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2024-03-31-accounts

ODI Annual Report and Financial Statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Contents

Statement from the Chair ............................................................................................................................... 3 Summary ......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Our activities in the year ending 31 March 2024 ...................................................................................... 4 Objectives and activities ................................................................................................................................. 4 Purposes and aims ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Public benefit ............................................................................................................................................. 4 Strategic Report .............................................................................................................................................. 5 Achievements and performance .................................................................................................................... 5 Strategy and KPIs ....................................................................................................................................... 5 Challenge Areas and Priorities: ODI’s Delivery on its Strategy ...................................................................... 7 Shaping the future of global cooperation ...................................................................................................... 7 Tackling the climate, environment and biodiversity crisis ............................................................................ 8 Fostering a more equitable and sustainable global economic order .......................................................... 11 Advancing human rights, addressing conflict and promoting peace ........................................................... 12 Digitalisation ................................................................................................................................................. 14 Decolonising ODI’s research and policy work .............................................................................................. 15 Public Affairs and Communications .............................................................................................................. 15

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List of ODI Global events 2023 – 2024 ....................................................................................................... 16 Plans for future periods ........................................................................................................................... 21 Financial review and operational performance ......................................................................................... 22 Financial performance and position ........................................................................................................ 22 Reserves policy ........................................................................................................................................ 22 Investment policy .................................................................................................................................... 22 Approach to fundraising .......................................................................................................................... 23 Principal risks and uncertainties .............................................................................................................. 23 Structure, governance and management ................................................................................................... 24 Group constitution .................................................................................................................................. 24 Other connected entities ......................................................................................................................... 24 The Board of Trustees ............................................................................................................................. 25 Trustee recruitment and training ............................................................................................................ 25 Board Committees ................................................................................................................................... 25 Finance Audit and Risk Committee (FRAC) .............................................................................................. 25 People, Remuneration and Organisational Development Committee (PROC) ........................................ 26 Nominations and Board Effectiveness Committee (NBEC) ...................................................................... 26 ODI Board Meetings attendance: ............................................................................................................ 26 Organisational structure and reporting ................................................................................................... 28 Sustainability ........................................................................................................................................... 28 Setting remuneration .............................................................................................................................. 29 Disabled employees ................................................................................................................................. 29 Employee involvement ............................................................................................................................ 29 Members’ liability .................................................................................................................................... 30 Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities in respect of the Trustees’ Annual Report and the Financial Statements .............................................................................................................................................. 30 Reference and administration details ........................................................................................................ 31 Independent auditors’ report to the members of ODI .............................................................................. 32 Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (including income and expenditure account) - for the year ended 31 March 2024 ......................................................................................................................... 37 Balance Sheet at 31 March 2024 ............................................................................................................... 38 Consolidated Statement of Cashflow - for the year ended 31 March 2024 .............................................. 39 Notes to the financial statements - for the year ended 31 March 2024 ................................................... 40

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Statement from the Chair

The past year has been marked by continued global challenges and transformations. The growing urgency of the climate crisis, alongside escalating humanitarian and geopolitical risks, continues to outpace the solutions developed through traditional multilateral processes. Meanwhile, the record numbers of elections this year have thrown policies and priorities across the globe into a state of unprecedented flux. Amidst this dynamic backdrop, ODI has excelled, delivering impactful research, achieving robust financial health, and expanding its international presence.

ODI’s work on humanitarian policy challenges took on added urgency and importance in light of the crises in Gaza, Sudan and elsewhere. Similarly, ODI provided crucial and timely contributions among others, to the COP28 climate negotiations, to improving development interventions in contexts of fragility, to better informing debates about migration, to the rethinking of the global financial architecture that is underway, in countering the backlash against gender rights, and to recognizing the growing challenge of (green) industrial policies and their implications. ODI has been able to draw not only on its expertise in each of these areas, but also and especially on its ability to apply a multi-disciplinary lens to the greatest public policy challenges of our time.

ODI has also made significant progress towards becoming a truly global institution, with our brand and media profile growing in tandem. Entities in both Brussels and Washington, DC, have become operational and constituted their boards. ODI has adopted a strategic partnerships approach and is deepening relationships with several think tanks in low- and middle-income countries. A comprehensive approach to decolonising the institute’s research and relationships is also underway.

While the external environment remains challenging, we are pleased to report a surplus on unrestricted funds for the year following a period of a break-even financial outturn. This reflects the sustained demand for our expertise, facilitated by robust and efficient operations.

Sir Suma Chakrabarti, Chair

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Summary

Our activities in the year ending 31 March 2024

ODI works across a wide range of sectors and issues with a direct impact on the wellbeing of the world’s poorest people. We have seven core programmes, a public affairs and communications team, and a shared services team ensuring successful delivery of programmes. Each programme focuses on its specific area of expertise, but also collaborates extensively to deliver on the ODI strategy. We also deliver programmes through our office in Europe and our partnership hubs in Asia and Africa. During the year we established a non-profit entity in the United States (ODI Global Washington) which joins ODI Europe (Brussels) in further broadening and deepening our global influence.

ODI hosts important networks and consortia, including the Humanitarian Practice Network (“HPN”) and the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (“ALNAP”). ODI also publishes two academic journals, Development Policy Review and Disasters .

We run a Fellowship Scheme placing graduate economists and statisticians in public policy institutions around the world. On 14 September more than 200 past and present ODI Fellows gathered to celebrate 60 years of the Scheme. The evening provided an opportunity for the current cohort to meet alumni from across the decades. Andrew Mitchell, Minister of State in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (“FCDO”), rounded out the speeches with appreciative remarks about the value of the Scheme to the FCDO and the Chair of the ODI Board of Trustees, Sir Suma Chakrabarti, who served as an ODI Fellow in Botswana, also spoke. We screened a special film looking back over the successes of the Scheme, available on YouTube at https://bit.ly/3SheU63 .

Objectives and activities

Purposes and aims

ODI is an independent global affairs think tank. We work to inspire people to act on injustice and inequality through collaborative research and ideas that matter for people and planet.

The main activities undertaken by ODI in the furtherance of the charity’s purpose are:

Public benefit

In setting objectives and planning ODI’s activities, the Trustees confirm that they have applied due regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant. Our work has informed debate and educated the public which has provided inspiration to act on injustice and inequality.

Throughout the year, we have significantly enhanced our public affairs and communications to amplify the impact of our research and elevate the profile and reputation of ODI's work.

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We expanded our convening programme, hosting a series of high-level 'In Conversation' events that featured heads of state and other global leaders. These events fostering critical dialogues on pressing global issues are made available to view on our website.

Additionally, we invested in enhancing our brand, messaging, and website. These improvements are designed to support the long-term success of our public engagement efforts. By strengthening these areas, we have furthered our mission to inform and shape policies that contribute to sustainable and equitable development worldwide.

Strategic Report

The trustees, who are directors for the purposes of company law, present their strategic report for the year ended 31 March 2024, in compliance with S414C of the Companies Act 2006.

Achievements and performance

Strategy and KPIs

ODI’s five-year strategy for 2021-25 delineates five global challenge areas that mark out the operational priorities for ODI, in terms of research delivery and its approach to decolonisation. The strategy also aims to strengthen ODI’s global footprint. As in previous years, the present report organizes ODI’s achievements and performance in 2023-24 under those five headings, namely ODI’s work: (1) shaping the future of global cooperation, (2) tackling the climate, environment and biodiversity crisis, (3) fostering a more equitable and sustainable global order with inclusive growth, (4) advancing progress on human rights, addressing conflict and promoting peace, and (5) digitalization as a cross-cutting challenge/priority. In addition, it informs on steps taken to implement ODI’s decolonisation strategy and on ODI’s public affairs and communications footprint over the year.

To assess progress in 2023-24, ODI set cross-institute research KPIs which are reproduced below. KPIs were reported in detail and graded on a quarterly basis. The research KPIs and related performance assessments are qualitative. Attempts to quantify might give excessive weight to certain indicators (such as numbers of papers or events) purely due to their measurability, even though they may be only weakly connected with impact. Instead, quarterly reports set out activities and intended outcomes under the relevant KPI headings and describe results in a way that allows management and the Board to draw plausible, qualitative conclusions.

Each KPI speaks to more than one global challenge area and involves activities undertaken by different programme workstreams. The purpose is to create strong incentives for programmes to collaborate for delivery, since the ability to tackle problems across disciplines is one of the key strengths of ODI. Although this means that the KPIs cannot be mapped one-to-one to the global challenge areas, they are substantively connected in a clear and transparent manner. Each KPI’s relationship to the global challenge areas is set out in the box below.

2023-24 KPIs

In 2023-24 ODI designed, monitored, reported and graded on a quarterly basis cross-programme KPIs defining the results it expected to achieve. These KPIs each impacted multiple objectives of the strategy.

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Note that, for 2024/25, the Board has approved slightly modified KPIs with a mapping to topic areas and a more explicit table of outputs and outcomes (see below “Plans for future periods”).

The last assessment, considered by the Board in March 2024, concluded that ODI was on track with achieving performance targets for each of the KPIs, except for KPIs 3 and 7, for which targets were being partially achieved. The reason for the rating of “partially achieved” for KPI 3 was that ODI had implemented relatively few operations in this area, even though those that had been implemented were delivered to a high standard. The reason for the rating of “partially achieved” for KPI 7 was that the important pipeline of work under preparation in this area had not yet come to fruition, even though progress was expected further ahead.

A central component of ODI’s delivery strategy is the further development of its global footprint, in particular by setting up and developing entities in Brussels (ODI Europe) and Washington DC (ODI Global, Washington), and through its Partnerships Strategy.

The ODI Europe Strategic Delivery Plan for 2023-24, ODI Europe’s inaugural year, was closely aligned with ODI’s 2021-25 Strategy, with thematic areas of focus clustered around the global challenges and priorities discussed below. While ODI Europe’s formal launch is planned for the autumn of 2024, it constituted its Board during the year, under the chairmanship of Ambassador Joao Vale do Almeida, and greatly enhanced both its fundraising and operational delivery. As part of ODI’s Europe portfolio, it is working to forge new, stronger, and more strategic partnerships with governments and other key stakeholders across European member states and in neighbouring countries. Beyond the European member states, the focus has been on the Mediterranean region, the Western Balkans, Moldova and Ukraine, with specific interests in energy policy objectives, freedom of movement, and external relations. ODI’s work has included

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analysis of existing governance structures such as the European and African Union, and its flagship platform, the Africa-Europe Mayors’ Dialogue.

ODI Global, Washington (formerly ODI North America) is at an earlier stage of development but constituted its Board during the year under Liesbet Steer as chairwoman, recruited its Executive Director and made significant progress in preparing its bylaws, with a view to securing tax-exempt status (“Article 501(c)(3)” status). ODI Global, Washington has significantly raised ODI’s profile in the U.S. – a wellattended “ODI Day” was held on the margins of the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings in April 2024, and a dynamic communications strategy reached large audiences. The thematic focus has been on development finance, energy, fragility, mobility, gender, job creation, and climate, and ODI Global, Washington is implementing a programmatic fundraising approach.

Beyond creation of entities in Brussels and Washington, DC, it is a crucial pillar of ODI’s strategy to develop strategic partnerships with like-minded Think Tanks in lower- and middle-income countries. In 2023-24, ODI adopted a partnerships approach paper (“Towards Just and Equitable Partnership”) that sets out core principles for partnerships – namely, reciprocal respect, mutual trust, transparency and accountability, equal ownership – the commitment to identify between 5-10 research partners over the coming five years, and a programme of actions and commitments to operationalise the principles. This will include mainstreaming the new partnership approach across the organisation: undertaking a set of actions to transform existing external partnerships and internal practices and promoting change across all areas of work, including at senior leadership, project management, finance, human resources, communication, and research levels. ODI’s Decolonisation Task Force will help to guide delivery on its partnerships strategy and tasked the senior adviser on decolonising research partnerships with driving implementation.

ODI Global Advisory Limited , ODI’s wholly owned subsidiary, launched a new strategy during the year. The value proposition of ODI Global Advisory posits that public and private leaders can benefit from ODI expertise and will guide impact-oriented organisations through complex global challenges by providing cross-cutting expertise that informs decision-making. ODI Global Advisory is well-positioned to fill a niche in the crowded consultancy market since it is underpinned by 60 years of experience delivering highquality, highly regarded research and its vast network of experts.

Challenge Areas and Priorities: ODI’s Delivery on its Strategy

Shaping the future of global cooperation

Progress on the climate crisis, advances on economic transformation, human rights, conflict and peace depends in part on broader efforts to reform and improve global frameworks for multilateral cooperation. As in previous years, our main contribution in this area has been around global and regional rules and multilateral institutional reform, and specifically how significantly increased affordable finance at scale can be released for sustainable economic and social development and the climate goals. Our expertise on this topic has been sought by diverse stakeholders: we provided technical assistance on the Bridgetown Agenda, supported the World Bank’s senior management, including President Banga, around the Evolution Roadmap, and our research on Development Finance Institution (“DFI”) business models, DFI private sector mobilisation and blended finance is regularly referenced by the Multilateral Development Banks (“MDBs”), national DFIs and in a variety of international fora such as the G20 and OECD which have invited ODI staff to their advisory boards and expert groups, and in the press (Devex; The Economist).

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We contributed as members of the “core group” to background analyses, consultations and the draft of the report of the G20 Independent Expert Group (“IEG”) on reform of the MDBs. The IEG presented its second and final report to G20 finance ministers in October at the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings, and ODI held a series of related public and private events, reinforcing the influence of ODI research and thought leadership in this area. Based on that work, the Brazilian Presidency of the G20 asked ODI to lead the preparation of analyses and recommendations for the development of a roadmap for MDB reform for adoption by the G20 International Financial Architecture Working Group and eventually Finance Ministers later this year.

Similarly high profile and high impact, ODI was commissioned by the G20 Task Force for a Global Alliance hunger and poverty, under Brazil’s lead and funded by FCDO and BMZ, to produce a report mapping and analysing financing available for poverty reduction and combating hunger, and recommending effective financing approaches to achieving SDGs 1 and 2. Addressing global poverty and inequality is a key deliverable of the Brazilian G20 presidency, and ODI has been actively engaged in developing this agenda, as well as participating in coordination and feedback meetings with Brazilian counterparts and G20 members. The draft and background papers were presented at the World Bank Spring Meetings in April.

We have continued to advocate for increased attention to fragility, conflict and violence within the broader international financial reform agenda. We held a joint high-level panel with London School of Economics/Oxford International Growth Centre (“IGC/LSE”) at the Annual Meetings in Marrakech in October, with senior participation including former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Donald Kaberuka (Co-Chairs, Council on State Fragility). We also delivered work to ensure G7 countries, under the Italian presidency, champion augmented financing for countries affected by fragility, conflict and violence within the MDB reform agenda; a statement to that effect was included in the communique of G7 Finance Ministers in May. Further driving momentum, we coordinated and drafted a briefing note for International Development Association (IDA) deputies and a UK Executive Director hosted closed-door roundtable at the World Bank on what more and better financing for fragile states should look like. We have secured interest in further workshops from senior policymakers in G7 shareholders, MDBs and DFI senior management to debate and articulate a financing-for-fragility agenda. In related work, we supported the WEF Matching Finance to Need event to launch a high-level convening series focused on how IDA funds can deliver results.

A separate strand of impactful work has focused on maintaining humanitarian financial flows into contexts under sanction or regulated by counter-terrorism measures. In Brussels in November, we hosted a roundtable with Deputy Secretary of the US Treasury Wally Adeyemo and senior humanitarian representatives on the wider effects on humanitarian operations of sanctions on Hamas. This was part of a high-level international dialogue that ODI is hosting on behalf of the US government, involving senior government, international banking and aid officials working together through a series of events, papers and convenings to safeguard humanitarian activities in highly complex environments.

Tackling the climate, environment and biodiversity crisis

ODI has maintained its position as a prominent propositional voice on climate politics and policy, including ahead of and at COP28 in Dubai. Among others, we played a major role behind the scenes in the design of the new Loss and Damage Fund, currently one of the most high-profile features of the international climate landscape. One of our experts sat on the Transitional Committee representing Small Island

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Developing States (SIDS) and we provided technical assistance to the Irish and German governments, which shared another seat.

Furthermore, we were closely involved in work to scale up climate finance and climate action in conflictaffected countries, including playing a key role in developing the COP28 Declaration on Climate Relief, Recovery and Peace. This Declaration marks the most high-profile recognition to date of the conflict blind spot in climate action and follows several years of work by ODI to generate evidence, convene stakeholders and push for policy momentum on the issue. ODI is a signatory to the Declaration and continues to work with a range of international organisations and governments to put the Declaration into action: since COP28 we have convened high-level events at Wilton Park and at the World Bank’s Fragility Forum to support key decision-makers to move ahead with this agenda, as well as several closeddoor partnership meetings with key stakeholders. ODI is also one of the key parties involved in a new mechanism which aims to develop a roadmap for action on this issue. A report, cobranded by the UK and the UAE and launched at COP28 alongside a joint funding commitment by both governments, looked at how actors working in conflict-affected countries can support more effective climate adaptation. We also hosted high-level events at the UK Pavilion and on the COP28 main stage on climate action in conflictaffected countries, bringing together Ministerial representation from governments, UN offices and other organisations.

Key programmes underpinning our work on the links between climate change and conflict include Supporting Pastoralism and Agriculture in Recurrent and Protracted Crises (SPARC), funded by FCDO, and Catalysing Cohesive Action on Climate and Security, a USAID-funded research programme implemented by ODI and the Centre for Climate Security.

Via SPARC, we provided substantial input and key messages to the UK Food Security Summit and a related FCDO event at Wilton Park in November. The ODI Chief Executive shared key SPARC insights on food security as a lead discussant in a session on ‘Food crises in the context of climate change’ alongside the Deputy Prime Minister of Somalia and Ministers from Brazil and Yemen, and a SPARC report on the role of development finance institutions in addressing food security in vulnerable contexts was circulated to the Somali Minister of Finance in advance of the conference. SPARC was named in the UK’s package of COP28 solutions as one of the key channels to support climate-resilient development in Chad, Somalia and elsewhere. We concluded an independent review of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (“IPC”) process in Somalia. Our recommendations were adopted in real-time, improving the effectiveness of humanitarian decision-making on the food security situation in Somalia during a period of prolonged hunger. ODI’s substantial inputs and feedback were credited in Intergovernmental Authority on Development (“IGAD’s”) Climate Adaptation Strategy (Horn of Africa), which offers a framework for coordinated actions to enhance the resilience and adaptive capacities of IGAD member states. ODI played a key role in the consultation process of the development of the IGAD Strategy.

ODI researchers have been instrumental in developing a framework for the Global Goal on Adaptation, including providing technical advice to the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). We continue to raise awareness of the resilience finance shortfall in the SIDS via the Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative (RESI). RESI played a key role in the SIDS Future Forum in March 2024 and the Fourth International Conference of Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) in May, both critical platforms for shaping the key ‘asks and support for building SIDS’ resilience including at COP29 and other fora. ODI helped shape the

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discussion points for the SIDS Future Forum, commissioning 12 research papers and hosting a side event. RESI also published new research quantifying the finance shortfall in SIDS, advocated for a Multidimensional Vulnerability Index, and put forward suggestions for how international donors and funds can overcome obstacles to scaling up funding. RESI-generated data on the shortfalls in resilience finance flows to SIDS was covered in The Economist, Project Syndicate, The Guardian, the BBC and elsewhere. RESI’s podcast series ‘Small Islands, Big Picture’ continues to build a following and provides a platform to raise awareness of the nuanced issues faced by SIDS. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) Independent Evaluation Unit invited RESI to participate in a workshop in November 2023 to discuss the Second Performance Review of the GCF and Updated Strategic Plan for GCF-2. We also produced a very well-received documentary film on climate resilience, ‘Climate Blueprint: Dominica’.

ODI is one of several organisations calling for more attention to transboundary climate risks, including via the Adaptation Without Borders (AWB) initiative. With CGIAR and African Group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES), we hosted an event at COP28 to share results from AWB research on cooperation on managing transboundary climate risks in Africa. This builds on earlier lobbying efforts which resulted in the inclusion of text on transboundary climate risks in the decision text of AMCEN 2023, a major meeting of African environment ministers.

We have worked closely with Climate Bonds Initiative and auctusESG to increase attention to sustainable and transition finance within the finance track of the Indian G20 Presidency. We provided evidence and recommendations to inform the G20 Technical Assistance Action Plan (TAAP) to build capacity for sustainable finance tailored to local needs. Our partners conducted bilateral meetings with the G20 team at the Ministry of Finance throughout 2023, presenting our joint analysis and seeking further guidance from the Ministry. Our consortium ultimately co-authored a G20 paper published under the Ministry of Finance brand and organised four public (virtual) events on financing climate action oriented towards the G20. We published a suite of policy briefs highlighting key opportunities to scale sustainable finance in national development banks, multilateral development banks and via the G20 itself. The G20 TAAP was endorsed in the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration and the Communique from the Fourth G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting.

Our partnership with Climate Bonds Initiative and auctusESG was originally formed to examine options for climate-related financial risk management in India. Over three years, we have produced cutting edge analysis on both the exposure to low-carbon transition risks, which has been scrutinised closely by the Reserve Bank of India, and the preparedness of finance professionals in the face of those risks, which has informed training sessions for credit and risk officers in 12 of India's largest financial institutions. Our efforts contributed to the introduction of draft guidelines for climate-related financial risks by the Reserve Bank in early 2024.

Policy work on the performance and replicability of Just Energy Transitions Partnerships (JETPs) has continued, including the development of case studies and a paper reviewing how private capital can be mobilised to contribute to the energy transition through country platforms. This work is expected to inform implementation roadmaps for the G20 International Financial Architecture Working Group.

The gender dimensions of a just climate transition have featured particularly strongly in our research and advisory work this year, including support for the International Rice Research Institute to develop a

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gender-inclusive, climate-resilient water management strategy and helping to frame debates in key policy fora including Adaptation Futures in Montreal. Our growing work on questions relating to a gender-just green economy saw us engage in high-profile conversations with leading policy makers at a Wilton Park dialogue on Building Women’s Economic Empowerment into Climate Transitions. ODI significantly contributed to the conversation, with key takeaways from the conference emphasising the need to transform gender norms and the care economy to overcome barriers to a gender-just green transition.

Fostering a more equitable and sustainable global economic order

Our work around global and regional trade has advanced significantly with support for the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), for instance informing negotiations on key areas including investment and implementation, as well as more targeted support for the group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) at the multilateral level and within different forums (e.g. the UN and WTO). We convened a series of meetings on digital trade and the role of the AfCFTA with the World Bank, the IMF, TradeMark Africa (TMA), the European Commission and other partners. Furthermore, we brought AfCFTA officials to the country level which has led to tangible impacts in the formation and operationalisation of national implementation committees. And finally, we have been at the forefront of development of the AfCFTA Protocol on Investment, which recognises the contribution of investment to sustainable development.

We have begun working with the South African government ahead of their upcoming G20 presidency in 2025 across international economic issues as well as specifically on the trade-climate-development nexus, as well as feeding into trade discussions between Mercosur and the EU. We have undertaken studies on the impacts of different types of EU green trade measures for Mercosur members. Our work on largescale illegal fishing, commissioned by UNDP, quantifies the impact of distant-water fishing, accompanied by a ‘toolkit’ of resources including a data repository of maps of fishing vessels, and tailored policy advice for each country. We have also explored how the development of the blue economy for African coastal and island states can be harnessed both through the implementation of the existing protocols of the AfCFTA, as well as consideration of new instruments.

We are a prominent voice in the debate on the implications of new green trade and other measures for producing countries (the so-called ‘green squeeze’): our work has been quoted in the media, including the Financial Times , and was the subject of meetings including with the APPG on trade out of poverty. At the first trade day at COP28, we convened a high-level panel discussion opened by the WTO Deputy Director General, including ministers from Finland, The Gambia and the High Representative for the LDCs, landlocked developing countries and Small Island Developing States, to shift current dynamics towards more of a ‘green seize’ of new market opportunities arising from the shift to low carbon supply chains. With our partners, the Nelson Mandela School of Government at the University of Cape Town, we supported the Secretary General of AfCFTA with analytical inputs on green trade issues ahead of COP28. We also provided analytical inputs to support the development of the Villars Framework, Remaking Global Trade for a Sustainable Future. With partners, we launched the Villars framework in the UK. Our work on trade and climate regimes in the EU and US is being noticed by relevant officials and the media. In line with our longstanding expertise on aid for trade, we provided analytical inputs and provided dedicated support to the taskforce established to determine the future provision of multilateral aid for trade to LDCs. The capacity of governments, including fiscal, is crucial for resilient, inclusive development. In this

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regard, we have continued our work on strengthening tax policy unit capacity in selected countries and the use of evidence in shaping fiscal policies via the FCDO flagship programme Tax Dev, whose third phase was launched with ODI and IFS this year.

We continued to provide support to governments in managing public finances through the newly launched Digital Public Finance Hub. We launched a monthly round-up newsletter; participated in a conference on Advancing Digital Change through Public Financial Management (“PFM”) in Pristina; presented our research on digital PFM to the Accountant General of Malaysia and their team at Chartered Accountants Hall as part of their UK Study Tour organised by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA); and participated on the international panel at Public Finance Live 2023. New engagements began with the Rwanda Revenue Authority and the Uganda Ministry of ICT to support their data governance strategies. The Hub also held a webinar on agile procurement and digital transformation and began a six-month research and thought leadership partnership with Visa Government Solutions on public sector digital strategies. In February, as the G20 presidency passed from India to Brazil, we held a closed-door roundtable with experts, academics and practitioners on DPI, reflecting on India’s experience and looking forward to the DPI agenda in the early stages of Brazil’s tenure. The demand for our work on economic transformation and job creation has increased again recently. We are providing support on economic transformation for the Tanzanian leadership at the highest levels, including for the development of a future vision for the country. We have also begun to explore how Sri Lanka can move from indebtedness to transformative growth. We have continued to advise donors including SIDA, DEG and TMA on job creation, and ODI and Tony Blair Institute (TBI) launched a report on job creation in the fourth industrial revolution.

Building on the need for a more transformative and inclusive approach to the economy, a flagship Advancing Learning and Innovation on Gender Norms (“ALIGN”) report unpacked the impact of gender norms on women’s economic rights and empowerment, and was launched at our policy-influencing event in Brussels with ODI Europe and UN Women ahead of 68th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68). The report was much welcomed, and the event attracted high-profile speakers.

ODI also hosted an “ODI Day” on the sidelines of the World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings in April 2024, where we featured ODI’s research and convened stakeholders on issues including carbon border adjustment mechanisms, digital public finance, resilience of Small Island Developing States, development finance reform, and climate country platforms.

Advancing human rights, addressing conflict and promoting peace

We continue to deliver strongly on this portfolio of work. We organised several roundtables and public events on different dimensions of the Ukraine conflict, including a side event during the Ukraine reconstruction conference in London in June, bringing together representatives from the international legal community, private equity, banking and investment. This builds on impactful work exploring how ethics, politics and narratives of the Ukraine conflict underpin conflict and humanitarian aid strategies, work which has had significant impact on the role of the Red Cross and has been featured heavily in the media. ODI presented opening remarks at the Humanitarian Congress in Berlin and at the International Museum of the Red Cross in Geneva.

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Our new stream of work on Feminist Foreign Policy addresses the need for an alternative framework for promoting just, inclusive and peaceful international relations. This year we focused on organising a series of roundtables and high-impact policy papers under the banner of ‘Where next for feminist foreign policy?’, generating traction with key organisations and FFP governments to raise ODI’s profile as a trusted advisor in this area. For example, the impact has included being asked to provide an in-person briefing to Scotland’s Minister for International Development and relevant advisors. Alongside this, our research on rollbacks on human rights norms has gained international attention with governments and led to a series of speaking invitations to present our findings to influential actors and funders including SheDecides, UN Women, Irish Aid and the IDRC.

Other high-profile work in this area included research with the Organization for Policy Research and Development Studies (DROPS) documenting the severe erosion of women’s and girls’ rights under the Taliban in Afghanistan, with launch events in London, at CSW68 with the UAE Mission, UK FCDO, and UN Women in New York, and the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington.

Specifically, ODI played a powerful role during the year in galvanising attention to the growing anti-gender backlash. We hosted a high-profile thematic session at the Shaping Feminist Foreign Policy conference hosted by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague in November, which also saw the launch of our first publication on this theme, ‘Where next for feminist foreign policy on countering the anti-gender backlash?’. In December we hosted an invite-only launch event in Brussels, with high-profile speakers. A series of subsequent blogs and insight pieces have expanded our analysis on these issues, alongside an ALIGN framing paper exploring the factors fuelling the anti-feminist (and anti-democratic) agenda, launched at Women Deliver. We also convened a roundtable on Philanthropy for Gender Justice involving several high-profile speakers and CEOs of relevant foundations to explore how to build collective action among philanthropies to help counter anti-rights movements.

Following the escalation of violence in the conflict between Israel and Hamas in October, we issued an organisational statement condemning the targeting of civilians and calling for a ceasefire; published a multi-authored blog on the humanitarian implications of the crisis, and the impact of South-South solidarity; convened a series of events on the politics of narrative in the conflict, beginning in January 2024, with support from Ireland as our strategic partner; and launched a podcast series.

We have reinforced our position as a leading voice around the conflict in Sudan – countering international neglect of that conflict – by organising four public events and two private roundtables, producing a podcast with leading Sudanese voices and Sudan experts and publishing a special issue of Disasters journal. We also recorded a podcast on the crisis following Azerbaijan’s offensive against the ethnic Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh. In all our engagements on these issues our positions have been anchored in a human rights perspective and we have championed the voices of local peacebuilders and humanitarian respondents, as part of our broader work on the localisation and decolonisation agendas.

Our engagement on the crises in Gaza and Sudan led to invitations to present at or moderate high-level events, including the Countering Violent Conflict and Polarisation Conference, organised in Belfast by the Social Change Initiative; a moderated panel with Humanity United, Rockefeller Brothers Fund and FCDO on ‘Funding in the Face of Conflict: Incipient & Open Violence’; engagement with former Irish President

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and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and The Elders on reform of the UN peacebuilding architecture; and dialogues on international action to support peace in the Horn of Africa as part of the Irish Aid strategic partnership on peacebuilding, digitalisation and ‘the nexus’. We have secured additional funds for increased work on the Horn of Africa and on digital challenges in situations of conflict and fragility.

Policy work in this area has focused on communities’ influence over armed actors, and the potential of humanitarian mediation for reducing violence risks. This high-profile work has had significant traction on the humanitarian sector’s approach to protecting civilians in conflict, with a view to developing better ways to support local communities’ efforts to reduce their exposure to violence. A high-level donor meeting at the European Humanitarian Forum focused on ODI’s protection recommendations; we contributed to Switzerland’s options to strengthen a whole of government approach to protection; influenced content of the next edition of the Professional Standards for Protection Workers; and informed the Global Protection Cluster’s strategic priority for 2024–2026 on proactive protection. The Canadian Mission in Geneva launched our work on sexual and reproductive health in humanitarian contexts.

We have reinforced our position as a key source of evidence and policy research on migration and displacement. ODI’s work on financing to Refugee-led Organisations (RLOs) featured prominently at the Global Refugee Forum (GRF) in Geneva, with high level events involving refugee representatives and officials from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the EU, Netherlands and Belgium. ODI’s work was picked up widely by the media and 12 of ODI’s recommendations were incorporated into the final draft of two mega-pledges at the GRF.

At the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), we convened a high-level discussion on government partnerships for diaspora engagement, and presented ODI research on the social protection rights of migrant workers in the GCC at a high-level GFMD panel, led by the GCC Labour and Social Affairs Ministers’ Executive Bureau, part of a three-year collaboration with ILO that has led to changes in the discourse and policies on social protection for migrants in the Gulf.

The MIGNEX project produced reports analysing the complex determinants of migration and its development impacts across 25 local areas in Africa, South Asia and the Middle East, drawing on a survey of more than 13,000 young adults. MIGNEX materials were used extensively as part of a three-day PhD course in Survey Methods for Migration Research in October. Our project on South-South migration is coming to a close, with the focus now moving to policy engagement. The Policy Symposium on Migration and Inequality in the Global South at the Palais des Nations in Geneva saw the launch of a policy report by UNRISD, including chapters based on ODI’s research. Our work on immigration and workforce development in the construction sector, in collaboration with Green Alliance, fed into a roundtable with the private sector, government and migration community, and recommendations have informed the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNEZ) consultations for the UK green jobs plan.

Digitalisation

Over the year ODI continued to raise the profile and increase recognition of our expertise in digitalisation in politics and society, a cross-cutting theme across all ODI’s work: an internal working group on AI research and policy meets regularly to discuss work on and with AI across ODI. We chaired sessions on digital public infrastructure and on the implications of AI, the T20 Taskforce on Our Common Digital Future

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and the Development Working Group side event on Women and Development in Mumbai and Goa in May. We participated in RightsCon in Costa Rica in June, after which a senior policy lead in Google’s product team arranged a meeting with our digital and humanitarian policy experts. We presented work on digitalisation and monitoring in the humanitarian sector at the Copenhagen Business School, which led to an invitation to be part of a special issue of the journal Big Data and Society, and presented at the ‘Data, Power and Agency’ conference hosted by the Red Cross Museum in Geneva in January, highlighting ODI’s ‘digital divides’ and inclusion work.

We won new work with Internews on climate misinformation, with a focus on Iraq and Zimbabwe, and were part of a proposal led by the SOAS Centre for AI Futures to the Internet Society on early adopters of generative AI in the Global South. ODI Europe successfully applied to be a pioneer member of the EU’s ‘Digital 4 Development Hub’, a strategic multi-stakeholder platform fostering digital cooperation with global partners, and we secured funding from the Mercator Foundation via European Think Tanks Group (“ETTG”) to run a major event in Africa next year on mis-/disinformation around elections through the Africa-Europe Partnership. The Kenyan Ambassador to the EU co-authored a blog with ODI on global AI governance.

Considering the impact social media is having on toxifying the debate around gender equality, ALIGN launched new research and policy recommendations exploring the influence of digital platforms on masculinity and gender equitable norms, which was presented at the Governing Masculinities Conference.

Decolonising ODI’s research and policy work

The main step taken during the year to advance ODI’s decolonisation strategic objective was the adoption of an approach paper for decolonised partnerships (“Towards Just and Equitable Partnership”), discussed above. The paper sets out core principles for such partnerships – namely, reciprocal respect, mutual trust, transparency and accountability, equal ownership – and an implementation plan for mainstreaming decolonised approaches across all functions of ODI, not limited to research.

In addition to this work, ODI has updated and expanded its five-year strategy to better reflect the objectives of decolonisation. It does so in various ways, including recognising that multilateral cooperation must be revitalised and reset in ways that reflect a new multipolar world in which political and economic power shifting towards the Global South, whilst keeping human rights and justice at the centre; embracing the principle of climate and environmental justice for all; focusing attention on the need to tackle the structural determinants of inequality, including racial inequality and inequalities underpinned by the legacies of colonialism; and bringing a political economy lens to aid understanding of global power reconfigurations and the new transnational dimensions of conflict and fragility.

Public Affairs and Communications

We have continued to strengthen our convening agenda, building on our successes re-establishing inperson events following the pandemic. Over the past year our events have attracted high level speakers and guests, including Minouche Shafik, Nick Stern, Erna Solberg, Odile Renaud-Basso, Masatsugu Asakawa, Emma Dabiri, Adam Tooze, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Hassan Akkad, Amy Pope, Mark Malloch-Brown, Tirana Hassan, David Cameron, Albin Kurti, Afua Hirsch, Nadia Fettah Alaoui, Vera Songwe, Helen Clark, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Lisa Nandy. We expanded our events partnerships, working in collaboration with organisations such as the World Economic Forum, London School of

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Economics, and Mastercard, and experimented with new events formats and venues, including film screenings at Shoreditch Arts Club and Rich Mix to broaden our audience.

Meanwhile, the Think Change podcast series launched in 2022 has enabled us to respond quickly to the news agenda or highlight underreported issues of relevance to ODI’s priorities with high profile guests. Over the past year we have featured Ken Roth, Francesca Albanese, Ian Bremmer, Arancha González Laya, Rania Al-Mashat, Rachel Kyte, Macharia Kamau, Robert Mardini, Zoe Gardner, Grace Forrest, and Gaia Vince among other experts and commentators.

List of ODI Global events 2023 – 2024
April 2023
04 April 2023
05 April 2023
27 April 2023		 Can social media reshape gender norms
around women's economic rights?
Sorting out subsidies: navigating fiscal reform
for economic, social and environmental
transformation
Beyond States: the story behind the Global
Compact for Migration
May 2023
02 May 2023
03 May 2023
18 May 2023
30 May 2023		 From El-Fasher to Khartoum: The fallout from
20 years of conflict in Darfur
Putting the Glasgow Climate Pact into action:
accounting for vulnerability
Symposium and evening event: Multilateral
development banks in the 21st century
Multilateral development banks as catalysts
for private sector mobilisation: in conversation
with EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso
June 2023
08 June 2023
15 June 2023
19 June 2023		 G20 Virtual Roundtable: Regulators’
Perspectives on Climate Risks and Sustainable
Finance in Emerging Economies
What role for aid in countries with and
without a development bargain?
Nature-based green infrastructure: African
experience and potential
Managing the geopolitical risks of Ukraine’s
reconstruction: unlocking financial diplomacy

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20 June 2023
22 June 2023
26 June 2023
29 June 2023		 Multilateral development bank reform in a
climate-changed world: a panel discussion
with ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa
ODI in conversation with Emma Dabiri: can
coalitions counter the anti-feminist backlash?
Extending social protection to migrant workers
in Gulf countries: state of play and next steps
for reform
Income inequality, gender and the role of tax
and transfers
July 2023
20 July 2023
25 July 2023		 Three months into Sudan’s conflict:
humanitarian leaders on the violence, the
humanitarian response and the future
BudgetByte #1: can standards for fiscal data
exchange support better service delivery?
September 2023
14 September 2023
15 September 2023
19 September 2023
20 September 2023
21 September 2023
26 September 2023		 Kicking away the ladder or building new
scaffolding? Green trade measures and their
development implications– a focus on the
textiles and clothing global value chain
Partnerships for sustainable industrialisation
in Africa: lessons from the operationalisation
of the AfCFTA in Least Developed Countries
Reimagining Gender, Peace and Security:
Unveiling the untold story of women’s mental
health in post-conflict environments
The Justice Considerations of Just Energy
Transitions Partnerships (JETPs)
**CGF-ODI Conference 2023
October 2023
03 October 2023
05 October 2023		 The unintended effects of foreign aid: Should
donors avoid, accept or act on them?
Where to next on migration for southern
Europe? Analysing trends in narratives and
policies

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11 October 2023
13 October 2023
23 October 2023
25 October 2023
26 October 2023		 Looking back, looking forward: Global South
perspectives on the BRI
How can MDBs be more responsive to
borrower clients and citizens? Improving the
operational model
The critical minerals race to net zero
Maximising the developmental value of MDB
callable capital
Resilience-building in Africa: navigating shocks
and policy implications
Navigating fragility: the new multilateral
agenda
Strengthening MDBs: the triple agenda
Diverse pathways to people-centred justice
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Engages in
Discussion on‘Unleashing the Power of
Human Capital’ at ODI
Stepping out of the shadows: why it is time to
recognise and empower National
Development Banks in the G20 and beyond to
support the Green Transition
BudgetByte #2: can agile procurement and
digital transformation improve spending
outcomes?
November 2023
16 November 2023
23 November 2023
23 November 2023
28 November 2023
30 November 2023		 Sudan’s humanitarian crisis slips further from
sight
Avoiding a“green squeeze” and advancing
new trade opportunities for LDCs
The Beauty of Movement: arts and research
for new migration narratives
Africa’s green trade opportunities: policy
insights for aligning trade and climate action
Social protection in the Gulf countries: what
rights can migrant workers access?
Climate Blueprint: Dominica– London
Premiere at Rich Mix
December 2023

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|03 December 2023
04 December 2023
06 December 2023
07 December 2023
11 December 2023|COP28 side event | Enabling a“green seize” of
new trade opportunities for LDCs: learning
from the Covid-19 response to address the
climate emergency
Climate Blueprint: Dominica | Island of Hope
screening at COP28
Where next for feminist foreign policy on
countering backlash from Europe?
The humanitarian implications of a backlash
on rights
How does the political economy of countries
in Southeast Asia make migrants vulnerable to
human trafficking?| |---|---| |January 2024|| ||| |11 January 2024
17 January 2024
18 January 2024
23 January 2024
30 January 2024|Gaza | The politics of narrative
Building capacities to tackle climate-related
risks and opportunities in India’s financial
sectors: developing on the ambitions of the
G20 and COP28
Leading through crisis: what works and what
doesn’t
Matching finance to need
Middle Corridor: what are the economic
opportunities and challenges?
BudgetByte #3: Can governments make digital
payments to citizens‘smarter’?
Breaking down barriers to women’s political
power: an era-defining election year| |February 2024|| ||| |07 February 2024
08 February 2024
12 February 2024
21 February 2024|From evidence to action: understanding
climate mobility
Overcoming inertia: Myanmar, Syria, Somalia
and neglected crises
Harnessing the blue economy for African
coastal states through the AfCFTA
People power? Lessons from civic campaigns
for tax reform and their role in creating fairer
societies|

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22 February 2024
27 February 2024
28 February 2024		 Living under the Taliban: gender, insecurity
and child marriage in Afghanistan
ODI in conversation with Lisa Nandy MP
Localising aid: why aren’t we there yet?
March 2024
04 March 2024
06 March 2024
07 March 2024
14 March 2024
15 March 2024
18 March 2024		 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Future
Forum 2024
Sounding the alarm on Sudan’s hunger crisis
Community engagement with armed actors:
implications for proactive protection and
violence reduction
CSW68: which policies can unlock women's
economic rights and empowerment?
Towards Sustainable Fuel Subsidy Reform in
Nigeria
ODI Fellowship Scheme introductory webinar
2024– 1
Emerging Economies Climate Report 2023
Launch event
ODI Fellowship Scheme introductory webinar
2024– 2

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Plans for future periods

In 2024-25 we will continue to bring together our strengths and competencies across programmes to deliver on the strategy. To this end we have designed cross-programme KPIs that will define the results we expect to achieve. Each KPI speaks to more than one global challenge area and involves activities undertaken by different programme workstreams. The relationship between KPIs and the ODI global challenge areas is further discussed above (section “Strategy and KPIs”), as is the qualitative approach to monitoring and assessing performance against these KPIs:

With a view to these KPIs, ODI will aim for five types of outcomes through research, advice, partnerships, convenings, communication and public engagement:

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Financial review and operational performance

Financial performance and position

During the year ending 31 March 2024, ODI received income of £29.9 million (2023: £27.9 million), an impressive increase of 7% in a challenging environment. ODI incurred expenditure of £31.2 million (2023: £27.1 million), and there were realised and unrealised investment gains of £217k. The majority (88%) of ODI’s income is generated from charitable research and the Fellowship scheme, with a further 11% contributed by ODI’s trading subsidiary ODI Global Advisory. A small amount of income is generated from investments, as well as the hire of our venue and audio-visual services.

ODI‘s financial position for the year ending 31 March 2024 is net assets of £10.4 million (2023: £11.4 million). Unrestricted funds have increased to £4.9 million following an unrestricted surplus of £1.3m (2023: £18k deficit). While the release of the remaining provision relating to the pension deficit contributed significantly to the unrestricted surplus, the programmes delivered an operating surplus of £320k. ODI had a strong year for fundraising which reflects the strong capacity and focus of the programme teams, as well as adequate resources to deliver as reported by ODI’s internal auditors during the year.

ODI made an additional pay award to staff during 2023-24 totalling £235k, as well as a 6% pay award effective just after the year end on 1 April 2024. ODI launched a new finance and project management system in November 2023 which was delivered on time and within budget.

In line with ODI’s 2021-2025 Strategy, fundraising efforts increasingly targeted strategic partnerships with more flexibility and closer alignment. There are several multiyear strategic grants in the pipeline Continuous improvement in operations remains a focus, and the implementation of the new finance and project management system has enabled business processes to further streamline. The lease on the current office in Blackfriars, London ends in July 2025 and a market review is underway to identify potential new offices.

Reserves policy

The Trustees have established a risk-based reserves policy, which sets reserves based on an assessment of ODI’s financial risks related to its programmes, projects, and fundraising efforts.

The Trustees regularly evaluate the level of reserves, using Charity Commission guidance. The most recent review was in June 2024. The policy contains a detailed assessment of the various risks faced by ODI, including income risk, pension affordability, reliance on key donors and delivery risk. The trustees have estimated that free reserves, defined as unrestricted funds less those designated or represented by fixed assets should be in the region of £3.5m to £5.5m. Our general reserves as of 31 March 2024 were £4.8 million, within the range of the target.

Investment policy

ODI’s investments are managed by Meridiem Investment Management (previously Veritas Investment Limited). Funds are held in a variety of market investments and are being managed in accordance with the risk, liquidity and ethical requirements of ODI. As of 31 March 2024, the investment portfolio was

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valued at £2.6 million (2023: £2.4 million). Investment performance is regularly reviewed by the Trustees against a benchmark of CPI +3%. The Investment Managers have achieved this benchmark, and the trustees are satisfied with the investment performance. Further details of the investments can be found in note 13 to the financial statements.

Approach to fundraising

The charity is aware of the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016 and the Trustees support the aims of this legislation. Most of the charity’s income comes from other charitable and statutory bodies. The charity undertakes very little direct fundraising activity involving individual donors. The charity verifies the origin of unsolicited donations and legacies. The charity does not share with or purchase any donor data from third parties. In 2023-24 the charity did not engage with independent professional fundraisers and did not receive any complaints in relation to fundraising or raise any matter with regulators.

Principal risks and uncertainties

ODI maintains a risk register for the main charity and its trading subsidiary. Each risk and its mitigating action are owned by a member of the Senior Leadership team, who discuss risk regularly at their weekly meetings. A Risk Steering Group with cross-organisation membership convenes regularly to discuss existing and new risks. The Trustees review the risk register annually. This process is supported by the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee, which assesses risk at its quarterly meetings. The Trustees consider the key risks facing ODI are:

There is a risk of low staff retention linked to well-being, workload, and organisational culture. Morale is also adversely affected by the cost-of-living crisis and inflation. To mitigate these risks the Human Resource function has completed the 2021 and 2022 Staff Survey, the 2024 Pulse Survey, and a 2024 HR Functional Effectiveness Review. The findings revealed critical areas for improvement, many of which focused on addressing the risk factors outlined. To address these issues, a comprehensive People and Culture five-year strategic plan has been initiated.

Regarding cultural issues, the organisation is refreshing its values and providing all staff with training on the new values. In terms of career development opportunities, the organisation is undertaking a review of learning and development; as part of this, there will be a new policy process and learning management system to address this issue.

Regarding wellbeing and work-life balance, the HR function is leading an initiative to develop a comprehensive approach to wellbeing at ODI, including improving workload management and management practices and using our flexible work policies.

Finally, in terms of pay, ODI undertook an extensive remuneration review and benchmarking exercise during the year. Following discussions with Finance, Risk and Audit (“FRAC”), Personnel,

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Remuneration and Organisational Development (“PROC”) and the board the organisation decided to pay all staff a 6% increase from 1 April 2024. HR is now facilitating several workshops with trade union representatives to revise the pay policy to review the link between pay and performance.

• Affiliate entities

During the year ODI registered ODI North America (later changed to ODI Global Washington, a 501(c)3 tax-exempt entity in Delaware. Alongside ODI Europe which was incorporated as an international non-profit organisation in Belgium in 2021, the entities are referred to as affiliate entities. While they are independent entities with a board of directors, they share the mission and aims of ODI. There are a number of risks associated with establishing affiliate entities in different jurisdictions.

Risk mitigation in place includes a head of terms agreement, to be later replaced with an Affiliate Agreement to cover a number of areas including (i) Ownership of Intellectual Property, (ii) Service Provision and Resource Sharing, (iii) Governance and Decision-Making, (iv) Confidentiality and Data Protection, (v) Risk Management and Liability, (vi) Performance Monitoring and Reporting and (vii) Compliance with Laws and Regulations.

• Cyber security

Cyber security remains a high priority. ODI has achieved the more rigorous Cyber Essentials Plus Certification, and we have enforced multi-factor authentication. Penetration testing is done annually through the University of Wales Trinity St David School of Applied Computing. Cyber security development is reported to the FRAC on a regular basis. Additional monitoring systems are being implemented this year to detect vulnerabilities as they happen. This includes regular patching of all systems across the network.

The strategic report was approved by the trustees of the Charity on 30 September 2024 and signed on its behalf by Sir Suma Chakrabarti.

Structure, governance and management

Group constitution

ODI was founded in 1960 and is a company limited by guarantee (00661818) registered as a charity (228248). The Charity has a wholly owned trading subsidiary, ODI Global Advisory Limited (0715705). Both the Charity and the trading subsidiary have a Memorandum and Articles of Association.

Other connected entities

ODI Europe is an International Non-Profit Association (“INPA”) registered in Brussels, Belgium (Enterprise Number: 0766.908.427). INPAs are structured with two bodies: the General Assembly and Board of Directors. ODI Europe is governed by Articles of Association.

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ODI Global Washington is a 501(c)(3) public charity, and the tax-exempt application is pending (EIN 933388787). ODI Global Washington is governed by a set of bylaws. ODI Global Washington is an independent entity with shared aims and objectives with ODI.

ODI Europe and ODI Global Washington are both independent entities. The aims and objectives of both entities are aligned with those of ODI.

The Board of Trustees

ODI is governed by a Board of up to 12 Trustees. The overarching purpose of the Board is to maintain the values of the organisation and to set the overall strategy and direction. The Board meets quarterly, monitors the performance and management of the organisation and appoints the Chief Executive. The Chair of the Board is Sir Suma Chakrabarti.

Trustee recruitment and training

Under the ODI Articles of Association, Trustees can serve three terms of three years each and can be reappointed to a fourth term under exceptional circumstances having regard to their special skillset and/or knowledge. In practice, Trustees can expect to serve two terms which can then be extended depending on the current composition, balance of skills and consideration of succession. ODI aims to maintain a balance among Trustees to include research, academic, business and political expertise and knowledge, as well as diversity. Trustees are both Charity Trustees and Directors under company law. To maintain an effective Board with the appropriate skills and experience, the Board undertakes an annual review of its composition. At present the Board has 11 Trustees and trustee succession planning this year is underway to ensure continuing support of the leadership aims and governance of ODI.

The Board remains committed to compliance with the Charity Governance Code. Following the annual self-assessment late 2022 against the seven principles of the code, the Board agreed several changes to its recruitment processes and ways of working. The Board has since undertaken annual self-assessments of its effectiveness reflecting on its remit, widening its focus from trustee recruitment to enhancing the efficacy and governance of the board. The Board held its Annual Away day in May 2024 which addressed the Board and governance committees’ priorities and Chair’s evaluation.

The Board is committed to compliance with the Charity Governance Code and undertakes annual selfassessments and triennial external reviews to monitor its performance against the seven principles of the Code. The Board commissioned an external effectiveness review, the final report and recommendations were presented to the ODI Board in July 2024.

Board Committees

The Board of Trustees has three committees that report to it, all of which have written terms of reference. The committees form an integral part of the governance of the charity overseeing the charity’s resources and providing expert recommendations to the Board of Trustees:

Finance Audit and Risk Committee (FRAC)

FRAC meets quarterly and oversees an ODI's financial reporting, internal controls, auditing processes, and risk management to ensure integrity, compliance, and effective risk mitigation.

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FRAC membership as of 31 March 2024: Sam Sharpe (Chair) Helen Alderson Marc Berryman Dominic McVey Rosita Najmi (independent member) Fiona Thompson

People, Remuneration and Organisational Development Committee (PROC)

PROC meets quarterly and oversees employee-related policies, remuneration, and organisational development to ensure effective human resource management and alignment with strategic goals.

PROC membership as of 31 March 2024:

Hannah Meadley Roberts (Chair) Eka Ikpe Sam Sharpe

Nominations and Board Effectiveness Committee (NBEC).

NBEC meets quarterly and is responsible for overseeing the selection and appointment of board and committee members and ensuring the board operates effectively through regular evaluations and development initiatives.

NBEC Membership as of 31 March 2024: Yves Daccord (Chair) Rachel Kyte Fiona Thompson

Attendance during the year at Board and Committee meetings is illustrated in the tables below.

ODI Board Meetings attendance:

Attendance key:

Y: Full attendance P>: Partial attendance. (>50% of meeting) N: No attendance P<: Partial attendance. (<50% of meeting) X: Not a member

MAY 23* JUL 23 OCT 23 DEC 23 MAR 24 MAY 24*
Trustees
Chakrabarti, Suma (Chair) Y Y Y Y Y Y
Alderson, Helen X X Y Y Y Y
Berryman, Marc N Y N P> Y N
Daccord, Yves Y N P> N Y Y
Devarajan, Shantayana Y Y X X X X
Ikpe, Eka X X Y Y Y Y

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Kyte, Rachel X Y Y Y Y Y
McVey, Dominic Y Y P< Y Y P>
Melrose, Dianna Y Y Y Y X X
Meadley-Roberts, Hannah Y Y P> P> Y N
Sharpe, Sam Y Y Y Y Y Y
Thompson, Fiona Y Y Y Y Y Y

* Annual Board Retreat

Finance, Risk, and Audit Committee attendance:

APR 23 JUL 23 SEPT 23 NOV 23 MAR 24
Members
Sharpe, Sam (Chair) Y Y Y Y Y
Alderson, Helen X X Y Y Y
Berryman, Marc Y N N Y N
McVey, Dominic N Y Y Y Y
Thompson, Fiona Y Y Y Y Y
Warren, Shiela N X X X X

People, Remuneration, and Organisational Development Committee attendance:

JUL 23 NOV 23 FEB 24 MAR 24
Members
Meadley-Roberts, Hannah (Chair) Y Y Y Y
Ikpe, Eka X Y Y Y
Melrose, Dianna Y N X X
Sharpe, Sam Y Y Y Y

Nominations and Board Effectiveness Committee attendance:

JUN 23 FEB 24 MAY 24
Members
Daccord, Yves (Chair) Y Y Y
Suma Chakrabarti Y Y X
Kyte, Rachel X X Y
Melrose, Dianna N X X
Thompson, Fiona Y Y Y

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Organisational structure and reporting

The Board of trustees sets strategic direction, ensures legal compliance, and oversees the charity's performance. The Board delegates certain areas of oversight to the Nominations and Board Effectiveness Committee; the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee and the People, Remuneration, and Organisational Development Committee.

Executive management is delegated to the Chief Executive and the Senior Leadership Team. The Senior Leadership Team is responsible for the day-to-day running of ODI, the implementation of policy and ensuring that goals and objectives are attained. The members of the Senior Leadership Team during the period were:

ere:
Chief Executive Sara Pantuliano
Deputy Chief Executive and
Managing Director Hans Peter Lankes (from 06 November 2023)
Managing Director Rathin Roy (until 30 November 2023)
Chief Finance and Operations Officer Amy Rodwell
Chief People Officer Chris Williams (until 30 April 2023)
Chief People Officer Michelle King (from 29 January 2024)

The Directors of Programmes and Heads of Department make up the Leadership Team (LT) and are a vital component of the organisation’s management framework. They are at the forefront of ODI’s mission and business and are responsible for much of the organisation’s direct fundraising, research and advisory support and line management of research staff.

Sustainability

ODI’s long-term direction is to lead new thinking and future agendas to deliver transformational change and create a global sense of resilient, just and equitable prosperity. This means that environmental stewardship must be integral to all our business practices, operations and activities. As part of our environmental sustainability strategy, we are committed to:

In our ongoing commitment to sustainability, we have observed notable changes in our environmental impact metrics. From January to May 2024, our recycling efforts resulted in 1570kg of materials being recycled, which is an average monthly recycling of 314kg. This is a slight increase in the monthly average recycling rate for the early part of 2024 compared to the 3360kg recycled between January-December 2023, which translates to an average of 280kg per month. This positive increase reflects our conscious effort to enhance our sustainability practices.

See further detail in our environmental and sustainability strategy.

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Setting remuneration

We undertake annual benchmarking against comparable organisations to ensure that ODI remains competitive. This exercise covers all staff, including executive remuneration, and is undertaken by Reward Connected. The results of the benchmarking are analysed alongside our internal operational performance to understand the remuneration options available. These form the basis of the recommendations discussed by SLT and the Board. Salaries for senior staff are then discussed at the PROC. Given the pay policy is under review four different options for providing a pay increase for all staff were presented to the board. ODI implemented a 6% increase to all employees’ basic salary effective from the 1st of April 2024. The pay increase was based on affordability coupled with ODI’s commitment to maintaining a competitive edge in the market, enhancing staff morale and productivity, and ensuring the sustainability of our organisation. Based on our financial stability and market comparisons, the proposed increase is justifiable and affordable. The award reinforces our commitment to staff well-being and organisational sustainability.

Disabled employees

We have policies and procedures to support the recruitment, retention, and employment of individuals with disabilities, ensuring full and fair consideration based on their skills and abilities. ODI engages with a third-party occupational health provider to guarantee that all employees have access to specialized advice and that management receives clear recommended adjustments with a people-focused approach. Whenever possible, we strive to maintain employment for those who become disabled, providing appropriate retraining arrangements as needed. Our ODI offices are fully accessible to all employees and visitors. We are committed to increasing our staff members who have declared a disability and providing relevant support. As of April 2024, 9 employees have disclosed a disability, up from the 1-3 employees in previous years.

Employee involvement

ODI places significant emphasis on its employees’ involvement in all levels of the organisation. Colleagues are kept informed of issues affecting the organisation through SLT’s weekly updates, as well as formal and informal meetings. Monthly staff meetings are held to discuss matters of current interest and concern. Additionally, staff feedback was extensively sought on operational and people issues facing the organisation, through a series of workshops held on the staff away day. Additionally, the human resource function has established several working groups with colleagues across ODI to revise the organisation’s values, develop a training programme for decolonisation and advance the organisation’s diversity and inclusion efforts. A staff engagement survey was undertaken, and an action plan developed, which is being implemented. This has underpinned the development of new policies and practices to facilitate cultural change, such as new values and behaviours, a new code of conduct and employee learning and development plan. Additionally, staff were surveyed on their perceptions of the human resource function and these findings informed the 2024 People and Culture Strategy.

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Members’ liability

The Members of the charitable company comprise the Trustees and in the event of the Charity being wound up, the current Trustees, and those who have left the Board in the previous year, are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1.

Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities in respect of the Trustees’ Annual Report and the Financial Statements

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards. Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year that give a true and fair view of the affairs of the group; the incoming resources and their application, including the income and expenditure of the group. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees have:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and the Group and for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Each of the Trustees confirms that: so far as they are aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the Charity’s auditor is unaware, and that they have taken all the steps that they ought to have taken as a Trustee to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the Charity’s auditor is aware of that information. This confirmation should be interpreted in accordance with the provisions of s418 of the Companies Act 2006.

The Trustees are also responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the Charity and financial information included on the ODI website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

The Trustees’ report has given a comprehensive account of how ODI used high-quality applied research, practical policy advice and policy-focused discussion and debate to promote poverty reduction, the alleviation of suffering and the achievement of sustainable livelihoods, in line with ODI’s 2021–25 strategy.

The Trustees’ Report was approved by the Trustees on 30 September 2024 and signed on their behalf by:

Sir Suma Chakrabarti, Chair

30

Reference and administration details

----- Start of picture text -----
ODI
Registered office 203 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8NJ
Website www.odi.org
Email odi@odi.org
Company registration 00661818 (England and Wales)
Charity registration 228248 (England and Wales)
Board of Trustees Sir Suma Chakrabarti (Chair)
Helen Alderson (appointed 01 August 2023)
Marc Berryman
Yves Daccord
Shantayanan Devarajan (retired 24 July 2023)
Eka Ikpe (appointed 01 August 2023)
Rachel Kyte (appointed 01 August 2023)
Dominic McVey
Hannah Meadley-Roberts
Dianna Melrose (retired 31 December 2023)
Jean-Michel Severino (appointed 31 March 2024)
Sam Sharpe
Fiona Thompson
Chief Executive Sara Pantuliano
Company Secretary Amy Rodwell
ODI Global Advisory Ltd
Registered office 203 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8NJ
Company registration 07157505 (England and Wales)
Board of Directors Per Heggenes (Chair) (appointed 01 January 2024)
Marc Berryman
Dominic McVey
Rosita Najmi (appointed 28 February 2024)
Sam Sharpe
Fiona Thompson
Company Secretary Amy Rodwell
Advisers
Haysmacintyre LLP
10 Queen Street Place
Auditors
London
EC4R 1AG
National Westminster Bank plc
Bankers Commercial Banking
3 [rd ] Floor
Cavell House
2a Charing Cross Road
London
WC2H 0NN
Meridiem Investment Management LLP
Investment managers Riverside House
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London
SE1 9HA
----- End of picture text -----

31

Independent auditors’ report to the members of ODI

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of ODI for the year ended 31 March 2024, which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, the Group and Charity Balance Sheets, the Consolidated Cash Flow Statements and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with 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 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.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant

32

doubt on the group's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Report of the Trustees. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the 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 the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements, or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement 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 misstatement 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:

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the group charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Report of the Trustees (which incorporates the strategic report and the directors’ report).

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

33

Responsibilities of trustees for the financial statements

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 29, 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 parent charitable 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 parent charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s 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 misstatement, 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. Misstatements 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.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

Based on our understanding of the group and the environment in which it operates, we identified that the principal risks of non- compliance with laws and regulations related to charity and company law applicable in England and Wales, and we considered the extent to which non-compliance might have a material effect on the financial statements. We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the preparation of the financial statements such as the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Act 2011 and consider other factors such as payroll tax.

34

We evaluated management’s incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements (including the risk of override of controls) and determined that the principal risks were related to the improper recognition of revenue and management bias in accounting estimates. Audit procedures performed by the engagement team included:

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or

regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located 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 Auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the

35

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.

Adam Halsey (Senior Statutory Auditor)

10 Queen Street Place

For and on behalf of Haysmacintyre LLP, Statutory Auditor London EC4R 1AG

Date: 2 October 2024

36

ODI Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (including income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31 March 2024

Unrestricted Unrestricted Restricted Total Unrestricted Restricted Total
funds funds 2024 funds funds 2023
Notes £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Income from
Charitable activities - Research and Fellowship scheme 2,535 23,737 26,272 1,463 20,519 21,982
Investments 64 - 64 48 - 48
Other trading activities 4 3,535 - 3,535 5,781 - 5,781
Other income 49 - 49 132 - 132
Total income 6,183 23,737 29,920 7,424 20,519 27,943
Expenditure on
Charitable activities - Research and Fellowship scheme 5 2,973 26,021 28,994 3,077 19,706 22,783
Other trading activities 8 3,333 - 3,333 4,501 - 4,501
Total expenditure before pension deficit revaluation 6,306 26,021 32,327 7,578 19,706 27,284
Movement in provisions 17 (1,174) - (1,174) (204) - (204)
Total expenditure 5,132 26,021 31,153 7,374 19,706 27,080
Net income before transfers and investment gains/(losses) 1,051 (2,284) (1,233) 50 813 863
Net realised and unrealised gains/(losses) on revaluation and disposal of investments 13 217 - 217 (68) - (68)
Net movement in funds 1,268 (2,284) (1,016) (18) 813 795
Total funds brought forward at 1 April 3,634 7,756 11,390 3,652 6,943 10,595
Total funds carried forward at 31 March 4,902 5,472 10,374 3,634 7,756 11,390

A separate statement of financial activities is not prepared by the Charity itself, following the exemption afforded by section 408 of the Companies Act 2006. In the year under review, the Charity made an unrestricted surplus of £1,268k (2023: deficit (18)k).

All of the results in the consolidated statement of financial activities are derived from continuing activities. The Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains or losses recognised during the year. The notes on pages 40 to 61 form part of these financial statements.

37

ODI
Balance Sheet Company number: 661818
For the year ended 31st March 2024 Charity Group Charity Group
2024 2024 2023 2023
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Notes
Fixed assets
Tangible assets 12 78 78 157 157
Investments 13 2,618 2,618 2,377 2,377
2,696 2,696 2,534 2,534
Current assets
Debtors 14 9,918 10,268 9,257 7,986
Short-term deposits 1,397 1,397 699 699
Cash at bank and in hand 1,237 1,819 3,061 5,467
12,552 13,484 13,017 14,152
Creditors
Amounts falling due within one year 15 (4,874) (5,806) (2,987) (4,122)
Net current assets 7,678 7,678 10,030 10,030
Amounts falling due in more than one year
Pension liability 17 - - (1,174) (1,174)
Total net assets 10,374 10,374 11,390 11,390
Represented by:
Unrestricted funds
Designated funds 18 78 78 157 157
General funds 4,824 4,824 3,477 3,477
4,902 4,902 3,634 3,634
Restricted funds 18 5,472 5,472 7,756 7,756
10,374 10,374 11,390 11,390

The notes on pages 40 to 61 form part of these financial statements. Approved by the Board of Trustees on 30 September 2024 and signed on their behalf by:

Sir Suma Chakrabarti, Chair 30 September 2024

38

ODI

Consolidated Cash flow statement

for the year ended 31 March 2024

Notes
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period
B
Notes to consolidated cash flow statement
Cash flows from operating activities:
Net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities
A
Cash flows from investing activities:
Dividends and interest from investments
Proceeds from sale of investments
Purchase of investments
Net cash provided by / (used in) investing activities		 (2,950)
(2,950)
2024
£'000
-
-
-
-		 (357)
2023
£'000
48
165
(501)
(288)
(645)
Analysis of changes in cash and cash equivalents
Short-term deposits (less than three months)
1,397
Cash at bank and in hand
1,819
Total cash and cash equivalents
3,216
At
31 Mar
2024
£'000
A. Reconciliation of net income / (expenditure) to net cash flow from operating activities
Net income / (expenditure) for the reporting period, adjusted for:
Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities
Depreciation
Dividends and Interest receivable
Investment management fees
(Increase)/decrease in debtors
Increase / (decrease) in creditors
Net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities		 Changes
in Year
698
(3,648)
(2,950)
(1,233)
78
(49)
25
(2,281)
510
(2,950)		 863
135
(48)
(24)
(329)
(954)
(357)
699
5,467
At
31 Mar
2023
£'000
6,166

39

ODI

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

1

Principal accounting policies

a. Basis of preparation – The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in notes to the accounts and comply with the Charities Act 2011 and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard (FRS 102) applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland. The Charity meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated below.

b. Preparation on a going concern basis – The Trustees consider there are no material uncertainties about the Charity's ability to continue as a going concern. The review of the financial position, reserve levels and future plans give the Trustees confidence that the charity remains a going concern. c. Basis of consolidation – These financial statements consolidate the results of the Charity and its wholly owned subsidiary, ODI Global Advisory Limited, on a line by line basis. A separate statement of financial activities is not prepared by the Charity itself, following the exemption afforded by section 408 of the Companies Act 2006. In the year under review, the Charity made an unrestricted surplus of £1,268k (2023: deficit of £(18)k). d. Income recognition – Income is recognised once the charity is legally entitled to the funds, when receipt is probable and when the amount receivable can be measured reliably. Income receivable under contract for services is recognised to the extent that the relevant work has been performed. Income received in advance of work performed is deferred and income that has been earned but not invoiced is accrued. Grants and donations given for specific purposes are credited to a restricted fund, against which expenditure for that purpose is charged. Expenditure includes direct staff costs, other direct cost and, by agreement with the funders, an allowance for overheads. Any residual amount remaining at year-end is carried forward as a restricted fund, in-line with the terms of the donor. Where a restricted grant requires that conditions are met before entitlement to the income passes, the funds are treated as a Performance Related Grant. In such instances income is recognised to the extent that ODI has entitlement. e. Investment income – Investment and other income is recognised on a receivable basis once the amounts can be reliably measured. This is normally upon the receipt of confirmation from the bank or investment broker. f. Expenditure – All expenditure is accounted for on an accrual basis. Resources expended on Charitable Activities comprises all expenditure directly relating to the objectives of the ODI and includes the cost of supporting charitable activities and projects. Wherever possible, costs are directly attributed to specific activities. Certain shared support costs which cannot be directly attributed are apportioned to charitable activities on the basis of staff employed in those activities. g. Tangible fixed assets & depreciation – All tangible fixed assets with a cost of more than £3,000 and with an expected useful life exceeding one year are capitalised. Tangible fixed assets are stated at costs less depreciation. Depreciation is provided using the straight-line method over the following estimated useful lives: · Leasehold improvements – over the remaining life of the lease · Furniture, fixtures and fittings – 5 years · Computer equipment – 3 years · Computer software – 3 years h. Investments – Investments in the form of listed investments are initially shown in the financial statements at market value. Movement in the market value of such investments are shown as unrealised gains or losses in the Statement of Financial Activities. Profits and losses on the realisation of investments are shown as realised gains and losses in the Statement of Financial Activities. The investment in the subsidiary undertaking, ODI Global Advisory Limited, is stated at cost. i. Cash and short-term deposits – Cash and short-term deposits include short-term, highly liquid assets. The Charity operates a corporate sweep where any excess cash on the sterling account at the end of each working day is transferred to a money market account (or deficiency in cash is transferred from a money market account). The balance on the money market account is classified as a short-term deposit. j. Creditors and provisions – Creditors are recognised where the Charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party, and the amount due can be measured or estimated reliably. Provisions are measured at the present value of the expenditures expected to be required to settle the obligation using a rate that reflects current market assessments of the time value of money and the risks specific to the obligation. The increase in the provision due to the passage of time is recognised as an interest expense. k. Fund accounting – Funds held by the charity are classified as one of: · Designated funds: These are unrestricted funds, which have been designated for specific purposes by the Trustees. · Unrestricted funds: Funds that can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives of the Charity. · Restricted funds: Funds that can only be used in accordance with the specific restriction imposed by funders. Such restrictions arise when specified by the funder or when funds are raised for a specific purpose. l. Foreign currencies – Assets and liabilities in foreign currencies are translated into sterling at the rates of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date. Transactions in foreign currencies are translated into sterling at the rate of exchange prevailing at the date of the transaction. Exchange differences are taken into account in arriving at the net movement in funds. m. Leased assets – Rentals applicable to operating leases where substantially all of the benefits and risks of ownership remain with the lessor are charged to the statement of financial activities on a straight-line basis over the lease term. n. Staff holiday accrual – A provision is maintained to cover the liability arising from holiday that staff accrue but have not taken at the year-end. This provision is calculated based on the value of the days carried forward, to the extent that it is approved within the Charity's staff policies. o. Pension costs – The two principal pension schemes for ODI’s staff are the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and Superannuation Arrangements of the University of London (SAUL). USS – With effect from 1 October 2016, USS changed from a defined benefit only pension scheme to a hybrid pension scheme, providing defined benefits (for all members), as well as defined contribution benefits. The assets of the scheme are held in a separate trusteeadministered fund. Because of the mutual nature of the scheme, the assets are not attributed to individual organisations and a scheme-wide contribution rate is set. ODI is therefore exposed to actuarial risks associated with other organisations’ employees and is unable to identify its share of the underlying assets and liabilities of the scheme on a consistent and reasonable basis. As required by Section 28 of FRS 102 “employee benefits”, ODI therefore accounts for the scheme as if it were a wholly defined contribution scheme. As a result, the amount charged to the Statement of Financial Activities represents the contribution payable to the scheme. From 2014 to 2023 ODI was making additional contributions towards a Recovery Plan, funding an overall deficit in the fund. ODI recognised a liability for contributions payable under that agreement (to the extent that they related to the deficit). Following the 2023 triennial valuation of the scheme, the Recovery Plan has been closed. SAUL – SAUL has both a defined benefit scheme and a defined contribution scheme which are both independently managed. For the defined benefit scheme, It is not possible to identify an individual employer’s share of the underlying assets and liabilities of SAUL. ODI accounts for its participation as if it were a defined contribution scheme and pension costs are based on the amounts actually paid in accordance with Section 28 of FRS 102. ODI is not expected to be liable to SAUL for any other current participating employer’s obligation under the Rules of SAUL, but in the event of an insolvency of any participating employer with SAUL, an amount of any pension shortfall in respect of that employer, may be spread across the remaining participating employers and reflected in the next actuarial valuation.

40

ODI Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

p. Redundancy and termination payments – Payments for redundancy and termination are made in compliance with statutory requirements and ODI policies. In exceptional circumstances, payments may be made in addition to the minimum statutory obligation. Any such payments would require approval either from the Senior Leadership Team or from the Trustees in compliance with statutory requirements and ODI policies.

2 Significant Judgements and Estimates

Preparation of the financial statements requires management to make significant judgements and estimates. Judgements and estimates have been made for the following items:

41

ODI Notes to the financial statements

for the year ended 31 March 2024

3 Income from research activities and the Fellowship scheme

Income for the year is broken down as follows:
Research grants & project income
Fellowship scheme
Group research grants, project income and fellowship scheme
ODI Global Advisory Limited research income
Charity research grants and project income		 2024
£'000
27,434
2,373
29,807
(3,535)
26,272		 2023
£'000
26,323
1,440
27,763
(5,781)
21,982

42

ODI Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

Income from research activities and the Fellowship scheme (continued)

Income from research activities and the Fellowship scheme (continued) Income from research activities and the Fellowship scheme (continued) Income from research activities and the Fellowship scheme (continued) Income from research activities and the Fellowship scheme (continued)
The following funders requested that their research grants be noted in the accounts. The amount may not be the same as recognised in the Statement
2024 2023
£ £
Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) - 170,250
(DFAT) Integrated Programme
British Red Cross Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) 5,000 5,000
Integrated Programme
Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Advancing Learning and Innovation on - 127,219
Development (DFATD) Gender Norms Project (ALIGN)
Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) 150,900 151,528
Development (DFATD) Integrated Programme
Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Norms Change for Gender & Social 609,383 424,278
Development (DFATD) Justice
Comic Relief ODI Fellowship Scheme 4,903 44,123
European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Active Learning Network for 85,724 88,013
Operations (ECHO) Accountability and Performance
(ALNAP)
UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office African Continental Free Trade Area 1,032,428 806,637
(FCDO) Support Programme (SITA Plus)
UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Gender and Adolescence: Global 1,976,002 -
(FCDO) Evidence (GAGE)
UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Migration for Development - 83,282
(FCDO)
UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office ODI Fellowship Scheme Accountable 1,661,634 531,129
(FCDO) Grant 2022-2025
UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Strengthening climate risk assessment 327,942 -
(FCDO) and enabling central bank
supervision in the Indian financial sector:
a partnership with frontrunning financial
institutions
UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Strengthening the relevance and role of 54,233 -
(FCDO) the Good Humanitarium Donorship
Initiative
UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Women’s influence and leadership: - 63,060
(FCDO) Integrating Women, Peace and Security
into wider peacebuilding engagement
UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Resilient Island Initiative 243,889 44,626
(FCDO)
FCDO India Afghanistan vulnerability study - 30,000
FCDO Uganda Strengthening Education Systems for - 301,544
Improved Learning Programme -
Technical Support to Intergovernmental
Fiscal Transfers (UgIFT)Activities Under
the Education Sector
Fondation Botnar Addressing the mental health needs of 125,000 -
adolescents in schools, in the community
and at institutional level in Tanzania and
Vietnam through the co-creation of
digital technologies
Fundación Real Instituto Elcano de Estudios Internacionales Report on EU-Latin America relations 7,340 -
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Prindex Burkina Faso - 13,039
Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
IKEA Foundation Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) 250,000 250,000
Integrated Programme
International Development Research Centre IDRC- Shaping macro-economy -
Ireland Department of Foreign Affairs ODI Strategic Patrnership 591,384 10,320
Ireland Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade GCRF South-South Migration, Inequality 84,229 234,202
and Development Hub
Ireland Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) 191,852 -
Integrated Programme
Ireland Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Active Learning Network for 128,405 -
Accountability and Performance
(ALNAP)
Ireland Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Longitudinl research evaluation on 390,361 301,011
Supporting Women and Girls in
Ethiopia's lowlands to realise their rights
International Labour Organization for the Arab States Extending Social Protection 67,472 134,243
Oxfam UK Collective and complementary - 56,801
humanitarian advocacy: enhancing
system-wide collective capacity for the
effective protection of civilians in armed
conflict
Oxfam UK Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) 7,500 7,500
Integrated Programme
Office for National Statistics ODI Fellowship Scheme 46,566 26,160
Peace Research Institute Oslo Aligning Migration Management and the - 761,271
Migration-Development Nexus
(MIGNEX)
Results for Development Research and Innovation and Hub on 623,490 316,745
Technology for Education (EdTech)
Patrick J.McGovern Foundation Accountabiltiy in the Humanitarian - 625,354
Sector
UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate - 83,704
Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Transitions (PACT): Green Recovery
Challenge Fund

43

ODI Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

2024 2023
£ £
Swedish International Development Cooperation Active Learning Network for - 395,608
Agency (Sida) Accountability and Performance
(ALNAP)
Swedish International Development Cooperation Budget Strengthening Initiative (BSI) 664,818 770,515
Agency (Sida) Liberia
Swedish International Development Cooperation Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) 182,350 200,944
Agency (Sida) Integrated Programme
Swedish International Development Cooperation Inclusive, Sustainable Economic - 401,425
Agency (Sida) Transformation: Creating an ODI Nexus
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation Active Learning Network for 50,000 70,000
(SDC) Accountability and Performance
(ALNAP)
Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Understanding a wider range of risks in - 56,000
data sharing: a political economy
analysis
The European Union/Stockholm Environment Institute Adaptations Without Borders 12,415 134,613
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Case studies on digital public finance 76,869 -
initiatives in Africa
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Country finance: Enabling better learning - 513,868
across three public finance issues
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation G20 and Brazil Presidency 78,474 -
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Impacts of CBAM/environment-related 72,738 -
trade measures on LDCs
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation International finance: To provide thought - 505,872
leadership and evidence on international
development finance
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation International Finance and Development 327,507 910,534
(reinvestment)
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Navigating Challenges to Fiscal Futures 658,861 1,182,681
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ODI Fellowship Scheme 39,532 -
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Operationalizing Article 2.1c to Scale 158,127 -
Adaptation Finance
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Supporting inclusive and sustainable 72,343 -
economic growth and transformation
The European Union Grant to Strengthen the Government of 171,191 -
Uganda's management and coordination
of the Discretionary Development
Equilization Grant (DDEG)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Belgium Active Learning Network for - 85,970
Accountability and Performance
(ALNAP)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Denmark Active Learning Network for 31,635 31,862
Accountability and Performance
(ALNAP)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Denmark Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) - 199,148
Integrated Programme
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Norway Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) 191,653 208,295
Integrated Programme
Trade Mark East Africa TMEA-ODI research partnership for a - 155,608
period of 2020-2023
UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Active Learning Network for 12,368 12,368
Accountability and Performance
(ALNAP)
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Active Learning Network for - 15,837
Accountability and Performance
(ALNAP)
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Learning Partnership - 66,097
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Vulnerability and Exclusion Assessment - 52,375
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa ODI Fellowship Scheme 62,745 60,178
(UNECA)
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Active Learning Network for 4,279 4,249
Accountability and Performance
(ALNAP)
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Active Learning Network for 11,000 11,000
Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) Accountability and Performance
(ALNAP)
United States Agency for International Development Strengthening humanitarian system 800,230 1,934,412
performance: promoting collective
learning and improved policy
andpractice in humanitarian action
United States Agency for International Development Promoting collective learning and 316,723 -
improved policy and practice in
humanitarian action
United States Agency for International Development Catalyzing Cohesive Action 640,359 74,427
United States Agency for International Development Global Executive Leadership Initiative – 2,114,260 307,894
Executive Leadership Program
University of Manchester African Cities Research Commission 77,650 154,336
University of Manchester Covid-19 Social Science Research - 46,644
Evidence Platform
University of Manchester Covid Collective Phase 2 - 5,400
World Food Programme Active Learning Network for 11,272 11,272
Accountability and Performance
(ALNAP)
World Food Programme Jobs 4 Youths Malawi 13,641 52,817
World Food Programme Social Protection Study - 103,517
World Food Programme Digital Transformation and Financial - 73,487
Inclusion in Asia and the Pacific
World Vision International Intergrating UPG with multisectoral - 59,426
interventions for sustained poverty
escapes
World Vision International Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) 8,068 7,615
Integrated Programme

44

ODI Notes to the financial statements

for the year ended 31 March 2024

4 Income from trading subsidiary

The Charity has a wholly owned subsidiary, ODI Global Advisory Limited, which is incorporated in the UK. It engages in activity that furthers the mission and objects of the Charity. A summary of the full trading result of the company is shown in note 8 to the accounts but a breakdown of the research income of ODI Global Advisory Limited is provided below:

but a breakdown of the research income of ODI Global Advisory Limited is provided below:
Research income
Publications income
Total research income from trading subsidiary		 2024
£'000
3,535
-
3,535		 2023
£'000
5,780
1
5,781

45

ODI Notes to the financial statements

for the year ended 31 March 2024

5 Expenditure

a) Research and dissemination
Direct project costs
Staff costs (note 9)
Temporary staff
Research fees payable to consultants and related costs
Knowledge exchange and dissemination
Travel
Other costs
Total charitable expenditure
28,994
6
Governance costs
7
Support costs
The above support costs are apportioned to charitable activities on the basis of the number of staff members employed
activity as follows:
Support costs allocation:
Research and dissemination of information
6,083
Fellowship activities and services
80
6,163
2024
£'000
2024
£'000
8,786
3
10,266
1,078
1,842
1,340
23,315
6,083
29,398
(3,316)
26,082
Support costs allocation (note 7)
Group research and Fellowship costs
ODI Global Advisory Limited research costs
Charity research and dissemination of information costs
b) Fellowship activities and services
Supplementation award costs
Staff costs (note 9)
Support costs allocation (note 7)
Other costs
693
141
80
1,998
2,912
Statutory audit
Non statutory audit
Internal audit
Legal fees
Other costs
44
59
11
54
58
226
Staff costs (note 9)
Staff overheads
Premises
Depreciation
Governance (note 6)
Other costs
3,152
383
1,082
118
226
1,202
6,163		 28,994
2024
£'000
2024
£'000
8,786
3
10,266
1,078
1,842
1,340
23,315
6,083
29,398
(3,316)
26,082
693
141
80
1,998
2,912
44
59
11
54
58
226
3,152
383
1,082
118
226
1,202		 2023
£'000
8,821
56
8,734
1,072
1,276
742
20,701
5,302
26,003
(4,493)
21,510
462
129
69
613
1,273
22,783
36
-
10
13
16
75
2023
£'000
2,882
427
869
136
75
983
6,163 5,372
by each
5,303
69
6,163 5,372

46

ODI Notes to the financial statements

for the year ended 31 March 2024

8 ODI Global Advisory Limited

ODI owns the entire called up share capital of ODI Global Advisory Limited, a trading company registered in England and Wales, Company Registration Number 7157505, incorporated on 15 February 2010. A summary of the trading results of ODI Global Advisory Limited for the year ended 31 March 2024 are given below. All taxable profits each year are distributed to the Charity.

2024 2023
£'000 £'000
Income 3,562 5,901
Cost of sales ( 3,316) ( 4,493)
Gross profit 246 1,408
Administrative expenses ( 17) ( 8)
Operating profit 229 1,400
Other interest receivable and similar income - -
Profit on ordinary activities before tax 229 1,400
Taxation - -
Profit after tax 229 1,400
Gift Aid donation to parent undertaking ( 229) ( 1,400)
Surplus / Deficit for the financial year - -
At 31 March 2024, the total capital and reserves of the company was £10 (2022: £10).
9 Staff costs and Trustees’ remuneration
2024 2023
£'000 £'000
a) Staff costs during the year were as follows:
Wages and salaries 9,314 9,110
Redundancy and termination payments 53 46
Social security costs 1,116 1,111
Pension costs 1,596 1,769
Movement on USS past service cost on pensions (1,174) (204)
10,905 11,832
Temporary and other staff costs 155 91
11,060 11,923
b) Staff costs by function (excluding temporary staff) was as follows (net of pension provision movement):
Research and Fellowship scheme 7,483 8,921
Research Support 1,444 234
Support 3,152 2,882
Movement on USS past service cost on pensions (1,174) (204)
10,905 11,832
c) The number of employees who earned £60,000 per annum or more (including taxable benefits but excluding employer pension
contributions) during the year was as follows:
2024 2023
£60,001 - £70,000 20 18
£70,001 - £80,000 3 9
£80,001 - £90,000 7 4
£90,001 - £100,000 2 2
£100,001 - £110,000 1 -
£110,001 - £120,000 - -
£120,001 - £130,000 - 1
£130,001 - £140,000 1 1
£140,001 - £150,000 1 -

9 Staff costs and Trustees’ remuneration (continued)

Pension costs include a release in respect of the pension deficit of £1,173,957 (2023: £204,382) as outlined in Note 17. The total amount paid to pension providers in respect of the financial year was : £1,596,451 (2023: £1,769,801).

Employee benefits to senior management personnel for the year (including payments to the pension schemes and social security contributions) totalled £572,626 (2023: £602,720).

d)

The total number of employees receiving remuneration during the year, analysed by function, was as follows:

Research and Fellowship scheme
Research Support
Support		 2024
No.
129
47
59
235		 2023
No.
110
70
62
242

47

ODI Notes to the financial statements

for the year ended 31 March 2024

e) The average number of employees during the year, analysed by function, was as follows:

The average number of employees during the year, analysed by function, was as follows:
Research and Fellowship scheme
Research Support
Support		 No.
105
36
45
186		 No.
91
56
49
196

During the year, £720 in expenses were reimbursed to Dominic McVey (2023: £nil) for attending events and meetings. £28 was reimbursed to Sumantra Chakrabarti (2023: £nil) for attending events and meetings. ODI Global Advisory incurred expenses of £1,245 (2023: £nil) for expenses from Per Heggenes to attend events and meetings.

The Trustees have taken out Trustee indemnity insurance to cover the liability of the Trustees which by virtue of any rule of law would otherwise attach to them in respect of any negligence, default, breach of trust or breach of duty of which they may be guilty in relation to ODI.

10 Net movement in funds

Net movement in funds
This is stated after charging:
Depreciation
Operating lease rentals:
- Premises
- Equipment
Auditors' remuneration:
- Current year statutory audit services – ODI
- Current year statutory audit services – ODI Global Advisory Limited
- Other audit and accounting services		 601
-
2024
£'000
36
8
141
185		 2023
£'000
28
8
35
523
-
71

11 Taxation

The charity is a registered charity and therefore it is not liable for income tax or corporation tax on income derived from its charitable activities, as it falls within the various exemptions available to registered charities.

The subsidiary, ODI Global Advisory Limited, distributes its taxable profits, if any, to ODI each year.

48

ODI Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

12 Tangible Fixed Assets

Group and Charity
Cost
At 1 April 2023
Additions
Disposals
At 31 March 2024
Depreciation
At 1 April 2023
Charge for year
Disposals
At 31 March 2024
Net book values
At 31 March 2024
At 31 March 2023		 Leasehold
Improvements
£'000
1,140
-
-		 Furniture Computer
& FittingsEquipment
£'000
£'000
637
679
-
-
-
-
637
679
637
679
-
-
-
-
637
679
-
-
0
-		 Furniture Computer
& FittingsEquipment
£'000
£'000
637
679
-
-
-
-
637
679
637
679
-
-
-
-
637
679
-
-
0
-		 Computer
Software
£'000
527
-
-
527
527
-
-
527
-
-		 Total
£'000
2,983
-
-
2,983ok
2,826
79
-
2,905ok
ok
78ok
157hk0
1,140 637 679
983
79
-		 637
-
-		 679
-
-
1,062 637 679
78 - -
157 0 -

13 Investments

Investments
2024 2023
Group and Charity £'000 £'000
Listed investments:
Market value at the start of the year 2,377 2,427
Cost of new investments - 42
Investment management fees paid from the portfolio (25) (24)
Unrealised and realised gains/(losses) on investments 266 (68)
Market value at the end of the year 2,618 2,377
Historical cost of listed investments at 31 March 1,992 1,944

The listed investments are held with a fund manager, who has authority to buy and sell shares and bonds subject to the restrictions as noted in the organisation's investment policy. The market value of the portfolio, including its cash balance and any accrued income, held by the investment manager on behalf of the organisation was £2,624,123 at 31 March 2024.

At 31 March 2024 the Charity owned 10 £1 shares, being the entire called up share capital, of ODI Global Advisory Limited, which is incorporated in the UK. As this is the total value of the Unlisted Investments, it does not affect the consolidated figures. ODI Global Advisory Ltd engages in activity that furthers the mission and objects of the Charity. A summary of the financial results of the company is shown in Note 8.

49

ODI Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

14 Debtors

15 Creditors
Trade creditors
Social security and other taxes
Deferred income
Accruals and other creditors
Grants receivable and accrued income
Other debtors
Prepayments
Amount due from subsidiary		 Charity
2024
£'000
7,846
26
305
1,741		 Group
2024
£'000
9,925
38
305
-		 9,257
2,987
Charity
2023
£'000
5,133
2
315
3,807
Charity
2023
£'000
1,190
230
69
1,498		 Group
2023
£'000
7,655
14
317
-
9,918 10,268 7,986
Charity
2024
£'000
2,526
409
140
1,799		 Group
2024
£'000
2,852
443
518
1,993		 Group
2023
£'000
1,574
343
540
1,665
4,874 5,806 4,122

16 Deferred income

Deferred income arises when the organisation receives funds which do not meet the conditions required for them to be recognised as income. Where such funds are received they are recognised as cash with a corresponding liability within creditors. As the recognition criteria is met the funds are released to income.

Deferred income as at 1 April
Release during the year
Income deferred in the year
Deferred income as at 31 March		 Charity
2024
£'000
69
(808)
879		 Group
2024
£'000
540
(1,349)
1,327		 Charity
2023
£'000
-
-
69
69		 Group
2023
£'000
437
(2,531)
2,634
140 518 540

50

ODI Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

17 Provisions and liabilities

As a result of adopting FRS 102, the organisation is required to recognise a liability relating to the deficits within the USS pension scheme of which it is a member. The value of the provision is calculated based upon the present value of the organisation's future contributions towards the deficit recovery plans: These contributions are set by the scheme administrators and are included within the annual contributions payable, as follows:

USS : The deficit recovery plan, based on the previous actuarial valuation, was to run until 2031. As a result of the 2023 valuation the scheme was valued as being in a surplus position and therefore, as of 1 January 2024, there are no deficit recovery contributions.

Pension provision as at 31 March
Opening pension provision at 1 April
Provision utilised during the year and unwinding of discount factor		 -
Charity
2024
£'000
1,174
( 1,174)		 Charity
2023
£'000
1,378
( 204)
1,174

51

ODI

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

18 Funds

18 Funds
Unrestricted funds
Designated
Tangible fixed assets fund
General
Income and expenditure account
Restricted funds
Accelerating the Scaling Up of Finance for People-Centered Justice
Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance (ALNAP)
Adaptation Without Borders and DG CLIMA Programme of Work
Addressing the mental health needs of adolescents in schools, in the
community and at institutional level in Tanzania and Vietnam through the co-
creation of digital technologies
Advancing Learning and Innovation on Gender Norms Project (ALIGN)
Afghanistan Strategic Learning Initative (ASLI)
African Continental Free Trade Area Support Programme (SITA Plus)
AG - Innovation and Adaptation
AGIP/Plan International 2023: GAGE
ALIGN - Wellspring 2
Aligning Migration Management and the Migration-Development Nexus
(MIGNEX)
An ODI – IKEA Foundation partnership: knowledge, voices and actions to
empower and create opportunities for migrants, refugees and people in crisis
Beyond Neoliberalism
BRC Managing narratives Ukraine
Break Out States and Ladejinsky project
Breaking the debt cycle: debt restructuring and sustainability in the Caribbean
and Small Island Developing States (SIDS)
Budget Strengthening Initiative (BSI) Liberia
Budget Strengthening Initiative (BSI) Mali
Budgeting and Accelerating People-Centred Justice
Building Resilience and Addressing Vulnerability to Emergencies (BRAVE)
CAS Small Projects Charity
Case studies on digital public finance initiatives in Africa
Catalyzing Cohesive Action on Climate and Security: Bridging Silos for
Enhanced Humanitarian Action
CDKN Knowledge
Chanel Fondation Strategic Partnership 2023		 At 1 April
2022
Income 22-23
Expenditure
22-23
Unrealised
gains/(losses)
22-23
Transfers
22-23
At 31
March 2023
Income 23-
24
Expenditure
23-24
Unrealised
gains/(losses)
23-24
Transfers
23-24
At 31
March 2024
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
293
(136)
157
(79)
78
3,359
7,423
(7,374)
(68)
136
3,477
6,183
(5,132)
217
79
4,824
3,652
7,423
(7,374)
(68)
-
3,634
6,183
(5,132)
217
-
4,902
At 1 April
2022
Income 22-23
Expenditure
22-23
Unrealised
gains/(losses)
22-23
Transfers
22-23
At 31
March 2023
Income 23-
24
Expenditure
23-24
Unrealised
gains/(losses)
23-24
Transfers
23-24
At 31
March 2024
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
106
41
(78)
-
-
69
14
(83)
-
-
-
479
1,941
(2,230)
-
-
190
1,482
(1,672)
-
-
-
-
135
(65)
-
-
70
19
(89)
-
-
-
192
-
(125)
-
-
67
223
(290)
-
-
-
72
127
(199)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2
21
(23)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1,110
(1,110)
-
-
-
1,381
(1,381)
-
-
-
3
-
(3)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
29
(23)
-
-
6
-
238
(15)
-
-
223
158
(168)
-
-
213
-
482
(146)
-
-
336
-
(174)
-
-
162
-
470
(451)
-
-
19
569
(589)
-
-
-
34
-
-
-
-
34
-
(34)
-
-
-
-
113
(13)
-
-
100
150
(200)
-
-
50
60
-
(60)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
43
(37)
-
-
6
314
771
(828)
-
-
257
665
(779)
-
-
143
2,144
-
(915)
-
-
1,229
-
(874)
-
-
355
-
-
-
-
-
-
118
(21)
-
-
97
-
-
-
-
-
-
80
(52)
-
-
28
-
1
-
-
-
1
-
(1)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
77
(76)
-
-
1
-
74
(70)
-
-
4
994
(998)
-
-
-
-
13
(13)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
173
(173)
-
-
-
569
(569)
-
-
-

52

ODI

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

Climate Emergency Collaboration Group - - - - - - 119 (63) - - 56
Climate smart agriculture: An assessment of trends, incentives, and policies to
equitably support smallholder farmers’ - - - - - - 59 (59) - - -
Collective and complementary humanitarian advocacy: enhancing system-
wide collective capacity for the effective protection of civilians in armed
conflict 27 60 (87) - - - - - - - -
Country finance: Enabling better learning across three public finance issues 210 514 (724) - - - - - - - -
Dominica documentary - 41 (31) - - 10 - (10) - - -
ECF Financing Transitions in Turkey 107 (25) - - 82
ECF Kazakhstan Project - 42 (33) - - 9 13 (15) - - 7
ECF Kazakhstan Phase 2 - - - - - - 44 (39) - - 5
EIF -Aligning Climate and Trade Policy for LDCs and Graduates Phase II 3 - (3) - - - - - - - -
Environmental justice: Supporting community based organisations capabilities 40 (40) - - -
EU Sudan 373 - (38) - - 335 - - - - 335
EU Uganda - 573 (573) - - - 167 (167) - - -
Evidence Fund: Covid-19 Social Science Research – Evidence Platform (Phase
2) - 5 (5) - - - - - - - -
Exploring the impacts of the war in Ukraine on lower-income countries - - - - - - 110 (96) - - 14
Fellowship (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) 56 8 (64) - - - 59 (59) - - -
Fellowship Scheme 2015-2022 180 371 (288) - - 263 183 (237) - - 209
Financial arrangements for addressing losses and damages: A Disaster Risk
Reduction Primer - - - - - - 36 (36) - - -
FORD Foundation: ALIGN Core Support Grant 85 201 (117) - - 169 112 (194) - - 87
G20 and Brazil Presidency - - - - - - 78 (23) - - 55
GAGE/StC: Foundations programme - - - - - - 188 (140) - - 48
GCRF South-South Migration, Inequality and Development Hub 9 234 (140) - - 103 137 (240) - - -
GELI: Research on Leadership and Protection in the Humanitarian Sector. - 39 (39) - - - - - - - -
Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) 256 1,962 (2,218) - - - 1,953 (1,953) - - -
GIZ Sector Programme Peace and Security, Disaster Risk Management 127 7 (134) - - - - - - - -
GIZ West Africa 1 89 (90) - - - - - - - -
Global Executive Leadership Initiative – Executive Leadership Program - 347 (347) - - - 2,075 (2,057) - - 18
GRR - Small projects - - - - - - 1 (1) - - -
How MDBs can incentivize (collective) action for GPG provision: A review of
the evidence and recommendations - 31 (30) - - 1 11 (12) - - -
Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) Integrated Programme 506 1,897 (1,730) - - 673 1,308 (1,827) - - 155
IDRC- Shaping macro-economy 23 (13) (10) - - - - - - - -
Impacts of CBAM/environment-related trade measures on LDCs - - - - - - 73 (56) - - 17
Improving the quantity and quality of funding to refugee-led organisations - 3 (3) - - - 254 (82) - - 172
Inclusive, Sustainable Economic Transformation: Creating an ODI Nexus 175 401 (255) - - 321 - (124) - - 197

53

ODI Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

Independent review of the IPC in Somalia - - - - - - 101 (88) - - 13
International Finance and Development (reinvestment) - 911 (355) - - 556 474 (917) - - 113
International finance: To provide thought leadership and evidence on
international development finance - 459 (459) - - - - - - - -
IPC Somalia Independent Review 56 (45) - - 11
Irish Aid strategic partnership 2021 458 (454) - - - 4 35 - - - 39
Irish Aid strategic partnership 2022 - 464 (464) - - - 12 (12) - - -
Irish Aid strategic partnership 2023-24 - - - - - - 556 (556) - - -
JETP Country Platforms - 110 (34) - - 76 109 (185) - - -
Longitundal research evaluation on Supporting Women and Girls in Ethiopia's
lowlands to realise their rights 51 301 (90) - - 262 390 (444) - - 208
Mapping Actors and Networks in Ukraine - - - - - - 41 (41) - - -
Migration for Development - 1 (1) - - - - - - - -
National Development Banks in Africa and their role in the post-COVID
economy 27 - (27) - - - - - - - -
Navigating Challenges to Fiscal Futures - 1,183 (370) - - 813 659 (824) - - 648
NERC KE Fellowship - 8 (8) - - - (3) 3 - - -
Norm Change for Gender & Social Justice - 424 (44) - - 380 609 (287) - - 702
NVF - MDB Challenge Fund - - - - - - 524 (196) - - 328
ODI - Livelihood Diversification, Youth Inclusion and Environmental
Sustainability - - - - - - 141 (141) - - -
ODI - Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative (RESI) - 45 (44) - - 1 472 (473) - - -
ODI Fellowship Partnership with Vanuatu - - - - - - 109 (83) - - 26
ODI Fellowship Scheme Accountable Grant 2022-2025 - 1,004 (1,004) - - - 1,776 (1,776) - - -
ODI Fellowship Scheme Comic Relief 21 44 (47) - - 18 7 (25) - - -
ODI UK development policy - - - - - - 260 (182) - - 78
ONS Support to NIS Rwanda - 26 (22) - - 4 47 (45) - - 6
Operationalizing Article 2.1c to Scale Adaptation Finance - - - - - - 158 (154) - - 4
Policy Research on Financing for Development to mitigate and prevent food cr - - - - - - 28 (28) - - -
PRINDEX - Securing Citizens' Property Rights around the World 57 - (57) - - - - - - - -
Prindex Burkina Faso 53 13 (62) - - 4 - (3) - - 1
Prindex India - Integrating Land Governance - 20 (20) - - - - - - - -
Productivity for Prosperity (P4P) - - - - - - 122 (122) - - -
Promoting collective learning and improved policy and practice in
humanitarian action - - - - - - 48 (48) - - -
Report on EU-Latin America relations - - - - - - 7 (6) - - 1
Rwanda Technical Assistance Facility (Rwanda TAF) - - - - - - 159 (159) - - -
South Sudan –Independent Review and Lessons Learned from the IPC Acute
Food Insecurity Process 2020 2 - (2) - - - - - - - -
Strengthening climate risk assessment and enabling central bank supervision
in the Indian financial sector: a partnership with frontrunning financial
institutions - - - - - - 328 (287) - - 41
Strengthening humanitarian system performance: promoting collective
learning and improved policy andpractice in humanitarian action - 336 (334) - - 2 113 (115) - - -
Strengthening the Relevance and Role of the Good Humanitarium Donorship I - - - - - - 102 (102) - - -
Stronger Together: Africa/Europe Relations and the Role of Cities - 434 (359) - - 75 40 (115) - - -
Support to develop and negotiate the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) - - - - - - 89 (89) - - -

54

ODI

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

Supporting economic growth reforms in Sri Lanka
Supporting inclusive and sustainable economic growth and transformation
Supporting just energy transitions in Nigeria and Colombi
Supporting the Mayors Dialogue
Tax Analysis in Developing Countries – Phase II (TAXDEV II)
Technical Assistance to MOFEP Sudan
Technical Assistance Workplan: Taskforce on Access to Climate Finance
The Africa-Europe Mayors’ Dialogue
The Centre for Tax Analysis in Developing Countries – Phase III (TAXDEV III)
TMEA-ODI research partnership for a period of 2020-2023
To support the buildout of the LOOP platform
UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (PACT): Green Recovery
Challenge Fund
UNCDF LoCAL Global Programmed Document Phase-II
Understanding a wider range of risks in data sharing: a politicaleconomy
analysis
Understanding the use of blended finance by DFIs and MDBs
UNEP - Ghana - Guyana green finance
Unlocking finance for India’s transition to a resilient Paris-aligned economy
UNSIDS Conference 2024 Contribution - Research
Veggies 4 Planet & People: Enabling Vegetable Business Development in East
Africa for more jobs and better human and environmental health
Wellspring ALIGN Governance and Participation Norms Micro-Grant Round
Women on the Bench: The Role of Female Judges in Fragile States
ZFRA Fair Share III Report
Other research projects
Total restricted funds
Total funds
Analysis of net assets between funds at 31 March 2024
Tangible fixed assets
Fixed asset investments
Net current assets
Provisions
Total net assets		 -
-
-
-
-
-
74
(74)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
103
(103)
-
-
-
-
8
(8)
-
-
-
150
(137)
-
-
13
302
(31)
(271)
-
-
-
4
(4)
-
-
-
-
505
(505)
-
-
-
50
(50)
-
-
-
-
21
(21)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
20
(20)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
193
(86)
-
-
107
-
-
-
-
-
-
637
(637)
-
-
-
-
156
(124)
-
-
32
33
(65)
-
-
-
-
625
(235)
-
-
390
-
(330)
-
-
60
-
(1)
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
128
(125)
-
-
3
33
(36)
-
-
-
7
58
(65)
-
-
-
1
(1)
-
-
-
-
(5)
5
-
-
-
26
-
(26)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
124
(81)
-
-
43
298
(208)
-
-
133
-
-
-
-
40
(23)
-
-
17
-
-
-
-
-
-
97
(96)
-
-
1
252
284
(166)
-
-
370
-
(264)
-
-
106
17
-
(17)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
37
(37)
-
-
-
258
776
(795)
-
-
239
693
(632)
-
-
298		 -
-
-
-
-
-
74
(74)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
103
(103)
-
-
-
-
8
(8)
-
-
-
150
(137)
-
-
13
302
(31)
(271)
-
-
-
4
(4)
-
-
-
-
505
(505)
-
-
-
50
(50)
-
-
-
-
21
(21)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
20
(20)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
193
(86)
-
-
107
-
-
-
-
-
-
637
(637)
-
-
-
-
156
(124)
-
-
32
33
(65)
-
-
-
-
625
(235)
-
-
390
-
(330)
-
-
60
-
(1)
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
128
(125)
-
-
3
33
(36)
-
-
-
7
58
(65)
-
-
-
1
(1)
-
-
-
-
(5)
5
-
-
-
26
-
(26)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
124
(81)
-
-
43
298
(208)
-
-
133
-
-
-
-
40
(23)
-
-
17
-
-
-
-
-
-
97
(96)
-
-
1
252
284
(166)
-
-
370
-
(264)
-
-
106
17
-
(17)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
37
(37)
-
-
-
258
776
(795)
-
-
239
693
(632)
-
-
298		 -
-
-
-
-
-
74
(74)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
103
(103)
-
-
-
-
8
(8)
-
-
-
150
(137)
-
-
13
302
(31)
(271)
-
-
-
4
(4)
-
-
-
-
505
(505)
-
-
-
50
(50)
-
-
-
-
21
(21)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
20
(20)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
193
(86)
-
-
107
-
-
-
-
-
-
637
(637)
-
-
-
-
156
(124)
-
-
32
33
(65)
-
-
-
-
625
(235)
-
-
390
-
(330)
-
-
60
-
(1)
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
128
(125)
-
-
3
33
(36)
-
-
-
7
58
(65)
-
-
-
1
(1)
-
-
-
-
(5)
5
-
-
-
26
-
(26)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
124
(81)
-
-
43
298
(208)
-
-
133
-
-
-
-
40
(23)
-
-
17
-
-
-
-
-
-
97
(96)
-
-
1
252
284
(166)
-
-
370
-
(264)
-
-
106
17
-
(17)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
37
(37)
-
-
-
258
776
(795)
-
-
239
693
(632)
-
-
298
6,943
20,519		 (19,706)
-
-
7,756
23,736
(26,019)
-
-
5,472
10,595
27,943		 (27,080)
(68)
-
11,390
29,919
(31,151)
217
-
10,374
Unrestricted
Designated
Restricted
Total Funds
£'000
£'000
£'000
£'000
78
78
2,184
2,184
2,640
5,472
8,112
-
-
4,824
78
5,472
10,374
4,824
78		 5,472

55

ODI Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

Analysis of net assets between funds at 31 March 2023

Analysis of net assets between funds at 31 March 2023
Tangible fixed assets
Fixed asset investments
Net current assets
Provisions
Total net assets		 2,377
2,274
(1,174)		 157 157
2,377
7,756
10,030
(1,174)
3,477 157 7,756
11,390

56

ODI Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

Project Title

Project Description

Accelerating the Scaling Up of Finance for People-Centered Justice Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance (ALNAP)

ODI is working with the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to improve the understanding of how lower income countries are developing people-centred justice approaches. We are developing the case for investing in extending and scaling up such approaches (both for national governments and external funders). This fund represents restricted grants from a range of funders to support ODI's ALNAP Programme. Included within the balance carried forward are the following payments which were made in advance for the 202223 financial year.

The Adaptation Without Borders Initiative is a global partnership that draws attention to the transboundary and systemic nature of climate risk. An impact from climate change in one place can have far-reaching consequences elsewhere, as can the effects of our adaptation plans and actions. Under this project The Initiative led by SEI makes the case that building global resilience to climate change requires action and coordination on a truly global scale, in ways that account for such cascading risks.

Adaptation Without Borders and DG CLIMA Programme of Work

Addressing the mental health needs of adolescents in schools, in the community and at institutional level in Tanzania and The project aims to identify drivers of mental health ill for adolescents in Tanzania and Vietnam and co-create, test and evaluate digital technology solutions to use in the classrooms, communities and local Vietnam through the co-creation of digital technologies government to improve mental health of young people. Advancing Learning and Innovation on Gender Norms Project The purpose of the Project is to support the ODI's Advancing Learning and Innovation on Gender Norms (ALIGN) online platform to curate, generate, and disseminate new research. resources, tools, and outreach (ALIGN) activities related to harmful and discriminatory gender norms African Continental Free Trade Area Support Programme A 4 year FCDO funded programme covering 2022-2026 which aims to support Africa’s economic integration through enhancing Africa’s capacity to negotiate and implement the African Continental Free Trade Area (SITA Plus) (AfCFTA). Two year project for work on Advancing Learning and Innovation on Gender Norms (ALIGN) Platform: Transforming Gender Norms ALIGN - Wellspring 2 in Childhood Aligning Migration Management and the MigrationDevelopment Nexus (MIGNEX) Funded by the Peace Research Institute Oslo, to contribute to more effective and coherent migration management through evidence based understanding of the linkages between development and migration. An ODI – IKEA Foundation partnership: knowledge, voices and actions to empower and create opportunities for migrants, refugees and people in crisis This project is a strategic partnership between ODI and the IKEA Foundation focused on strengthening policy outreach through strategic communications and public attitudes and migration narratives. Through this two-year action research project funded by the British Red Cross, ODI's research centre the Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) proposes to study how different narratives are shaping humanitarian policy BRC Managing narratives Ukraine decisions and determining humanitarian outcomes in Ukraine and the region.

This project is a strategic partnership between ODI and the IKEA Foundation focused on strengthening policy outreach through strategic communications and public attitudes and migration narratives. Through this two-year action research project funded by the British Red Cross, ODI's research centre the Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) proposes to study how different narratives are shaping humanitarian policy decisions and determining humanitarian outcomes in Ukraine and the region. Educational research on African economic growth in the context of land policy and agrarian investments, looking in particular at profiling and benchmarking break-out states in Africa. The project will also highlight th work of Wolf Ladijinsky, key architect of this model of economic development. Embassy of Sweden Liberia-funded support of the Budget Strengthening Initiative in Liberia Embassy of Sweden Liberia-funded support of the Budget Strengthening Initiative in Mali

Break Out States and Ladejinsky project Budget Strengthening Initiative (BSI) Liberia Budget Strengthening Initiative (BSI) Mali Budgeting and Accelerating People-Centred Justice Catalyzing Cohesive Action on Climate and Security: Bridging Silos for Enhanced Humanitarian Action CDKN Knowledge Chanel Fondation Strategic Partnership 2023 Collective and complementary humanitarian advocacy: enhancing system-wide collective capacity for the effective protection of civilians in armed conflict Country finance: Enabling better learning across three public finance issues issues

ODI is working with the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation is to consolidate justice finance data and disseminate this work with the aim of increasing the pressure for global change on financing people-centred justice

Through a Cooperative agreement from USAID, ODI and CSS have developed a two-year program of work to catalyze cohesive action to manage compound risks in fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable countries. The overall objective of the project is to create an enabling environment for implementation and scaling climate and development actions in order to drive inclusive, sustainable and climate resilient development, and enhance the quality of life for the poorest and most vulnerable to climate change. This project is a strategic partnership between ODI and the Chanel Fondation to support ODI in its mission to accelerate gender equality through research and advocacy initiative

enhancing system-wide collective capacity for the effective The review will focus on identifying lessons to be learned in respect of complementary advocacy conducted by different humanitarian protection actors (UN, Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, NGO, other civil protection of civilians in armed conflict society) at local, national and global levels, that aims to promote compliance with international humanitarian law by conflict parties and third party states. Country finance: Enabling better learning across three public finance issues issues A Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant funds research and convening that aims to support public finance through better service delivery, digital & fiscal equity Supported by the European Climate Foundation, the grant is designated to conduct background research and establish relationships with local partners including civil society organisations, researchers, consultants ECF Kazakhstan Project and policymakers, who can support and contribute to longer-term transformational work on decarbonising Kazakhstan’s electricity sector. EIF -Aligning Climate and Trade Policy for LDCs and Graduates Phase II The implementation of the UNOPS funded project Aligning Climate and Trade Policy for LDCs and Graduates within the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) Phase II EU Sudan EU funded project titled 'Support for the Sudan Ministry of Finance and Econonmic Planning (MOFEP)' EU Uganda EU fundeed project titled 'Grant to strengthen the Government of Uganda's management and coordination of the Discretionary Development Equalization Grant (DDEG)' Fellowship (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) A restricted grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support ODI's Fellowship Programme. Fellowship Scheme 2015-2022 This fund represents various restricted grants to fund ODI's Fellowship Programme. Three year project building on the ALIGN programme of work around gender norms to fund the award of micro grants to local civil society organisations to support innovative research, convening and policyFORD Foundation: ALIGN Core Support Grant oriented products in local context. The outputs are then disseminated globally via the ALIGN digital platform GCRF South-South Migration, Inequality and Development Hub This UKRI grant funds research into the relationships between migration and inequality in the context of the Global South. GELI: Research on Leadership and Protection in the The purpose of this project is to provide support for the Research on Humanitarian Sector. Leadership and Protection in the Humanitarian Sector under UNOPS' GELI project Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) This fund represents a restricted grant from FCDO to fund a multi year project to support ODI's Gender and Adolescence Global Evidence Research Programme. The project aims to produce an evidence-based policy advisory paper, developed for decision makers, that sets out the state of the evidence – and the limitations of current framings of the climate-security nexus. GIZ Sector Programme Peace and Security, Disaster Risk This will propose a more holistic way to address the risks intersection, which draws heavily on ideas of risk-informed development and risk governance, and presents bespoke recommendations for action targeting Management different policy audiences. GIZ West Africa Support to the Revenue Authorities of Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone Global Executive Leadership Initiative – Executive Leadership A Cooperative agreement from USAID that builds on the solid foundation of the previous Global Executive Leadership Initiative’s flagship Executive Leadership programme and seeks to strengthen how it is run and Program how it is marketed Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) Integrated Programme This fund represents restricted grants from a range of funders to support ODI's HPG Integrated Programme. Shaping the macro-economy in response to COVID-19: a responsible economic stimulus, a stable financial sector and a revival in exports, This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the International IDRC- Shaping macro-economy Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada Inclusive, Sustainable Economic Transformation: Creating an Research & outreach work to explore the connections between (i) inclusion and poverty eradication, (ii) economic transformation and (iii) environmentally sustainable development, in the rapidly evolving context of ODI Nexus the global pandemic Covid19. Project ongoing til 2024 This projects aim is an independent review of the IPC in Somalia is to improve the effectiveness of the IPC as the key source of food security information and analysis in Somalia, informing and guiding humanitarian Independent review of the IPC in Somalia decision-making by a range of different actors International Finance and Development (reinvestment) A Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant to finance high quality and timely analysis, including on how to strengthen the international development architecture to better support LMICs International finance: To provide thought leadership and evidence on international development finance A Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant funds research and convening on how to finance an inclusive and sustainable global recovery Irish Aid strategic partnership 2021 This project is a strategic partnership between ODI and Irish Aid focused on key emerging challenges and issues in development cooperation. Irish Aid strategic partnership 2022 This project is a strategic partnership between ODI and Irish Aid focused on key emerging challenges and issues in development cooperation. Irish Aid strategic partnership 2023-24 Support of the Irish Aid-ODI Strategic Partnership, as set out in the ODI’s concept proposal for Phase III, of 30 March 2023, and for the period 1 May 2023 to 30 April 2024 JETP Country Platforms A project supported by the European Climate Foundation to drive forward international thinking about how best to institutionalize country platforms within the multilateral system Longitundal research evaluation on Supporting Women and For multi-year ongitundal research evaluation to accompany Save the Childrens 5-year programme on Supporting Women and Girls in Ethiopia's lowlands to realise their rights and live healthy and productive lives, Girls in Ethiopia's lowlands to realise their rights free from violence and abuse Migration for Development Monitoring armed group control, Implications for conflict analysis and early warning systems The project aims to improve early warning methods by enhancing our understanding of how armed groups seek to control territory and populations in fragile and conflict contexts. National Development Banks in Africa and their role in the This project aims to understand how National Development Banks (NDBs) in Africa have weathered the covid crisis, their short-term counter-cyclical role and their long-term prospects in supporting a sustainable post-COVID economy recovery To provide policy solutions for countries as they navigate the post pandemic fiscal Navigating Challenges to Fiscal Futures challenges while identifying pathways for countries to capitalize on emerging opportunities such as the digital revolution This project supported by the DFATD will directly support ODI’s online platform for Advancing Learning and Innovation on Gender Norms (ALIGN) to share research and resources. This project would add direct funding for research towards new and emerging topics. Additionally, it would provide strategic support to maximize access to and impact of the information produced by ODI and supported researchers though an Norm Change for Gender & Social Justice enhanced communications strategy This 3 year FCDO funded project focuses on the shared interests of small islands with the aim of improving the conditions under which SIDS can achieve financial stability, environmental justice, international alliances ODI - Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative (RESI) and equitable societies. RESI will improve the accessibility of existing research, produce cross regional studies and translate these into policy analysis, provide multi stakeholder engagement opportunities and dialogu ODI Fellowship Scheme Accountable Grant 2022-2025 A restricted grant from the FCDO to support ODI's Fellowship Programme. ODI Fellowship Scheme Comic Relief A restricted grant from Comic Relief to support ODI's Fellowship Programme. ODI/ATPC partnership An FCDO accountable grant to support a research and assistance partnership between the African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and ODI. ONS Support to NIS Rwanda This fund represents various restricted grants to fund ODI's Fellowship Programme. Mixed methods research into poverty dynamics in the context of Covid-19 in Zimbabwe, focusing on vulnerability and resilience. Research products delivered by this project will contribute to evidence-based decisionPoverty Dynamics in Zambia making, and pro-poor programming and policy development. The Global Property Rights Index is an initiative of ODI and Land Alliance supported by Omidyar Network, FCDO and other donors. It aims to fill the gap in information about individual perception of tenure security by PRINDEX - Securing Citizens' Property Rights around the World creating a baseline global dataset to support the achievement of secure property rights around the world. The Burkina Faso PRINDEX project seeks to address the issues of insecure access to land and rising land-related disputes through a series of activities to support functional communal-level structures and institutions Prindex Burkina Faso for clarifying, documenting and formalising land rights, as well as mechanisms to prevent and help resolve land-related conflicts. The NCAER LRSI-Prindex India Project - Integrating Land Governance, Land Records, and Property Rights in India - that will provide high-quality Indian household data linking land governance with perceptions of land and property rights across states, gender, and tenure types.This will deepen both the LRSI-2 and Prindex India, increasing their separate and joint policy impact in India and globally on improving the security of land Prindex India - Integrating Land Governance and property rights,easing land transactions, and unlocking rural and urban land values. Productivity for Prosperity (P4P) A grant from FCDO to provide Technical Assistance to support the development of Tanzania’s Development Vison TDV2050 (Phase I) Promoting collective learning and improved policy and A Cooperative agreement from USAID to promote collective learning and improve humanitarian knowledge and practice practice in humanitarian action though humanitarian policy, studies, analysis or applications. This grant builds on initial funding from the Ikea Foundation for the development of a data visualization of migrant key workers contributions to the Covid-19 response and to conduct research to create profiles of Public Narratives Phase 2 country-level attitudes to migration. This phase of the grant will support further country-level research in Europe and Africa. Report on EU-Latin America relations The project, coordinated by the Elcano Royal Institute, will be structured around the reimbursable financial cooperation, the green transition and climate and inequalities South Sudan –Independent Review and Lessons Learned from The October/November 2020 Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis process in South Sudan broke down when the South Sudan IPC Technical Working Group was unable to reach technical the IPC Acute Food Insecurity Process 2020 consensus on the severity of food insecurity in six critical counties. This Independent Review documented what happened, analysed the reasons for the breakdown in consensus, and recommended the way forward. Strengthening humanitarian system performance: promoting collective learning and improved policy andpractice in This award combines independent research, collaborative and collective learning, and inclusive, multi-stakeholder convening and policy engagement to improve humanitarian policy in pursuit of a more relevant humanitarian action humanitarian system that responds more effectively to humanitarian needs. Strengthening the Relevance and Role of the Good Humanitarium Donorship Iniative An FCDO grant to advise on strengthening the relevance and role of the GHD-initiative as a key humanitarian initiative that fosters mutually-beneficial donor exchange, strategic collaboration, and collective influence Stronger Together: Africa/Europe Relations and the Role of This project aims to achieve a new narrative on Africa/Europe relations founded on a mutually beneficial and strategic collaboration focusing on the role that cities and mayors can play in forging more equal Cities Africa/Europe relations, this project was supported by the Robert Bosch Stiftung This project aims to support the national government of Nigeria to envision and plan just energy transitions, including initiating the broad-based consultations and infrastructure investment planning necessary for a Just Energy Transition Partnership. It will also provide on-demand analytical support and technical assistance to Colombia as the country considers joining the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance. This work project made Supporting just energy transitions in Nigeria and Colombi possible through the support of the Energy Transition Fund, a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. This is a multi-donor grant which funds the creation of a platform between African and European cities to address issues on migration and social issues in an urban context, specifically in the context off Africa-Europe Supporting the Mayors Dialogue relations. Tax Analysis in Developing Countries – Phase II (TAXDEV II) This programme aims to generate high-quality evidence on tax in developing countries, and support the use of evidence in tax policy-making in Uganda and Rwanda This grant supports ODI to provide technical advisory support to the Sudanese Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. ODI support is focussed on MOFEP ́s institutional capacity to undertake PFM reforms and coordinate aid delivery; creating a reform roadmap to improve capacities in public finance management; and stabilising the financial sector through asset reviews and a reform strategy. This project complements our Technical Assistance to MOFEP Sudan work with the British Council in Sudan. TMEA-ODI research partnership for a period of 2020-2023 TMEA-ODI research partnership for a period of 2020-2023 A grant from the Patrick J McGovern Foundation to support the buildout of LOOP's Global platform that utilizes technology for To support the buildout of the LOOP platform community-embedded safe forms of communication and reporting to center local people in the accountability of Aid.

57

ODI Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (PACT): Green Recovery Challenge Fund Strengthening climate risk assessment and enabling central bank supervision in the Indian financial sector: a partnership with frontrunning banks and DFIs This project funded by UNCDF is to provide technical assistance to the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL), in Uganda, in the area of public finance and financial management (PFFM), fiscal decentralization; and, mainstreaming of climate goals into local public finance systems in Uganda as well as to provide overall strategic guidance and technical assistance for the integration of LoCAL into Uganda’s intergovernmental UNCDF LoCAL Global Programmed Document Phase-II fiscal transfer system. Unlocking finance for India’s transition to a resilient ParisThe project aims to engage with and provide technical support to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) through evaluating existing financial architecture, focusing on creating a system where financial institutions aligned economy systematically work with their corporate clients to develop transition plans, reduce emissions and enhance resilience, and actively invest into green and climate resilient activities. Wellspring ALIGN Governance and Participation Norms MicroGrant Round Three year project for work on the ALIGN Governance and Participation Norms Micro-Grant Rounds, Curation and Platform programme Grand Total

58

ODI Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

19 Lease commitments

At 31 March 2024 the Charity had total commitments under non-cancellable operating leases as set out below:

Equipment
Operating leases payments which are due:
- after 5 years
- between 2 and 5 years
- within 1 year
Land and buildings
Operating leases payments which are due:
- after 5 years
- between 2 and 5 years
- within 1 year		 -
9
8
2024
£'000
-
153
608		 2023
£'000
0
761
608
-
17
8

With regard to the lease for land and buildings, the actual payment by the Charity in the year to 31 March 2024 will differ from the charge to the statement of financial activities for the year shown above as a consequence of the lease containing a provision for an initial rent free period.

The lease for land and buildings contains provision for periodic rent reviews. Such a review was finalised in July 2018 to take effect from 1 April 2018. The commitments contained in the note above are based on the values known at the balance sheet date.

20 Pensions

Retirement benefits for employees are provided by two independently administered schemes (SAUL and USS), which are funded by contributions from employers and employees. Contributions to the schemes are charged to the statement of financial activities so as to spread the cost of the pensions over the employees’ working lives.

Under the definitions set out in Financial Reporting Standard 102 Retirement Benefits, the Directors are satisfied that both schemes are classed as multi-employer pension schemes. Accordingly, we have taken advantage of the exemption in FRS 102 and have accounted for the contributions to the schemes as if they were defined contribution schemes. The latest information available for each scheme is set out below.

A multi-employer scheme is a scheme for entities not under common control and represents, typically, an industry-wide scheme such as that provided by both SAUL and USS. The accounting for a multi-employer scheme where the employer has entered into an agreement with the scheme that determines how the employer will fund a deficit results in the recognition of a liability for the contributions payable that arise from the agreement (to the extent that they relate to the deficit) and the resulting expense is recognised in profit or loss.

Because of the mutual nature of both schemes, the schemes' assets are not hypothecated to individual institutions and a schemewide contribution rate is set. ODI is therefore exposed to actuarial risks associated with other institutions’ employees and is unable to identify its share of the underlying assets and liabilities of the scheme on a consistent and reasonable basis and therefore, as required by Section 28 of FRS 102 “Employee benefits”, accounts for the scheme as if it were a defined contribution scheme. As a result, the amount charged to the income and expenditure account represents the contributions payable to the schemes in respect of the accounting period.

59

ODI Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

Pension continued

The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS)

ODI participates in the Universities Superannuation Scheme (the scheme). The scheme was a defined benefit only pension scheme until 31 March 2016 which was contracted out of the State Second Pension (S2P). The assets of the scheme are held in a separate trustee-administered fund.

The directors are satisfied that the scheme provided by USS meets the definition of a multi-employer scheme and has therefore recognised the discounted fair value of the contractual contributions under the funding plan in existence at the date of approving the financial statements.

Following the triennial valuation of the scheme in 2014, ODI entered an agreement (the Recovery Plan) which required contributions from each employer in the scheme to finance a deficit. Until the 2022/23 financial statements, ODI recognised a liability for the contributions payable arising from the agreement, which was expected to run till 2031. .

The latest available full actuarial valuation of the scheme was at 31 March 2023 (“the valuation date”), which was carried out using the projected unit method.

Since ODI cannot identify its share of scheme assets and liabilities, the following disclosures reflect those relevant for the scheme as a whole.

The 2023 valuation was a valuation for USS under the scheme-specific funding regime introduced by the Pensions Act 2004, which requires schemes to adopt a statutory funding objective, which is to have sufficient and appropriate assets to cover their technical provisions. At the valuation date, the value of the assets of the scheme was £73.1 billion and the value of the scheme’s technical provisions was £65.7 billion, indicating a surplus of £7.4 billion. Accordingly, the provision in relation to the pension deficit accrued in previous years has been released during the current year. Full details of the valuation are available on the USS website: https://www.uss.co.uk/about-us/valuation-and-funding/2023-valuation

Scheme assets Total scheme liabilities FRS 102 total scheme surplus/(deficit) FRS 102 Total funding level

Superannuation arrangements of the University of London (SAUL)

The Charity also participates in the Superannuation Arrangements of the University of London “(SAUL”), which is a centralised defined benefit scheme and is contracted-out of the Second State Pension (prior to April 2016). SAUL is an independently managed pension scheme for non-academic staff of over 50 colleges and institutions with links to higher education. Pension benefits for all active members are based on each member's Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE).

The Charity is not expected to be liable to SAUL for any other current participating employer's obligations under the rules of SAUL, but in the event of an insolvency event of any participating employer within SAUL, an amount of any pension shortfall (which cannot otherwise be recovered) in respect of that employer, may be spread across the remaining participating employers and reflected in the next actuarial valuation.

SAUL's statutory funding objective is to have sufficient and appropriate assets to meet the costs incurred by the Trustee in paying SAUL's benefits as they fall due ("Technical Provisions"). The Trustee adopts the assumptions which, taken as a whole, are intended to be sufficiently prudent for pensions and benefits already in payment and continue to be paid and for commitments which arise from Members accrued pension rights to be met.

The Technical Provisions assumptions include appropriate margins to allow for the possibility of events turning out worse than expected. However, the funding method and assumptions do not completely remove the risk that the Technical Provisions could be insufficient to provide benefits in future.

A formal actuarial valuation of SAUL is carried out every three years by a professionally qualified and independent actuary. The last actuarial valuation was carried out with an effective date of 31 March 2020. Informal reviews of SAUL's position, reflecting changes in the market conditions, cash flow information and new accrual of benefits are being carried out between formal valuations.

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ODI Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

Pension continued

The funding principles were agreed in 2020 and are due to be reviewed at SAUL's next formal valuation for the year ended 31 March 2023, which will complete in 2024 and is expected to show that the scheme is fully funded with no contribution strain. Details of the scheme and the 2023 valuation can be found at www.saul.org.uk

21 Related party transactions

H Alderson was paid £20,426 (2023: £nil) for consultancy fees for an ODI project "BHA Financial Access". The charity's trading subsidiary ODI Global Advisory Limited gift aids available profits to the parent charity.

During the year two connected entities, ODI Europe and ODI Global Washington were established. These entities are in the process of formulating their strategic priorities and will in the course of 2024-25 commence activities in a localised way in Europe and the US respectively. Transactions in the year included the ODI funding set up costs and ODI staff collectively working to develop structures and processes. Further details of both entities are set out on page 24 of the annual report.

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