2021-03-31-accounts - Project Peru

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Project Peru

Twenty ninth Annual Report and Accounts

1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021

Registered Charity Number: 1049413

PROJECT PERU Annual report – for the year to 31 March 2021

Trustees’ report

This report covers Project Peru‘s activities in the UK and Peru from 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021.

Reference and Administrative details

Project Peru was formally established in May 1992, and in 1995 became a registered charity (Registered Charity number 1049413).

Structure, Governance and Management

Charity name Project Peru (known in Peru as Proyecto Perú).

Registered address in the UK

1, St. Catherine’s Hill, Guildford, Surrey GU2 4EF, England, UK Telephone: 01483 576093.

Administration address in Peru

Proyecto Perú Administration; El Dorado, Zapallal, District of Puente Piedra, Lima.

Bank Lloyds Bank, High Street, Guildford, Surrey.

Executive Committee and Trustees during this financial year in UK

Carole Hudson (Chair) Helena Cooke (Treasurer) David Hudson

All activities in the UK are on a voluntary basis and the trustees are selected from a core group of volunteers.

In Peru

Until June 2020 in Peru our legal representation and local responsibility was in the hands of Karina Alza Gomez and Maria Sylva von Bomsdorff. Although she was active up to this time we are very sad to announce the news of the sudden death in Lima of Maria Sylva and we wish to express our gratitude for the support she has given us over many years.

PROJECT PERU Annual report – for the year to 31 March 2021

Objectives and activities

The principal aims and objectives of Project Peru are to address issues faced by people living in extreme poverty in Peru. We are a small, lively, totally voluntary UK-based charity offering food, clothes, shelter, education, health and fun to those in need in a country where much of the population still exists in extreme poverty.

More specifically:

We support our children's refuge, which we founded and have developed over the years, in one of the desert shanty-towns of Lima.
We develop new initiatives to help those in need in Peru both in the community near to the refuge and periodically further afield.
We react swiftly to direct calls for practical help from our refuge.
We send annual aid shipments ensuring that they reach their destination and are put to immediate use within our refuge or in the wider community.
We fund almost the entire costs of the refuge through a wide range of activities in the UK, including sponsored events, educational projects, crafts sales and catering projects, as well as through individual donations and sponsorship, and contributions from volunteers going to Peru.
We involve volunteers of all ages and occupations both in Peru and in the UK.
We seek to raise awareness about issues relating to poverty and development.
We believe that, despite our more serious purpose, our activities should be fun for all those who take part.

Supporting our refuge is our core activity. We are indebted to all our volunteers in the UK and in Peru and to the huge faith in our work that is demonstrated by our many individual donors in the UK and elsewhere, as well as by our many supporters in the private sector, in educational institutions, churches, voluntary groups and local authorities.

Public information about Project Peru

We continue to develop our website (http://www.projectperu.org.uk) and we constantly keep this under review, and refresh where possible with topical items and relevant pages. We also have a Face-book page http://www.facebook.com/projectperu.org.uk. Both of these are designed to meet our need to inform the public about our activities in UK and in Peru, as a tool for public awareness, to enhance our fund-raising efforts, to attract new volunteers, while at the same time to respect the privacy and safety of our children.

PROJECT PERU Annual report – for the year to 31 March 2021

We regularly update the ‘News’ pages on our website with items about our activities in Peru and in the UK, promoting these News items as widely as we can.

We produce a limited amount of presentational material and leaflets that are available on request and at our fundraising events.

We normally promote the charity though public speaking engagements including in churches and schools, and with Rotary Clubs and other community-based groups, and we encourage our volunteers to do the same. This was not possible this year due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Achievements and performance

UK achievements

Most of our income normally has come from our own direct fundraising initiatives and regular donations, as well as from sponsorship and contributions made by volunteers before going to Peru, and by other supporters, not necessarily those who have known us before. We want to encourage more of this type of support in future especially through fundraising initiatives by others. These funds are used specifically for our core work in running our refuge.

In spite of everything we had another successful year as shown in our Treasurer’s report, due to sustained help from many of our long-term supporters, with the result that

we have again met our target of sending sufficient funds in order to support our refuge in Lima, even though our usual fundraising activities in the UK have not been possible
we have provided funds to maintain and refurbish our existing buildings in Peru, to further develop the facilities in our refuge and to support our special projects.
where funds have been raised in the UK for specific projects in the refuge or in the wider community we have been able to ensure that these have been completed.
we continued to retain funds in the UK as a contingency reserve at the previous year’s level and receive a small amount of interest on our savings accounts.

The funds we have raised have specifically enabled us to:

Provide food and facilities for the children who live in our refuge.
Pay the wages in Peru for our full time and part time employees and provide staff training and support.
Develop educational, social, sporting and cultural activities in our refuge.
Meet the educational costs for our children particularly with reference to the establishment and supervision of a Covid-related virtual

PROJECT PERU Annual report – for the year to 31 March 2021

education programme as all the schools have been closed, now since March 2019, and to continue to support the further education of some of our older girls after they have left school.

Continue to develop the structural facilities at our refuge, maintaining and refurbishing the existing buildings, so as to provide safe, comfortable and appropriate facilities that are fully compliant with the local health and safety requirements which change constantly.
Develop our special projects, our kitchen garden project providing fruit and vegetables for the refuge, and our library project enabling our children to grow up with access to reading and reference materials.
Participate in community initiatives including the distribution of emergency food supplies during the height of the pandemic.

Project Peru’s traditional fundraising events and activities in the UK

These were almost all cancelled this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with a severe impact on our normal fundraising and our ability to attract and involve new people in our work.

We were delighted to receive financial support from known and previously unknown supporters. In spite of the situation in 2020 and the first months of 2021… not everything was locked down or off-limits!

7-year old twins cycled 200 miles in England in a month, just 4 months
after learning to ride.
A team from a company that has supported us for

years collectively ran, walked or cycled 7,461km during one month in a number of countries worldwide, this being the total distance of Peru’s land borders … at £1 per km.

A supporter in USA participated in his company’s global ‘10,000km’
event by running 42km and cycling 180km in a week.
Four UK supporters ran their own 10km in a ‘virtual London 10km’
replicating an event which had been cancelled.
Two youngsters made neighbourhood deliveries of surplus herbs and
from their mother’s kitchen garden during the early days of a Welsh lockdown for a small donation to Project Peru.
Sales of Peruvian crafts
- We held our regular craft stall in Guildford for just a few days. A number of our supporters have also bought our crafts and cards and we have had some online sales.
Schools

We were unable to continue this activity though we are always willing to discuss activities with schools and can tailor programmes to suit

PROJECT PERU Annual report – for the year to 31 March 2021

particular needs of schools, including educational and drama workshops, sessions with Peruvian musicians, and craft sales. This is also an important part of our public awareness work and enables us both to use schools as outlets for our Peruvian crafts, and to collaborate with teachers to introduce Peru into their curriculum, and Project Peru in particular.

Volunteers
We were effectively prevented by the pandemic from involving our volunteers in any UK activities, as well as our regular and varied number of volunteers and visitors to the project in Peru. Such support normally provides income for us through sponsorship as well as providing income locally in Peru through contributions by volunteers. In addition to raising money for us before they go to Peru we hope we can also encourage everyone who visits our refuge to continue to make a contribution to the charity in future years. We are delighted that an analysis of our donors shows that here is still a good number of previous ‘Peru volunteers’, and in several cases their family members too, who are regular donors.
Cargo to Peru
This process was also stopped by the pandemic and we have had a cargo ready to go since March 2019. In normal times we receive large quantities of donated goods in the UK which we sort pack load and deliver for onward shipment to Peru in an annual consignment We try to respond to the direct needs expressed by our colleagues in Peru with whom we are in close contact on a regular basis. We continue to rely on the generosity of commercial, educational and private donors, of our volunteers, and of the shipping and road transport companies who have supported us over many years. We normally distribute goods far beyond our own refuge and are continuing to develop a wide range of contacts with isolated communities in need of these goods, and have been identifying new ones.

Achievements and performance in Peru in 2020-21 (based on reports from our Director in Peru)

As we are aware, this year the Covid-19 pandemic took the whole world by surprise; the fact is that in the most marginalised areas of Peru people were already facing difficult challenges so the pandemic had even more serious consequences. Many lost their jobs and this prejudiced their economic situation, which in turn limited their already fragile access to both health and education services. But the greatest and most lasting damage has been done to the thousands of children and teenagers who were orphaned, homes and families destroyed, leaving scars that are as yet impossible to define. Both children and young people left with damaged mental health and with no access to ‘virtual education’ as they have no technology, no access to the internet; all this results in a massive educational collapse.

PROJECT PERU Annual report – for the year to 31 March 2021

In the refuge setting up a virtual education programme was one of our prime targets. Thankfully we already had some computers with access to the internet, though not enough for all the children. However, the programme which the schools used was via WhatsApp which required each child to have his or her own device. (It can be imagined how that worked where there was no access to basic services let alone the technology or internet access). Fortunately, with an emergency strategic plan, we succeeded in getting access to their appropriate classes for all the children, and little by little, with help from a number of supporters, we acquired enough mobile devices to allow independent study for all our secondary pupils, and so they have achieved the best results possible in the circumstances.

It goes without saying that in the refuge the virtual classes took up a great deal of time, but we have also been carried out a wide range of other activities including sports competitions, participation in celebrations for Mothers’ Day, Easter and other festivals, as well as the usual celebrations and birthday parties for both children and staff alike. Dance, gardening, books and board games still play an important role.

As we always say and prove, the refuge is an oasis; the children reach us very damaged, but with respect, patience, tolerance and above all, love, we set out to heal them; they reach our refuge so they can go on being children, enjoying this stage of their life with no worries but with joy, far from any damaging influences.

At the start of the pandemic, in accord with the national requirements, several staff members had to stop working in order to stay isolated at home; some, especially the house mothers, stayed in isolation in the refuge with the children. For all of us this was a new experience and a challenge, coping with the new rules and protocols, with virtual classes, with care and ongoing procedures to cope with Covid-19.

Fortunately, we have a fantastic team of colleagues and in collaboration with the UK committee we set up a contingency plan, acquired fingertip pulse oximeters, an oxygen cylinder, digital thermometers, blood glucose meters, PPE protection, masks and disinfection equipment; we arranged Covid tests for the staff as a protection or to give alerts on any sign of infection, in which case we arranged all treatment necessary with medicine or oxygen, as indicated by the clinics they were attending; if the house mothers tested positive and wished to remain in the refuge they stayed in isolation from the children and were looked after by one specific nurse. We also gave support for the treatment of some of the children’s relatives or guardians, delivering food supplies and medication to their doors. All medical services in Peru require payment,

Sadly, in spite of all these efforts, the virus meant that we lost several very dear colleagues, including Estelita Levano, a house-mother for 13 years, Emilio Reyes, our accountant for over 20 years, relatives of some of our

PROJECT PERU Annual report – for the year to 31 March 2021

children, several family members of our staff, and Maria Sylva von Bomsdorff who presided over our committee in Peru as a legal representative of Project Peru for 14 years. To all of these we pay homage, they will always be in our hearts and thoughts and they leave us a marvellous legacy of patience, dedication and love, a wonderful example to follow. A tree was planted in memory of Estelita so she is always with us.

It is important to mention that our work is not limited to the refuge itself, but thanks to the support we receive and to our membership of several local food banks that give us weekly donations of food supplies, we were able to act as a distribution hub for supplies to 50 emergency community kitchens, and ‘ollas comunes ’ [shared cooking pots], or to vulnerable families living in the shanty towns high up in the local sandy desert hills. This community work supporting the most marginalised fills us with joy as we bring smiles to the faces of so many.

We are also delighted to highlight the progress we have made with our kitchen garden in which we grow a wide variety of vegetables and fruits to supplement the meals our dining room, as well as our duck breeding project, and the development of awareness raising programmes around the recycling, especially of plastic bottles and cans. It is important for everyone in our refuge to be aware of the environment.

Once more many thanks to the whole Project Peru team, to the Committee and to all supporters who share our vision. Their support and friendship enable us to enjoy the fantastic place that we have, la Casa Hogar , our refuge.

Our Committee in Peru was only able to meet virtually during the year. We have continued with the same members of the committee as in previous years following the loss of María Sylva von Bomsdorff in June 2020, the committee being Karina Alza Gomez as Director and Legal Representative of Project Peru, Timoteo Ramos, and Rosa Romero. Again, we were extremely sad to lose Maria Silva who will be sorely missed in so many ways, both for her leadership and advice in our Committee, but also as a long-term friend and supporter of Proyecto Perú.

Plans for the next 12 months

Main goals

to react to the longer-term social and economic effects of the pandemic both in the UK and in Peru
to fund our ‘core’ work in Peru relating to running our refuge and to develop more community activities, enabling us to maintain the number of children we can care for, and to further improve the living and working conditions at the refuge and in the local communities.

PROJECT PERU Annual report – for the year to 31 March 2021

to further develop and strengthen our library project and our kitchen garden project.
to provide educational support and to improve educational opportunities for our younger children, with more extra curricula activities where possible.
to work towards assuring a better and more secure future for our children as they reach their late teens and need to run their own lives.
• to continue to seek funds for a boys’ hostel on the site designated for this purpose.
to develop new advice systems and opportunities for employment for those leaving the refuge.
to develop new and more specific opportunities for volunteering in the refuge and in the wider community.
to undertake more social initiatives in the local community and further afield.
to look for fresh or innovative ways of fundraising in the UK.
to explore new ways to seek funding in Peru for the project and to involve Peruvian individuals, organisations and institutions to become more involved.

Our ongoing work

fund raising in the UK and in Peru to cover the running costs for our children’s refuge in Peru.
maintenance and upkeep work on the buildings at our refuge.
fund raising for new projects at the refuge and in the wider community.
UK sponsored events run by ourselves including , crafts sales, educational and cultural and public awareness activities, and recruitment of volunteers.
to encourage others to undertake take fund raising initiatives funds, such a sponsorship for their individual challenges or initiatives.

Longer term plans and activities will, it is expected, be broadly similar in future years. Funding for all activities will continue as outlined in the Annual Report.

With specific funding we hope to develop our activities beyond our principal focus, which is to support our refuge. We expect that many of the UK-based fund-raising activities will remain similar to those outlined in the above report.

PROJECT PERU Annual report – for the year to 31 March 2021

Financial report

Results for the year

Total receipts for the year were £159k which was £70k higher than last year’s level of £89k mainly due to two fund raising initiatives which generated a total of £62k. Overhead costs were, as always, kept to a minimum and £65k (2020 - £82k) was sent out to Lima to cover the running costs of the refuge. As it is uncertain as to what fund-raising we will be able to do going forward into 2022, it is good to know that there is a higher level of reserves at the end of this financial year, which will hopefully cover any shortfall in income as we come out of the pandemic.

Analysis of receipts

Voluntary receipts

These include gifts and donations and the related tax reclaimed under gift aid. During the year £48k was raised from voluntary receipts of which £28k (2020 - £30k) was from regular donations.

Activities for generating funds

Activities include fund raising activities and sponsorship along with the related tax reclaimed under gift aid, providing goods and services that are not for the charity’s beneficiaries, and income from selling bought in goods. Two very successful “one-off” fundraising events and the Corona crisis fund meant that we were ahead of last year.

Trading activities

Income from selling Peruvian goods at various craft markets throughout the year raised £3k which was broadly in line with levels seen in the previous year.

Analysis of payments

Direct charitable payments

Included £65k of funds sent to Peru to cover the costs of running the refuge and building work at the refuge.

Other costs

As always costs have been kept at a minimum and are in line with last year.

Payroll

The charity has no paid staff the UK and relies entirely on volunteers for the organisation and administration of the charity, fund raising activities and the promotion of the charity.

PROJECT PERU Annual report – for the year to 31 March 2021

Accounts for the 12 months to 31 March 2021

Receipts and Payments

	Unrestricted funds	Restricted funds	Total funds	Last year
	£	£	£	£
Receipts
Voluntaryreceipts	48,390		48,390	43,380
Activities for generating funds	107,619		107,619	41,597
Trading activities	2,531		2,531	3,476
Bank interest	888		888	1,032
Total receipts	159,428		159,428	89,485


Payments
Direct charitable expenses	65,593		65,593	83,700
Cost of generating voluntary funds	951		951	1,629
Fund raising costs	2,128		2,128	3,660
Total payments	68,672		68,672	88,989

Net of receipts and payments	90,756		90,756	496

Transfers between funds
Cash funds last year end	147,308	80,000	227,308	226,812
Cash funds this year end	238,064	80,000	318,064	227,308

Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

	Unrestricted Funds	Restricted funds	Total
	£	£	£
Cash funds
Current accounts	81,371		81,371
Deposit accounts	156,693	80,000	236,693
Total	238,064	80,000	318,064

PROJECT PERU Annual report – for the year to 31 March 2021

Notes to the accounts

These accounts were prepared on a receipts and payments basis.

Accounting policies

The accounting policies have not changed since the previous year and are summarised below:

1. Receipts

Recognition of receipts – receipts are accounted for when the charity receives the cash.

Receipts with related expenditure – the income and related expenditure are reported gross in the receipts and payments account.

Tax reclaims on donations and gifts – tax reclaims are accounted for when the cash is received.

Gifts in kind – gifts in kind are not given a value as this is impractical. Proceeds of the sale of any such gifts are shown in the category of activities generating funds. Gifts include second-hand clothing, household goods and tools which are shipped to the refuge in Lima and either used in the refuge or distributed directly to those in need in the local communities. Gifts in kind also includes shipping, the use of garages for storage granted by Guildford Borough Council, catering supplies donated by various businesses, and the waiver of hire charges for venues used for fund raising activities. Volunteer help – the value of volunteer help received is not included in the accounts but is described in the trustee’s annual report.

2. Payments

Recognition of payments - payments are recognised when the cash payment is made.

3. Assets

Tangible fixed assets for use by the charity are capitalised if they can be used for more than one year and cost more than £500.

Signed on behalf of all trustees

C. Hudson [signature] Date 18[th] January 2022

H. Cooke [signature] Date 18[th] January 2022

PROJECT PERU Annual report – for the year to 31 March 2021

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees/ members of On accounts for the year ended Set out on pages	Project Peru	Project Peru	Project Peru
	31 March 2021	Charity no	1049413
	10-12

Respective The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the responsibilities of accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required trustees and examiner for this year under section 43(2) of the Charities Act 1993 (the 1993 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

examine the accounts under section 43 of the 1993 Act,
to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 43(7)(b) of the 1993 Act, and
to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner’s statement

My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

PROJECT PERU Annual report – for the year to 31 March 2021

Independent examiner's statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention

which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements:
to keep accounting records in accordance with section 41 of the 1993 Act; and
to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 1993 Act
have not been met; or

	•to keep accounting records in accordance with section 41 of the 1993 Act; and •to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 1993 Act have not been met; or	•to keep accounting records in accordance with section 41 of the 1993 Act; and •to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 1993 Act have not been met; or	•to keep accounting records in accordance with section 41 of the 1993 Act; and •to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 1993 Act have not been met; or
	2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed: Name: Relevant Qualification Address:	[signature]	Date:	18thJanuary 2022
	Corinne Sloan
	Chartered Accountant
	44, Kensington Park Gardens, London W11 2QT
Section B Disclosure

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material problems.