Development Initiatives, group using data to ‘end poverty,’ goes bust

The analysis group Development Initiatives, which championed the use of high-quality data to “end poverty,” has closed down in fresh evidence of what it called the “tough financial climate” facing civil society organizations. Around 50 staff members, mainly in the United Kingdom and Kenya, lost their jobs with just a few days’ notice when the organization suddenly announced it was “ceasing operations” after 31 years. The move came despite Development Initiatives claiming to have “a strong pipeline of prospective income” when it announced losses of almost £720,000 (about $935,000) on an income of just under £5.5 million in August last year. Those accounts acknowledged the organization had lost vital contracts as secretariat to the International Aid Transparency Initiative, or IATI, and as host of the Global Nutrition Report as well as a “core grant” from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Staff members being laid off are understood to believe that “avoidable” mistakes were made that could have saved the group in a failed restructuring, which saw around 30% of posts lost three years ago. A source remarked that the “irony” of an organization with perceived expertise in financial tracking appearing to lose track of its own finances had not been lost on those losing their jobs. Development Initiatives was founded in 1993 by two former U.K. development officials with “the mission of ending global poverty by gathering better data on people in poverty and the resources that could be helping them.” Based in Bristol, England, it evolved from a consultancy into primarily a nonprofit think tank specializing in examining development financial flows, particularly in the humanitarian sphere. In 2020, it launched a tool using IATI data “letting you track commitments and disbursements of aid and other global development finance,” and has highlighted how its work covered 78 countries over the last five years. Last August’s statement on its 2022 accounts noted it had lost “several significant programmes and funding relationships,” but argued it was taking steps to steady the ship. “Like many organisations in this tough financial climate, we started a process in July 2023 that we expect will reduce the size of our team alongside revising our non-staff costs to ensure most effective use of our funding moving forwards,” it stated. A further statement posted on its website at the end of last week announced that “ongoing financial pressures” had made it impossible to continue and that “the Board is taking the necessary steps to close the organisation.” Adrian Lovett, chief executive officer for two years, left Development Initiatives just weeks ago to become executive director of The ONE Campaign in the United Kingdom, Middle East, and Asia Pacific. The closure follows the sudden collapse of Crown Agents, a key supplier of development services to the U.K. government, and the announcement of the closure of the U.K. charity Evidence Aid because of “a lack of prospects for further funding.” Development Initiatives has received U.K. government funding, but its demise is not seen as directly linked to continuing curbs on the country’s aid budget — although a source pointed out it did work for organizations that rely on U.K. state funding.