As we complete our 50th year, it is right that we celebrate both our long-term success and the achievements of 2007/08. And there has been much to celebrate over the last year; we have clear evidence of the increasing contribution we have made to changing lives and strengthening the organisations we work with. In doing so we met all our key targets around volunteer recruitment, fundraising and development awareness.

The Department for International Development (DFID) renewed its three-year commitment to working alongside VSO; other important partnerships that you will read about through this review were established or strengthened, and in March we signed a letter of intent to merge with Canadian charity CUSO.

We welcome Sir Suma Chakrabarti, who replaces Dr Keith Bezanson as Chair of the Board of Trustees. Suma, who was Permanent Secretary of DFID until 2007, has a strong background in international development and in running successful organisations.

As we build on the successes of our first 50 years we will continue to support governments and local organisations to lead their own development, and will seek to scale up our work, including using our expertise to get more people involved in development in ways that matter most to them.