Annual Review 2014

Bringing science and global development together through news and analysis

Annual Review2013-14

Table of contentsVision 3

From our director 4

David Dickson 5

Aim: Provide access to understandable scientific information 6

Aim: Build relationships in key spheres 8

Aim: Socio economic analysis of research findings 10

Aim: Capacity building to support and sustain uptake of science 12

A world of science 14

Latin America and Caribbean 14

Middle East and North Africa 14

South Asia 15

South-East Asia and Pacific 15

Sub-Saharan Africa (English) 16

Sub-Saharan Africa (French) 16

Financial information 17

Who we are 18

Vision

All photos courtesy Gates Foundation / Panos Pictures

SciDev.Net is the leading online source of science and development news and analysis for, from and by the global south.

Our mission is to help individuals and organisations apply evidence and innovations from science and technology to decision-making in order to have a positive impact on equitable and sustainable development and poverty reduction.

We bring science and development together by providing news and analysis, as well as multimedia content such as videos, podcasts and audio slideshows. These are written and created by our network of freelancers around the world, the majority of which are from the global South.

While based in London, we have offices which run editions in the following regions:

Latin America and Caribbean Edition

Middle East and North Africa

South Asia

South-East Asia and Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa (English)

Sub-Saharan Africa (Francophone)

We report in English, French, Spanish and Arabic and all our content is available for reproduction under a Creative Commons licence.

We also help to improve developing countries’ ability to communicate science and technology through our regional networks of committed individuals and organisations, and by providing practical guidance and specialist workshops.

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Annual Review 2013-2014

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We have a new website with increased functionality. We have also introduced a broader range of content on the site, including multimedia packages and more analysis of science and technology news. The regional editions have more editorial autonomy and capacity to better serve their audiences. We have also begun to publish in Arabic.

Behind many of these changes is our new strategy, which seeks to increase the application of science in development policy and practice by making news of developments in research and technology not only physically accessible but also cognitively accessible.

From our director

2013 has been a year of significant change for SciDev.Net.

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Nick Ishmael Perkins Director

[email protected]

We have been pleased with the early results from these changes. Throughout 2013, we continued to attract more unique visitors to the site and they stayed longer, visiting more pages than in previous years. In the midst of this, I am relieved to say that perceptions of the quality of our reporting remain high. This is important because our credibility is not something that we can negotiate or forsake.

There remains much more for us to do in the coming years, particularly as we improve our support for capacity building for science communication and research journalism.

Some of the change in 2013 was less celebratory. The untimely death of David Dickson, our founding director, was a shock. But I am grateful to the network of journalists, teams of editors, cadre of support staff, media partners, funders and loyal readers who continue to make his vision a reality.

David DicksonThis year we lost our founding Director David Dickson, we would like to thank you all for your kind comments in remembrance of him and his work.

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• Editorial output across the site has reached a new peak for us—nearly 1500 articles in a year.

• The refurbished website boasts a number of new features including a new subject taxonomy to increase the attractiveness for non-scientists, multimedia content and improved search facilities. The site won a W3 silver award for charitable website.

• We published three Spotlight feature packages in 2013: The challenge of science and NGO practice joining forces; Producing food sustainably; and Ensuring food security for the future.

Aim:

Provide access tounderstandablescientific information

• Our SciDev.Net at Large blog, now on the new site, provides more regular dispatches from key meetings. In 2013, we covered nearly 30; from the Open Government Partnership meeting to the World Health Summit and conferences such as the World Science Forum and COP#19.

• In 2013, every month around 75 outlets picked up at least one of our articles. We have invested in building content sharing among media partners, with media market research in Sub-Saharan Africa and Bangladesh.

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We have used findings from SciDev.Net to link with sustainable organic production.

Findings and reports from SciDev.Net have been crucial in our development and trials using BIO-N, a nitrogen fixing inoculant as a substitute/complement for organic fertilisers. We have also used findings on post-harvest technologies for organic vegetable preservation, packaging and storage. We use SciDev.Net along with other online partners to identify innovations and possible developments on a local level that are relevant and useful for the cooperative and its many member and institutional partners.

David King, SoroSoro ibaba Development Cooperative, Philippines

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• We hosted an event on post-2015 planning for the Millennium Development Goals and the role of science with the Royal Society, British Council and UK Collaborative on Development Sciences.

• 2013 saw the size of our regional teams increase four-fold. They now have more autonomy over their own edition, including editorial decision-making, production and running their own user engagement campaigns.

• Focus groups in West Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa gave us insights into regional problems and trending debates. These are captured in our Learning Series reports.

• We have also set up advisory groups to support our editorial teams in these regions, drawing on respected scientists, public officials and entrepreneurs.

• Direct web traffic is up around 10% from the previous year and average time on site up 150%.

Aim:

Build relationships in key spheres

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Registered users’professions

Aid agency officialCommercial/Industry manager

Consultant

Editor/Journalist

Government official

Health worker

Information manager/ Librarian

Policy researcher

Research administrator

Science communicator

Science researcher

Other/Unknown

Lecturer/Teacher

NGO official

Student

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• In 2013, we established monthly blogs looking at stories with a focus on gender, disability, migration, poverty and the private sector.

• We established an independent gender review group and in their first meeting they congratulated SciDev.Net on the number of gender-themed stories and our progressive use of images. They also set targets for greater interaction with relevant networks.

• Training on a wellbeing approach to development was recieved by the senior management team and regional coordinators, continuing our mission to bring a framework for inclusive human development into our science writing and digital journalism.

• Throughout the year, we ran lunchtime talks inviting different organisations to talk to us about their work to widen our own knowledge and links.

Aim:

Socio economic analysisof research findings

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The first time I knew about SciDev.Net was via an online science journalism

course. Reports on SciDev.Net helped me discover which format I’m supposed to use in my writing. Also, deciding which topics are more interesting to write about. As a scientist, I’m quite used to writing papers, but I recognised that there is so much information and stories I could have shared with the audience.

Thanks to SciDev.Net, I found my real ambition, which is sharing science with every single individual, not only the scientific community.”

Chaouni Bouchra, University Med V Rabat-Morocco and Micro B3, Morocco

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• We continue to build on our journalism training and ran a pilot training workshop with the Philippines Press Institute bringing together print and online editors and journalists. We also ran a workshop in Niger with the West African Science Journalism Network.

• In 2013, we published four of our popular Practical Guides: How to be an investigative science journalist; Data journalism: how to find stories in numbers; How to communicate in an interdisciplinary team; What journalists want from scientists and why

• Our Learning Series continues to grow, opening up lessons we have gained to our peers with reports on our focus groups and also based on feedback from our readers, freelancers and opinion writers.

• We increased our fee rates, helping to support the livelihoods of science journalists across the world while we have reduced the cost per user by 25% since 2011.

Aim:

Capacity building tosupport and sustainuptake of science

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Other

Latin America

MENA

South Asia

South-East AsiaSub-Saharan Africa

Registrantregions

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A world of science


Latin America and Caribbean

For Latin America and the Caribbean, 2013 brought more good news than bad. Funding for science, capacity building and scholarships increased in many countries, and the region increased its investments in disaster prevention. Furthermore the number of institutions in the region with more than 100 papers in SCOPUS journals doubled between 2003 and 2011. However, there were also significant challenges, particularly around climate change mitigation, extreme weather events, deforestation and the over-exploitation of resources.

An analysis blog about what Latin America is doing to promote the formation of human resources in science was the most read story in 2013. Our columnist Carla Almeida discussed how many countries are increasing their scholarships for graduate programmes in foreign institutions, and fears that such investments may limit financial incentives for local education and national research.

During the last year, we’ve continued to grow fans on Facebook and followers on Twitter. In August 2013, we launched a YouTube playlist for Latin America and the Caribbean which now has over 15 multimedia pieces produced by our regional team.

Political instability in the MENA region is affecting many aspects of development. We are covering the key scientific and developmental issues that are affected by this situation, such as borders, water, food security, energy and how to secure sustainable sources to them all.

We had three focus group workshops in MENA in November 2013, in Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia. They helped us to present the new edition to experts in the region.

One story about a new methodology to understand

Hepatitis virus C, to produce an effective treatment for it, was shared more than 400 times. It is an important story as MENA is one of the regions with the highest estimated number of people infected with this virus in the world.

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South Asia


The year 2013 saw the successful completion of several discussions with organisations that are going to fund the SEAP region or partner in specific joint activities such as the Philippine Press Institute during last year’s science media workshop.

We also gave some more lectures on science journalism: two to International Rice Research Institute scientists and communication staff on media coverage on science and a lecture to the School of Environmental Science and Management at University of the Philippines, Los Banos following the awarding of most outstanding alumni award.

We had our first regional advisory group meeting in July in Makati, Philippines. The SEAP team has started to grow; we hired a digital producer at the start of the year and a sub editor in October thus enabling the region to do its own sub editing and posting of stories. Two others, the assistant editor and user engagement specialist started in January and February, respectively. Three articles from The international rice symposium in Manila, Philippines, marked the beginning of the substantial rise in the web hits and shares for the SEAP region.

The South Asia region continued with its traditional strength of leading in news coverage of topics relevant of the region’s development; from climate change to arsenic toxicity in Bangladesh’s waters and crops; Everest and Karakorum glacier; air

pollution; fears over the loss of biodiversity in India’s Western Ghats; and Bangladesh geneticists’ forays into GM food and the jute genome.

A new feature was the region taking to multimedia to complement its print

coverage with stunning visuals of the Himalayan floods disaster in India, Pakistan’s struggle with its polio vaccination campaign against militants’ threats, and the impacts of erratic weather and climate change on poor communities.

The region also launched its Facebook and Twitter accounts. But perhaps what stood out most was the report on a reading tool from India for the visually impaired, which garnered a lot of views on both the website and social media.

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A world of science


Sub-Saharan Africa (French)

This has been a busy year for the SSA French edition, as the production hub was moved from London to Dakar, Senegal. We are now setting up a team of producers and reporters across the region, in order to improve coverage and awareness. Contacts have been made with key stakeholders, including leading Senegalese authorities, opinion leaders and researchers. The new SciDev.Net Dakar office, equipped with multimedia capabilities, is expected to be fully operational by July.

As a consequence of the restructure, the SSA French edition now enjoys a much stronger presence on the internet, our articles are regularly shared on social networks and republished by a number of websites. One of the major science topics in Sub-Saharan Africa in recent months was undoubtedly the outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever. Two articles have received a very favourable response from the public, as evidenced by their popularity on our website and their republication on various other Francophone science news websites, including Next Afrique and Terre Sacrée.

One of the most important highlights for 2013 was SSA English becoming a fully fledged edition in the SciDev.Net family, with a team recruited in the middle of the year to manage its affairs in the region. This has given us a fresh impetus and verve in ensuring that the over arching

objective, mission and vision of SciDev.Net as an online portal for the delivery of timely, authoritative and relevant news to the website’s audiences is met. It was also thrilling for us to see the birth of the Francophone version: Afrique-Sub-Saharienne in the same year to capture an audience that

that so much deserved our news services but had been mostly missing out.

One of the most outstanding stories from the year was: Two women ‘solar engineers’ light up Cameroon village.

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Financial informationTrustees’ statementThe Statement of Financial Activities and Balance Sheet are not the full statutory accounts but are a summary of the information which appears in the full accounts. The full accounts have been audited and given an unqualified opinion. The full accounts were approved by the full board on the 30th April 2014. Copies of the financial statements have been submitted to the Charity Commission and Registrar of Companies. These summarised accounts may not contain sufficient information to allow for a full understanding of the financial affairs of the Company. Further information, including the auditor’s report, can be obtained by contacting the Company’s offices.

Independent Auditors’ Report to the Members of SciDev.Net Statutory Auditor: Kingston Smith LLP

We have audited the financial statements of SciDev.Net for the year ended 31 December 2013 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities (the Summary Income and Expenditure Account), the Balance Sheet and the related notes. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting standards (United Kingdom Generally accepted Accounting Practice)…

In our opinion the financial statements give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 December 2013 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure for the year then ended; have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 … [;] the information given in the Trustees’ Annual Report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements.

Statement of financial activities 2013 2012 £ £

Incoming resources

Incoming resources from generated funds:

Voluntary income 2,070,765 1,516,996

Other incoming resources 49,470 47,315

Total incoming resources 2,120,235 1,564,311

Resources expended

Costs of generating funds 98,964 78,278

Charitable activities 1,681,874 1,328,600

Governance costs 49,227 40,606

Total resources expended 1,830,065 1,447,484

Net income/(expenditure) 290,170 116,827

Total funds at 1 January 389,924 273,097

Total funds at 31 December 680,094 389,924

Summary balance sheet 31 Dec 2013

2013 2012 £ £

Fixed assetsTangible assets 258,426 124,603

Current assetsDebtors 425,437 378,037 Cash at bank and in hand 505,662 256,448

931,099 634,485

Creditors: Amounts falling duewithin one year (509,431) (369,164)Net current assets 421,668 265,321

Net assets 680,094 389,924

FundsRestricted funds 8,188 15,404 Unrestricted funds:Designated fixed asset funds 258,426 124,603 Designated core funds 240,877 129,884 General funds 172,603 120,033

Total funds 680,094 389,924


London

Nick Ishmael Perkins Director

Kay Ali Head of business development

Tom Campbell Sub-editor

Paul Dawson Head of finance and operations

Lou Del Bello Multimedia producer

Jan Evetts, Digital support technician

Caitlin Flint User engagement manager

Joshua Howgego Deputy news and opinions editor

Shannon Marie Harmon Digital producer

Kaz Janowski Editor

Mariama Kamara Office administrator and PA to the director

Andrew Lee Head of digital

Anita Makri Opinion and special features editor

Imogen Mathers Reporter, producer

Jessica Romo Monitoring and evaluation coordinator

Jon Spaull Reporter, multimedia producer

Mic’o Tatalovic’ News editor

Latin America and Caribbean

Luisa Massarani Regional coordinator

Lisbeth Fog Writer and consultant

Daniela Hirschfeld Writer and consultant

Paula Leighton (left 2014) Deputy news and opinions editor

Zoraida Portillo Writer and consultant

Andrea Small Carmona User engagement coordinator


Bothina Osama Regional coordinator

Nehal Lasheen Assistant editor

Wafa’a Mohsen Digital producer

Saleh El Shair Copy editor

Hisham Soliman Regional sub editor

Yasser Teilab User engagement coordinator

Who we are

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South Asia

Ranjit Devraj Regional coordinator

T.V. Padma (left 2014) Regional coordinator

Smriti Daniel User engagement coordinator

Sanjay M. Johri (left 2013) Regional consultant


Joel Adriano Regional coordinator

Judith ‘Jum’ Balea Digital producer

Eugene Calapit User engagement coordinator

Jose ‘Ping’ Galang Sub-editor

Fides Lim Assistant editor


Ochieng’ Ogodo Regional coordinator

Bernard Appiah Subeditor

Albert Otieno Leny Assistant news editor

Bernice Nduta User engagement coordinator

Calvin Otieno Digital producer

Sub-Saharan Africa (French)

Amzath Fassassi Regional coordinator

Théodore Koudore News editor

Trustees

Andrew Bennett

Nalaka Gunawardene

Philip Rowley (left 2013)

Rob Sloley

Nadia El-Awady

Judith Francis

Khotso Mokhele

Funders

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For media inquiries contact [email protected]

If you have an idea for a story contact [email protected]

For information on training partnerships contact: [email protected]

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UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 7292 9910

Fax: +44 (0)20 7292 9929

Email: [email protected]

SciDev.Net is a charity registered in England and Wales

Registration number: 1089590

Photo courtesy of The Gates Foundation

Documents

Annual Review 2014