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2024-01-31-accounts

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 283670

Report of the Trustees and

Unaudited Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 January 2024

for

Development Studies Association

Sterling Partners Limited Chartered Accountants Chartered Tax Advisors 2nd Floor, Grove House 774-780 Wilmslow Road Didsbury Manchester Greater Manchester M20 2DR

Development Studies Association

Contents of the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 January 2024

Page
Report of the Trustees 1 to 7
Independent Examiner's Report 8
Statement of Financial Activities 9
Balance Sheet 10
Notes to the Financial Statements 11 to 13
Detailed Statement of Financial Activities 14

Development Studies Association

Report of the Trustees

for the Year Ended 31 January 2024

The trustees present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 January 2024.

The trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2015).

Page 1

Development Studies Association

Report of the Trustees

for the Year Ended 31 January 2024

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the Association are to promote and advance international development as a field of study, research and action, with a mission to deepen understanding of how global poverty and inequalities are produced, sustained and may be overcome, and how a better future may be advanced.

VISION

In taking forward its mission and vision, the DSA is committed to:

  1. Advance connections between people that will extend and deepen understanding of development issues

2 .Raising the profile of the UK development studies community and provide a platform for its collective voice

  1. Build the institutional strength of the DSA

  2. Nurturing the future of development studies in the UK through support to students, early career researchers and Higher

Education teachers

  1. Promote greater inclusiveness, diversity and equity within the development studies community

ACTIVITIES

In pursuit of these objectives, the DSA has achieved the following during the Financial Year 2023-2024:

1. Annual Conference

The 2023 Annual Conference was held as a hybrid event, offering both in-person and online attendance. It was organised and hosted by the University of Reading, 28-30th June 2023. Key statistics being Participants: 665; Papers/presentations: 415; Plenaries: 2; Panels and Study groups: 72.

Planning for the next annual conference began in July 2023 and it was agreed, further to positive evaluation results, that a three-day event will be hosted by SOAS, University of London in late June 2024 once again in a hybrid format. The format worked well in 2023 with ~65% of delegates attending in-person and the remainder online. The hybrid format continues to enable high levels of inclusion amongst global South colleagues and reduces the event's carbon footprint.

2. Communications

The DSA Communications Officer, Rowena Harding, is working effectively in her new role and has expanded and heightened DSA Communications via the website, social media and the DSA monthly newsletter with greater followers and traffic in all of these sectors. The new CO continues to coordinate with the Communications sub-committee on Council to ensure DSA communicates its activities and priorities in a variety of formats. The CO curates regular webinars and has ensured better communication co-ordination between the DSA and its institutional and individual members.

3. DSA Newsletter

The DSA Newsletter is emailed out monthly to nearly 2300 individuals, offering an important service to members and the sector as a whole. It allows members to publicise events, publications, jobs and other news of interest to the sector. It is compiled by the Communications Officer from contributions from members and continues to attract interest as a means to reach the development sector worldwide.

4. Study Groups

Study Group activity picked up somewhat in 2023 after the low levels of activity during the pandemic. There continue to be several groups trying to find new convenors to run their activities. However, there was continued active participation in the annual online conference. The following activities have been undertaken:

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Development Studies Association

Report of the Trustees

for the Year Ended 31 January 2024

5. Students

At the 2023 AGM, two new student reps were voted onto Council to reinvigorate DSA student activities and interaction. The two reps have organised the selection of student/ ECR reps from several of the DSA institutional members (IM reps). They have conducted a survey among these reps to find out what students and ECRs most need or want from the DSA. They have created digital posters and infographics with the help of the DSA CO for IM reps to circulate and put up in their own departments to attract new student members to the DSA. At financial year-end there were 209 student members of the association (15% of total membership) - actual numbers were up on the previous year but percentage was lower due to high numbers of fee waiver category members.

The student mailing list was kept current and a few items of interest and communication with students took place via this list. The CO has reinvigorated student related posts and news to the DSA Facebook group. These posts share updates on DSA news, development sector news, job and paid internship opportunities as well as workshops, conference and training opportunities. There was a DSA students' meeting at the annual conference to find ways that students can interact more effectively with the DSA and gain more information about student activities, events etc. There was also once again a well-attended Publication strategies briefing for students and early career researchers (ECR) at the conference.

The DSA continued to offer its annual Masters' level dissertation and PhD thesis Development Studies prizes. The award winners were announced and presented their prizes at the annual conference and one of the winners presented their work at the conference. The winning dissertations were mentioned on and linked to from the DSA website.

6. Heads of Centres

A Heads of Centres meeting was held online on 28 November 2023. The focus of the meeting was the DSA reporting back on their EDI Audit and where other centres could provide assistance, as well as a planned future link with JDS. The main topic of discussions was whether REF rules should be considered in future meetings.

7. DSA webinars

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Development Studies Association

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 January 2024

The DSA hosted two webinars during this reporting period. The first in May 2023 on NGO and researcher collaboration to tackle inequality and injustice, that included a 3 person panel of academics and practice and policy experts. It was attended by approximately 100 people with a good level of discussion and the recording has been viewed over 150 times on the DSA YouTube channel. The second webinar was entitled Finding synergies - aligning climate and development finance to reduce poverty and emissions and took place in November 2023. A diverse four-person panel from journalists to UN workers to researchers and NGO workers combined to provide answers to how climate and development actors can work together in future. It was attended by over 150 people with a good level of discussion and the recording has been viewed over 100 times on the DSA YouTube channel.

8. Publications

The DSA-OUP book series published another title during this year: Disrupted Development in the Congo: The Fragile Foundations of the African Mining Consensus by Ben Radley. The DSA-OUP book series editors held their annual event at the DSA2023 conference to advertise the book series and encourage DSA members and attendees to propose their research as book titles.

9. South-South Mentoring Scheme

The Global South Sub-Group on Council organised a pilot of their planned mentoring scheme involving senior southern-based scholars offering a structured programme of mentoring advice to more junior colleagues also based in the global South. The pilot scheme was deemed successful and funding was provided by the DSA for the mentoring scheme to be expanded to include 10 mentors and 10 mentees and will continue into the 2024/25 year.

10. DSA-EDI Audit

Council also agreed to invest in undertaking an equality, diversity and inclusion audit of the sector. The aim is to arrive at a fuller understanding of equality, inclusion and diversity within UK development studies, from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective, and to make relevant recommendations for advancing equality, inclusion and diversity in the field. This would have a quantitative and a qualitative component and again be piloted with investment from DSA before co-financing would be sought.

The Council sub-committee working on the EDI Audit have written to all institutional member centres with their EDI audit survey. Some centres have written back whereas others have not been able to. Therefore response rate and response quality have been rather poor. After the qualitative part of the audit was completed, the DSA seeked other funding from the AcSS to continue the quantitative part of the EDI Audit, however the application was not successful. In the meantime, the DSA President attended an AcSS feedback session on the EDI Audit funding outcomes from the AcSS previous round. She found that the successful applications were ones that proposed a scheme, pilot, experiment, rather than just analysis to identify the problem. Therefore, DSA was unlikely to secure funding from AcSS in their second round of funding and an application was not submitted. For now the DSA continues to fund the Audit. The sub-committee discussed the possibility of the DSA organising a mentoring scheme for BAME ECRs and perhaps a network along the lines of the Generation Delta project for BAME PGR students. We thought this might also help to create a community for our ECRs and get them better engaged with the DSA.

Page 4

Development Studies Association

Report of the Trustees

for the Year Ended 31 January 2024

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Membership

Individual membership at year-end was 1381, mostly due to an increase in global South (gS) members (fee waiver category). All other paying membership categories were slightly up on 2022 numbers. Institutional membership remained constant (one smaller institution became a large institution).

Finances

With sufficient reserves, the DSA continues to seek to allocate its reserves towards its central purposes: cash at bank increased from £134,140 to £136,243 on 31st January 2024.

Expenditure was lower than budgeted in many areas (Council - no F2F meetings aside from at conference; Marketing materials and admin expenses - fewer website changes or updates required; Study Group expenses - only three groups requested funds and set up events. Conference grants - significant funding raised from other sponsors e.g. University of Reading and journals so once again DSA could not allocate their own funding. However, expenditure was slightly higher for Communications due to tax and pension contributions mainly. Expenditure was higher as well for the EDI Audit and gS mentoring scheme. Income was higher than predicted due to more individual and institutional membership fees received than predicted. The conference made a small surplus, despite the higher costs associated with a hybrid event.

The DSA Communications Officer Grade 6, 0.6 FTE continues their work enabling the DSA to achieve its strategic objectives, particularly in advancing connections to deepen understanding of development, raising the profile of the UK development studies community and providing a platform for its collective voice and increasing our institutional strength.

Administration

The administration of the DSA continues to be carried out by NomadIT, on a rolling contract.

FUTURE PLANS AIMS FOR THE COMING YEAR (2024-25)

Particular goals in the coming year are as follows:

Timing Activity
Assist Communications Officer to continue to promote DSA activities and boost the visibility
Feb 2024 - Jan 2025 of the association.
June 2024 Host and organise another DSA hybrid conference at SOAS, University of London.
Oct/Nov 2024 Convene Heads of Centres meeting.
Continue, and develop some new forms of support for PGR and ECR scholars, as well as
fostering greater student representation from our institutional members and within Council.
Continue to provide support to DSA members, particularly those based in global South;
support and fund the gS-gS mentoring project; reinvigorate Study Group Activity; continue the
EDI Audit of Development Studies institutions in the UK. Assist with the set up of the
Through the year Decolonising Development database. Host more DSA webinars on pertinent topics.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing document

The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust and constitutes an unincorporated charity.

Recruitment, appointment, induction and training of new trustees

Trustees are recruited from members of the DSA with upcoming vacancies signalled in communications to all members from the Chair of the Board. Applicants present their credentials and intentions to the AGM in person or by letter and their appointment is subject to vote. Induction and training takes place before applicants make their approach through informal discussions with existing board members and/or after their appointment. Positions with specific responsibilities (Chair, Treasurer, Secretary) involve more prior training and preparation.

Page 5

Development Studies Association

Report of the Trustees

for the Year Ended 31 January 2024

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT Risk management

The DSA Council reviews sources of, and responses to, risks at least annually. Sources of risk include fluctuating membership, conference attendance, level of study group activity and the status of development studies in the UK. Risks are mitigated through regular consultation with institutional members through Heads of Centres' meetings, monthly newsletters and email communication, reviewing membership categories and rates, reviewing the purpose and design of annual conferences and reviewing costs involved in administering the charity.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS Registered Charity number

283670

Principal address

23 Linton Road Hove BN3 5HF

Trustees

Dr L Camfield Mr S Hickey (resigned 30.6.2023) Dr U Kambhampati Dr R Slater (resigned 30.6.2023) Miss N Kabeer Ms A Prizzon Mr B Radley (resigned 30.6.2023) Mr P Taylor Ms S Fennell Mr J Fisher Dr I Kvangraven Dr I Roy Dr M Jennings Ms R Arora (resigned 30.6.2023) Ms R Dieng (resigned 30.6.2023) Prof E Mawdsley (appointed 30.6.2023) Dr E B Gebremariam (appointed 30.6.2023) Mr Z B Owutuamor (appointed 30.6.2023) Dr T Y Mir (appointed 30.6.2023) Ms S C Ronah (appointed 30.6.2023)

Independent Examiner

Mr Saeid Mokhtassi Sterling Partners Limited Chartered Accountants Chartered Tax Advisors 2nd Floor, Grove House 774-780 Wilmslow Road Didsbury Manchester Greater Manchester M20 2DR

Bankers

CAF Bank Ltd 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill West Malling Kent ME19 4JQ

Page 6

Development Studies Association

Report of the Trustees

for the Year Ended 31 January 2024

Approved by order of the board of trustees on ............................................. and signed on its behalf by:

......................................................................... Trustee

Page 7

Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Development Studies Association

Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Development Studies Association

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of Development Studies Association (the Trust) for the year ended 31 January 2024.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act').

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under Section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under Section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by Section 130 of the Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or

  3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Mr Saeid Mokhtassi

Sterling Partners Limited Chartered Accountants Chartered Tax Advisors 2nd Floor, Grove House 774-780 Wilmslow Road Didsbury Manchester Greater Manchester M20 2DR

Date: .............................................

Page 8

Development Studies Association

Statement of Financial Activities

for the Year Ended 31 January 2024

Unrestricted
fund
Notes
£
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM
Donations and legacies
568
Charitable activities
Promotion of development research
203,327
Investment income
2
269
Total
204,164
EXPENDITURE ON
Raising funds
11
Charitable activities
Promotion of development research
198,077
Other
3,973
Total
202,061
NET INCOME
2,103
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward
134,140
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
136,243		 Restricted
funds
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 2024
Total
funds
£
568
203,327
269
204,164
11
198,077
3,973
202,061
2,103
134,140
136,243		 2023
Total
funds
£
1,063
127,980
451
129,494
-
127,301
468
127,769
1,725
132,415
134,140

The notes form part of these financial statements

Page 9

Development Studies Association

Balance Sheet

31 January 2024

Unrestricted
fund
Notes
£
CURRENT ASSETS
Cash at bank
5
136,243
NET CURRENT ASSETS
136,243
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT
LIABILITIES
136,243
NET ASSETS
136,243
FUNDS
6
Unrestricted funds
TOTAL FUNDS		 Restricted
funds
£
-
-
-
-		 2024
Total
funds
£
136,243
136,243
136,243
136,243
136,243
136,243		 2023
Total
funds
£
134,140
134,140
134,140
134,140
134,140
134,140

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on ............................................. and were signed on its behalf by:

............................................. Trustee

The notes form part of these financial statements

Page 10

Development Studies Association

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 January 2024

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of preparing the financial statements

Section 133 of the Charities Act 2011 permits a charity to prepare a receipts and payments account and a statement of assets and liabilities where gross income in the financial year does not exceed £250,000, therefore receipts and payments accounts and a statement of assets and liabilities in its balance sheet) have been prepared and presented for the year; this is consistent with previous years.

Income

All income, including the subscriptions, conference income and bank interest are recorded when received.

Expenditure

All expenditure are recorded when paid.

Trustees' expenses

These expenses are included in the financial statements once amounts are expended by the Trustees on behalf of the charity.

.

Trustees' indemnity insurance

No charitable funds have been used to purchase insurance to indemnify the Trustees against the consequences of any neglect or default on their part.

Taxation

The charity is exempt from tax on its charitable activities.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees.

Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.

Pension costs and other post-retirement benefits

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. Contributions payable to the charity's pension scheme are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the period to which they relate.

2. INVESTMENT INCOME

INVESTMENT INCOME
2024 2023
£ £
Interest received 269 451

3. TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS

There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the year ended 31 January 2024 nor for the year ended 31 January 2023.

continued...

Page 11

Development Studies Association

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued

for the Year Ended 31 January 2024

3. TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS - continued

Trustees' expenses

Trustees expenses of £Nil (2023: £Nil) were paid during the year.

4.
COMPARATIVES FOR THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES
Unrestricted
fund
£
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM
Donations and legacies
1,063
Charitable activities
Promotion of development research
127,980
Investment income
451
Total
129,494
EXPENDITURE ON
Charitable activities
Promotion of development research
127,301
Other
468
Total
127,769
NET INCOME
1,725
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward
132,415
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
134,140
5.
CASH AT BANK
Cash at bank and in hand
Total		 Restricted
funds
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2024
Total
funds
£
136,243
136,243		 Total
funds
£
1,063
127,980
451
129,494
127,301
468
127,769
1,725
132,415
134,140
2023
Total
funds
£
134,140
134,140		 Total
funds
£
1,063
127,980
451
129,494
127,301
468
127,769
1,725
132,415
134,140

continued...

Page 12

Development Studies Association

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued

for the Year Ended 31 January 2024

6. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS

Each of the below funds have arisen due to the donors specifying that the funds donated have to be spent on the specific projects.

Restrictions are imposed through contracts which are signed at the beginning of each project.

7. RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES

There were no related party transactions for the year ended 31 January 2024.

8. FUNDS

Project Funds
brought
forward		 Income Expenditure Transfer
between funds		 Funds carried
forward
£ £ £ £ £
RESTRICTED FUNDS
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
UNRESTRICTED FUNDS
General fund 134,140 204,164 202,061 - 136,243
134,140 204,164 202,061 - 136,243
TOTAL FUNDS 134,140 204,164 202,061 - 136,243

9. ACCRUAL BASIS

The accounts are prepared on a receipts and payment basis. Should the accounts of been prepared on an accruals basis, then additional £7,266 of administrative costs should be removed. This would result in a surplus of £9.7k for the year ended 31st January 2024.

Page 13

Development Studies Association

Detailed Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 January 2024

INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS
Donations and legacies
Donations
Investment income
Interest received
Charitable activities
Subscriptions
Conference and exhibitions
Total incoming resources
EXPENDITURE
Other trading activities
Interest payable
Charitable activities
Conference
Administration
Study groups
Bank and credit charges
Support costs
Management
Wages
Social security
Pensions
Council expenses
Governance costs
Sundries
Accountancy and legal fees
Consultancy fees
Donations
Professional subscriptions
Total resources expended
Net income		 2024
£
568
269
75,971
127,356
203,327
204,164
11
131,225
32,144
12,412
1,056
176,837
15,807
926
1,111
2,410
20,254
1,230
2,568
470
223
468
4,959
202,061
2,103		 2023
£
1,063
451
63,381
64,599
127,980
129,494
-
53,820
18,566
2,926
543
75,855
2,045
-
-
2,556
4,601
3,179
2,346
36,185
5,135
468
47,313
127,769
1,725

This page does not form part of the statutory financial statements

Page 14