A United Kingdom NGO that collapsed last year — leaving around 50 U.K. and Kenyan staffers out of work within days — did not provide severance pay to its East Africa teams, even though more than £107,000 was held in its Kenyan bank accounts at the time, newly released liquidation documents show. Former staff of Development Initiatives claim the money had been intended for the organization’s Africa operations but was instead transferred to the United Kingdom by liquidators as part of the insolvency process.
The research and analysis group, based in Bristol, England, announced in October 2024 that it was “ceasing operations” due to “ongoing financial pressures,” following significant losses the previous year and the end of several major contracts, as Devex reported at the time. But a recent public LinkedIn post by former staff member Bill Anderson has raised further questions about how the shutdown affected Development Initiatives’ East Africa team, which had been central to its localization strategy.
In the post, Anderson, who formerly served as DI’s data and innovation lead and is still listed on the organization’s archived website, wrote that U.K. employees received statutory redundancy but “our colleagues in East Africa … received zero compensation,” describing them as “left destitute.” He also alleged that over £100,000 in DI’s Nairobi accounts — money that he said was “rightfully deposited there for East African operations” — was subject to “repatriation” attempts by U.K. liquidators in order to cover insolvency costs.