challenges faced by those who rely on aid and learning how communities perceive aid agencies in the area.

In Bangladesh, we continued to support the humanitarian response in Cox’s Bazar, producing critical life-saving information in the Rohingya language, conducting capacity strengthening and mentoring more than 3,000 humanitarian agency staff and offering strategic guidance to working groups and humanitarian aid clusters. We also helped to ensure effective communication with refugee and host communities through initiatives including our humanitarian feedback bulletin, What Matters. We conducted indepth research, and produced more than 500 community-facing audio-visual and graphic materials with critical information on disaster preparedness, health and nutrition, protection, hygiene, shelter, livelihood and life skills, for both the Rohingya and nearby host communities. We continue to manage the Shongjog (Connection) website, a digital hub for all response agencies’ communication materials.

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Our work in governance and civic participation

“The first thing I would say to anybody who wants to come to Libya is, number 1, I wouldn’t want anyone to come in here the way that I did. I was not told about the journey and all that. One thing I would say don’t allow anyone to deceive you into coming down here, by taking you through the desert.

“If you want to come here, come in the right way, When you get down here, you get the respect you deserve, you get your job, you get a house to stay. Honestly this country has a lot of things to offer.”

Khawther, 25, came to Libya five years ago from Nigeria. She now uses her TIkTok following to share advice about safe migration. Her story was featured on El Kul (For Everyone), produced by a team of Libya-based freelance reporters and Tunis-based BBC Media Action content producers.

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In our age of mis- and disinformation, the role of public interest media in supporting effective governance and functioning democracy, and in creating space for discussion and dialogue, has never been more important.

where we are targeting young people. This year we invested significant effort in measuring not just our reach and engagement on digital and social media, but also the impact and outcomes of our work in this area.

BBC Media Action’s work in supporting governance and bridging societal divides spans a wide range of countries and themes. In addition to projects covering governance and climate, or governance and women, we work on projects to improve civic engagement and inspire people to get involved in discussions and debates of key issues ahead of elections.

In Cambodia, we launched a new series of our Klahan9 project for young people, Klahan9 SPACE , to increase their levels of civic engagement. Aimed at women and men aged 15-20, the project will help to shift negative attitudes and norms that stop young people from participating in civic life and encourage young people to discuss issues that matter to them with decision-makers and parents. The project also aims to strengthen public interest media in Cambodia, ensuring it better reflects

Digital media content plays an increasingly important role in all our projects, particularly

While our popular Tea Cup Diaries radio drama in Myanmar is off national airwaves, we are still sharing content on Facebook, as with this short animated segment. / BBC Media Action Myanmar

the needs and voices of young people.

In Myanmar, we had to shut down our governance programming when the military took control in February 2021, pausing our long-running Tea Cup Diaries radio drama and cancelling our popular peace-building television programme Khan Sar Kyi . These were broadcast on state media, which was taken over by the military, and via independent media outlets, which were forced to disband. At the beginning of the financial year, we were able to continue some content production, with our team and local media partners covering rights abuses by the military. Selected content was broadcast on BBC Burmese and BBC World News, to ensure that both Myanmar and international audiences had access to information on events. We have also been able to resume sharing Tea Cup Diaries content on our Facebook page.

In North Africa, our online media outlet for Libyan audiences, El Kul (For Everyone), is now followed by nearly 1.2 million people. We continue to post everyday content that contributes to elements of social cohesion, covering topics such as gender equality, the humanity of migrants, and opportunities for civic participation and peacebuilding. Throughout 2021, this content regularly reached more than five million people per month.

In Nigeria, we broadcast 13 episodes of radio drama Gatanan Gatanan Ku (Telling a Story) on BBC Hausa, tackling issues of corruption. We also delivered social media content and town hall meetings, and worked with local journalists, in a project focused on encouraging young Nigerians to improve their civic engagement and political participation; our social media content had a potential reach of over 3.8 million young people aged 18 to 27, and was praised for its trendy and appealing approach. Almost half of those

reached said they understood their political rights and responsibilities, compared to 30% among those who had not been exposed to our content; audiences also said they better understood the political issues at stake, and how to vote.

In Zambia, our Radio Waves project supported partner stations to produce 472 weekly, audience-led discussion magazine programmes and quarterly regional outdoor broadcast debates on a number of civic, social, governance and development topics. Ahead of the country’s general election in August 2021, we produced public service announcements for radio and social media, translated into major local languages and shared with partner stations, to encourage people’s awareness of key issues and get them out to vote. In addition, our Ishiwi (My Voice) initiative trained 56 civic leaders to better engage with youth and to understand their roles and responsibilities. As a result, young people have been more engaged in decision-making and holding leaders to account. Three wards have agreed to include young people in their development meetings, and civic leaders have created an action plan to continue involving young people in community and development issues.

Also in Zambia, our Voter’s Voice project hosted debates with civic leaders before the general election, and supported 15 local radio stations to report effectively on the election. This included training employees on the electoral code of conduct, verifying information, identifying false and misleading information, and how to report election results. We also supported our six partner radio stations to produce nearly 200 weekly, interactive radio shows as well as public service announcements to support civic education, particularly among women, young people and people with disabilities.

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

Looking forward

The 2021/22 financial year has been like no other in living memory – involving multiple crises and conflicts in countries where we work, an ongoing global pandemic and shrinking aid funding. To help tackle these challenges, in the coming financial year BBC Media Action will continue work in our key thematic areas of governance and rights, health, and resilience and humanitarian response, while working on a bold new business development plan to ensure our organisation is fit for the future.

— Diversify and scale up our donor funding in a renewed focus on business development

In an extremely challenging funding environment, in the next financial year we will focus on an ambitious business development plan to develop and scale up both existing and new sources of funding. This plan, which will mean we operate deficit budgets for the next two financial years, will leave the organisation on a more solid financial footing for the future.

As we do so, we will ensure our work reflects our current strategy:

— Put into action our new global policy on equity, diversity and inclusion, and measure our progress

bringing about change in four interdependent areas of influence: people, practitioners, organisations, and the wider media or government systems

Our new global strategy and approach covers who we are, what we do and how we will do it, and reflects wider sector moves toward becoming more locally led. For the coming financial year, every team across our organisation has pledged to take concrete steps toward achieving our ambitious equity, diversity and inclusion goals. We will measure our progress at the end of each financial year to hold ourselves accountable on our commitments.

working in partnership
identifying problems, understanding people, and evaluating and adapting what we do
influencing development thinking through our policy work
strengthening capacity.

In the 2022/23 financial year, BBC Media Action will:

— Continue to adapt and expand our programming to meet the needs of audiences in countries in conflict

— Deliver our programming in support of our strategy to the value of at least £27 million

We will continue to work in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Ukraine, South Sudan and other countries that are in active conflict or are fragile contexts. We will use innovative delivery models and traditional and digital media platforms, building on our record of supporting populations through humanitarian crises with critical, life-saving information that is tailored to their needs and circumstances.

We will continue our COVID-19 response, scale up our work on climate action and on countering mis- and disinformation, and increase our focus on humanitarian programming to support countries in crisis. Capacity-building and sector leadership around media for development and democracy will remain at the heart of our work.

Thanks and acknowledgements

BBC Media Action is grateful for the support of all our donors, without whom our work would not be possible:

Auxilium

NDI

Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation Norwegian Church Aid Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Options Sightsavers Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation Terre des Hommes Unilever University of Bristol UN Women Unicef United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Action Against Hunger Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation BMB Mott MacDonald Cambodia Climate Change Alliance DAI

Danish Refugee Council The David and Lucile Packard Foundation Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia)

Deutche Welle

Dutch Embassy (Tunisia) European Commission

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (UK) Global Affairs Canada Government of Belgium Ground Truth Solutions H & M Foundation International Fellowship of Evangelical Students

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) UNOPS

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies International Labour Organization International Rescue Committee

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Wellcome World Health Organization

Irish Aid Luminate Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

Our organisation and our finances

Our organisation

Our employees

In our UK team, 62% of our employees are women (2021 : 63%).

In another year of uncertainty and change, BBC Media Action’s global team has demonstrated great resilience and delivered important impact around the world.

We also track the gender gap in our country office staff around the world, as outlined in the table below. We acknowledge that we have more work to do in some of our country programmes, and are addressing this as part of our overall strategy on equity, diversity and inclusion.

Following a 2020 restructure of our Londonbased office, in January 2022, we started to implement an investment plan for business development to secure more institutional and foundation funds. On 31 March 2022 we had 70 employees working on non-country specific support roles, mostly based in London (70 on 31 March 2021). Gradually we are basing more of these posts outside of the UK.

Country	Female, %	Male, %
Afghanistan	18%	82%
Bangladesh	24%	76%
Cambodia	54%	46%
Ethiopia	38%	62%
India	54%	46%
Indonesia	64%	36%
Kenya	43%	57%
Myanmar	51%	49%
Nepal	43%	57%
Nigeria	33%	67%
North Africa	42%	58%
Sierra Leone	35%	65%
Somalia	29%	71%
South Sudan	43%	57%
Tanzania	52%	48%
United Kingdom	62%	38%
Zambia	47%	53%

As of 31 March 2022, we employed 506 people across the organisation (2021: 621). The overall decrease was driven by staffing reductions in Myanmar and Afghanistan following political events in 2021. Geographically, we have: — 13% in London (2021: 11%)

37% in Europe and Asia (2021: 47%) — 50% in Africa (2021: 42%)

Wherever possible we recruit employees from the countries where we operate, to develop local skills so that our work can be sustained in the long term. Although some of our country directors and senior project managers are international employees, our goal is to become more locally led as part of our strategy on equity, diversity and inclusion.

We do not normally work with volunteers, although we have internship schemes in some country programmes, particularly focused on women, young people or minority groups. All BBC Media Action managers take part in fair recruitment and unconscious bias training to ensure our recruitment process is

BBC Media Action is committed to gender equality and building a fully inclusive workplace. Our senior management team of four is evenly split between men and women.

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as fair as possible, and we encourage flexible working and development opportunities for all employees. We give full consideration to applications for employment from people with a disability where the candidate’s particular aptitudes and abilities are consistent with adequately meeting the requirements of the job.

All our employees have the same opportunities to access training, career development and promotion, regardless of their characteristics. If any existing employee develops a disability, we will provide continuing employment wherever possible in the same or an alternative position, and provide appropriate workplace adjustments and training to achieve this aim. However, we know we could – and should – be more diverse and inclusive. As part of our strategy on equity, diversity and inclusion, we have specific goals and targets to measure and improve our progress in this area over the next two years.

Staff salaries

As a global organisation, and as the BBC’s international charity, we strive to ensure our salaries are competitive, benchmarking against those paid by other international development organisations. Our UK-contracted employees’ salaries are based on the BBC’s salary bands and publicly available; these salaries are generally held static or increased in line with the BBC’s salary review.

Our chief executive officer carries out the regular salary review for other members of the management team, while her salary is reviewed by our trustees.

In 2021/22, our chief executive was paid a salary of £110,384 (2020/21: £110,384), with no additional payments.

Some staff working outside their home countries receive additional payments; employees receiving salary plus any additional payments to a total of £60,000 or more fell into the following bands:

	2022	2021
£60,001–£70,000	11	10
£70,001–£80,000	6	9
£80,001–£90,000	6	4
£90,001–£100,000	1	–
£100,001–£110,000	–	1
£110,001-£120,000	1	1
£130,001-£140,000	1	–

Gender pay gap

We are again voluntarily choosing to report on our gender pay gap for UK staff.

The mean salary for women is 14% lower than that of men (2021: 4%), while the median salary for women is 19% lower (2021 : 10%).

This disparity remains because there are few men in junior posts in our UK office.

The proportion of women and men in each pay quartile of our UK team is shown in the following table (where the first quartile is the highest).

1st 2nd 3rd 4th quartile quartile quartile quartile Male 53% 41% 19% 34% (2021) 46% 38% 22% 34% Female 47% 59% 81% 61% (2021) 54% 62% 78% 66%

We continue to monitor our gender pay gap and are committed to eliminating it.

Safeguarding

BBC Media Action remains committed to supporting sector-wide improvements in safeguarding policies and practices, to better protect vulnerable people from exploitation and abuse. We remain active in Bond working groups on both safer recruitment and improving organisational culture.

Our director of programmes is our designated safeguarding officer at senior management level. Our head of safeguarding and ethics works with our country offices to ensure that our employment policies and training are appropriate. They also work with our partner organisations around the world to improve knowledge and performance in this area. As of 31 March 2022, this post was temporarily vacant to enable the post-holder to support operations in Eastern Europe.

We continued to ensure that our employees are trained in, and fully implement, our strengthened policies to protect children and vulnerable adults we encounter through our work. Training courses in safeguarding and respect at work are mandatory for all employees and operational freelancers, and all our offices have received additional guidance on safe recruitment.

Safeguarding is reviewed and discussed at every trustee meeting, as well as at monthly management team meetings. Any reported concerns are carefully reviewed and investigated as needed, in accordance with BBC policies. As required, our trustees report any safeguarding incidents to the Charity Commission. In 2021/22, we had no incidents related to safeguarding that required reporting to the Charity Commission.

All these measures are designed to help keep our staff, partners and contributors as safe

as possible. A staff code of conduct ensures that everyone working for us understands our expectations for behaviour, knows that any concerns they have will be taken seriously, and that we will support anyone who reports a safeguarding issue.

Energy use

Under sections 465 and 466 of the Companies Act 2006, BBC Media Action is required to fulfil a statutory requirement for Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) to report on our UK energy use.

From 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 the greenhouse gas emissions and energy use data for our UK office are estimated as follows:

— Total estimated, equivalent carbon emissions (kg per CO2 equivalent): 31,158.56 kgCO2e (2020/21: 17,849.42 kgCO2e)

— Gas consumption: 103,961.8 kWh. This is 18,977.2 kgCO2e. (2020/21: 6,076.08 kgCO2e)

— Electricity consumption (our electricity comes from renewable sources so figures are theoretical): 62,992 kWh, or 12,181 kgCO2e. (2020/21: 11,733.34 kgCO2e)

— Transport Fuel: n/a. BBC Media Action does not own fleet vehicles. Employees travel by public transport in all but exceptional cases; many travel in by bicycle.

— Intensity ratio: 389.48 kgCO2e per UKbased employee per year, based on 80 employees. (2020/21: 223.12 kgCO2e per employee per year).

Our UK energy use in 2021/22 was affected by the pandemic; our UK-based staff worked from home for part of the period, and in a hybrid/ flexible working approach for the remainder of

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the financial year. Work-related international travel resumed near the end of the financial year. As our offices have reopened, we are embracing new approaches on flexible working and international travel to help minimise our carbon footprint.

We continue to implement our global environmental policy and are actively working to measure our global carbon footprint, so we can improve our energy consumption and lessen our environmental impact in every country where we work. Several of our offices have green teams advocating for improved environmental practices.

Our UK-based “green team” advocates for better and more thoughtful use of electricity and improved recycling practices in our London office, as well as the use of public transport or cycling to work. For example, our office lights are motion-activated, and employees are encouraged to use printers only when necessary and to turn off equipment fully at the end of each day. Our employees have access to locked bicycle storage and showers to encourage cycling to work.

Legal structure

BBC Media Action is registered as a charity (registered number 1076235) and is incorporated as a company limited by guarantee (registered number 3521587). Our financial statements will be delivered to the Registrar of Companies.

BBC Media Action was established under its Memorandum of Association with the objects and powers of a charitable company. It is governed by its Articles of Association. The sole member of BBC Media Action, the BBC,

undertakes to contribute to the assets of BBC Media Action in the event of it being wound up while it is a member, or within one year after it ceases to be a member for payment of the debts and liabilities of BBC Media Action contracted before it ceases to be a member, and of the costs, charges and expenses of winding up, for the adjustment of the rights of the contributors among themselves such amount as may be required, not exceeding £10.

Subsidiary companies

BBC Media Action has three subsidiary companies, which were 100% owned by BBC Media Action at 31 March 2021: BBC Media Action (India) Limited, BBC Media Action Nepal Private Limited and British Broadcasting Corporation Media Action Ltd/Gte (a Nigerian entity).

Our work in India in 2021/22 was largely transacted through BBC Media Action (India) Limited. BBC Media Action Nepal Private Limited is an entity established in Nepal and is 100% owned by BBC Media Action. British Broadcasting Corporation Media Action Ltd/ Gte is an entity established in Nigeria on 26 October 2017 and is wholly owned by BBC Media Action. It therefore meets the criteria for consolidation.

BBC World Service Trust India is an Indian entity over which BBC Media Action exercises effective control by way of the right to nominate trustees. This entity was set up in India on 28 December 2007. Although BBC Media Action has no investment in BBC World Service Trust India, it meets the criteria for consolidation in accordance with paragraph 24.14 of the Statement of Recommended Practice Financial Reporting Standard (SORP

FRS 102) and is therefore regarded as a subsidiary undertaking. However, it remained dormant in the current and prior year.

Governance

The trustees, who are also directors of BBC Media Action, are listed on page 62. They come from the BBC, and the private, media and international development sectors, with a range of skills and expertise. They meet quarterly and, normally, for an additional away day each year, though the planned away day for 2021/22 was postponed to April 2022 because of COVID-19 considerations.

The trustees seek to ensure that all BBC Media Action activities comply with UK and relevant local laws, and fall within agreed charitable objectives. Their work includes setting our strategic direction, agreeing our financial plan, and approving key policies at board meetings. Trustees receive reports on progress at each board meeting, highlighting areas of risk. In 2021/22, our trustees particularly focused on how our work is affected by the impact of COVID-19, crises in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Myanmar and Ukraine, operational issues in Iraq, the consequences of the UK FCDO’s midyear funding cuts, as well as our organisation’s ways of working, project delivery, finances and sustainability.

Our trustees perform some of their functions through sub-committees of the board. The finance and audit committee comprises four trustees. The chair is a non-BBC nominated trustee. The governance committee comprises the chair, vice chair and up to two other trustees.

The board has appointed some of its members as lead trustees in particular areas, who feed

back to the rest of the board. All new trustees participate in an induction programme and training on duties and responsibilities. We encourage our trustees to visit BBC Media Action projects to obtain first-hand experience of our work at country level; this year we held a virtual project visit. Knowledge-sharing sessions before board meetings continue to give trustees a more detailed understanding of particular areas of our work.

Organisational structure and management

BBC Media Action’s head office is in London, where most of our central support functions are based. Increasingly, some central posts are based outside the UK, when suitable staff have been recruited there. We are led by a fourperson senior management team, comprising our chief executive officer, chief operating officer, director of programmes, and director of strategy and partnerships.

Our director of strategy and partnerships is leading our business development initiative, for which we have recruited additional posts. Our programmes department now includes our regional teams along with editorial development and innovation, programme support, research, insight, policy and advisory.

Our chief operating officer oversees our finance and technology and change teams. Our chief executive officer directly manages our small fundraising and communication teams, and our human resources and legal functions, which are supported by the BBC.

Our leadership team includes London-based heads of team and our country directors around the world.

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Managing risk

In 2021/22, the global COVID-19 pandemic continued to affect every aspect of BBC Media Action’s global operation. This included our project delivery, staff travel, sector engagement, expenditure and income, and threats to the health and well-being of all our staff and audience members. At the same time, we faced multiple crises in several of our operating countries, notably the ongoing effects of a military coup in Myanmar, the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in August 2021 and resulting humanitarian crisis, ongoing unrest and a fragile security situation in Ethiopia, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

During the year, we have recruited a compliance manager. He, along with the safeguarding officer and head of our editorial development, innovation and training team have important roles in managing risk.

An internal audit function overseen by our chief executive officer carries out a programme agreed with our finance and audit committee and reports to the committee. Our head of internal audit meets our finance and audit committee privately each year. In 2021/22, our finance and audit committee considered the results of an external reviewof our internal audit function, and adjusted its scope and priorities to the reduced level of resources. Our external auditors present their annual report to our finance and audit committee and, if needed, the committee may arrange sessions without employees present. The chair of the committee makes recommendations to our board on risk management and overall controls, as appropriate.

We continue to work in many fragile countries and contexts. Even in peacetime, this can pose risks to the safety of our staff, the sustainability of our work and our permission to operate. We continue to face funding risks related to cuts to UK overseas development aid spend and diminished income from public fundraising.

COVID-19 pandemic

Throughout 2021/22, our London-based employees and a significant number of staff in the countries where we operate worked from home or in a hybrid home- and officebased model. These measures, along with changes to our programme formats and content, have helped to safeguard both our staff and audience members. We regularly communicated updated health information and

We have robust procedures in place to identify, mitigate and manage risk. BBC Media Action’s board of trustees reviews our organisation’s risk register quarterly, reviewing what our risks are and how they are changing, how they are monitored and mitigated, and identifying any required action. Our management team and board of trustees undertake an annual indepth review of our risk profile.

security procedures. To aid in this, we joined regular meetings with the BBC and drew upon other BBC resources. Despite these measures, two staff members died with COVID-19 – one in Afghanistan, and one in Zambia – and several of our employees were seriously ill.

By early 2022, with most movement restrictions eased, some local and international travel resumed and our London office employees returned on a hybrid working basis.

BBC Media Action’s finance team and regional directors continue to work closely with our country offices to monitor project delivery and impact on funding. Our senior management team has provided regular updates to the finance and audit committee and trustees on the financial impact of COVID-19 and continues scenario planning to help guide decision-making. The financial impact of the pandemic and other cuts in donor funding on our income became clear in 2021/22. A strategy to scale up our funding, combined with the successful sublet of part of our London office, is expected to ease this pressure in future financial years.

Myanmar coup

In 2021/22 we continued to manage the fallout from the February 2021 military coup, which required us to cancel some programmes, change other project delivery methods, and has heightened risk for our staff. We continue to work closely with the BBC World Service, the BBC High Risk team, our staff and our donors to ensure the safety of our team and continue as much project delivery as safely possible. We have reduced in-country staffing and drafted contingency plans for our operations. In August 2021, one of our freelance producers and presenters was detained by the military, though her detention is not believed to be connected to her work for Media Action.

We are in touch with her family and remain concerned for her safety.

Media challenges in Iraq

In 2005 BBC Media Action set up Radio Al Mirbad in Basra, Iraq, which grew into a leading public service broadcaster for southern Iraq. It was then handed over to its local management, with ongoing financial and editorial support. However, poor market conditions, corruption and the lack of rule of law make it difficult for public interest media in Iraq to secure sufficient income while operating ethically. A change in control at Al Mirbad in autumn 2021 meant it could no longer demonstrate the editorial and financial standards that we expect from our partners, and we subsequently terminated our support and secured its social media channels, in order to manage the risk to reputation, information security and intellectual property. We remain proud of the impact that this enterprise has had on the lives of millions over nearly 17 years, and we will continue to apply our learning from Iraq to our work in other countries.

Insecurity in Afghanistan

Since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021, we have worked as part of the wider BBC with governments, the military and expert teams to support the evacuation of our Afghanistan-based colleagues and their immediate families who wished to leave the country. As of 31 March 2022, the majority of these colleagues have left Afghanistan and are being supported by BBC Media Action and the BBC to adapt to life in the UK. We continue to do everything we can to ensure the safety of our staff and their families who remain in Afghanistan.

While we have ended some of our projects and programmes in Afghanistan, we are rebuilding our in-country team and are working

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with London-based Afghan colleagues to deliver media and communication to support humanitarian efforts, under extremely challenging conditions.

A number of our former staff and partners remain in contact with us, seeking support for evacuation. We are in communication with many of them, and have issued letters of support, although we are unable to extend direct support to them.

Insecurity in Ethiopia

In the autumn of 2021, unrest in some regions of Ethiopia came to a head with an advance by the Tigrayan People’s Liberational Front on Tigray in the north towards the capital city, Addis Ababa. As an attack on the city seemed imminent, on the advice of the BBC High Risk team, we temporarily evacuated our international staff; local staff were advised to work from home. At the end of the financial year, Ethiopia was more peaceful with an agreed ceasefire; however, the situation remains uncertain.

War in Ukraine

We are providing ongoing support to public interest and state broadcasters in Ukraine, through training, mentoring, advice on newsroom workflows and management, and financial planning. This work has been critical in providing Ukrainian audiences with trusted information and analysis amid increasing mis- and disinformation. Russia’s invasion in February 2022 has changed the nature of our work and our support to our local partners, as outlined earlier in this report. With support from the UK FCDO, we have extended our existing project in Ukraine, previously scheduled to end on 31 March 2022. We have no permanent employees in Ukraine. We have remained in regular contact with one freelancer, who has remained safe as of 31 March 2022, and with our local partners.

Whistleblowing policies and procedures

Our whistleblowing policy and procedures are available to all employees via our intranet and we regularly remind employees about these protocols. We deal with any concerns raised by staff, partners, community members or others swiftly and thoroughly.

Safeguarding policies and procedures

We continue to strengthen our approach to safeguarding, ensuring that we are among the best in the INGO sector while also meeting donor expectations. Our policies were reviewed and updated during the previous financial year and signed off by our trustees in April 2021. We have thoroughly communicated these updated policies across our organisation and have reviewed our processes for safe recruitment, including the use of criminal background checks.

Fraud recovery and prevention

We work in environments where there is a high risk of fraud and corruption. We tolerate neither and have taken action to minimise them. We deliver and regularly update staff anti-bribery and fraud awareness training across all our countries of operation, making our expectations clear to all staff members. We have day-to-day procedures to detect fraud and to act on any suspicions.

Safety and security

In our work, our staff can face risks from conflict, lack of infrastructure and natural hazards. Road traffic accidents pose risks everywhere we work. In several countries, our staff members are at risk of violent attacks by criminals or factions trying to suppress our work, and our staff can be caught by accident in attacks aimed at others. We have a risk advisor through the BBC High Risk team, along with emergency on-call support when needed. BBC Media Action staff attend mandatory

hostile environment training prior to deployment to high-risk areas, with protocols to minimise travel risks. We regularly update and clearly communicate emergency plans in every country office, tailored to each context.

Risks to our staff posed by the COVID-19 pandemic have been managed in accordance with local government guidelines and wider BBC actions, with the support of the BBC High Risk team as required.

There were no work-related fatalities of BBC Media Action staff in 2021/22, and no serious accidents reported in the workplace. However, we mourned the death of four colleagues, two of them from COVID-19 and one of other illness.

In November 2021, a long-time Media Action staff member was murdered in Kenya while evacuated from Ethiopia. Her death was not related to her work. We have worked with the wider BBC to provide extensive support to all staff, including sessions on security and safety focused on female staff, and have also offered support to her family. We have drawn on learning from this and other crises this year to review and update our emergency procedures.

In 2021/22 our staff faced heightened risks in Afghanistan. Early in the year, these took the form of “sticky bomb” attacks and targeted assassinations of journalists and media workers. Following the Taliban takeover, while the delivery of some of our work became safer, there remain strict limitations on media and on the freedom of women and girls.

In Somalia, our staff continue to be at risk from targeted bombings and outbreaks of violence linked to political turmoil. In South Sudan, aid workers have been targets of violence. And in Ethiopia, we temporarily evacuated some

international staff and asked other staff to work from home during unrest and political uncertainty in autumn 2021. As of 31 March 2022, our team in Ethiopia has returned to regular operations with some restrictions on movement. We maintain offices in each of these countries while frequently reviewing the level of risk to our staff.

In fragile contexts, we face not only the risk of violence, but also the risk of changes of control in our local media partners that may require us to reassess our work with them. In autumn 2021, such a change in control at Radio Al Mirbad in Iraq required us to terminate our relationship with them, as they could no longer demonstrate the financial and editorial controls that we expect of our partners.

Funding

Most of our income comes from institutional donors as grants for specific projects. Funding mechanisms (such as payment by results, fees and day rates) and less flexible service contracts contribute to financial uncertainty. Cuts to UK overseas development aid, from 0.7% to 0.5% of Gross National Income, have taken a toll on our finances, with new funding delayed and some contracted work cancelled. The COVID-19 pandemic also continues to have a significant financial impact, as delays to the delivery of existing projects result in lower than expected income.

Amid this increasingly difficult funding environment, in early 2022 trustees made a strategic decision to invest in business development support, with ambition for growth at the heart of our strategy. This strategy will require us to dip into reserves for a planned deficit in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years. We have employed business development specialists to focus on income diversification, while maintaining close

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relationships with existing donors and applying strong budget tests to ensure that project budgets cover a fair share of our support costs.

We continue to work closely with our country offices to assess the financial and programme impacts of the pandemic, and with donors to agree cost extensions where required and when possible.

While the UK’s exit from the EU in January 2021 has affected our ability to access funding from some European Commission sources, some mechanisms remain open and in other areas we are still able to access funding through partners. Our global partnerships team clearly communicates the latest guidance across our organisation.

Information security

BBC Media Action works across all our countries to ensure full compliance with the UK 2018 General Data Protection Legislation (GDPR), led by our chief operating officer and overseen by our board of trustees. We continue to review and strengthen our cyber security strategy, and we maintain an information asset register with a process for reporting, and acting quickly upon, any suspected breaches. This information is communicated regularly to employees across our organisation. All employees undergo mandatory training on GDPR requirements upon joining us, and our policies and procedures for information security comply with the BBC’s strict requirements. In 2021/22 we also reviewed and upgraded security monitoring and procedures for our central social media accounts, in line with wider BBC approaches.

Compliance with local laws

The possibility of failing to keep up with changes in local laws and requirements, including registration, tax and statutory reporting, in the countries where we operate risks significant financial penalties or having to cease our operations. All our country offices have relevant local registrations and we secure tax and legal advice in each country as needed. Our internal auditors review our in-country practices and provide advice. We monitor and abide by UK regulations, and our external statutory auditors have specialist knowledge of the charity sector and regulations. In addition, we benefit from a BBC contract that provides specialist tax advice for our employees based overseas.

Reputation

Incidents in any of the areas of risk described above could result in negative coverage of BBC Media Action. As the BBC’s international development charity, we are at risk from press campaigns against the BBC as well as against the development sector. This includes, but is not limited to, stories about the UK government’s aid commitments, issues of safeguarding, perceived misuse of funds, perceptions of bias, and false or misleading information about sources of funding and the nature of our work.

We maintain close relationships across the INGO sector and with our funders. Our communication staff are trained and prepared to handle reputational risks and hostile coverage, and liaise with both sector communication bodies and senior BBC communication executives. We follow BBC Editorial Guidelines in all of our work to ensure high standards. Trustees are involved in decisions about serious reputational risks.

Managing our finances

We are mindful of continued operational and funding uncertainties and are continuously on the lookout for opportunities to further reduce our cost base. For instance, just as the year was closing, we were able to sublet part of our London office. Separately, trustees approved in January an ambitious strategy to boost our restricted income sources. We have refocused our Strategy and Partnerships department on income generation, and added new posts in business development in London and in our two major regions.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, cuts to UK overseas development aid and conflict and crises in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Myanmar and Ukraine this year have created grave challenges for our finances and our longerterm sustainability. Project delays have also affected our expenditure and project-related income; we were unable to resume eventsbased fundraising in this financial year due to the pandemic, limiting our ability to raise unrestricted income.

Our total income was £34m, lower than the previous year (2020/21: £40m). Income from institutional donors decreased to £28m (2020/21: £30m). Fundraising income decreased to £6.7m (2020/21: £10.3m), of which £6.3m are gifts in kind (2020/21: £9.3m). Total expenditure came to £34.5m (2020/21: £40.0m).

We will also invest in our systems to support this anticipated growth. There will be a time lag between the investment and expected returns; we are planning to incur two years of deficit before consistently returning a planned surplus from 2024/25.

Reserves

Net assets in the consolidated balance sheet decreased to £4.1m at 31 March 2022 (31 March 2021: £4.4m). The board of trustees reviews the reserves policy on an annual basis in the context of BBC Media Action’s multi-year plans and a review of the risks and opportunities for our organisation.

Expenditure on our charitable activity, providing public benefit by changing lives through media and communication, represented 99.5% of total expenditure (2020/21: 99.6%). The income and expenditure account for the year ended 31 March 2022 shows a deficit of £285k (2020/21: a deficit of £79k).

Our policy is to ensure sufficient reserves are held to continue operating after negative financial shocks, while not tying up too much funding that could be spent on charitable activities.

The Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows shows that cash has decreased by £694k during the year (2020/21: increased by £1.2m), to a position of £7.6m (2020/21: £8.3m).

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

M A N A G I N G O U R F I N A N C E S

In January 2022, the board of trustees confirmed that our reserves policy, taking a risk-based approach, recommends a minimum level of net cash holdings of £3.5m in any one month, and general funds (total unrestricted funds less designated funds) in a range of £4.0–5.0m at year-end.

The upper end of this range (£5.0m) represents the reserves impact of a worst case scenario that might conceivably take place over a 12-month period, combining three risk components: funding gap or urgent closure of country operations; funding gap from under-recovery of central costs; and potential material adverse events such as foreign exchange losses or disallowed costs. The lower end of the range was set at 80% of the amount for the worst case scenario.

Total unrestricted funds held at 31 March 2022 amounted to £4.1m (31 March 2021: £4.4m), of which reserves in the general fund amounted to £3.76m (31 March 2021: £4.0m). This is £240k below the lower end of the recommended minimum range. In January 2022, trustees determined that the charity could operate outside the recommended minimum range for the next three years, as a result of approving investments in business development and systems. Forecast net cash levels give no cause for concern. The other unrestricted funds are funds that have been designated by the board of trustees for a particular purpose. The Technologyled Change Fund held £369k at 31 March 2022 and will be used to invest in systems improvements over the next two years.

Investment policy

Cash balances are set out in the consolidated and BBC Media Action balance sheets, Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows, and in the notes to the financial statements. The objective of our investment policy is to

maximise interest while limiting risk. We only hold short-term cash deposits.

Going concern

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises, the finance and audit committee met six times in 2021-2022. It monitored the nine key risks and opportunities identified at the start of the year, related to donor funding, operating uncertainties and the HQ situation.

Even though operational shocks were much worse than anticipated, with further UK aid cuts, five major country operations affected by political trouble, and continued COVID-19 disruption, our net deficit for 2021/22 was much lower than the £0.8m deficit anticipated in April 2021.

We managed to avoid our projected worst case scenario by saving over £0.5m on London costs, through a combination of a better than expected rent review and tight management of staff vacancies. The trustees are satisfied that continued monitoring of trading activity is in place and that business development indicators have been put in place to track the investment against expectations. This allows for controlled use of reserves in the next two years while maintaining a going concern position for the next three years. The liquidity position is also deemed satisfactory.

The board of trustees is of the opinion that BBC Media Action has adequate resources to continue as a going concern, as is further explained in Note 1 of the Financial Statements. In the unlikely circumstances where sudden significant shocks might compromise the financial viability of the organisation, BBC Media Action has received written assurance of support from the BBC Group. There is no intention to request that support in the foreseeable future.

Statement of trustees’ responsibilities

BBC Media Action’s trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report (incorporating the strategic report and the directors’ report) and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations. Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law, they have elected to prepare the group (subsidiaries’) and parent company financial statements in accordance with UK Accounting Standards and applicable law (UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

reasonable and prudent

State whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements
Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the group and the charitable company will continue their activities

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company’s transactions. They must also disclose with reasonable accuracy, at any time, the financial position of the charitable company and ensure that its financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006.

Under company law the trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the group and the charitable company, and of the group’s excess of income over expenditure for that period.

Trustees are required to:

They have general responsibility for taking such steps as are reasonably open to them to safeguard the assets of the group, and to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities. The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the UK governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently
Observe the methods and principles in accounting and reporting by the Statement of Recommended Practice on Accounting and Reporting for Charities (SORP) applicable to charities preparing their financial statements in accordance with Financial Reporting Standard (FRS) 102 applicable in the UK and Ireland

In so far as the trustees are aware, there is no

Make judgements and estimates that are

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S TAT E M E N T O F T R U S T E E S ’ R E S P O N S I B I L I T I E S

Company Secretary

relevant information of which the charity’s auditor is unaware. The trustees have taken all the steps they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information, and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information.

Nicolas Raynaud*

Management team

Caroline Nursey OBE – Chief Executive Officer Nicolas Raynaud – Chief Operating Officer Richard Lace – Director of Programmes Caroline Sugg – Director of Strategy and Partnerships

The trustees, in their capacity as both trustees and company directors, have reviewed and approved the Trustees’ Report, which incorporates the directors’ report and the requirement for a strategic report as set out in the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors’ Report) Regulations 2013.

BBC Media Action is a registered charity in England and Wales (no 1076235) and a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales (no 3521587).

Trustees, senior staff and advisors

Find out more: bbcmediaaction.org On Facebook and Twitter: @bbcmediaaction

Trustees**

Registered office

Francesca Unsworth* (Chair, and chair of Governance Committee) (Retired from BBC in January 2022)

Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London W1A 1AA

Awo Ablo (Vice Chair, member of Governance Committee) Zeinab Badawi* (resigned as trustee in October 2022)

Auditors

Buzzacott LLP 130 Wood Street, London, EC2V 6DL

Shirley Cameron (member of Finance and Audit Committee) Bankers Reeta Chakrabarti (appointed trustee in October Barclays Bank Plc 2022) 1 Churchill Place, London, E14 5HP

Richard Dawkins (member of Finance and Audit Committee; resigned as trustee in April 2022) Phil Harrold* (appointed trustee in April 2022, member of Finance and Audit Committee) Gavin Mann

Lloyds Bank Plc 10 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7AE

Lindsey North* (retired from the BBC and stepped down as company secretary in October 2021; appointed trustee in January 2022; member of Finance and Audit Committee) Nicholas Pickles

Francesca Unsworth, Chair 17 October 2022

On behalf of the board of trustees of BBC Media Action

Julia Rank (Chair of Finance and Audit Committee) Sophia Swithern (member of Governance Committee)

Myles Wickstead KCMG (member of Governance Committee) Michael Wooldridge OBE

BBC employee

** All trustees are also directors of the company

Auditors’ report

Opinion

International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs UK) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the Financial Reporting Council (FRC)’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

We have audited the financial statements of BBC Media Action (the “charitable parent company”) and its subsidiaries (the “Group”) for the year ended 31 March 2022, which comprise the group statement of financial activities, the group and charitable parent company balance sheets and statement of cash flows, the principal accounting policies and the notes to the financial statements.

The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and UK Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 – The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Conclusions relating to going concern

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the ISAs (UK) require us to report where:

In our opinion, the financial statements:

Give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and of the charitable parent company’s affairs as at 31 March 2022, and of the group’s income and expenditure for the year then ended
The trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is not appropriate; or
The trustees have not disclosed in the financial statements any identified material uncertainties that may cast significant doubt about the group’s or the charitable parent company’s ability to continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting for a period of at least 12 months from the date when the financial statements are authorised for issue
Have been properly prepared in accordance with UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice
Have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with

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Other information

The trustees are responsible for other information, comprising the information included in the annual report and financial statements, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover this other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether it is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially mis-stated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material mis-statements, we are required to determine whether there is a material mis-statement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material mis-statement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

The information given in the Trustees’ Report, which is also the directors’ report for the purposes of company law and includes the strategic report, for

the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared, is consistent with the financial statements; and

The Trustees’ Report, which is also the directors’ report for the purposes of company law and includes the strategic report, has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the Group and the charitable parent company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material mis-statements in the Trustees’ Report, including the strategic report. We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report if, in our opinion:

Adequate accounting records have not been kept by the charitable parent company, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
The charitable parent company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
Certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
We have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the statement of responsibilities of the trustees, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the group’s and the charitable parent company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the group or the charitable parent company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditors’ responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material mis-statement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Mis-statements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the FRC website at www.frc.org.uk/ auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditors’ report.

How the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities including fraud

Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and noncompliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:

the engagement partner ensured that the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise noncompliance with applicable laws and regulations;
we identified the laws and regulations applicable to the charitable company through discussions with trustees and other management, and from our commercial knowledge and experience of the sector;
we focused on specific laws and regulations in both the UK and overseas, which we considered may have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the charitable company, including the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006, data protection legislation, anti-bribery, employment, safeguarding principles, health and safety legislation;

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AU D I T O R S ’ R E P O R T

we considered the impact of the international nature of the charitable company’s operations on its compliance with laws and regulations;
we assessed the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management and inspecting legal correspondence; and
identified laws and regulations were communicated within the audit team and the team remained alert to instances of non-compliance throughout the audit.

We assessed the susceptibility of the

charitable company’s financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:

making enquiries of management as to where they considered there was susceptibility to fraud, their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud; and
considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations.

To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:

performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;
tested journal entries to identify unusual transactions;
assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining the accounting estimates set out in the

accounting policies were indicative of potential bias; and

— used data analytics to investigate the rationale behind any significant or unusual transactions.

In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:

agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation;
reading the minutes of meetings of management and those charged with governance;
obtaining details of work carried out by internal auditors in connection with compliance with local laws and regulations;
enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and claims; and
reviewing any available correspondence with HMRC and the charitable company’s legal advisors.
There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of noncompliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the trustees and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at www.frc.org.uk/ auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors’ report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Edward Finch (senior statutory auditor)

For and on behalf of Buzzacott LLP, Statutory Auditor, 130 Wood Street, London, EC2V 6DL

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

F I N A N C I A L S TAT E M E N T S

Financial statements

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

(including the income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31 March 2022)

	Note	Unrestricted 2022 £’000	Restricted 2022 £’000	Total 2022 £’000	Unrestricted 2021 £’000	Restricted 2021 £’000	Total 2021 £’000
Income from Donations - Gif-in-Kind - General Other trading activities Investments Charitable activities Funding for specifc charitable activities	2 3 4 5	392 402 12	5,929 - -	6,321 402 12	353 593 10	9,340 - -	9,693 593 10
		2	-	2	4	-	4
		2,499	24,993	27,492	2,755	26,894	29,649
Total income		3,307	30,922	34,229	3,715	36,234	39,949
Expenditure on: Raising funds Charitable activities Changing lives through media and communication Governance Resilience Health	6 6 6 6	(187) (1,941) (749) (715)	- (17,979) (6,410) (6,533)	(187) (19,920) (7,159) (7,248)	(175) (2,063) (796) (760)	- (18,477) (8,658) (9,099)	(175) (20,540) (9,454) (9,859)
Total expenditure on charitable activities		(3,405)	(30,922)	(34,327)	(3,619)	(36,234)	(39,853)
Total expenditure	6	(3,592)	(30,922)	(34,514)	(3,794)	(36,234)	(40,028)

Net expenditure for the year	7	(285)	-	(285)	(79)	-	(79)
Reconciliation of funds Total funds brought forward		4,412	34	4,446	4,491	34	4,525
Total funds carried forward	16, 17	4,127	34	4,161	4,412	34	4,446

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised during the year. All income and expenditure derives from continuing activities. The notes on pages 71-89 form part of these financial statements. As permitted by section 408 of the Companies Act 2006, the individual charity’s statement of financial activities has not been included in these financial statements. The gross income of the charity is £34,229,000 (2021: £39,949,000) and the net result is a deficit of £285,000 (2021: £79,000).

CONSOLIDATED AND BBC MEDIA ACTION BALANCE SHEETS

At 31 March 2022

----- Start of picture text -----
Note Group Group Charity Charity
2022 2021 2022 2021
£'000 £’000 £'000 £'000
Fixed assets
Investments 10 - - 23 23
Total fixed assets - - 23 23
Current assets
Debtors 11 6,160 10,893 6,202 10,778
Cash at bank and in hand 12 7,594 8,288 7,474 8,042
Total current assets 13,754 19,181 13,676 18,820
Liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling due within 13 (9,021) (14,043) (8,964) (13,726)
one year
Net current assets 4,733 5,138 4,712 5,094
Total assets less current liabilities 4,733 5,138 4,735 5,117
Provisions for liabilities 14 (572) (692) (572) (692)
Net assets 4,161 4,446 4,163 4,425
Funds
Unrestricted funds 16,17 4,127 4,412 4,129 4,391
Restricted funds 16,17 34 34 34 34
Total Funds 16,17 4,161 4,446 4,163 4,425
----- End of picture text -----

The notes on pages 71-89 form part of these financial statements. The financial statements on pages 68-89 were approved by the Board of Trustees on 17 October 2022.

Francesca Unsworth Chair 17 October 2022

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

F I N A N C I A L S TAT E M E N T S

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

For the year ended 31 March 2022

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS For the year ended 31 March 2022
	Notes	TOTAL 2022 £’000	TOTAL 2021 £’000
Net cash (outfow) / infow from operating activities Returns on investments and servicing of fnance Interest received	18 4	(696) 2	1,200 4
(Decrease)/increase in cash in the year		(694)	1,204
Cash at the start of theyear	12	8,688	7,084
Cash at the end of the year	12	7,594	8,288

ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN NET DEBT

ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN NET DEBT
	At 1 April 2021 £'000	Cash fows £'000	At 31 March 2022 £'000
Cash and cash equivalents Cash	8,288	(694)	7,594
Total net debt	8,288	(694)	7,594

BBC Media Action does not have any borrowings or lease obligations. Net debt consists therefore of the cash balance.

As permitted by paragraph 1.12 of FRS 102, BBC Media Action has not prepared a statement of cash flows for the parent entity. The consolidated statement of cash flows above includes both the parent and subsidiary entities.

The notes on pages 71-89 form part of these financial statements.

Notes

(forming part of the financial statements) for the year ended 31 March 2022

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

the next three years. BBC underwriting of the financial risks created is in place, with no intention to call on this support for the foreseeable future.

The following accounting policies have been applied consistently in dealing with items which are considered material in relation to the financial statements.

The BBC Media Action Group has a healthy cash balance as set out in note 12. Forecasts indicate that payments can be made as they fall due and negative adjustments to the forecast can be managed. The Trustees’ Report explains how BBC Media Action is structured and managed and how the major risks are managed. Thus the Board of Trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the annual financial statements. The financial statements are prepared in pound sterling and rounded to the nearest thousand pounds.

a) BASIS OF PREPARATION

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 2006 and applicable UK accounting standards and under historical cost accounting rules. The Group’s financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (Charities SORP FRS 102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

b) BASIS OF CONSOLIDATION

The consolidated financial statements include the financial statements of BBC Media Action and its subsidiary undertakings made up to 31 March 2022. For the purposes of complying with FRS 102 the entity is a public benefit entity.

Assessment of going concern

The Financial Review in the Trustees’ Report reviews the finances of BBC Media Action and the Group in the year ended 31 March 2022 in comparison to the prior and earlier years.

The financial statements of BBC Media Action (India) Limited (formerly BBC WST Limited), a company registered in England and Wales (no: 2746733), the financial statements of BBC Media Action Nepal Private Limited, an entity established in Nepal (no:112548/60/070), the financial statements of British Broadcasting Corporation Media Action Ltd/Gte (No: RC1448388), an entity established in Nigeria, and the financial statements of BBC World Service Trust India have been consolidated with those of BBC Media Action.

Investing in business development will create planned deficits in 2022-23 and 2023-24. The trustees are satisfied that continued monitoring of trading activity is in place and that business development indicators have been put in place to track the investment against expectations. This allows for controlled use of reserves in the next two years while maintaining a going concern position for

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

F I N A N C I A L S TAT E M E N T S

Under section 408 of the Companies Act 2006 the company is exempt from the requirement to present its own statement of financial activities or income and expenditure account and statement of cashflows by FRS102.

c) LIMITED BY GUARANTEE

BBC Media Action is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales. The sole member of the company undertakes to contribute to the assets of the company in the event of it being wound up, while it is a member or within one year after it ceases to be a member, for payment of the debts and liabilities of the company contracted before it ceases to be a member, and of the costs, charges and expenses of winding up, and for the adjustment of the rights of the contributors among themselves, such amount as may be required not exceeding £10. BBC Media Action had one member (the BBC) at the end of the period.

d) FUND ACCOUNTING

BBC Media Action has various funds for which separate disclosure is required as follows:

Restricted income funds

Grants which are earmarked by the funder for specific purposes. Such purposes are within the overall aims of the charity.

Unrestricted funds

Funds which are expendable at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the objects of the charity.

General funds are those unrestricted funds that have not been set aside by Trustees for a particular purpose. Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the Trustees for particular purposes.

Where funding allows for a general allowance

to cover indirect costs that allowance is recognised as unrestricted income within the SOFA in proportion to the amounts recognised as income to cover direct programme expenses.

e) INCOME

Income is included in the statement of financial activities when BBC Media Action is entitled to the income, when receipt of funds is probable, and when the amount can be measured with sufficient reliability.

Income from charitable activities includes income earned both from the supply of goods or services under contractual arrangements and from performance-related grants which have conditions that specify the provision of particular goods or services to be provided by the charity. These contracts or performancerelated grants have been included as ‘Income from charitable activities’ where these grants specifically outline the goods and services to be provided to beneficiaries which are within the charitable purposes of the charity.

Income from such contracts and grants is recognised to the extent that resources have been committed to the specific programme, as this is deemed to be a reliable estimate of the right to receive payment for the work performed. In this case, cash received in excess of expenditure is included as a creditor (as deferred income) and expenditure in excess of cash included as a debtor (as accrued income).

Other trading activities are the activities where BBC Media Action provides goods, services or entry to events in order to generate income and undertake charitable activities. Where income is received in advance, recognition is deferred and included in creditors and where entitlement arises before income is received, the income is accrued.

Donations are recognised when receivable. Gifts in kind are valued at a reasonable

estimate of the value to BBC Media Action, which is normally equal to the market value.

f) EXPENDITURE

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category as listed below. Support costs, which include the central or regional office functions such as general programme support, payroll administration, budgeting and accounting, information technology, human resources, and financing, are allocated across the categories of charitable expenditure and governance costs. The basis of the cost allocation is explained in the notes to the accounts. The allocation for the purposes of the Statement of Recommended Practice may not always reflect the definition per various donor contracts.

Equipment purchased as part of the production of media as part of a project is expensed in the statement of financial activities in the year of purchase and returned to the funder or donated to local charities on cessation.

g) FOREIGN CURRENCY

Transactions denominated in foreign currencies are recorded in sterling at the rates ruling at the date of the transaction. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are retranslated at the exchange rates ruling at the balance sheet date and any exchange differences arising are taken to the statement of financial activities.

h) PENSION COSTS

Some UK employees are members of the BBC’s pension schemes. The BBC group operates both defined benefit and defined contribution schemes for the benefit of the employees.

Defined benefit scheme

The defined benefit schemes provide benefits based on final pensionable pay. The assets of the BBC Pension Scheme, to which the majority of BBC employees belong, are held separately from those of the BBC group. BBC Media Action, following the provisions within section 28 of FRS 102, accounts for the scheme as if it were a defined contribution scheme. This is because it is not possible to identify its share of underlying assets and liabilities of the scheme on a consistent and reasonable basis. The expenditure charged in the SOFA therefore represents the contributions payable to the scheme in the year.

Defined contribution scheme

The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of BBC Media Action in an independently administered fund. The amounts charged as expenditure for the defined contribution scheme represent contributions payable by BBC Media Action in respect of the financial year. Where these contributions are reclaimable directly from donors they are charged to restricted funds, where they are not they are charged to unrestricted funds.

i) DEBTORS

Debtors are recognised at their settlement amount, less any provision for nonrecoverability. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid. They have been discounted to the present value of the future cash receipt where such discounting is material.

j) CASH AT BANK AND IN HAND

Cash at bank and in hand represents such accounts and instruments that are available on demand or have a maturity of less than three months from the date of acquisition. Deposits for more than three months but less than

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one year have been disclosed as short term deposits.

k) CREDITORS AND PROVISIONS

Creditors and provisions are recognised when there is an obligation at the balance sheet date as a result of a past event, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefit will be required in settlement, and the amount of the settlement can be estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are recognised at the amount the charity anticipates it will pay to settle the debt. They have been discounted to the present value of the future cash payment where such discounting is material.

l) LEASES

Rentals payable under operating leases are charged to the statement of financial activities on a straight line basis over the lease term. Lease incentives are recognised over the lease term on a straight line basis.

m) TAX

BBC Media Action is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes.

Accordingly, the charity is potentially exempt from taxation in respect of income or capital gains received within categories covered by Chapter 3 Part 11 Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes.

n) JUDGEMENTS AND KEY SOURCES OF ESTIMATION UNCERTAINTY

The preparation of the financial statements requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported for assets and liabilities as

at the balance sheet date and the amounts reported for revenues and expenses during the year. However, the nature of estimation means that actual outcomes could differ from those estimates. The items in the financial statements where judgements and estimates have been made include:

that expenditure incurred on performance related grants is a reliable basis for estimating the right to receive payment for the work performed;
the provision of bad debts;
valuation of gifts in kind and
the allocation of support costs.

o) FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

The financial assets and financial liabilities of the charity and their measurement basis are as follows:

Financial assets - trade and other debtors are basic financial instruments and are debt instruments measured at amortised cost as detailed in note 11. Prepayments are not financial instruments.
Cash at bank - is classified as a basic financial instrument and is measured at face value.
Financial liabilities - trade creditors, accruals and other creditors are basic financial instruments, and are measured at amortised cost as detailed in note 13. Taxation and social security are not included in the financial instruments disclosure definition. Deferred income is not deemed to be a financial liability, as the cash settlement has already taken place and there is an obligation to deliver services rather than cash or another financial instrument.

2. DONATIONS

Donations in the current year were derived from the following sources:

	Unrestricted 2022 £'000	Restricted 2022 £'000	Total 2022 £'000	Unrestricted 2021 £’000	Restricted 2021 £’000	Total 2021 £’000
Gif-in-Kind - BBC Global News Limited - Airtime/media space from various providers - Individuals/other General Donations - BBC Group - Individuals/other*	- - 392 250 152	1,132 4,797 - - -	1,132 4,797 392 250 152	- - 353 500 93	1,070 8,270 - - -	1,070 8,270 353 500 93
Total	794	5,929	6,723	946	9,340	10,286

3. OTHER TRADING ACTIVITIES

	Unrestricted 2022 £'000	Restricted 2022 £'000	Total 2022 £'000	Unrestricted 2021 £’000	Restricted 2021 £’000	Total 2021 £’000
Fundraising dinner and corporate partners	12	-	12	10	-	10
Total	12	-	12	10	-	10

4. INVESTMENT INCOME

	Unrestricted 2022 £'000	Restricted 2022 £'000	Total 2022 £'000	Unrestricted 2021 £’000	Restricted 2021 £’000	Total 2021 £’000
Bank interest receivable	2	-	2	4	-	4
Total	2	-	2	4	-	4

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5. INCOME AND GRANTS FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

	Unrestricted 2022 £'000	Restricted 2022 £'000	Total 2022 £'000	Unrestricted 2021 £’000	Restricted 2021 £’000	Total 2021 £’000
Grant funding for specifc charitable activities Governance Resilience Health	1,285 561 653	12,851 5,610 6,532	14,136 6,171 7,185	1,250 795 710	12,200 7,760 6,933	13,450 8,555 7,643
Total	2,499	24,993	27,492	2,755	26,894	29,649

6. EXPENDITURE

6. EXPENDITURE
	Unrestricted 2022 £'000	Restricted 2022 £'000	Total 2022 £'000	Unrestricted 2021 £’000	Restricted 2021 £’000	Total 2021 £’000
Raising Funds Charitable Activities	187 3,405	- 30,922	187 34,327	175 3,619	- 36,234	175 39,853
Total	3,592	30,922	34,514	3,794	36,234	40,028

	Direct project costs 2022 £'000	Staf costs 2022 £'000	Allocation of support costs 2022 £'000	Total 2022 £'000	Total 2021 £'000
Raising funds Donations Other tradingactivities	2 -	131 54	- -	133 54	132 44
Total cost of raising funds	2	185	-	187	176
Charitable activities Changing lives through media and communication Governance Resilience Health	12,176 2,660 3,054	5,928 4,102 3,738	1,816 397 456	19,920 7,159 7,248	20,540 9,454 9,859
Total cost of charitable activities	17,890	13,768	2,669	34,327	39,853
Total expenditure	17,892	13,953	2,669	34,514	40,029

Cost of charitable activities: £34.6m includes £5.9m (2021: £9.3m) broadcast slots gifted in kind by radio and TV broadcasters in the UK and Country offices.

6. EXPENDITURE (CONTINUED)

The support costs allocated and the basis of apportionment were:

Support activity	Basis of apportionment	2022 £'000	2021 £'000
Programme support General management and fundraising Financial management Information technology Premises and facilities	Specifc allocation and pro-rata by direct project expenditure Pro-rata by direct project expenditure Pro-rata by direct project expenditure Pro-rata by direct project expenditure Pro-rata by direct project expenditure	354 1,326 309 183 497	214 1,220 760 277 388
Total		2,669	2,859

7. NET EXPENDITURE FOR THE YEAR

7. NET EXPENDITURE FOR THE YEAR
	2021 £'000	2020 £'000
This is stated afer charging: Auditor’s Remuneration (including VAT) Group - current year - prior year Auditor’s remuneration (including VAT) - subsidiaries Exchange rate (gain)/loss Hire of assets - operating leases	44 - 8 (29) 1,131	43 2 8 239 1,120

8. TRUSTEES AND EMPLOYEES

Members of the Board of Trustees (who are all directors within the meaning of the Companies Act 2006) receive no remuneration for their services. No trustee expenses were reimbursed during the year (2021: £1,181 for two trustees with respect for trustee duties for BBC Media Action).

No donations were made by trustees in the current or prior year. Trustees are provided with indemnity insurance as part of the BBC Group’s Directors’ and Officers’ policy.

All UK staff employed on a continuing basis by BBC Media Action have employment contracts with the BBC. Staff costs referred to in note 9 are either incurred in the form of payments to the BBC for these staff members or internationally through project based payrolls, in addition to the costs of temporary staff employed directly and through agencies.

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9. STAFF COSTS

9. STAFF COSTS
	2022 £'000	2021 £'000
Costs of staf split by: Wages and salaries National insurance Pension costs Other staf costs	11,232 437 1,099 1,185	12,838 462 1,017 1,208
Total	13,953	15,525

Employees with emoluments of £60,000 and over fell into the following bands:	2022	2021
£60,001–£70,000 £70,001–£80,000 £80,001–£90,000 £90,001–£100,000 £100,001-£110,000 £110,001-£120,000 £130,001-£140,000	11 6 6 1 – 1 1	10 9 4 – 1 1 –

The number of employees whose emoluments were greater than £60,000 to whom retirement benefits are accruing under defined benefits schemes is 7 (2021:7). The senior management team who have authority and responsibility for planning, directing and controlling the activities of the Group are considered to be key management personnel. Total cost of employment in respect of these individuals, including the Chief Executive Officer’s total cost of employment of £174,158 (2021: £158,658), is £518,941 (2021: £450,473).

The total cost of employment includes providing future pension benefits in the defined benefit pension scheme and this has increased from 15% of pensionable salaries when the scheme closed to new joiners in 2010 to 42% at present. The salary of the CEO did not increase last year.

The average number of employees on an average headcount basis, analysed byfunction was:	2022	2021
Programme activities (charitable): Africa Asia Rest of World Other	242 215 102 2	234 281 108 2
Total	561	625

The costs charged in year include redundancy payments of £201,658 (2021: £156,638) of which NIL (2021: £112,465) was due to be paid out at 31 March 2022.

10. FIXED ASSET INVESTMENT

10. FIXED ASSET INVESTMENT
	Charity 2022 £'000	Charity 2021 £'000
Investment in BBC Media Action (India) Limited Cost Less: Cumulative impairment Investment in BBC Media Action Nepal Private Limited Cost Investment in British Broadcasting Corporation Media Action Ltd/Gte (Nigeria) Cost	55 (34) 1 1	55 (34) 1 1
Total	23	23

BBC Media Action has three 100% owned subsidiary undertakings: BBC Media Action (India) Limited, BBC Media Action Nepal Private Limited, and British Broadcasting Corporation Media Action Ltd/Gte, an entity registered in Nigeria.

The investment in BBC Media Action (India) Limited (registered number 2746733, charity number 1121665) is held directly.

The investment in BBC Media Action Nepal Private Limited, (Company Registration Number: 112548/60/070) an entity established under the laws of Nepal, is held directly.

British Broadcasting Corporation Media Action Ltd/Gte (Company Registration Number RC1448388) is an entity under the laws of Nigeria. It is a 100% owned subsidiary of BBC Media Action. Although local staff contracts are in the name of British Broadcasting Corporation Media Action Ltd/Gte, funding to meet the charitable objectives of the organisation is received and disbursed by BBC Media Action in Nigeria.

A fourth entity, BBC World Service Trust India, is regarded as a subsidiary undertaking and in accordance with paragraph 24.14 of SORP FRS 102 has been consolidated in the consolidated financial statements as BBC Media Action has the right to appoint the majority of Trustees. This entity did not trade in the current or prior year.

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10. FIXED ASSET INVESTMENT (continued)

BBC Media Action (India) Limited

The statement of financial activities of BBC Media Action (India) Limited may be summarised as follows:

as follows:
	2022 £’000	2021 £’000
Total income Total expenditure	1,626 (1,626)	1,763 (1,763)
Net income	-	-

The balance sheet of BBC Media Action (India) Limited may be summarised as follows:

	2022 £’000	2021 £’000
Fixed and current assets Liabilities	573 (552)	738 (717)
Net assets/funds	21	21

BBC Media Action Nepal Private Limited

The statement of financial activities of BBC Media Action Nepal Private Limited may be summarised as follows:

summarised as follows:
	2022 £'000	2021 £'000
Total income Total expenditure	- -	9 (9)
Net income	-	-
Total funds brought forward	1	1
Total funds carried forward	1	1

The balance sheet of BBC Media Action Nepal Private Limited may be summarised as follows:

	2022 £'000	2021 £'000
Fixed and current assets Liabilities	1 -	1 -
Net assets/funds	1	1

11. DEBTORS

11. DEBTORS
	Group 2022 £'000	Group 2021 £’000	Charity 2022 £'000	Charity 2001 £'000
Trade debtors Amounts due from subsidiary and related undertakings Other debtors Prepayments Accrued income(see Note 15)	488 - 532 392 4,748	1,719 - 1,337 389 7,448	485 495 82 392 4,748	1,685 400 856 389 7,448
Total	6,160	10,893	6,202	10,778

All debtors fall due within one year.

12. CASH AT BANK AND IN HAND

12. CASH AT BANK AND IN HAND
	Group 2022 £'000	Group 2021 £’000	Charity 2022 £'000	Charity 2021 £'000
Cash held at bank in UK Cash held at bank and in hand overseas	6,700 894	6,982 1,306	6,681 793	6,963 1,079
Total	7,594	8,288	7,474	8,042

13. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

	Group 2022 £'000	Group 2021 £’000	Charity 2022 £'000	Charity 2021 £'000
Trade credItors Amounts due to related undertakings (see Note 21) Other creditors Accruals Deferred income(see Note 15)	45 1,054 1,546 2,017 4,359	217 429 4,040 2,487 6,870	45 1,054 1,519 1,987 4,359	217 429 3,762 2,448 6,870
Total	9,021	14,043	8,964	13,726

14. PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES

14. PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES
Charity and group	Legacy balances £’000	Project costs £'000	TOTAL £'000
At 1 April 2021 New provisions in 21/22 Provisions utilised in 21/22	- 250 -	692 96 (466)	692 346 (466)
At 31 March 2022	250	322	572

Legacy balances are amounts identified as part of a data cleansing exercise to clear historic debtor and creditor balances from the data migration to the accounting system (Access Dimensions) in 2014.

The provision for project costs relates to costs that are not expected to be recovered from the donor and are therefore an obligation at 31 March 2022. It is expected that the majority of these obligations will be paid during the year ending 31 March 2023.

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15. ACCRUED AND DEFERRED INCOME

Where income is received in advance, recognition is deferred and included in creditors and where entitlement arises before income is received the income is accrued. The most significant projects for which income was deferred and accrued are detailed below. In the year to 31 March 2022 the Group had 120 (2021: 132) active projects.

	Total Deferred Income 2021	Total Accrued Income 2021	Amount Received and Other Movements	Released via SOFA	Total Deferred Income 2022	Total Accrued Income 2022
ACF : Bangladesh Common Service 2021 ACF : Bangladesh: Rohingya Response AUXILIUM : Bangladesh: Rohingya Knowledge BMB MOTT MACDONALD : Nepal: Lifeline Communication BMB MOTT MACDONALD : South Sudan: GESS II BMGF : Nigeria: Vaccine Hesitancy DAI : Nepal: Tayar Nepal Risk Mgmt DANISH REFUGEE COUNC : Ethiopia: Unsafe Migration DEUTSCHE WELLE : Armenia: Media Support in Armenia DFID : Sierra Leone: EAGER DURHAM UNIVERSITY : Nepal : Durham University Saja DUTCH EMBASSY : Libya: Dutch Embassy for El Kul 2 EUROPEAN COMMISSION : Kenya: Down2Earth WP4 EUROPEAN COMMISSION : Ukraine: Support to UA:PBC EUROPEAN COMMISSION : Zambia: Natwampane EUROPEAN COMMISSION : Kenya: Confer EUROPEAN COMMISSION : Zambia: EU Elections FCDO : Bangladesh: PRIMED implementation FCDO : Cambodia: Not waiting for rain FCDO : Ethiopia: PRIMED implementation FCDO : HQ: PRIMED implementation	- - (250) (34) - - - - - - - - (66) - - (37) (266) - - - (284)	- 426 - - 98 - 98 261 - 66 - - - 63 194 - - 80 - 118 -	- (130) (189) (24) (515) (726) (267) (361) (87) (566) (44) - - (287) (677) (54) (17) (444) (159) (588) (1,196)	407 117 340 58 625 328 151 98 96 659 57 60 144 224 344 87 311 364 179 470 1,509	- - (99) - - (398) (18) (2) - - - - - - (139) (4) - - - - -	407 413 - - 208 - - - 9 159 13 60 78 - - - 28 - 20 - 29

15. ACCRUED AND DEFERRED INCOME (continued)

	Total Deferred Income 2021	Total Accrued Income 2021	Amount Received and Other Movements	Released via SOFA	Total Deferred Income 2022	Total Accrued Income 2022
FCDO : Sierra Leone: PRIMED implement FCO : Algeria: Focus on Algerian Youth 3 FCO : Europe: EaP Georgia FCO : Europe: Eastern Partnerships FCO : Libya: El Kul 5(Yr3) GAC : Afghanistan: Covid Lifeline GAC : Ethiopia: Covid Lifeline GAC : South Sudan: GAC Women's Voices GAC : Tanzania: Niambie 2 GATES FOUNDATION : India Collectives and Power of GATES FOUNDATION : India: Comms Tech Support GATES FOUNDATION : India: D2C Platform GIZ : Tunisia: Prosol H & M FOUNDATION : Bangladesh: Future of Work H & M FOUNDATION : India: PRIDE IFES : Libya: Lib Elections_IFES (LELSA) INT RESCUE COMMITTEE : Bangladesh: Rohingya Refuge IRISH AID : Tanzania: Irish AID NC5 MFA : South Sudan: Life in Lulu NDI : Zambia: Check Facts NORAD : Indonesia: Kembali Ke Hutan NORAD : Somalia: SWEET PACKARD FOUNDATION : Ethiopia: Packard Foundation SDC : Tanzania: Niambie 2 SIDA & SDC : Cambodia: Klahan9 SPACE SIDA : Zambia: Kudziwa SIGHTSAVERS - DFID : Nigeria: DID	- - - - - - - (712) (136) (619) (82) (321) - (99) (526) - - - (306) - (500) - - - - (364) -	142 - 189 491 - 6 37 - - - - - - - - - 177 - - - - 314 - 99 - - 121	(583) (171) (506) (2,778) (290) (90) (110) (630) (880) (406) (998) (349) (78) (204) (312) - (886) - (872) (174) (648) (798) (145) (396) (880) (1,927) (519)	441 226 348 3,110 375 84 73 854 849 426 764 362 120 261 360 62 1,027 125 1,111 207 1,051 436 146 305 946 1,874 398	- - - - - - - (488) (167) (599) (316) (308) - (42) (478) - - - (67) - (97) (48) - - - (417) -	- 55 31 823 85 - - - - - - - 42 - - 62 318 125 - 33 - - 1 8 66 - -

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15. ACCRUED AND DEFERRED INCOME (continued)

	Total Deferred Income 2021	Total Accrued Income 2021	Amount Received and Other Movements	Released via SOFA	Total Deferred Income 2022	Total Accrued Income 2022
SIGHTSAVERS : Nigeria: Sightsavers DID Scale TERRE DES HOMMES : Bangladesh:TdH Diversifying Mas UN DEVELOPMENT PROG : Myanmar: Pyaw Ba JPF UNFPA : Bangladesh: AGAMI UNFPA 2021 UNFPA : Bangladesh UNICEF : BBMedia Social Listening UNICEF : Myanmar: SBCC Media Campaign UNICEF : Tanzania: RPFC UNILEVER : Afghanistan: Unilever HBCC COVID UNILEVER : HQ: Unilever HBCC COVID UNILEVER : Somalia: Unilever HBCC COVID UNOPS : Afghanistan: Provision of EORE UNOPS : Myanmar: Ma Shet Ne USAID : Bangladesh: YouthRISE Activity USAID : Cambodia: WeActPACT USAID : Myanmar: Investing in Independent Media USAID : Somalia: BHA Global APS WELLCOME TRUST : HQ: ClimateFilms WORLD HEALTH ORG : Afghanistan: Combating COVID19 Otherprojects	- - (6) - - - - (41) (129) (55) (130) - (45) - - - - - - (1,862)	- - - 56 - - - - - - - - - - 23 - - - - 4,389	- (182) (576) (146) - (37) (43) (213) (124) (77) (40) (183) (206) (131) (101) (44) (55) (170) (232) (3,161)	93 140 769 90 133 69 72 334 253 132 170 101 238 96 78 98 86 170 292 1,109	- (42) - - - - - - - - - (82) (13) (35) - - - - - (500)	93 - 187 - 133 32 29 80 - - - - - - - 54 31 - 60 976
Total	(6,870)	7,448	(27,682)	27,492	(4,359)	4,748

16. FUNDS ANALYSIS

16. FUNDS ANALYSIS
	Balance at 1 April 2021 £'000	Income £'000	Expenditure £'000	Balance at 31 March 2022 £'000
Unrestricted funds: Designated funds: Technology-led Change Fund	369	-	-	369
Total Designated funds	369	-	-	369
General Funds	4,043	3,307	(3,592)	3,758
Total Unrestricted funds	4,412	3,307	(3,592)	4,127
Total Restricted Funds	34	30,922	(30,922)	34
Total Funds	4,446	34,229	(34,514)	4,161

	Balance at 1 April 2020 £'000	Income £'000	Expenditure £'000	Balance at 31 March 2021 £'000
Unrestricted funds: Designated funds: Technology-led Change Fund	369	-	-	369
Total Designated funds	369	-	-	369
General Funds	4,122	3,715	(3,794)	4,043
Total Unrestricted funds	4,491	3,715	(3,794)	4,412
Total Restricted Funds	34	36,234	(36,234)	34
Total Funds	4,525	39,949	(40,028)	4,446

The Trustees’ Report explains why the group and the charity hold unrestricted funds and the adequacy of these funds at the year end. The reserves policy is reviewed on an annual basis.

All of BBC Media Action’s primary activities are included within restricted funds. These activities are restricted to overseas project work and associated income and expenditure in line with the key themes and charitable objectives described in the Trustees report. Analysis of the projects are included in note 15.

The Technology-led change fund represents funds set aside for the development and enhancement of processes and systems. No amounts were added to the fund in 2020/21. Funds are expected to be spent within two years.

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17. ANALYSIS OF GROUP AND CHARITY NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS

	Net current assets £'000	Provision for liabilities £'000	Total funds £'000
Restricted funds Unrestricted designated funds Unrestrictedgeneral funds	34 369 4,330	- - (572)	34 369 3,758
Total Funds at 31 March 2022	4,733	(572)	4,161

	Net current assets £'000	Provision for liabilities £'000	Total funds £'000
Restricted funds Unrestricted designated funds Unrestrictedgeneral funds	34 369 4,735	- - (692)	34 369 4,043
Total Funds at 31 March 2021	5,138	(692)	4,446

18. RECONCILIATION OF MOVEMENT IN FUNDS TO NET CASH OUTFLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES

	2022 £'000	2021 £'000
Net expenditure for the year Investment income Decrease/(Increase) in debtors (Decrease)/Increase in creditors (Decrease) /Increase inprovisions	(285) (2) 4,733 (5,022) (120)	(79) (4) (2,304) 3,633 (46)
Cash (outfow) / infow from operating activities	(696)	1,200

19. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES

Operating Leases

There were total amounts payable in the future on non-cancellable leases:

	Group 2022 £'000	Group 2021 £'000	Charity 2022 £'000	Charity 2021 £'000
Land and buildings Operating leases which expire: Within one year In the second to ffhyears inclusive	791 535	430 187	753 535	343 142
Total	1,326	617	1,288	485

In the prior year, there was an ongoing rent review for the UK office. To the date of signing the 2021 accounts therefore, there was no legal commitment for UK office rent. A Rent Review memorandum was signed with the landlord, HP Ibex House Investment SARL, in December 2021 establishing a reviewed annual rent of £367,068 until March 2024. This amount is included in the ‘Within one year’ and ‘In the second to fifth years inclusive’.

20. PENSION COSTS

Many of the Company’s employees are members of the BBC’s pension schemes, the BBC Pension Scheme (a defined benefit scheme) and defined contribution schemes (LifePlan and the Group Personal Pension Scheme).

BBC Pension Scheme

The BBC Pension Scheme provides pension benefits on a defined benefit basis from assets held in separate, trustee-administered, funds.

The scheme is subject to independent valuation by a professionally qualified actuary at least every three years, on the basis of which the actuary certifies the rate of employer’s contributions. These, together with the specified contributions payable by employees and proceeds from the scheme’s assets, are expected to be sufficient to fund the benefits payable under the scheme.

The actuarial valuation of the Scheme as at 1 April 2019 reported a shortfall (liabilities, calculated on the technical provisions basis, minus value of assets) of £1,138m. The value of the Scheme’s assets and liabilities at that date were £17,184m and £18,322m respectively (both excluding AVCs). The latest funding update was prepared using the same methodology updated with assumptions as at 1 April 2021 and reported a shortfall of £494m on the technical provisions basis.

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20. PENSION COSTS (CONTINUED)

An 11-year recovery plan (2017 to 2028) was agreed between the BBC and the pension scheme Trustees which details the total amounts to be paid by the BBC (these amounts include both the employer normal contributions in respect of future service accrual and the amounts payable in respect of the funding shortfall).The funding shortfall is expected to be eliminated within 9.75 years of the valuation date, i.e. by 31 December 2028.

The contributions to the scheme by members are paid via a salary sacrifice arrangement. These have been treated as employer contributions.

The triennial valuation as at 1 April 2022 is currently underway and is due to be completed in 15 months.

15 months.
Contribution rates	Projections (%) 2022 2021 2020
Employer Employee (Old and New Benefts) Employee (Career Average Benefts 2006) Employee (Career Average Benefts 2011)	42.3 7.5 4.0 6.0	31.4 7.5 4.0 6.0	31.4 7.5 4.0 6.0

21. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

The following related party transactions occurred during the year:

21. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS The following related party transactions occurred during the year:
	2022 £'000	2021 £'000
Related parties Services procured from related parties Amounts owed to related parties	277 1,054	293 429

During the year, BBC Media Action procured HR, IT and other support services of £277,264 (2021: £293,467) from the BBC.

Donations received from the BBC World Service, BBC Group and BBC Global News Limited are detailed in note 2.

At 31 March 2022, an amount of £1,053,952 (2021: £429,255) was owing to the BBC Group (including BBC and BBC World Service) and was Country Office cash-in-transit. This amount owing is non-interest bearing and repayable on demand.

There were no other related party transactions to 31 March 2022 (2021: none).

22. POST BALANCE SHEET EVENTS

There are no events after the balance sheet date that require adjustment or disclosure in the financial statements.

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

•*'X .v 1 1¥4Y .1. caption caption caption

Cover image: A community health volunteer with her mobile phone is part of our acclaimed Mobile Kunji project in Bihar, India. / BBC Media Action India

Find out more: bbcmediaaction.org

bbcmediaaction

BBC Media Action is a registered charity in England and Wales (no 1076235) and a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales (no 3521587) at Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London W1A 1AA.

BBC Media Action annual report 2021/2022

Contents

A year of hardship and hope

About us

Our vision

Our mission

Public benefit

Highlights from our year

Strategic overview

In 2021/22, BBC Media Action pledged to:

— Deliver our programming in support of our strategy to the value of at least £31 million,

— Build a more inclusive culture

— Reach and engage audiences,

— Refresh our strategic plan, and diversify and secure our donor funding

How we are funded

Corporate donors, events and individual giving

These included:

Fundraising governance and compliance

How we serve our stakeholders

— The BBC:

Our external stakeholders include:

— Our audiences:

— Our partners in project delivery and sector learning:

— Our donors:

— Journalists, media workers and media houses:

— Our wider communities and our planet:

Our impact in 2021/22

Our response to COVID-19

Our work in health

Our work in media development and media freedom

Our work in climate action

Our work in equity, diversity and inclusion

Gender

Disability

Young people

Marginalised groups

Our work in humanitarian response

Our work in governance and civic participation

Looking forward

— Diversify and scale up our donor funding in a renewed focus on business development

— Put into action our new global policy on equity, diversity and inclusion, and measure our progress

In the 2022/23 financial year, BBC Media Action will:

— Continue to adapt and expand our programming to meet the needs of audiences in countries in conflict

— Deliver our programming in support of our strategy to the value of at least £27 million

Thanks and acknowledgements

Auxilium

NDI

Our organisation and our finances

Our organisation

Our employees

Staff salaries

Gender pay gap

Safeguarding

Energy use

Legal structure

Subsidiary companies

Governance

Organisational structure and management

Managing risk

COVID-19 pandemic

Myanmar coup

Media challenges in Iraq

Insecurity in Afghanistan

Insecurity in Ethiopia

War in Ukraine

Whistleblowing policies and procedures

Safeguarding policies and procedures

Fraud recovery and prevention

Safety and security

Funding

Information security

Compliance with local laws

Reputation

Managing our finances

Reserves

Investment policy

Going concern

Statement of trustees’ responsibilities

reasonable and prudent

Trustees are required to: