Who We Are

In 2025, supported by our donors and our members, we expanded our national coalition for gender-based violence (GBV) awareness and advocacy, forged a partnership with the government for a purpose-built domestic violence shelter for women, mobilised local communities and volunteers to improve biodiversity conservation and protect coastal ecosystems, and amplified the voice of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) on the global stage.

This year, we strengthened protected areas like Antigua & Barbuda’s NEMMA, where, in 2025, we completed a World Bank-funded project on biodiversity conservation. We empowered communities to actively hold government accountable for biodiversity conservation through social accountability approaches. We trained the nation’s first cohort of 13 volunteer Litter Prevention Wardens, built a partnership with the waste management authority to reduce wetland pollution, and improved biodiversity education for hundreds of young people through the inclusion of biodiversity conservation in the Grade Six Social Studies curriculum.

IHO’s advocacy for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) is growing. In 2025, we brought civil society voices to the UN SIDS Civil Society Engagement Forum, the 55th OAS General Assembly, and the COP30 Climate Summit. We recognise the urgency of confronting gender inequality, adapting to climate change, and protecting the most vulnerable and marginalised. Together with partners and communities, we are building resilient, equitable societies across SIDS, believing that sustainable development must be inclusive, gender-responsive, and rooted in community action.