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Welcome to IIED , an international policy research institute and non governmental body working for more sustainable and equitable global development.

Although based in London we work globally through a wide range of long-standing relationships with partners across the developing world. Some of these relationships go back since our beginning in 1971. Our partnerships generate close working relations with many key development actors from smallholder farmers and big city slum-dwellers to national governments and regional NGOs, global institutions and international processes. This well established practice of working in partnership is what we believe makes us fundamentally different from other research institutes.

IIED acts as a catalyst, broker and facilitator and helps vulnerable groups find their voice and ensure their interests are heard in decision-making. Environmental sustainability is a core concern but not at the expense of people’s livelihoods.

How we work and what we do

IIED provides expertise in achieving sustainable development at local, national, and global levels. In alliance with others, we want to change a future that ends global poverty and ensures fair and sound management of the world’s resources.

We are working, with our partners, to have a real impact on policy and practice at local, national and global levels, combining a range of tools, skills and actions throughout a wide variety of activities. Underpinning the way we work are certain key principles:

• Establishing and strengthening partnerships – formal and informal – based on mutual respect and common interests

• Independent thinking to guarantee our reputation for impartial analysis, questioning conventional wisdom and brokering dialogue between diverse groups.

• Doing and thinking to strengthen what works, with a focus on pragmatism and problem solving that brings environment and development together

• Supporting a greater voice for less powerful interests by building their capacity to act and speak, by linking local and global levels

• Being flexible and multi-disciplinary in approach and working methods

see also our 'Ways of Working' document, available in PDF format

see also our Research Ethics Policy, available in PDF format

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Activities

Throughout its lifetime IIED has made its mark through innovative policy and practice using participatory methods and multi-stakeholder processes to develop policy that works for local livelihoods. We are committed to maintaining excellence throughout all our programme activities but are looking to achieve greater synergies between similar areas. To this end we now have five broader groups to help generate further innovation and new ways of working.

• Natural Resources – sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, drylands and forestry
  
  
• Climate Change - mitigation, adaptation and vulnerability
  
  
• Human Settlements – urban poverty, urban environment, rural-urban links
  
  
• Sustainable Markets – environment economics, corporate responsibility, regoverning markets, trade
  
  
• Governance – law, planning, global governance

Within these broad areas we have also identified a series of common themes to provide greater focus and map our work onto areas of greatest priority

1. Global Institutions

• Strengthening institutions and processes for better governance
  
  
• Bringing global development goals down to earth

2. Equitable Property Rights

• Strengthening local rights to land and natural resources through decentralised structures
  
  
• Water as a source of life, health and productivity

3. Sustainable Markets

• Trade and Markets for equitable development
  
  
• Strengthening corporate responsibility for social and environmental gains

4. Strengthening Voices of the Weak

• Monitoring the impact of Northern government policy
  
  
• Methodologies to promote inclusion and democratic deliberation

Networking

Putting our strategy into effect needs action in a number of areas. We are developing a research strategy within and across the five groups and focussing on our common themes. We also communicate our broader vision and our ways of working to a range of external audiences and are always looking for feedback from our multiple audiences. Other ways that we maximise our impact include the following:

• Regional Advisory Panels that help improve our effectiveness and relevance

• Major IIED-wide events such as Annual Conferences and Multi – Donor meetings

• The Ring – a group of 15 like-minded sustainable development research bodies predominantly from the South

• Resource Centres for Participatory Learning and Action (RCPLA) – a fourteen member network in countries around the world.

Communications

Communicating effectively remains a challenge but one that IIED is continually evolving. Communications are at the heart of IIED’s work. If we are to inform and influence key actors we must invest in more powerful means to translate our findings in clear messages, targeted at a range of audiences. We are careful to integrate communications activities into the design of projects, so there is adequate provision for disseminating these messages jointly with our partners.

At the same time we carry out institute-wide communications work on strategic topics, as well as cross-cutting issues. Our target audiences need material in various forms. We convey messages through multiple channels, often in collaboration with other actors. They include flagship journals, short summaries, research reports, local language materials, CDs, and videos. Many of our publication are available in French, Spanish and Portuguese as well as English.

IIED working for a just and sustainable world – how you can work with us?

Keep in touch! By that we mean anything from giving us feedback on this site (email link), sending off for some information, taking at look at the vast array of publications on our database, downloading information from this site, introducing us and our work to colleagues and partners, using our resources to support your work, and signing up to our email bulletin. Above all, don’t hesitate to contact us if you want further information that you cannot find on this site.

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Further Information

Read our Institutional Strategy document:
This document lays out how our works promotes more sustainable patterns of development at local, national and global levels. Our strategy document maps out our priorities, experience and approach, and how they shape the way we work. It provides a strong focus on the challenges we face while being firmly grounded in the world today.

View Strategy Document

Read our 'Ways of Working' Discussion Paper:
This paper considers what ways of working means within IIED and considers the diversity of spaces IIED occupies and actors it works with in order to help contribute to the achieving of its mission. It draws on several pieces of work already undertaken within IIED in addition to drawing on ideas from the literature and from other organisations’ experiences. The paper is aimed at IIED's partners, donors and other organisations with an interest in monitoring and evaluating the activities of policy research institutes.

View 'Ways of Working' (PDF file 647k)

Read our Research Ethics Policy:
The purpose of this policy on research ethics is to inform the design and conduct of research activities by IIED staff, so as to optimise research outcomes and minimise adverse effects on affected stakeholders.

View Research Ethics Policy (PDF file 36k)

Read our Values Statement:
The Values Statement is intended to improve understanding of IIED’s identity and approach by staff, collaborators, funders and the general public. It aims to clarify:

1. IIED’s goal – to promote sustainable development
2. Constituent values of sustainable development, explaining what IIED stands for
3. Organisational values, guiding how IIED does its work and relates to others
4. Associated commitments that IIED will make to uphold these values

View Value Statement (PDF File 27k)

Read our Code of Conduct for Collaborative Research:
This Code of Conduct outlines for IIED staff, partners and donors the values we hope to uphold in the conduct of our work, and the procedures we will follow in our collaborative relations with others. We see strong advantages in specifying these values and procedures clearly, to ensure greater accountability and understanding amongst all parties.

View Code of Conduct (PDF File 27k)

Read our Draft Guidelines on Business Engagement:
Devised as complimentary to our Code of Conduct

View Business Engagement Guidelines (PDF file 54k)

Read our guide to Going Carbon Neutral:
IIED recognises its responsibility to reduce its GHG emissions.

view paper (pdf 20KB)

Further information: Becoming Carbon Neutral While Supporting Sustainable Development: A Challenge for Development and Environment NGOs".
Discussion Paper IIED.

View discussion paper (pdf 49KB)

Copyright © 2005 International Institute for Environment and Development.
All rights reserved.
3 Endsleigh Street, London WC1H 0DD, email: info@iied.org.
tel: +44 (0) 20 7388 2117, fax: +44 (0) 20 7388 2826.
UK Registered charity no. 800066.

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