IIED policies

IIED is fully committed to organisational transparency. Where possible we make our institutional documents available. This page lists our policies or explains how to request them.

 

Partnerships statement

Partnerships are at the heart of IIED's work; the institute has hundreds of them in over 60 countries. This partnership statement (PDF) outlines IIED’s approach to working with partners across the world. It sets out some core principles and shows how, why and with whom IIED seeks partnership.

We also acknowledge that working within a complex ecosystem of diverse actors and contexts has its challenges. Relationships between organisations often reflect the inequalities in resources and power in the world, which can make it difficult to establish equitable partnerships.  

So IIED carried out research exploring what an equitable partnership could look like, the principles that can guide such partnerships, and the tools that can be used to track accountability in partnership processes. And IIED's 2024 manifesto included commitments to develop and apply these principles and standards for equitable partnerships in practice.

Equity, inclusion and justice

IIED is committed to the principles of equity of opportunity, inclusion and justice, and recognises the importance of always adhering to these principles. Find out more in our equity, inclusion and justice strategy.

All that we do will reflect our approach to equity, inclusion and justice in practice. Equity, inclusion and justice together form a positive approach to recognise that everyone is different and can make and bring their own unique contribution, experience, knowledge and skills to IIED.

Race and racism

As demonstrated in our equity, inclusion and justice strategy, IIED is committed to the journey and transformation needed to become an anti-racist organisation.

This means driving change internally that has included a redefining of our shared values, and continuous work on our behaviours and culture. Externally, this includes transforming ways of working with others, how we set our research agendas, take action in policy and in practice, and how we communicate.

Over the last few years we have increased our resources to understand and confront the manifestations of racism within IIED and the sustainable development sector more broadly, including conducting an internal race audit (PDF), conducted by a third-party organisation, that made 18 recommendations in January 2023.

In May 2024 IIED published its new manifesto with new embedded processes and governance structures intended to further progress IIED towards becoming an anti-racist organisation, and executive director Tom Mitchell wrote a personal insight into his and IIED’s response to the audit.

Gender justice

Gender justice is fundamental to IIED's work – for both the issues we work on and our own ways of working. Our holistic approach to gender justice aims to break the gender binary and seeks to rectify the deeply ingrained structural inequalities that perpetuate gender-based discrimination and exclusion, with an intersectional focus.

This entails dismantling systems that perpetuate gender injustice, including unequal power relations, within national boundaries and across regions. It seeks not only to level the playing field but also to rectify historical and systemic gender injustices.

Environmental policy

IIED works to build a fairer, more sustainable world. We recognise that all our activities will have an impact on the environment – and we have committed to becoming a net zero organisation.

A forthcoming sustainable operations strategy will set out our plans in more detail and update our environmental policy (PDF) in line with our 2024 manifesto to advance our environmental targets and practices.

Integrity and ethics in research, partnership and policy engagement

IIED addresses the issues of research integrity and ethics with a clear policy statement and practical mechanisms designed to ensure that we put our principles into practice. Our policy (PDF) aims to ensure that IIED's research meets a set of agreed ethical standards, and provides guidance on how to integrate ethical considerations into the design and conduct of IIED research, partnerships and policy engagement activities.

Guidance on IIED representation on panels

At IIED, diversity, equity and inclusion are central to our mission and we believe that varied perspectives are needed to generate the ideas that can help solve some of the world’s most complex problems.

In April 2022 we produced guidance on IIED participation in external panels, and on who is represented on panels organised by IIED, to support this.

Value for money statement

Demonstrating value for money is ever more important for organisations using public funds. With aid budgets under pressure, development organisations need to show that they are efficient, that poor people's lives are actually improving, and that the environment is protected. Read our value for money statement on our Publications Library. We also publish a financial summary every year. 

Anti-fraud, bribery and corruption policy

IIED is committed to preventing fraud and bribery, and has a commitment to zero tolerance of fraud and bribery from its staff and partners. Our anti-fraud, bribery and corruption policy is available from our Publications Library.

Whistleblower policy

IIED is committed to conducting business with honesty and integrity, and we expect all staff to maintain high standards. We promote a culture of openness and accountability. Our whistleblowing policy is designed to encourage staff to report suspected wrongdoings as soon as possible, in the knowledge that their concerns will be taken seriously and investigated as appropriate, and that their confidentiality will be respected. Read our whistleblowing policy.

Contact

We have a range of other policies. To find out more, contact IIED's People team by calling +44 (0)20 3463 7399, email [email protected], or write to IIED people team, 44 Southampton Buildings, London, WC2A 1AP, UK.