HIVOS ANNUAL REPORT 2020 © Courtesy of SRHR Fund / Hivos 67 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Message from the Executive Board 3 7 Governance and Risks 37 7.1 Organization structure, 37 2 Supervisory Council report 8 governance and management 7.2 Financial results for 2020 37 3 The Hivos Way 11 7.3 Communication with stakeholders 42 7.4 Key risks and uncertainties 45 4 Key figures 14 7.5 Expected course of affairs: looking 48 into the future 5 Impact 2020 15 5.1 Freedom and Accountability 17 8 Annual accounts 50 5.2 Sexual Rights and Diversity 22 5.3 Women’s Empowerment 26 Independent auditor’s report 70 5.4 Renewable Energy 29 5.5 Sustainable Food 32 Annex SAFE Platform 72 6 Our partners 35 1. Message from the Executive Board 2. Supervisory Council report 3. The Hivos way 4. Hivos key figures 5. Impact 2020 6. Our Partners 7. Governance and Risks 8. Annual accounts Annex 1. MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE BOARD EFINING TRENDS IN 2020 Although some countries used the pandemic’s of power in Russia and China. This trend will only The year 2020 will be forever marked by economic fallout to make companies switch to perpetuate the ongoing decline in freedom and Covid-19. More than two million people more sustainable models, others helped major shrinking civic space in these countries and around D died from the virus last year, and tens polluters survive with government subsidies. the world. It is first of all the vulnerable groups in of millions more have fallen seriously these societies - woman and girls, LGBTIQ+ people, ill. The pandemic not only causes health risks and A number of Gulf States, Sudan and Morocco signed political opponents - that will come under threat a worrying strain on healthcare systems around the bilateral treaties with Israel. However, the bone and face repression. globe, it severely affects the very fabric of society. of conflict in the region - the position and rights Hundreds of millions worldwide have temporarily or of the Palestine people - was not at all addressed. Our greatest concern is that civil society is right permanently lost their jobs and sources of income, Worse still, in 2021 we saw the conflict erupt again now under more pressure than ever. This is having a and lockdowns have uprooted economic and social over Israeli government evictions of Palestinians terrible impact on those who were already pushed life. We also saw a horrifying surge of gender- in Jerusalem and illegal occupation of Palestinian to the sidelines. So Hivos is determined to establish based violence and discrimination against LGBTIQ+ territory. strong alliances and partnerships with enough communities. And, in the name of Covid-19 safety clout to try and prevent the current decline in civic measures, some governments swiftly put their Another important movement to note in 2020 freedoms from extending far into the future. citizens under increased surveillance and scrutiny. was - despite the pandemic’s restrictions - a global This has led to a substantial global decline in protest against racism sparked by the murder of HIVOS AND ITS NETWORK OF PARTNERS democracy and civil freedoms, which directly George Floyd in the US. This not only renewed the Covid-19 also touched off an extraordinary year influences the people we work with and for. demands of #BlackLivesMatter, but resulted in a for Hivos, directly impacting how we and our more widespread discussion of racism and institutional than 500 partners across the globe could work. For Although travel plummeted globally in 2020, racism, including within Hivos. We will follow up example, we ended 2019 with our Keystone partner the effects of climate change only increased, on this in 2021 and institute measures to prevent survey and dialogue sessions in Nairobi and Harare. underlining the urgency of addressing the climate institutional racism and deal with acts of racism and But due to the pandemic, we could not complete crisis. Massive wildfires in the Amazon, Australia discrimination should they occur within Hivos or the dialogue sessions everywhere. So instead, we and the US, tropical storms in the US, Southeast our partner organizations. conducted a partner vulnerability survey in March Asia and Central America, the highest temperatures and April to assess how the pandemic was affecting ever recorded in Antarctica, and continuing We have seen a rise of authoritarianism across our partners. From that survey, we learned what to desertification in the Sahara, all coincided with a the globe, from Uganda to Belarus to Myanmar, adapt and support. Fortunately, most of our partner sluggish implementation of the Paris Agreement. amongst others, and the continuing consolidation organizations have survived 2020, although some 03 HIVOS ANNUAL REPORT 2020 1. Message from the Executive Board 2. Supervisory Council report 3. The Hivos way 4. Hivos key figures 5. Impact 2020 6. Our Partners 7. Governance and Risks 8. Annual accounts Annex just barely, while others are still working under under challenging circumstances, including not seven million people worldwide: three and a half difficult conditions. meeting face to face and working mostly from times the total Covid-19 death toll as it stands today. home. We also managed to address some of our partners’ All these problems combined have scared and concerns. We started the Hivos Rapid Response Unfortunately, the pandemic did make us suffer angered people everywhere. This leaves many prey Fund, which allocated small grants to partners to a number of setbacks because of the economic to populist, authoritarian and polarizing forces that help them manage immediate needs. We launched downturn and change in political priorities it caused. increasingly dominate public debate with fear-based ACTION, a new EU-funded program that supports For example, funding for our Strong in Diversity – Bold narratives. But to counter these global developments, vulnerable populations affected by the pandemic on Inclusion program, that addressed the persisting and to achieve real structural change, the opposite is in Indonesia plus we received some extra funding challenges facing the LGBTIQ+ community in five needed. People have to work together in a positive from the Global Fund in Latin America. And our All cities in Africa, was totally withdrawn by DFID, now and unifying way, and the collective, constructive Eyes on the Amazon program initiated the Amazon FCDO, due to a change in funding priorities. action of civil society is more necessary than ever. Indigenous Health route, aimed at providing a A shift to a just and life-sustaining global society localized response to Covid-19 in the Amazon. OUR WORK IS MORE NEEDED will require major transitions in all domains of life. Finally, we raised money for a Hivos solidarity fund to THAN EVER Hivos deeply believes that people are the key to help women energy entrepreneurs from ENERGIA’s Right now, secure livelihoods, equality, and successfully turning around current system failures. partners in Africa and Asia cope with the economic inclusion are still a pipedream for at least a billion Luckily, there are many individuals, groups and and social consequences of lockdowns. Overall, we people around the world. The global economy, organizations fighting to redress power imbalances have to thank our donors who allowed a flexible heavily reliant on commercial (often multinational) and achieve climate justice, gender equality, diversity reinterpretation of projects, a move from offline to enterprises, continues to serve the short-term and inclusion. It is Hivos’ heartfelt mission to support online activities, and budget shifts. Other donors interests of shareholders instead of the common these people whenever and wherever possible. allowed activities to be postponed, but maintained good and longer-term societal values. Partly as a payments - and hence continuity - for civil society result of this, 2020 proved again to be an alarming SHAPING OUR PROGRAMMATIC FUTURE partners, consortium partners and Hivos. year for our environment, with climate emergencies We obviously cannot do this without the support of on a global scale. It was the world’s hottest year on our long-term donors. First of all, we should mention So despite the pandemic, our regular work did carry record, and irreversible damage has been done to our longstanding and deeply appreciated alliance on, albeit under different circumstances. We would both ecosystems and a huge part of the world’s with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2020 a explicitly like to thank our partner organizations for population. Global warming threatens to drive at new phase started in our partnership with the Dutch their resilience, inventiveness, and stamina. We are least another 132 million people into poverty the government thanks to three new programs: We impressed by how much we have achieved together next ten years. In 2020, air pollution alone killed Lead, Voices for Climate Action, and the extension 04 HIVOS ANNUAL REPORT 2020 1. Message from the Executive Board 2. Supervisory Council report 3. The Hivos way 4. Hivos key figures 5. Impact 2020 6. Our Partners 7. Governance and Risks 8. Annual accounts Annex of the voice program we implement with Oxfam- failed to secure funding with other donors to do so. of this year, to ensure Hivos remains well-equipped Novib. We Lead focuses on young women living Nevertheless, the evaluation of the Citizen Agency to address today’s challenges together with our with a disability, with HIV, affected by displacement, Consortium programs was positive, and we are partners and allies. We will bring more focus to our or identifying as LBTI. Voices for Climate Action, proud of the results achieved. programs, concentrate on scaling our impact, realize implemented by a consortium which includes broader support for societal changes, deepen our Hivos, unites civil society with Indigenous peoples, We are happy to see that many more major donors commitment to local leadership, and decentralize women, youth, and the urban poor, in a strong are helping shape our programmatic future.