About

WDM Council agreed Guiding Principles in 2012, to provide an overall framework for our strategy WDM plus 10, which was adopted in 2009. Our Guiding Principles address our vision, mission, goal, beliefs and aspirations.

Dan Iles has been involved with WDM for two years, first as an activism and events intern, then South West regional mobiliser and  the Bristol WDM group coordinator and currently works as our campaigns and policy assistant. He has a wealth of experience in setting up community organisations and grassroots campaigning and is particularly inspired by food sovereignty. He is involved with the local food movement in Bristol, doing work for Bristol People’s Supermarket, community gardens and community kitchens and was part of the UK delegation at the European Food Sovereignty Forum.

Volunteers and interns are an important and valued part of the team at WDM. This is also true for many organisations in the not for profit sector. Our entire national network is comprised of people who are passionate about international development and campaign on a voluntary basis in their spare time. The internships we offer are slightly different as we tend to attract people who are not only passionate about international development but who also wish to develop their future career in this sector. 

In the voluntary sector ongoing budget constraints mean there aren’t many entry level posts available. This, combined with the high level of competition, makes it extremely difficult for anyone to gain paid employment in this sector at entry level. WDM’s internship and volunteer schemes help people get their foot in the door.

Yes, WDM internship programme increases our capacity to do our work. In return, interns gain considerable and varied experience while working here. Not only do we provide an opportunity to gain work experience to increase their chances of gaining paid employment, but we also provide support on CV writing and interview techniques. In addition, if a short fixed term temporary position becomes available, we only recruit internally thus giving...

Belinda Calaguas is director of policy and campaigns at ActionAid-UK. She became aware of WDM whilst she was an activist in the Philippines, and joined WDM as an individual supporter in the late 1990s, sometime after she moved to Britain with her husband and daughter. She joined council in 2010.  

Julieanne Porter has been a campaigner with Oxford WDM since November 2002 and spends her free time in her natural habitat (gardening). Julianne has also been the Area Rep for the East Anglia and Chilterns region since June 2008 and on WDM Council since August 2010. 

Campaigns assistant

effie@wdm.org.uk

Effie is a campaigns assistant at WDM having first come across the organisation when she was in the throes of moving abroad to work on programmes to combat poverty in Africa. WDM made her realise to her horror that much of the poverty there existed due to UK international policies. Effie then traded a life in the sunshine for life in the inner city and initially volunteered at WDM before moving into her current role. Effie has a Master's degree in Development. She has also been involved in the Women’s Environmental Network, arts and crafts, school volunteering and vegetable growing, as well as being a parent and child producing. 

Campaigns officer

christine.haigh@wdm.org.uk

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Christine is policy and campaigns officer for WDM’s food speculation campaign. She originally joined WDM in January 2007 as an intern in the campaigns and policy team, and also worked briefly as network assistant. She returned to WDM in February 2011, working as campaigns officer on the food speculation campaign with Heidi Chow. Prior to this she worked for Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming, coordinating their Children’s Food Campaign. She also worked for the Women’s Environmental Network supporting their network of local food projects and researching gender and climate change issues. Christine has a degree in philosophy and physics from the University of Aberdeen, and a Master’s in Food Policy from City University.

Lucy Hurn has been involved with WDM since 2003, helped run the Leeds group in 2005-6 and has been a core member of South West London WDM since 2007. She has worked in campaigning and advocacy for almost ten years, including two years with a human rights organisation in Peru, running CAFOD’s climate change campaign for three years, and most recently at ActionAid, initially on women’s rights, and now running its biofuels campaign.

Peter Bryant has been a member of WDM for twelve years and is active with the South Lakes WDM group. He works in the field of community engagement working with marginalised groups to ensure that their voices are heard by decision makers (using approaches such as Citizens Juries and Participatory Budgeting both in the UK and overseas with organisations such as the TUC, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and numerous small community groups). He also works freelance and for a Manchester-based social enterprise.

Please click on the links below to download the Council documents. 

Elections have now ended. 

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WDM was founded in 1970, by bringing together a number of groups which had been campaigning against world poverty during the late 1960s. We broke new ground by focusing on the causes of poverty and demanding policy changes rather than charitable giving. Since then, WDM has evolved into a democratic, politically independent organisation, with 15,000 supporters and a network of 60 local groups across the UK. Read more about our campaigning successes below.

• 2013 Two years of concerted campaigning by WDM results in Barclays, the UK’s biggest player in food speculation and one of the top three globally, announcing that it will no longer trade in food for speculative purposes.
• 2012 Following a prolonged campaign by a coalition of Scottish NGOs and local pressure groups including WDM Scotland, plans for a new coal-fired power station in Hunterston, North Ayrshire are shelved.
• 2011 The UK government puts £10 million of its climate finance towards the UN Adaptation Fund, and agrees to give the majority of its funds that year to the World...

We campaigned against Europe’s unfair trade deals from April 2008 to December 2009.

We are not against trade, but we do want to stop the European pirates stealing our resources"
- Norma Maldonado, Guatemala

In 2006. the European Union announced a new trade strategy which targeted developing countries for trade deals. These trade deals were clearly stacked in favour of European companies, for example unrestricted access to raw materials from poor countries and demanding less regulation for European corporations. The trade strategy also tried to get poor countries to open up their markets to subsidised, imported European goods and produce, rather than allowing space for developing countries to build their own industries.

Campaign successes

The campaign got a quarter of all UK MEP candidates at the 2009 European parliamentary election to sign up to the TJM ‘trade pledge’. Candidates committed to take action if they were elected to get a review of EU trade policy and to promote coherence between trade and development issues. 

WDM groups and supporters took an active part in lobbying their MEPs...

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Resources assistant

polly.moreton@wdm.org.uk

Polly is the resources assistant at WDM. She does lots of processing around payments, income logging and general financial recording. She is also in charge of novelty pens.

Director

deborah.doane@wdm.org.uk

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Deborah is director at WDM. Since 1996 she has worked on ethical trading, human rights and sustainable development issues, most recently as head of sustainable consumption at WWF-UK. Prior to that, she was director of the CORE Coalition of over 130 NGOs, which achieved groundbreaking changes to UK Company Law to improve governance of social and environmental impacts. Previously, Deborah was head of corporate accountability at the New Economics Foundation, and led the Humanitarian Ombudsman Project for the British Red Cross.  

Deborah is a frequent guest lecturer and has published widely on sustainability, human rights and corporate accountability issues. She is on the board of the Fairtrade Foundation, and was a member of the Corporate Responsibility Advisory Group of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England Wales between 2004 and 2010. She is also a co-founder of Anti-Apathy, which supports people to take creative approaches to social and...

WDM Scotland is the Scottish wing of the World Development Movement (WDM) - a UK-based anti-poverty campaigning organisation with a world-wide reputation for tackling hard-hitting, controversial issues.  We lobby decision makers to change the policies that keep people poor; research and promote positive alternatives; and work alongside people in the developing world who are standing up to injustice.

The WDM Scotland office was set up in November 1998 in order to support campaign activity in Scotland, and to adapt WDM campaigns for use in the Scottish context.  Read about our past successes here, or go to Scotland Campaigns for details of present projects.

There are lots of ways to get involved now - see Scotland Action for details of current action, or why not join a local group?

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WDM's 2010 annual general meeting (AGM) will take place during our activist gathering in Sheffield on Saturday 19 June. Further information and booking.

AGM agenda

1. Welcome and introduction by the Chair

2. Director's report
    a) Update on WDM+10 (Strategic Framework)
    b) Plans for 2010

3. Adoption of the minutes of the 2009 AGM and matters arising not elsewhere on the agenda

4. Adoption of annual report and accounts
    a) Treasurer’s report
    b) Adoption of annual report and accounts
    c) Re-appointment of auditors

5. Election of Council members and Area Representatives.

6. Close by Chair

Accounts and annual review

The audited accounts for 2009 and WDM's annual review are available online. The minutes of the 2009 AGM will be available on the day.
 

World Development Movement is a company, World Development Movement Ltd (no. 209819) and a charity, World Development Movement Trust (registered charity number 1064066). 

WDM Trust, the charity, was historically restricted in the amount of campaigning it could do by charity law. Following changes to charity law, WDM Trust is now largely unrestricted in the kind of campaigning it can do as long as it remains non-party political. 

Individuals who support WDM Trust with a donation of £24 or more a year are eligible for membership of WDM Ltd. Members have voting rights on our constitution and in elections and are invited to attend the annual general meeting.

Donations to WDM Trust made by UK taxpayers are eligible for Gift Aid tax relief from Inland Revenue, meaning gifts to WDM Trust are worth 25% extra. These donations fund all aspects of our campaigns from report printing, staff costs and lobbying to public stunts and network building.

WDM is a movement of people who want to challenge the root causes of global poverty and injustice. Everyone who takes a campaign action, becomes a member, supports us with financially or joins a local group is helping us win justice for the world’s poorest people.

WDM strives to be a truly democratic movement, with individual members, groups and our professional staff working together for global justice. Staff lead our campaigning, but in consultation with local groups, both directly and through our system of area representatives. Area reps cover specific regions and act as link between groups, staff and the council.

WDM's council

WDM's council approves and monitors all WDM's major policy positions and initiatives, and sets our long term plans and direction. Council members are responsible for:

• Agreeing a shared vision and strategy for WDM's development created with the director in consultation with staff, local groups and allies from the global south.
• Ensuring that robust policies and plans, together with the necessary resources, are in place to achieve our strategic aims.
• Monitoring and evaluating performance against approved plans and budgets.
• Ensuring compliance with WDM's legal and financial responsibilities and securing its long-term financial viability.

The council of WDM consists of nine people voted for by WDM members, up to three representing local groups. In addition, up to three people may be co-opted to balance the council’s skills or diversity. Each council...