Instead of adopting a separate sustainability framework typically used by corporations in high-income societies, risking a decoupling of our impact pathways from our ‘triple bottom’ value, we articulate our contributions to social, cultural, economic and environmental sustainability within our existing impact framework and strategy.

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Cultural Value

We contribute to cultural sustainability by promoting culturally resonant and faith-sensitive responses through our research, interventions and consultancy and by supporting community-based, indigenous organisations to develop GBV leadership in research and programme delivery through co-funding and locally tailored capacity-building.

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Social Value

We are aware that GBV responses in development, humanitarian and migration contexts have not eschewed issues of exploitative research practices and behaviours and aim to generate social value by upholding the highest ethical and safeguarding standards. These are detailed in our Research Ethics and Safeguarding Policy, aligning to UK-based and international policies, including the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Modern Slavery Act 2015. We have in place a robust Due Diligence Policy to ascertain the financial and organisational standards of collaborators, clients and funders.

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Social – Operational value

Our approach to hiring, compensation and organisational culture is guided by the same decolonial, human-centred values that shape our research and interventions, allowing us to generate value through our operations.

Aware of exploitative practices in international corporate work and the historical marginalisation of non-western expertise, we aim to create meaningful and well-paid roles for our international experts and to cultivate staff growth across borders. We do so by limiting volunteer positions to one year, articulating clear standards of employment and promoting fair compensation to consultants internationally.

We also prioritise wellbeing, trauma-sensitivity and flexibility in the way we work as a team to promote life-work balance and move away from toxic higher education and corporate burnout practices.

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Economic Value

At IDVRM, we aim to become financially sustainable to be able to create new job opportunities for our volunteers and re-invest our surplus in organisational development and impact maximisation.

Our priority is to maintain financial transparency to produce accurate annual reports and manage funds according to ‘value for money’, while being able to demand the same standards from our partners, clients and collaborators.

Recognising the colonial or extractivist origins of some philanthropic and corporate wealth, we have put in place a thorough Due Diligence policy to evaluate the financial and operational standards of funders, donors, partners and clients, and we commit to working with those that share our values.

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Environmental Value

We are conscious of environmental concerns and believe that as an organisation there are small steps that we can take to reduce waste and promote good resource management. We follow numerous strategies to contribute to environmental goals, such as keeping international travel via flights to the minimum to reduce CO2 emissions, favouring online events and conferences instead of international symposia that are resource-intensive, as well as using digital publications and zero-paper policies.