In the year 2018, IBON International continued to flourish as an institution. It retains a special consultative status at the UN Economic and Social Council, which it has held since 2014. It has successfully undergone a process of enriching its Strategic Plan. With the staff and the approval of our Board of Trustees, we started with a survey and focus group discussions, and worked towards concrete action points.

The centre of the plan remains our framework and approach of Rights-based/People-Powered Democracy (RBD/PPD), and we strive to further integrate this in all dimensions of our work. We further sharpened our theory of change and our program themes, and along the way, broadened our theme on addressing Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) into a program of Development for the People. While still including PPPs, it covers broader trends in the corporate capture of the development agenda.

For the upcoming year, IBON International shall focus on strengthening our assertion of the people’s right to development amidst shrinking democratic spaces.