Some of the best ideas arise when a group of people with shared purpose gather around a coffee table and set to work scribbling on napkins. This isn’t so far from the origin story of SIDA.
Formed as NIDOS (the Network for International Development Organisations in Scotland), the seed of SIDA was planted in the year 2000, when with the arrival of devolution, a number of NGOs began to sense a need for better collaboration across the humanitarian and international development sector in Scotland.
25 years, countless staff, and one organisational name change later, and we are now leading Scotland’s fight for a fairer world, free from poverty, injustice and environmental threats. Looking back, we’ve learnt a lot over the years, as have our 150+ members.
- We’ve taken steps to consider how we can shift the power back into the hands of the communities our members serve
- We’ve held 100s of events sharing knowledge and expertise across the sector
- We’ve reviewed and updated countless policy documents and sector-specific resources to support our members in their work
- We’ve taken a close look at our use of imagery and shifted our approach to align with our ethics
- We’ve supported members to find funding, build networks and influence policy
25 year anniversary event
Earlier this month, we gathered with SIDA friends and partners, including those who were present at the original coffee table, to mark this occasion and acknowledge how far we’ve come as an organisation and as a sector. During the event we heard from Philippa Bonella and Robert Anderson, who were key players in the early days of NIDOS, and from Joanna Keating and Katherine White from the Scottish Government.
Introduced by SIDA’s CEO, Frances Guy, Philippa shared the story of the original NIDOS logo that was mocked up on her husband’s computer on Microsoft Word – a relic of technology of that time, while she and Robert talked about the early conversations with Bond UK that were pivotal to our forming as their Scottish counterpart.
Joanna Keating, who has headed the International Development directorate at the Scottish Government for over a decade, spoke to the years of meaningful collaboration with SIDA, while Katherine White, relatively new in post as Deputy Director for International Development and Climate Change, affirmed a continued intention from the Scottish Government to maintain this working relationship with SIDA.
Over the course of the evening, we shared a slide show with some photos from the last 25 years – see a selection of these below.
Though it might be tempting to toast to another 25 years during such moments, it is our hope that by 2050 we will no longer be needed, not due to a lack of funding or demand, but because the world will be a more peaceful place, with more equally distributed power, and our vision for a fairer world free from poverty, injustice and environmental threats will have become a reality.
Until such a time comes, we have work to do to make this vision happen! Find out more about the ways we work and how you can work with us to support this mission.
NIDOS from the archives
