Helping
wodd
to see
Ision Aid Overseas
Annual :(
20
-2022
_**“This year has continued the transformation of Vision Aid Overseas with the launch of our new Strategy “A clear vision in Sight” to 2030 and the transition of programmes from Vision for a Nation”**_
(Nicola Chevis, CEO)
## Dear friends of Vision Aid Overseas,
It is a pleasure to share our Annual Report with you for the year ending 31 March 2022, a year of continued transformation of Vision Aid Overseas.
We have had a fantastic year taking the organisation from strength to strength,following a difficult period during the Covid pandemic. This was only made possible due to the hard work, perseverance, and resilience of our staff, trustees, and volunteers who, with our trusted partners and supporters, ensured that eye care was still being safely delivered to those in need in greater numbers.
We launched our new Strategy to 2030 after an extensive consultation with staff, members, volunteers, external partners, donors, and collaborators, in order to achieve the step-change necessary to strengthen eye care and increase access to glasses. This will ensure the future sustainability of Vision Aid Overseas.
This year we enabled more than 368,000 people living in poverty to access affordable glasses and eye care during the year, helping improve vision, productivity, and the lives of many in the communities where we are active.
Four new programmes started in 2021 with £645k of new grant funding. We continued our work in Sierra Leone in strengthening the Vision Centres and building awareness and demand in the surrounding communities. We expanded the School-Based Eye Health (SBEH) Programme in Ethiopia in two geographical locations (one in partnership with Save the Children). In Zambia, we took the SBEH Programme into new districts and continued the Primary Eye Care (PEC) roll-out. In order to provide more support to programmes in their financial and grant management we undertook a review into the programme finance function with Humentum, resulting in a new full-time role based in Zambia who will support Country Offices in financial management.
greater impact together in Ghana, helping to realise our ambition of scaling up Primary Eye Care and screening for children both in Ghana and the other countries where we work.
VFAN staff transited to VAO on the 1st March 2022, and we are delighted to welcome new donors and supporters from VFAN. We welcomed a new Patron to VAO, James Chen (trustee and founder of VFAN) and clearly an outstanding figurehead in the eye care sector. In addition, the CEO, and a Trustee of VFAN joined our Board. We are very excited to complete the transition during 2022.
We continued to support the Coalition for Clear Vision through the Steering Group working with others to end Uncorrected Refractive Error (URE) by 2050. We were well represented in Dubai for the Global IAPB Meeting in March where our Director of Programmes presented our School Eye Health work to much interest.
We successfully rolled out the new Fundraising and Communications strategy, keeping membership and regular donations stable and running very successful appeals throughout the year. We finish the year with our overall income up from last year at £1,397k.
We have moved completely to hybrid working in the UK, giving us greater flexibility as an organisation focused on global preventable sight loss. With all this transformational change, we are refreshing our branding in 2022. Most importantly, we are looking forward to continuing the critical work of VAO with our partners and members so we can realise our vision that “No one lives in poverty because of poor eyesight, and no one lives with poor eyesight because of poverty”.
Nora Colton, Chair
The transition of programmes from Vision for a Nation (VFAN), has allowed us to achieve
Nicola Chevis, Chief Executive Officer
A full Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities can be found on page 23
**2**
**3**
**Our vision** is a world where no one lives in poverty because of poor eyesight and no one lives with poor eyesight because of poverty.
**Our mission** is to enable people living in poverty to access affordable spectacles and eye care.
## **Our goal**
To support the achievement of Universal Eye Health Coverage with a focus on reducing visual impairment and blindness caused by Uncorrected Refractive Error.
## **Our year in numbers**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
13,511 25,072
people refractions/eye
received examinations
glasses (people tested
for URE)
584 people
368,090
trained in eye
patients
screened health ( 462
teachers, 30 PEC
(including 2,424
school children, workers, 92 pro-
of which 59% fessional eye care
workers)
were girls)
172 4 countries in Africa supported: 980
hours of work
hours of work Sierra Leone, Ghana, Ethiopia and
donated by
donated Zambia
27
delivered
volunteers
in-person (including
remotely
one national
volunteer in
Sierra Leone)
11 14
mentoring Vision Centres
relationships supported
started
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **New Strategy**
## During this year Vision Aid Overseas began the
implementation of our new strategy to 2030 – ‘A Clear Vision in Sight’. The 3 main objectives that fall within this strategy are:
## **1. Support the development of Human Resources for Eye Health (HREH)**
We continued to focus on training and strengthening the local human resource capacity for eye care, training 122 professional eye health and health workers.
22 professional volunteers supported our training and education work, developing new courses, redesigning our 6 week refraction course and kicking off our Remote Mentoring Programme in Sierra Leone and Zambia.
In our Primary Eye Care Programmes we trained 30 Health Workers, and 462 teachers in schools to provide initial eye care screening for community members including children in schools.
## **2. Strengthen essential eye health services**
With the support of many new and existing partners we were able to reach 296,789 in Sierra Leone, Zambia, and Ethiopia, through our Primary Eye Care (PEC) programmes and more than 2,400 children through our School Eye Health (SEH) programmes focusing on strengthening sustainable eye health services as close to the community as possible providing screening, glasses, and referrals for other eye conditions.
Across 14 VAO-supported Vision Centres, 58,821 people were screened, 20,618 went on to have a full eye examination and 10,943 people received glasses. This generated an income equivalent to over £90,000 that will be re-invested into new stock to maintain these essential services.
## **3. The engagement and mobilisation of communities**
All of our programmes have a comprehensive community engagement component. This begins with consultations at various stages of the programme cycle, including the planning stage, through the implementation process and at the final stage when findings are shared. We have also developed a number of social behaviour change communications that aim to provide clear and consistent messages through a variety of media and engagements, to increase knowledge and understanding about eye health amongst the population. All are adapted to local contexts and languages. We will continue to review the strategies used in order to target resources towards the most effective methods that are shown to empower individuals and communities with the knowledge required to demand quality eye health services.
**4**
**5**
## **Programmes**
## **Ghana**
This was an exciting year for our Ghana programme. Having worked closely for the past few years with our Ghana consortium partners, Vision for a Nation (VFAN), on 1st March 2022 we formally combined our joint knowledge, expertise and resources through transferring the VFAN Ghana programmes over to VAO. In practical terms, this meant a team of 12 experienced staff in Ghana joined VAO, and the absorption of the VFAN programmes. The team are now hard at work developing a new 5-year strategy combining Vision For a Nation’s expertise in scaling up Primary Eye Care (PEC) with VAO’s expertise in strengthening refractive error services, to make affordable eye care accessible to all.
We are thrilled to be carrying on the partnership that VFAN had begun with Peek Vision, supporting both community and school-based eye care with their innovative software, programme design and data intelligence platform. We aim to continue the excellent work that VFAN has started, working hard to maintain the relationships and reputation that they have built over the past +6 years, both in Ghana and internationally. We will continue to expand the PEC programme in Northern Ghana and are working closely with their previous donors to manage this transition over to VAO.
Although we were unable to move forward with piloting the social enterprise model for Vision Centres in Ghana, we have reignited discussions with Challenges Worldwide, leaders in social enterprise development, and we have plans to re-visit this in the coming year.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
What does our impact in
Ghana look like...
John Nyarko is 33 years
old. He is an
Optometrist by
profession and works
with the Regional
Hospital at Bolgatanga,
the Upper East Regional
Capital in Ghana.
**----- End of picture text -----**
John completed his Optometry course from the University of Cape Coast and has practiced for the past three years. John was identified by VFAN at the inception of a programme when he attended a stakeholders meeting. Ever since, he has been involved in the organisation and has conducted refraction for over 200 pupils, out of which about 145 received spectacles from the organisation.
_“I am very excited to be part of this success story. In my interaction with some of the pupils during refraction, I realise some of them had impaired vision which makes learning very difficult, these children get improved vision after I prescribe spectacles for them which helps them to perform better in school than before”_
John is a great example of the work and programmes we can now further support in Ghana, making this new collaboration an exciting chapter for better eye care.
**6**
**7**
## **Zambia**
This was the second year of the Specsavers-funded programme focussing on 2 key objectives:
- To Integrate primary eyecare into primary healthcare in Zambia, through the adoption of the WHO-AFRO Primary eyecare guidelines; and
- To integrate school eye health into a national school health plan.
An initial cohort of 30 health workers has been trained in the WHO PEC training that has been specifically adapted for Zambia, and they are now able to provide primary eye care services at the primary healthcare centres where they are stationed. This year, the second phase of the school eye based health project was concluded with 2,833 learners and teachers examined by the mobile eye health teams. Sixty three learners were referred for further management at the Kabwe Central Hospital and 696 glasses were dispensed.
In addition to that, over the course of this year, 23,947 people were screened, 14,902 people refracted and 4453 glasses dispensed by Vision Centres previously established through VAO support. £57,485 income was generated at these Vision Centres to support ongoing eye health services.
We were fortunate to win our second USAID funded Child Blindness Program (CBP) grant, with the project “Scaling up school eye health in Zambia” commencing in August 2021. The goal of the project is to expand access to child eye health services in Petauke District using a tried and tested government-approved school-based eye health programme model, and to support the integration of eye health into the School Health and Nutrition (SHN) programme. Already, 422 teachers from 101 schools have been trained in visual acuity testing, data collection and basic eye health education for common diseases in line with the National School Eye Health Screening protocol and training manual.
Fundación Vision Mundi continued their valuable support to the Zambia programme by funding 2 faculty members at Levy Mwanawasa to complete their Masters in Optometry. They also funded a low vision “Training of Trainers” (TOT) course, which was a first in the country. The course was developed by a small group of VAO volunteers, under the guidance of VAO’s Director of Training and Education, Karen Sparrow. The training took place in March 2022 to test the newly developed “introduction to Low Vision” and accompanying TOT course. This was led by experienced volunteers, Jane Veyes and Caroline Clarke, who had both helped to develop the course, and it was supported remotely by training expert Peter Kemp. Twenty eye health workers benefited from this training (6 as trainers, and 12 as trainees of the low vision course) and will go on to train others in the hospitals they work in.
VAO continues to provide technical support to the Vision Centres that have been established over the past 10 years. We are also in discussions with OneSight and the Ministry of Health to begin the process of integrating them into their network of Vision Centres to help address some of the supply chain challenges. Over the course of the year, we received data from 8 Vision Centres that showed they provided refraction services to 7,285 people and provided 1,288 pairs of glasses spanning across 8 provinces of the country. The remaining 3 Vision Centres are now operating entirely independently of VAO and as such, we no longer receive data from them.
## **What does our impact in Zambia look like...**
Misheck Siwo is a grade 8 pupil at Petauke Boarding School in Zambia. Misheck aspires to become a medical doctor, and he enjoys playing soccer with his friends.
Before attending one of the Mobile Eye Health Clinics (MEHCs), Misheck shared that he faced a lot of challenges concentrating in class as his sight affected his ability to see the board clearly. He shared that this challenge caused low performance in class and made learning less enjoyable for him.
_“Copying anything written on the board was very challenging for me, I always used to ask my friends to tell me what was written or to lend me their books so that I could later copy the notes from them, even this was not easy because I would still struggle even to see on white paper.”_
The School Eye Health Programme came at the right time for Misheck as it gave him an opportunity to have his eyes screened and he was later referred to the Mobile Eye Health Clinic for careful examination. During the MEHCs, Misheck was screened together with many other pupils at the school. Misheck was refracted and later given spectacles to aid his sight and make his learning more enjoyable. He shared that comparing to the past, his sight was now better than before.
_“Before they gave me glasses, I could not even read on the board, I could skip letters in certain words and learning would be very difficult for me. I am very happy and grateful to Vision Aid Overseas. After they gave me glasses, I can now see clearly, I am not even having any challenges to copy notes from the board to my book, the glasses also look very good on me and I feel good, thank you Vision Aid Overseas”._
**8**
**9**
## **Sierra Leone**
In January 2021 we concluded a Primary Eye Care (PEC) programme, thanks to the ongoing support of the Clothworkers Foundation. The 3-year programme, based on an adaptation of the WHO-AFRO PEC training Manual, led to the training of 16 Community Health Officers (CHOs), 240 Community Health Workers (CHWs), and provided refresher training to 6 Optometry Technicians. Through integrating eyecare services at Peripheral Health Units (PHUs) which serve as the primary level of care in Sierra Leone, 422,065 people were screened for eye conditions, 5,439 received treatment in the way of reading glasses or eye drops, and 217 were referred for further examination at Kenema Vision Centre.
This year also marked the end of the School Eye Health pilot project funded by USAID’s Child Blindness Program, a 2-year project, made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The aim was to demonstrate and develop guidelines for a school-based eye health program that provide annual vision screening, eyeglasses, referral and treatment for children and teachers in Kenema district. The project reached 40,269 children and 1,571 teachers across 159 schools. Most importantly, it demonstrated an effective way of integrating eyecare into schools through training teachers as primary screeners and following up with mobile clinics made up of eye health personnel from the nearest Vision Centre. We are now in discussions with the government and other partners to set in place the next steps towards expansion of services across the country.
We began a one-year programme to embed the optical services at Bombali and Koidu Vision Centres thanks to funding from Optometry Giving Sight and Fundación Vision Mundi. This was done through a coordinated outreach programme targeting the most underserved areas in the 2 districts, combined with an education and awareness campaign to increase knowledge and understanding of eye health issues to ultimately encourage more positive eye health seeking behaviour in the population. We were also able to construct a new building in Makeni Hospital (Bombali District) to house the optical workshop which had previously been located on the other side of town. This has been a game changer in terms of the service the eye department is able to offer to patients, as previously they had to travel to the other side of town to get their prescription glasses made up. Now they can get all they need under one roof.
We continued to benefit from the generous support of Jonathan Hall Opticians to support the Vision Centre in Kailahun, Eastern Province, with training, mentoring, and funding for an outreach programme that is aimed at supporting the Vision Centre to operate as a sustainable social business. In February 2022, Jonathan Hall spent 3 weeks doing practical training with the Optometry Technicians of all 4 VAO-supported Vision Centres. The purpose of this visit was (1) to train eye healthcare workers on glaucoma detection in primary eyecare services and “the business of eyecare services”, (2) to carry out targeted eye health clinics in the vision centers to improve the uptake of spectacles, and (3) to introduce and provide training on some new screening equipment. Training was given to 68 eye care workers. From the eye clinics, a total of 673 people were screened, 454 were refracted or examined and 255 were given prescriptions for refractive errors. A total of 101 spectacles were dispensed during the 3 weeks.
Over the course of the year, through these combined programmes and the 4 Vision Centres that VAO continues to support, 314,623 people were screened for eye conditions, 5,585 had a full eye examination from a qualified Optometry Technician, and 1,812 people received life-changing glasses. In addition, 72 people received training in eye health, and will continue to use their new skills to provide ongoing services to the communities they are there to support.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
What does our impact in
Sierra Leone look like...
Aminata
visited one of
VAO supported
Vision Centres
when she was
struggling to see
the blackboard
at school
**----- End of picture text -----**
Jonathan (a professional VAO volunteer and ongoing partner, Jonathan Hall Opticians) visited Vision Centres in Kailahun, Koidu and Makeni to complete training on the business model of Vision Centres, which he has been delivering remotely. Earlier this year, and over a few weeks, each of the Vision Centres hosted awareness events to publicise eye care services available to the community.
Aminata came to Kailahun Vision Centre in Sierra Leone when Jonathan was visiting her Vision Centre. She couldn’t see the blackboard at school anymore and her studies were suffering as a result. She had an eye test with VAO trained Optometric Technician Lansana Lahun, who found her to be significantly short sighted.
Patricia, another VAO trained Optical Technician, was able to dispense glasses for Aminata immediately. When Aminata put her first pair of glasses on for the first time, her face lit up with a great smile because she could see clearly for the first time. She can now perform well in school without having her eye sight compromised any longer.
A Vision Centre provides a walk-in eye service, where eye health workers can conduct eye examinations and the identification of abnormal eye conditions. A Vision Centre also enables the manufacturing and supplying of affordable glasses, as well as serving as a hub for eye health workers. If Aminata had further issues and needed a specialist, she could be referred to a hospital.
**10**
**11**
## **Ethiopia**
Ethiopia has faced significant challenges over the past couple of years, not only due to the challenges associated with Covid-19, but more significantly due to instability caused by the country.
The ongoing conflict in the Northern and Western parts of Ethiopia escalated over the past 12 months and spread to many other areas of the country. Consequently, there has been widespread violence and a humanitarian crisis has emerged in many parts of the country. The situation in East Wollega Zone, where we had a project funded by Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung (EKFS), also deteriorated, and after a few months of stop/start of the project, we finally deemed it no longer safe to operate in. The EKFS project was given approval from the government to re-locate to The Oromia Special Zone Surrounding Finfinne, and was officially re-launched on 7th March 2022. Although initially delayed by the re-location, activities are now getting back on track. Teacher and Health Extension Worker (HEW) training has been planned for April/May 2022. We would like to extend our thanks to EKFS for their understanding and flexibility during this challenging period.
We also received support for our “Support a School” programme from PALA, the James Tudor Foundation and The Beatrice Laing Foundation, as well as in-kind support from Essilor in the form of glasses and optical equipment. Activities were delayed due to the conflict but have now resumed and we look forward to reporting on this next year.
We were fortunate to secure our third USAID grant through the Child Blindness Programme (CBP), which officially started in November 2021. This is an exciting collaboration between VAO and Save the Children working together on the project “Vision4Inclusion: Leave no child behind”, and the focus of the pilot project is to integrate School Eye Health into the existing School Health and Nutrition (SHN) programme. The project was initially approved to take place in Tigray region, however due to the conflict we sought approval from CBP to re-locate to Amhara region. We expect to receive approval in quarter 1 of next year and look forward to reporting on how it progresses.
All of these projects are helping to build evidence to demonstrate the importance and effectiveness of a School Eye Health programme. Findings and learnings from this will help to build the case for scaling up these services across the country over the coming years. We will be conducting a scaling study early next year, using the same approach as the one used in Zambia, to better understand the barriers and enablers to scale, and mapping out the pathway for the coming years.
Over the course of the year, despite the disruption caused by the conflict, 27,074 people were screened for eye conditions, 6,928 had a full eye examination from a qualified Optometrist, and 1,841 people received life-changing glasses. In addition, 40 people received training in eye health, and will continue to use their new skills to provide ongoing services to the communities they are there to support.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
What does our impact in
Ethiopia look like...
Meet Emebet, she
works as an
optometrist
in Bisidimo General
Hospital
**----- End of picture text -----**
Emebet Teshome has been married to her husband for three years and has a six-month-old daughter. She graduated from Gondor University four years ago, with a degree in Optometry. She loves playing with her kids and listening to music.
What first attracted Emebet to a profession in eye care was, in her words:
_“To get immense satisfaction from helping people, and to work alongside others to achieve a common goal”._
There is an eye unit at the hospital she works at. Everything, including minor surgery, is done in a single small room. There is no separate room for refraction, but still, they manage to give a service. Emebet attended a 2-week training on paediatric refraction, led by VAO in partnership with Himalayan Cataract Project. She now has adequate knowledge and has achieved practice in the delivery of paediatric services. The training has also given her the initiative to do more.
She now feels confident to help her community addressing URE problems in children, and believes she has the necessary tools to help future generations to see.
## _“I now know how to create awareness in the community.”_
By successfully covering Paediatric Optometry we make sure the future of Ethiopians, Sierra Leoneans, Ghanaians and Zambians can learn in schools without struggling to see, as well as enjoying their playtime as they deserve.
**12**
**13**
## **Volunteers**
We are fortunate to have maintained the invaluable support of professional volunteers to support our programmes. We have continued to implement the decisions that came out of the review into volunteering that was conducted in 2019, and this year the focus was predominantly on the development of training materials. We had three working groups, managed by Judith Trigg, VAO’s Professional Volunteer Coordinator, with support from Karen Sparrow, VAO’s Director of Training and Education who has held this role in a volunteer capacity for many years. The working groups focussed on developing training materials for topics that had been requested by partners in the countries VAO supports. They were:
## - a 2-week course on Paediatric refraction;
- updating a previously used 6-week course on refraction aimed at eye care cadres such as Ophthalmic Nurses and Ophthalmic Clinical Officers; and
- 1-week introduction to low vision course, coupled with a 1-week training of trainers (ToT) course.
Another one of our experienced volunteers, Jonathan Hall, developed a series of online training modules targeting the Optometry Technicians that work at VAO-supported Vision Centres in Sierra Leone. These were delivered through a series of videos, complemented by live online sessions, covering topics such as barriers to uptake of glasses, dispensing tips, marketing the eye care services and publicity strategies, challenges in providing sustainable eye care, and planning outreach. This is a really valuable way of delivering Continuing Professional Development (CPD) that is otherwise unavailable to these eye care professionals, building their confidence, skills and motivation to continue their valuable work delivering essential eye care services.
In January 2022 we started to trial a remote mentoring scheme. The pilot scheme supports eye health professionals in Ethiopia, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Zambia, who may have limited opportunity for continued professional development, by matching them with national or international volunteers who can share their optical knowledge and experience through a short-term mentoring partnership. The trial, which will last 18 months, is to explore how well a mentoring scheme would be utilised, and the benefit it brings to mentees, mentors and the eye care programmes. It was first launched to Optometry Technicians in Sierra Leone, followed by trainees from our TOT and Low Vision course that was delivered in Zambia in March, and will be opened out further as the trial continues.
In the period of Jan-Mar 2022, 11 mentoring relationships were started, and we expect this to grow in the coming year as the pilot expands. This pilot was made possible thanks to the generous support of The Britford Bridge Trust, Steel Charitable Trust, and The James Tudor Foundation.
## **Legal and Administrative Information**
## **Directors and Trustees**
_[Note the Directors are hereafter called “Trustees”]_
Nora Colton (Chair)
Lucy Devine (nee Carter) – stepped down as trustee in July 2022, remains as company secretary Hannah Faal* Ving Fai Chan** Ronnie Graham Katie Hepworth*** – stepped down July 2022 Ian Kerr
Naomi Nsubuga**** Richard Rawlinson***** Jane Smith (Treasurer) Tony Hulton – appointed November 2022 Ahalya Subramanian****** – appointed November 2022
Chief Executive Officer, Nicola Chevis
## **Registered Office**
* Registered with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, The Gambia Medical and Dental Council. ** Registered with the General Optical Council, Malaysia.
Freedom Works, Spectrum House, Beehive Ring Road, Gatwick, West Sussex RH6 0LG
*** Recorded at Companies House as Katharine Hepworth.
**** Registered with the Allied Health Professionals’ Council, Ministry of Health, Uganda. ***** Registered with the General Optical Council
******Registered with the General Optical Council (UK)
## **Company Number**
## **Auditors**
4027804 [England and Wales]
Richard Place Dobson Services Ltd, Chartered Accountants, 1-7 Station Road, Crawley, RH10 1HT
## **Charity Number**
1081695 [England and Wales]
**14**
**15**
## **Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 March 2022**
## **Governing Documents**
The Governing Documents are the Memorandum of Association and the Articles of Association dated 2000 as amended in 2006 and in 2017.
## **Membership**
Membership of Vision Aid Overseas is open to anyone on payment of an annual subscription. Members have the right to attend the AGM and vote on those matters specified in the Articles.
## **Trustees**
The Articles state that the Board should consist of five to 12 Trustees, who are elected by the members at the AGM. Trustees may be co-opted to the Board, but they are required to stand for election at the next AGM. The Board seeks future Trustees by public advertisement and notification to members, and all candidates are interviewed, with selection being made against a list of key skills. All new Trustees go through a process of induction during which their responsibilities are explained. Periodically, Trustees receive training in selected aspects of their duties.
The Board is responsible for governance, policy direction, decision-making and fiduciary obligations.
In 2000 Vision Aid Overseas was reconstituted as a Company Limited by Guarantee and re-registered as a charity. Since 2000 the Trustees of the Charity have also been Directors of the Company.
## **Management**
Nicola Chevis joined as the Chief Executive Officer from 1st March 2017. The Board delegates all aspects of strategy implementation and the management of Vision Aid Overseas to the Chief Executive Officer.
The Chief Executive Officer is supported by the Director of Fundraising and Communications, the Director of Finance and Operations and the Director of Programmes. These three positions with the CEO form the Senior Management Team of Vision Aid Overseas. The overseas programme is led by the Director of Programmes, working with a small programme management team, including Country Directors who plan the programmes, monitor progress and deal with operational issues. The Board deals with the overall pay and reward of the Chief Executive Officer and other members of the Senior Management Team, all of which fall within a formal salary policy.
The Board recognises the contributions made by all the Vision Aid Overseas staff and Professional Volunteers and wishes to thank them accordingly.
## **VAO and the Charity Governance Code**
The Trustees note the Code is designed as a tool to support continuous improvement. This summary of how Vision Aid Overseas is aligned with the Code reflects our current position for each area of the Code. We will report on further progress each year.
## **Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 March 2022**
## **Financial Review**
## **Overview**
This year’s financial results must be viewed within the context and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic of the previous year which meant we ended the previous financial year in a reasonably stable position, despite a tough fundraising environment continuing into this financial year. We started implementing a new and more sustainable operating model this year including a move to hybrid working in a co-working space (with the surrender of the warehouse and office lease) and with the total close down of the recycling operation and combined strategic changes in our volunteering programme over previous years.
In total, we raised income of £1,397k in 2021/22, an increase from last year (2020/21: £864k). Over this period, we spent £948k on our charitable activities, a 22% increase from the previous year (2020/21: £775k). Expenditure on raising funds of £113k was less than half of the previous year (2020/21: £247k), due to the closing down of our glasses recycling operation.
Our net income/expenditure was a surplus of £336k compared to the deficit of £158k in 2020/21.
## **Income**
Our income is derived from a variety of sources. These include: voluntary income from members and supporters through one off or regular giving, sponsored events and community fundraising; appeals and campaigns; philanthropic major donor giving; grants from institutional donors, trusts and foundations, and corporate partners; legacies.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Restricted Unrestricted
2022
2021
0 200,000 400,000 600,000 800,000
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Total income in the year of £1,397k
(2020/21: £864k) was made up of £758k
unrestricted income, an increase of 108%
against the previous year (2020/21: £363k); and
£639k restricted income,
an increase of 27% against the
previous year (2020/21: £501k).
**----- End of picture text -----**
**16**
**17**
## **Sources of income**
Unrestricted donations from individual and community fundraising saw an increase to £202k (2020/21: £134k) due to membership and regular donations being kept stable, as well as a donation from Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) as they closed down in the UK.
An unrestricted grant from VFAN as part of the transition of their programmes also contributed to offsetting increased expenditure. The increase in restricted income to £639k reflected an increase in programme proposals submitted for funding and a good success rate of those being approved. Four significant new programmes started in the year – 2 USAID Childhood Blindness Programmes (addressing School-Based Eye Health) in Ethiopia and Zambia, a new programme in Sierra Leone funded by Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) and a grant from The Else Kröne-Fresenius-Stiftung (EKFS) for Ethiopia. In addition we continued some programme activities of VFAN in Ghana.
Legacies were a significant source of our unrestricted donated income in the year raising £347k, over 7 times more than the previous year’s £48k. We were very fortunate to receive a small number of large legacies this year, which will support specific programme activity in the countries where we work, which we will start and report on in the next financial year.
Professional donated hours were stable at c.£30k (2020/21: £30k) as volunteer assignments continued in line with our strategy on volunteering and as required by the countries of operation.
## **Reserves policy**
The Trustees have established a Reserves Policy which aims to protect our work from risk of disruption, while ensuring that we are using our funds for strategic purposes in a timely manner. The Trustees regularly evaluate the level of reserves, using Charity Commission guidance. The Policy also provides parameters for future strategic plans and contributes towards decision-making. It determines an appropriate target level for general reserves, considering the following factors:
- Vulnerability to unplanned loss of income
- One-off costs not covered by donors or funders
- Investment required in strategic opportunities to achieve our goals
Based on these factors, our current target range for general reserves is £310k–£750k, representing 5-13 months of unrestricted expenditures. The basis of determining the target reserve level was reviewed by the Trustees in February 2022 and will be adjusted as perceptions of risk and other factors change. Unrestricted cash as of 31st March 2022 was £337k (2020/21: £429k) and represents between 5-8 months of forecast unrestricted cash outflows.
## **Investment policy**
The objective of the investment policy is to minimise risks to the Charity’s assets; any surplus funds, therefore, to be held in short-term interest-bearing deposit accounts, rather than investments. At 31st March 2022, the Charity held no shareholdings, having sold all preference and equity shareholdings valued in the previous year.
## **Restricted funds**
## **Expenditure**
We spent £948k on our charitable activities (overseas projects, raising awareness, and sustainability project), an increase of 22% against the previous year’s £775k. £852k of this expenditure was on our overseas projects (representing 90% of our total spend on our charitable activities).
We received £35k of general overhead cost recovery from our restricted funded programme grants and restricted appeals which reduced our overall support cost expenditure (2020/21: £15k). In addition to general cost recovery, we received cost recovery against direct salary costs of £55k (2020/21: £39k). Cost recovery in 2021/22, therefore, totalled £90k (2020/21: £54k). Cost recovery is a significant funding stream and we continue to work towards a model of full cost recovery on all future programme funding.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Sustainability project
Raising awareness
2022 Overseas projects
Recycling
Donations and
legacies
Sustainability project
Raising awareness
2021 Overseas projects
Recycling
Donations and legacies
0 250,000 500,000 750,000 1,000,000
**----- End of picture text -----**
Restricted income received in the year was £639k against an expenditure of £634k. At 31st March 2022, we held a balance of £205k in restricted funds, all of which we expect to spend in 2022/23. Restricted fund expenditure kept pace with planned project plans.
## **Risk management**
The Trustees actively review the major risks which the organisation faces through a risk register, updated bi-annually, and believe that safeguarding our reserves, combined with an annual review of the controls over key systems, will provide sufficient resources in the event of adverse conditions. The Trustees have also examined other operational and business risks faced by the Charity and confirm that they have established systems to mitigate them. The risk register details 26 organisational risks, with the most medium and severe risks relating to the fundraising environment, external factors impacting on programmatic activity, reputational risk, and compliance with legal and commercial obligations. Plans to mitigate these risks are in place, including a new fundraising strategy, maximisation of cost recovery with a robust cost recovery policy, monitoring of internal and external environmental factors and the implementation of swift action plans responsive to changing circumstances, a new communication strategy, and close monitoring and review of all legal and commercial obligations.
**19**
**18**
**19**
## **Fundraising Report**
Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016 statement
Total income for financial year 2021/22 was £ 1,397k, a 62% increase from last year (2020/21: £864K).
Our key approach remains relationship fundraising. As a small but ambitious charity, we know that building long-term, sustainable relationships with all our supporters is the best use of our resources and enables our vision and mission to flourish.
## **Appeals**
The post-pandemic landscape continues to be challenging and we, like many other charities have felt the impact from COVID continue into this year. We were incredibly fortunate to be able to continue to remain in a positive financial position throughout this time, with the support of our partners, members, volunteers and a number of trusts, to which we are very grateful. Over the past year, we benefited also from a number of successful appeals; in October 2021 we were delighted to partner with Specsavers, and together created a moving and impactful short documentary encapsulating the amazing work we have achieved together in Zambia on this, it’s 10 Year Anniversary. This was released in celebration of World Sight Day and both organisations had fantastic responses to the documentary and saw an increase in engagement throughout. The annual Christmas Appeal was also a huge achievement with thanks to all our donors and The Big Give. We were delighted to be able to utilise the Big Give last year which enabled us to ‘double donations’ through their site in December. With thanks to this and our generous donors we raised in excess of £27,000 of unrestricted income. Additionally, we were enthused to have made some exciting changes to our ‘Go for Glasses’ appeal in 2021 and hope to create an annualised event to enable the general public to engage in the appeal every year.
## **Community Fundraising**
Unrestricted funding is vital to any charity so it can pursue its vision and mission, without being restricted tightly on its spend. We continue to diversify our income streams, building on existing success whilst pursuing innovative and strategic avenues. In 2021 we created and implemented a diverse and challenging three-year fundraising and communications strategy with dedicated working documents to support the way forward. We are especially thankful to our regular donors, even more so during such challenging times as Covid19. Giving in this way is so valuable to VAO because it helps us to plan for the future, with income we can rely upon. We have retained the vast majority of our regular donors and have plans in the coming year to grow this income stream again. Similarly, we are thankful to our extensive member base, who by making a financial contribution each year, are helping the charity to thrive. The members also form an integral part of the organisation, many sitting on focus groups to help steer and guide the charity on subjects such as Education and Training and the Membership package itself. Our London Marathon Golden Bond places continue to be a valuable asset. This year, we were thankful to the six runners that trained hard and fundraised even harder for us and achieved not only their own personal bests’ but managed to boost their targets and in some cases far outstrip them.
## **Partnerships**
As mentioned above we are pleased to have worked closely with our long-standing partners Specsavers, celebrating the momentous 10-year anniversary, we are poised for further exciting steps on the next part of this journey together. We have also been able to strengthen our ongoing partnership with Essilor Global
who has contributed to the equipping and stocking of a vision centre in Ethiopia. By working with our country teams to develop high quality programme proposals, VAO continues to grow income from institutional funders, corporate foundations, and other trusts, all of which are willing to support large scale, multi-year programmes that have a high impact and which are more sustainable. We have also been fortunate to continue our close alliance with OGS in the US where we have partnered with them alongside Coopervision, the award-winning provider of eye care solutions such as contact lenses; the partnership will be released in 2022 and will be aligned around Coopervision’s BioInfinity© product.
We are proud to retain the support of the optical sector, with more than 500 practices throughout the UK raising funds for VAO. In the past year too, we have extended our partnerships with a variety of businesses, particularly those aligned
with our values, such as the ethical eyewear business Pala, who will be supporting us again this coming year with an exciting new project. With reciprocal marketing in particular, these partnerships are helping to raise awareness as well as funds.
We were proud and grateful to once again benefit from a number of legacies in the past year with £347k, an increase of 7 times the previous year’s £48k, they have been able to make a very real difference. Thanks to one of the legacies, by the end of 2022, we will be able to launch a new programme in Sierra Leone supporting cataract operations, which will be named “Anthony’s Eyes”, in remembrance of the benefactor. To be the charity of choice in someone’s planned giving is a privilege and is testament to us building good relationships over many years. As part of the Fundraising Strategy, we are partners with Make a Will Online and offer a free Will writing service to our donors online through our website to help further strengthen this income stream.
## **Fundraising approach**
VAO relies on several different fundraising approaches to raise funds cost-effectively from a range of sources, raising awareness of our work and allowing supporters to contribute in ways that are most appropriate for them. This includes but is not limited to fundraising through digital and online campaigns, emails, letters and press advertising; from legacies, events and community fundraising; from philanthropists, trusts, foundations and corporate partners, and from our members and other regular supporters.
## **Fundraising standards**
VAO fundraising staff are members of the Institute of Fundraising. VAO pays a levy to the Fundraising Regulator, and as such abides by the Code of Fundraising Practice. We abide by the Fundraising Regulator’s Fundraising promise, and strive to ensure our fundraising is open, honest, legal and respectful. We are registered with the Fundraising Preference Service which enables members of the public to control the nature and frequency of direct marketing approaches that they receive, including fundraising communications. Through the Fundraising Preference Service website, members of the public can choose to stop email, telephone, post and/or text messages from a selected charity. During the financial year 2021/22 no member of the public has opted out of contact from VAO via the Fundraising Preference Service.
**20**
**21**
## **Fundraising on our behalf**
VAO requires any professional fundraising agencies working on our behalf to adhere to our fundraising standards and this is specified in our contracts with them. We work with several corporate partners who support our work through financial and non-financial donations, as well as employee and customer fundraising. We also receive one-off support from companies. Some of our corporate partners sell goods or services and donate a proportion of the sale price to us. For example, we have Commercial Agreements with several eyewear companies who donate a specified portion of their sales to VAO. These agreements are governed by legal agreements in line with current consumer and charitable law.
## **Monitoring of fundraising activities and protecting people in vulnerable circumstances**
VAO is committed to ensuring that we always treat the public sensitively and respectfully, taking special care to protect people who may find themselves in vulnerable circumstances.
## **Complaints**
VAO has an established complaints procedure. In 2021/22 we did not receive any complaints from members of the public about our fundraising activities. This does not include expressions of dissatisfaction relating to our use of specific fundraising methods.
**Statement of Public Benefit**
VAO is committed to those living in poverty and with limited access to affordable eye care, ensuring increased access to eye tests and properly dispensed spectacles. In doing so, we enable people to work and children to attend and be successful at school.
We have referred to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on Public Benefit when reviewing our aims and objectives and in planning our future activities. In particular, the Trustees consider how planned activities contribute to the aims and objectives they have set. The principal charitable aim of VAO is to fight poverty by transforming access to eye care in developing countries, through working in partnership with and under the direction of the countries’ national eye care plans. VAO is fully committed to sustainability in each of the countries within which we work.
## **Statement of Trustees’**
## **Responsibilities**
The trustees who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2022. The trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019).
Company law requires Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming/outgoing resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- state whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
- prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
In so far as the Trustees are aware:
- there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditor is unaware; and - the Trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information.
The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions. This report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
## **Approval of this Report**
This report was approved by the Board of Trustees on 7th September 2022. Signed by order of the Board:
Jane Smith, Treasurer
Nora Colton, Chair
**22**
**23**
we are required to report that fact.
## **Auditors Report**
We have nothing to report in this regard.
## **Opinion**
## **Matters on which we are required to report by exception**
We have audited the financial statements of Vision Aid Overseas (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2022 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows and the notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (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 March 2022 and of
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:
- the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the trustees’ report; or
- sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or
- the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records; or
- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
its incoming resources and application of resources, for the year then ended;
- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting
## **Responsibilities of trustees**
Practice; and
- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.
## **Basis for opinion**
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
## **Conclusions relating to going concern**
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
## **Other information**
The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information,
As explained more fully in the statement of trustees’ responsibilities, the trustees, who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purpose of company law, are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements**
We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. The objectives of our audit are to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding compliance with laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, to perform audit procedures to help identify instances of non-compliance with other laws and regulations that may have a material effect on the financial statements, and to respond appropriately to identified or suspected non-compliance with laws and regulations identified during the audit.
In relation to fraud, the objectives of our audit are to identify and assess the risk of material misstatement of the financial statements due to fraud, to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the assessed risks of material misstatements due to fraud through designing and implementing appropriate responses and to respond appropriately to fraud or suspected fraud identified during the audit.
However, it is the primary responsibility of management, with the oversight of those charged with governance, to ensure that the entity’s operations are conducted in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations and for the prevention and detection of fraud.
**24**
**25**
In identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud, the audit engagement team made enquiries of management, and those charged with governance, regarding the procedures relating to identifying, evaluating and complying with:
## **Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31 March 2022**
- laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance;
- detecting and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspected or alleged fraud;
- the internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations.
As a result of these procedures we consider the most significant laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the financial statements are FRS 102, General Data Protection Regulations, Companies Act, Charities Act 2011, Charities Statement of Recommended Practice and employment law and regulations. We performed audit procedures to detect non-compliance, which may have a material impact on the financial statements. These included reviewing financial statement disclosures and evaluating advice received from external advisors. There were no significant laws and regulations we deemed as having an indirect impact on the financial statements.
The audit engagement team identified the risk of management override of controls as the area where the financial statements were most susceptible to material misstatement due to fraud. Audit procedures performed included but were not limited to testing manual journal entries and other adjustments and evaluating the rationale in relation to any significant, unusual transactions and transactions entered into outside of the normal course of business.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.
## **Use of our report**
This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with part four of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors’ report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
17 October 2022
Richard Place Dobson Services Limited 1-7 Station Road Chartered Accountants Crawley Statutory Auditor West Sussex RH10 1HT
Richard Place Dobson Services Limited is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charitable company by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Notes Unrestricted Unrestricted Unrestricted Restricted 2022 2021
Continuing Discontinued Total Continued Discontinued
£ £ £ £ £ £ £ £
Income and
endowments
from:
Donations and
3 714,767 - 714,767 - 714,767 272,097 - 272,097
legacies
Charitable activities 3 42,863 - 42,863 639,475 682,338 565,226 - 565,226
Other trading
activities - - - - - - 10,626 10,626
(recycling)
Investments - - - - - 1,796 - 1,796
Other 3 - - - - - 14,638 - 14,638
Total income 757,630 757,360 639,475 1,397,105 853,757 10,626 864,383
-
Expenditure on: 4
Raising funds
Raising donations 112,786 - 112,786 - 112,786 110,953 - 110,953
and legacies
Other trading
activities - - - - - - 136,066 136,066
(recycling)
Total raising funds 112,786 - 112,786 - 112,786 110,953 136,066 247,019
Charitable
activities
Overseas projects 285,966 - 285,966 565,902 851,868 666,042 - 666,042
Raising awareness 28,197 - 28,197 - 28,197 27,738 - 27,738
Sustainability project - - - 68,394 68,394 81,605 - 81,605
Total charitable
314,163 - 314,163 634,296 948,459 775,385 - 775,385
activities
Total
426,949 - 426,949 634,296 1,061,245 886,338 136,066 1,022,404
expenditure
Net income/
330,681 - 330,681 5,179 335,860 (32,581) (125,440) (158,021)
(expenditure)
Net gains on
10 - - - - - - - -
investments
Transfers between
14 (3,224) - (3,224) 3,224 - (125,440) 125,440 -
funds
Net movement
327,457 - 327,457 8,403 335,860 (158,021) - (158,021)
in funds
Fund balances
342,976 - 342,976 196,787 539,763 697,784 - 697,784
brought forward
Fund balances
670,433 - 670,433 205,190 875,623 539,763 - 539,763
carried forward
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses
recognised in the year.
**----- End of picture text -----**
**26**
**27**
**Balance sheet as at 31 March 2022**
## **Statement of Cash Flows for the year ended 31 March 2022**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Notes Unrestricted Restricted 2022 2021
Statement of Cash Flows for the year ended
£ £ £ £
31 March 2022
Fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets 8 998 - 998 6,006
2022 2021
£ £
Current assets
Debtors 9 353,186 - 353,186 31,378 Net cash flows from operating activities (174,631) 204,389
Cash flows from investing activities
Cash at bank 336,801 301,887 638,688 814,478
Investment income - 1,796
Investments 10 - - - -
Purchase of property, plant and equipment (1,159) -
689,987 301,887 991,874 845,856
Proceeds from sale of investments - 69,648
Creditors
Net cash provided by investing activities (1,159) 71,444
- amounts falling due 11 (25,923) (40,838) (66,761) (212,557)
within one year
Net current assets 664,064 261,049 925,113 633,299 Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year (175,790) 275,833
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year 814,478 538,645
Total assets less Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year 638,688 814,478
current 665,062 261,049 926,111 639,305
liabilities Reconciliation of net income/(expenditure) to net cash
2022 2021
Provisions for flow from operating activities
12 - (55,859) (55,859) (104,913)
liabilities £ £
Net assets 665,062 205,190 870,252 534,392 Net (expenditure)/income 335,860 (158,021)
Investment income - (1,796)
Funds 15 Depreciation charges 6,167 6,560
Restricted funds - 205,190 205,190 196,787 Profit on sale of investments - (13,424)
Unrestricted funds (Increase)/decrease in debtors (321,808) 204,229
General funds 578,773 - 578,773 342,976 Increase/(decrease) in creditors (145,796) 61,928
Designated funds 91,660 - 91,660 - Increase/(decrease) in provisions (49,054) 104,913
Prior year adjustment 20 (5,371) (5,371) Donated shares - -
Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities (174,631) 204,389
Total funds 665,062 205,190 870,252 539,763
(a) Analysis of changes in net debt At 1 April Cash At 31 March
* The company is entitled to the exemption from the audit requirement contained in section 477 of the Companies Act
2021 flows 2022
2006 for the year ended 31 March 2022, although an audit has been carried out under section 144 of the Charities Act
2011. No member of the company has deposited a notice, pursuant to section 476, requiring an audit of these accounts £ £ £
under the requirements of the Companies Act 2006. Cash and cash equivalents 814,478 (175,790) 638,688
**----- End of picture text -----**
* The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for ensuring that the company keeps accounting records which comply with section 386 of the Act and for preparing accounts which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company as at the end of the financial year and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the financial year in accordance with the requirements of sections 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to accounts, so far as applicable to the company.
## **Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2022**
## **1. Status**
* The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to charitable companies subject to the small companies regime.
This report was approved by the Board of Trustees on the 7th of September, 2022 and signed on its behalf by:
The company is limited by guarantee and does not have share capital. Every member of the company undertakes to contribute to the assets of the company in the event of the same being wound up during the time that they are a member or within one year after they cease to be a member, for the payment of the debts and liabilities of the company contracted before they ceased to be a member, such amount as may be required not exceeding £1. The company registered address is Freedom Works, Spectrum House, Beehive Ring Road, Gatwick, West Sussex RH6 0LG.
Jane Smith, Treasurer Nora Colton, Chair
**28 Company Number: 4027804 The notes on pages 29 to 43 form part of these accounts**
**29**
**2022** 2021
## **2. Accounting policies**
## **a) Basis of accounting**
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice which includes Update Bulletin 2 applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective for accounting periods starting after 1 January 2019) - (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and Companies Act 2006.
VAO meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.
Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value except for investments which are carried at valuation. The accounts are rounded to the nearest £ and prepared in sterling.
## **b) Going concern**
The charity reported a cash surplus of £336k for the year. The trustees have closely reviewed the cash flow forecasts for the following financial year and income pipeline, and are of the view that the current forecast coupled with the focus on developing new sources of sustainable unrestricted funding and further developing our restricted funding pipeline, the immediate future of the charity is secured, and that on this basis the charity is a going concern and the accounts are prepared on this basis.
## **c) Incoming resources**
Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the item of income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.
For legacies, entitlement is taken as the earlier of the date on which either: the charity is aware that probate has been granted, the estate has been finalised and notification has been made by the executors to the charity that a distribution will be made, or when a distribution is received from the estate.
Income from grants is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any conditions attached to the grant have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred.
Donations and sponsorship are accounted for when received. Income from other trading activities includes income earned from trading activities to raise funds for the charity. Income from donated goods is accounted for when the sale takes place.
## **d) Resources expended**
Resources expended are included in the Statement of Financial Activities on an accrual basis, inclusive of VAT which cannot be recovered. Expenditure which is directly attributable to specific activities has been included in these activities. Where costs are attributable to more than one activity, they have been apportioned across the cost categories on a basis consistent with the use of these resources and time spent thereon as follows:
|Recycling costs|0%|16%|
|---|---|---|
|Raising donations and legacies|26%|23%|
|Charitable activities|74%|60%|
Restricted fund costs consist of those directly attributable to specific activities only.
## **e) Tangible assets and depreciation**
Assets in excess of £1,000 intended to be of ongoing use to Vision Aid Overseas in carrying out its activities are capitalised as fixed assets.
Depreciation is charged, on a straight line basis, as follows:
Short leasehold building improvements: 10 years Computer equipment: 3 years Office equipment: 3 years Optical equipment: 4 years Vehicle: Limited to the lower of 4 years or the life of the programme
## **f) Employee benefits (including pension costs)**
Expenditure is recognised for wages and salaries resulting from employee service to the charity during the reporting period. A liability for paid annual leave is recognised only if deemed material at the year end date.
The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in independently administered funds. The pension cost charge represents contributions payable by the charity.
## **g) Operating leases**
Expenditure applicable to operating leases is charged to the statement of financial activities on a straight-line basis, in the period to which the cost or income relates.
## **h) Gifts in kind**
Gifts in kind are included at current market value where their value is ascertainable and material. The estimated valuation of gifts in kind is based on the value of the contribution to the charity, or the valuation the charity would have had to pay to acquire the assets.
Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item, any conditions associated with the donated item have been met, their receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. The economic value of donated professional hours can be reliably measured and calculated as hours worked multiplied by market value of the services provided.
**30**
**25**
**31**
## **i) Interest receivable**
Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the Bank.
## **j) Foreign currencies**
Transactions in foreign currencies are recorded at the rate ruling at the date of the transaction. Monetary assets and liabilities are translated at the rate of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date. All exchange differences are recorded in the SoFA.
The value of professional volunteer time is estimated in the SoFA as hours work multiplied by the estimated market value for services provided.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an on-going basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods if the revision affects the current and future periods.
## **s) Investment valuation method**
Investments are valued at market value. Any gains or losses arising on revaluation are recognised in the statement of financial activities.
## **k) Fund accounting**
## **3. Income and legacies**
Unrestricted funds are available to spend on activities that further any of the purposes of the charity. Designated funds are unrestricted funds of the charity which the trustees have decided at their discretion to set aside to use for a specific purpose. Restricted funds are donations which the donor has specified are to be solely used for particular areas of the charity’s work or for specific projects undertaken by the charity.
## **l) Basic financial instruments**
The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at the settlement value.
## **m) Debtors**
All debtors are measured and included in the accounts on the basis of their recoverable amount.
## **n) Creditors**
All creditors are measured and included in the accounts on the basis of their settlement amount where the charity has an obligation to transfer to the third party.
## **o) Cash**
Cash at bank and in hand includes cash and short-term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.
## **p) Taxation**
The charity is exempt from corporation tax under Chapter 3 of Part 11 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, to the extent that surpluses are applied to its charitable purposes.
## **q) Provisions**
Provisions for future liabilities are recognised when the charity has a legal or constructive financial obligation, that can be reliably estimated, and for which there is an expectation that payment will be made. Provisions for dilapidations are made where the liabilities can be measured with some certainty. Provisions for redundancy and end of contract obligations are calculated in accordance with relevant country statutory obligations.
## **r) Critical judgements and estimations of uncertainty**
In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, which are described in note 2, Trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and underlying assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Unrestricted Restricted 2022 2021
£ £ £ £
Donations and legacies
Individual donations and community
202,273 - 202,273 133,553
fundraising
Corporate fundraising 714 - 714 2,406
Unrestricted grants (Transfer from Vision for a
134,549 - 134,549 -
Nation)
Government grants - - 57,401
Professional donated hours 30,100 - 30,100 29,670
Donations in kind - - - 1,394
Legacies 347,131 - 347,131 47,673
Total donations and legacies 714,767 - 714,767 272,097
Unrestricted Restricted 2022 2021
£ £ £ £
Income from charitable activities
Individual donations and community
- 10,099 10,099 17,825
fundraising
Corporate fundraising - 155,711 155,711 144,010
Grants 14,000 473,665 487,665 367,700
Members' donations 28,863 28,863 35,691
Total income from charitable activities 42,863 639,475 682,338 565,226
Unrestricted Restricted 2022 2021
Other £ £ £ £
Realised gains on sale of investments - - - 13,424
Profit on disposal of fixed asset - - - 1,214
Total other - - - 14,638
**----- End of picture text -----**
**32**
**33**
## **4. Expenditure**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Support
Staff
a) Total resources expended Direct costs costs 2022 2021
costs
(note 4b)
£ £ £ £ £
Expenditure on raising funds
Expenditure on raising
39,057 47,712 26,017 112,786 110,953
donations and legacies
Expenditure on other trading - - - -
136,066
activities (recycling)
- Prior year adjustment 2,145
39,057 47,712 26,017 112,786 249,164
Charitable activities
Overseas projects 400,527 385,376 65,965 851,868 666,042
Raising awareness 9,764 11,928 6,505 28,197 27,738
-
Sustainability project 35,262 33,132 68,394 81,605
- Prior year adjustment 3,226
445,553 430,436 72,470 948.459 778,611
Total expenditure 484,610 478,148 98,487 1,061,245 1,027,775
b) Support costs
2022 2021
£ £
Staff costs 48,886 87,974
Recruitment costs 5,932 323
Premises costs 12,506 47,017
Printing, postage and stationery 646 2,144
Telephone and Internet 1,626 2,019
-
Travel and meeting costs 1,077
Office expenditure 17,219 19,597
- -
Depreciation
Governance (note c) 10,595 25,306
98,487 184,380
**----- End of picture text -----**
General overhead cost recovery of £35,454 has been received in the year through restricted funding to cover unrestricted general support costs (2021: £15,344). This has been allocated against support costs on a total cost apportionment basis.
General overhead cost recovery of £17,598 has been allocated against support cost staff costs (2021: £7,321).
## **c) Governance**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2022 2021
£ £
Legal and professional fees 325 18,509
Audit fees 6,741 6,480
Cost of AGM and meetings 3,230 121
Trustee costs and expenses 299 196
Trustee recruitment costs - 1,800
10,595 27,106
General overhead cost recovery of £3,814 has been allocated against legal and professional fees
d) Trustees remuneration and expenses
Members of the Board of Trustees (who are all directors within the meaning of the Companies Act 2006)
receive no remuneration for their services.
Trustees’ total reimbursed expenses and payments made to suppliers directly on their behalf in respect of
travel and subsistence costs totalled £299 for two trustees (2021: £196 for two trustees).
5. Taxation
The charitable company is exempt from corporation tax.
6. Net incoming resources for the period
2022 2021
£ £
Operating surplus is stated after
charging:
Depreciation 6,167 6,560
Auditor's remuneration 6,741 6,480
Profit on disposal of investments - 13,424
**----- End of picture text -----**
Members of the Board of Trustees (who are all directors within the meaning of the Companies Act 2006) receive no remuneration for their services.
Trustees’ total reimbursed expenses and payments made to suppliers directly on their behalf in respect of travel and subsistence costs totalled £299 for two trustees (2021: £196 for two trustees).
## **7. Staff costs**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2022 2021
£ £
Salaries and wages 447,533 436,741
Social security costs 28,481 36,462
Pension costs 14,676 12,035
490,690 485,238
**----- End of picture text -----**
Retirement benefit payments were made in the year to one staff member per labour law in the overseas country (Sierra Leone), totalling £28,000 (2021: £Nil).
**34**
**35**
**29**
A provision for end of contract payments were made in the year for staff wholly attributed to our restricted fund grant activities, totalling £25,943 (2021: £29,915).
The numbers of employees whose emoluments were more than £60,000 were
|||2022|2021|
|---|---|---|---|
|£60,001|– £70,000|-|1|
|£70,001|– £80,000|1|-|
Key management is defined as the executive Senior Management Team (four executive directors / head of departments). Key management remuneration in the year was £223,726 (2021: £216,725).
||||**202**|**2**
**2021**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||Headcount staff within the year||**No**|**.**
**No.**|
|||Programme||**3**
4|
|||Finance and
administration||**3**
3|
|||Recycling||**0**
3|
|||Fundraising and
communication||**2**
2|
|||Overseas in our
programme countries*|**2**|**7**
13|
||||**3**|**5**
25|
||||||
12* staff joined from Vision for a Nation Foundation in Ghana in March 2022.
## **8. Tangible fixed assets**
||**fxed assets**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||
|||**Vehicles**|**Computer equipment**|**Total**||
|||||||
|||||||
|||£|£|£||
||**Cost or valuation**|||||
||At 1 April 2021|54,845|
-|54,845||
||Additions|-|
1,159|1,159||
||Disposals|-|
-|-||
||**At 31 March 2022**|**54,845**|
**1,159**|**56,004**||
|||||||
||**Depreciation**|||||
||At 1 April 2021|48,839|
-|48,839||
||Charge for the year|6,006|
161|6,167||
||Released on disposal|-|
-|-||
||**At 31 March 2022**|**54,845**|
**161**|**55,006**||
|||||||
||**Net book values**|||||
||**At 31 March 2022**|-|
**998**|**998**||
||At 31 March 2021|6,006|
-|6,006||
## **9. Debtors and prepayments**
|||||||2021
As restated
£
11,127
5,000
15,251
31,378|2021
As restated
£
11,127
5,000
15,251
31,378|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**2022**||2021||
|||||||As restated||
|||||£||£||
|||Trade debtors||-||11,127||
|||Gift aid recoverable||**768**||5,000||
|||Prepayments and accrued income||**352,418**||15,251||
|||||**353,186**||31,378||
|||||||||
|**10. Current asset investments**||||||||
|||||**2022**||2021||
|||||£||£||
||Opening market value|||-||56,224||
||Additions|||-||-||
||Disposals|||-||(56,224)||
||Change in market value|||-||-||
||Closing market value|||-||-||
|||||||||
## **11. Creditors**
|||**2022**|2021||
|---|---|---|---|---|
||||As restated||
|||£|£||
||Trade creditors|**11,357**|10,678||
||Accruals and deferred income|**47,983**|193,682||
||Social security costs|**5,791**|6,551||
||Pension contributions|**1,630**|1,646||
|||**66,761**|212,557||
## **12. Provisions for liabilities**
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**Dilapidations**|**Programme**
**redundancies**|**Total**|
|||£|£|**£**|
||At 1 April 2021|75,000|29,916|
**104,916**|
||Additions during the year|(75,000)|25,943|
**(49,057)**|
||**At 31 March 2022**|**-**|**55,859**|
**55,859**|
||||||
The programme redundancies provision relates to the liability for end of contract or redundancy costs for overseas staff on fixed term contracts and in posts funded by restricted funds. The provision is calculated in accordance with the relevant country statutory provisions for end of contract / redundancy payments. The provision is expected to give rise to a payment of £25k in the year ending 31 March 2023, with the balance expected to be paid in subsequent years in line with the end of specific funded programmes.
**36**
**31**
**37**
Provisions total £55,859 (2020/21: £104,916) of which ££55,859 (2020/21: £29,913) was attributable to restricted funds and £Nil (2020/21: £75,000) was attributable to unrestricted funds.
## **16. Last year comparative SoFA breakdown**
## **13. Operating lease commitments**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Land and Buildings Other
2022 2021 2022 2021
£ £ £ £
Within 1 year - 81,000 - -
Between 2 and 5 years - - - -
After more than 5 years - - - -
- 81,000 - -
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **14. Related party transactions**
There were no transactions with other related parties in the year.
## **15. Statement of funds**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Revaluation At
At Incoming Resources
Transfers of 31 March
1 April 2021 resources used
investments 2022
£ £ £ £ £ £
Unrestricted income
funds
General funds 342,976 757,630 (426,949) (3,224) - 670,433
Total unrestricted
342,976 757,630 (426,949) (3,224) - 670,433
funds
Restricted income
funds
Restricted income
196,787 639,475 (634,296) 3,224 - 205,189
funds (note 17)
Total funds 539,763 1,397,105 (1,601,245) - - 875,622
Statement of funds -
previous year
Revaluation Balance
At Incoming Resources
Transfers of 31 March
1 April 2020 resources used
investments 2021
£ £ £ £ £ £
Unrestricted income
funds
General funds 526,112 363,315 (531,157) (15,294) - 342,976
Designated funds - - - - - -
Total unrestricted
526,112 363,315 (531,157) (15,294) - 342,976
funds
Restricted income
funds
Restricted income
171,672 501,068 (491,247) 15,294 - 196,787
funds
Total funds 697,784 864,383 (1,022,404) - - 539,763
**----- End of picture text -----**
|||**_Unrestricted_**
**_Unrestricted_**
**Unrestricted Designated Restricted**
**2021**
**_Continued_**
**_Discontinued_**
**Total**
£
£
£
£
£
£
272,097
-
272,097
-
-
**272,097**
64,158
-
64,158
-
501,068
**565,226**
-
10,626
10,626
-
-
**10,626**
1,796
-
1,796
-
-
**1,796**
14,638
-
14,638
**14,638**
352,689
10,626
363,315
-
501,068
**864,383**
110,953
-
110,953
-
-
**110,953**
-
136,066
136,066
-
-
**136,066**
110,953
136,066
247,019
-
-
**247,019**
256,400
-
256,400
-
409,642
**666,042**
27,738
-
27,738
-
-
**27,738**
-
-
-
-
81,605
**81,605**
284,138
-
284,138
-
491,247
**775,385**
395,091
136,066
531,157
-
491,247
**1,022,404**
(42,402)
(125,440)
(167,842)
-
9,821
**(158,021)**
-
-
-
-
(140,734)
125,440
(15,294)
-
15,294
-
(183,136)
-
(183,136)
-
25,115
**(158,021)**
526,112
-
526,112
-
171,672
**697,784**
342,976
-
342,976
-
196,787
**539,763**|**_Unrestricted_**
**_Unrestricted_**
**Unrestricted Designated Restricted**
**2021**
**_Continued_**
**_Discontinued_**
**Total**
£
£
£
£
£
£
272,097
-
272,097
-
-
**272,097**
64,158
-
64,158
-
501,068
**565,226**
-
10,626
10,626
-
-
**10,626**
1,796
-
1,796
-
-
**1,796**
14,638
-
14,638
**14,638**
352,689
10,626
363,315
-
501,068
**864,383**
110,953
-
110,953
-
-
**110,953**
-
136,066
136,066
-
-
**136,066**
110,953
136,066
247,019
-
-
**247,019**
256,400
-
256,400
-
409,642
**666,042**
27,738
-
27,738
-
-
**27,738**
-
-
-
-
81,605
**81,605**
284,138
-
284,138
-
491,247
**775,385**
395,091
136,066
531,157
-
491,247
**1,022,404**
(42,402)
(125,440)
(167,842)
-
9,821
**(158,021)**
-
-
-
-
(140,734)
125,440
(15,294)
-
15,294
-
(183,136)
-
(183,136)
-
25,115
**(158,021)**
526,112
-
526,112
-
171,672
**697,784**
342,976
-
342,976
-
196,787
**539,763**|**_Unrestricted_**
**_Unrestricted_**
**Unrestricted Designated Restricted**
**2021**
**_Continued_**
**_Discontinued_**
**Total**
£
£
£
£
£
£
272,097
-
272,097
-
-
**272,097**
64,158
-
64,158
-
501,068
**565,226**
-
10,626
10,626
-
-
**10,626**
1,796
-
1,796
-
-
**1,796**
14,638
-
14,638
**14,638**
352,689
10,626
363,315
-
501,068
**864,383**
110,953
-
110,953
-
-
**110,953**
-
136,066
136,066
-
-
**136,066**
110,953
136,066
247,019
-
-
**247,019**
256,400
-
256,400
-
409,642
**666,042**
27,738
-
27,738
-
-
**27,738**
-
-
-
-
81,605
**81,605**
284,138
-
284,138
-
491,247
**775,385**
395,091
136,066
531,157
-
491,247
**1,022,404**
(42,402)
(125,440)
(167,842)
-
9,821
**(158,021)**
-
-
-
-
(140,734)
125,440
(15,294)
-
15,294
-
(183,136)
-
(183,136)
-
25,115
**(158,021)**
526,112
-
526,112
-
171,672
**697,784**
342,976
-
342,976
-
196,787
**539,763**|**_Unrestricted_**
**_Unrestricted_**
**Unrestricted Designated Restricted**
**2021**
**_Continued_**
**_Discontinued_**
**Total**
£
£
£
£
£
£
272,097
-
272,097
-
-
**272,097**
64,158
-
64,158
-
501,068
**565,226**
-
10,626
10,626
-
-
**10,626**
1,796
-
1,796
-
-
**1,796**
14,638
-
14,638
**14,638**
352,689
10,626
363,315
-
501,068
**864,383**
110,953
-
110,953
-
-
**110,953**
-
136,066
136,066
-
-
**136,066**
110,953
136,066
247,019
-
-
**247,019**
256,400
-
256,400
-
409,642
**666,042**
27,738
-
27,738
-
-
**27,738**
-
-
-
-
81,605
**81,605**
284,138
-
284,138
-
491,247
**775,385**
395,091
136,066
531,157
-
491,247
**1,022,404**
(42,402)
(125,440)
(167,842)
-
9,821
**(158,021)**
-
-
-
-
(140,734)
125,440
(15,294)
-
15,294
-
(183,136)
-
(183,136)
-
25,115
**(158,021)**
526,112
-
526,112
-
171,672
**697,784**
342,976
-
342,976
-
196,787
**539,763**|**_Unrestricted_**
**_Unrestricted_**
**Unrestricted Designated Restricted**
**2021**
**_Continued_**
**_Discontinued_**
**Total**
£
£
£
£
£
£
272,097
-
272,097
-
-
**272,097**
64,158
-
64,158
-
501,068
**565,226**
-
10,626
10,626
-
-
**10,626**
1,796
-
1,796
-
-
**1,796**
14,638
-
14,638
**14,638**
352,689
10,626
363,315
-
501,068
**864,383**
110,953
-
110,953
-
-
**110,953**
-
136,066
136,066
-
-
**136,066**
110,953
136,066
247,019
-
-
**247,019**
256,400
-
256,400
-
409,642
**666,042**
27,738
-
27,738
-
-
**27,738**
-
-
-
-
81,605
**81,605**
284,138
-
284,138
-
491,247
**775,385**
395,091
136,066
531,157
-
491,247
**1,022,404**
(42,402)
(125,440)
(167,842)
-
9,821
**(158,021)**
-
-
-
-
(140,734)
125,440
(15,294)
-
15,294
-
(183,136)
-
(183,136)
-
25,115
**(158,021)**
526,112
-
526,112
-
171,672
**697,784**
342,976
-
342,976
-
196,787
**539,763**|**_Unrestricted_**
**_Unrestricted_**
**Unrestricted Designated Restricted**
**2021**
**_Continued_**
**_Discontinued_**
**Total**
£
£
£
£
£
£
272,097
-
272,097
-
-
**272,097**
64,158
-
64,158
-
501,068
**565,226**
-
10,626
10,626
-
-
**10,626**
1,796
-
1,796
-
-
**1,796**
14,638
-
14,638
**14,638**
352,689
10,626
363,315
-
501,068
**864,383**
110,953
-
110,953
-
-
**110,953**
-
136,066
136,066
-
-
**136,066**
110,953
136,066
247,019
-
-
**247,019**
256,400
-
256,400
-
409,642
**666,042**
27,738
-
27,738
-
-
**27,738**
-
-
-
-
81,605
**81,605**
284,138
-
284,138
-
491,247
**775,385**
395,091
136,066
531,157
-
491,247
**1,022,404**
(42,402)
(125,440)
(167,842)
-
9,821
**(158,021)**
-
-
-
-
(140,734)
125,440
(15,294)
-
15,294
-
(183,136)
-
(183,136)
-
25,115
**(158,021)**
526,112
-
526,112
-
171,672
**697,784**
342,976
-
342,976
-
196,787
**539,763**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**_Unrestricted_**|**_Unrestricted_**|**Unrestricted**|**Designated**|**Restricted**|**2021**|
|||**_Continued_**|**_Discontinued_**|**Total**||||
|||£|£|£|£|£|£|
||**Income and endowments**
**from:**|||||||
||Donations and legacies|272,097|
-|
272,097|
-|
-|
**272,097**|
||Charitable activities|64,158|
-|
64,158|
-|
501,068|
**565,226**|
||Other trading activities (recycling)|-|
10,626|
10,626|
-|
-|
**10,626**|
||Investments|1,796|
-|
1,796|
-|
-|
**1,796**|
||Other|14,638|
-|
14,638|||**14,638**|
||**Total income**|352,689|
10,626|
363,315|
-|
501,068|
**864,383**|
|||||||||
||**Expenditure on:**|||||||
|||||||||
||**Raising funds**|||||||
||Raising donations and legacies|110,953|
-|
110,953|
-|
-|
**110,953**|
||Other trading activities (recycling)|-|
136,066|
136,066|
-|
-|
**136,066**|
||**Total raising funds**|110,953|
136,066|
247,019|
-|
-|
**247,019**|
|||||||||
||**Charitable activities**|||||||
||Overseas projects|256,400|
-|
256,400|
-|
409,642|
**666,042**|
||Raising awareness|27,738|
-|
27,738|
-|
-|
**27,738**|
||Sustainability project|-|
-|
-|
-|
81,605|
**81,605**|
||**Total charitable activities**|284,138|
-|
284,138|
-|
491,247|
**775,385**|
||**Total expenditure**|395,091|
136,066|
531,157|
-|
491,247|
**1,022,404**|
||**Net income/(expenditure)**|(42,402)|(125,440)|(167,842)|-|
9,821|
**(158,021)**|
||**Net (loss) on investments**|||-|
-|
-|
-|
||**Transfers between funds**|(140,734)|125,440|
(15,294)|-|
15,294|
-|
||**Net movement in funds**|(183,136)|-|
(183,136)|-|
25,115|
**(158,021)**|
||Fund balances brought forward|526,112|
-|
526,112|
-|
171,672|
**697,784**|
||**Fund balances carried forward**|342,976|
-|
342,976|
-|
196,787|
**539,763**|
|||||||||
**38**
**39**
## **17. Restricted funds**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Balance at Balance at
1 April Income Expenditure Transfers 31 March
2021 2022
£ £ £ £ £
Zambia
Specsavers 64,763 151,631 176,829 - 39,565
Vision Mundi 5,047 11,129 10,489 - 5,687
USAID Child Blindness Program - 90,192 65,573 - 24,619
Sierra Leone
The Clothworkers' Foundation 36,306 69,000 105,306 - -
Maitri 535 - 535 - -
Spectacle Makers - 3,850 - - 3,850
USAID - 49,577 49,577 - -
Vision Mundi 629 18,863 16,077 - 3,415
Optemetry Giving Sight - 71,950 45,230 - 26,720
Kailahun 4,231 10,099 9,553 - 4,777
Vision for a Village 6,153 - 6,153 - -
Ethiopia
Support a School 10,728 4,080 5,818 - 8,990
Beatrice Laing - 7,500 5,000 - 2,500
USAID Child Blindness Program - 3,140 6,364 3,224 -
The Else Kröne-Fresenius-Stiftung (EKFS) - 79,813 52,224 - 27,589
Veta Bailey - 4,200 2,138 - 2,062
Ghana
Medicor Foundation (Vision for a Nation) - 20,451 5,535 - 14,916
Peek (Vision for a Nation) - 29,000 - - 29,000
Remote Mentoring
Britford Bridge Trust - 10,000 - - 10,000
Steel Charitable Trust - 5,000 3,500 - 1,500
Sustainability projects
Maitri 68,395 - 68,395 - -
196,787 639,475 634,296 3,224 205,190
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Restricted Funds 2021
Balance at Income Expenditure Transfers [Balance at 31]
1 April 2020 March 2021
£ £ £ £ £
Zambia
Specsavers 26,243 144,010 105,490 - 64,763
Vision Mundi - 6,398 1,351 - 5,047
Sierra Leone
The Clothworkers' Foundation 47,672 99,500 110,866 - 36,306
Maitri 4,845 - 4,310 - 535
Big Give 2,203 - 2,203 - -
Charles Hayward 969 - 969 - -
State of Guernesey 170 - 170 - -
USAID 18,834 58,494 92,622 15,294 -
Vision Mundi - 21,091 20,462 - 629
Kailahun - 9,453 5,222 - 4,231
Vision for a Village - 7,691 1,538 - 6,153
Ethiopia
Support a School 70,736 4,431 64,439 - 10,728
Sustainability projects
The Clothworkers' Foundation - 50,000 50,000 - -
Maitri - 100,000 31,605 - 68,395
171,672 501,068 491,247 15,294 196,787
**----- End of picture text -----**
**40**
**35**
**41**
## **Purpose of funding**
## **1. Specsavers (Zambia)**
- For vision centres, education, training, and support outreach programmes in Zambia.
## **2. Vision Mundi (Zambia)**
- For strengthening human resources for eye health in Zambia.
## **3. USAID Child Blindness Programme (Zambia)**
- Scale up of School Eye Health in Zambia
## **4. The Clothworkers’ Foundation (Sierra Leone)**
- For a three year Primary Eye Care project in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone.
## **5. Maitri Trust (Sierra Leone)**
- For increased access to eye care services in Bombali district of Sierra Leone.
## **6. Spectacle Makers (Sierra Leone)**
- For purchase, installation and running of 3 power generators located in established Vision Centres (VCs) in Kenema, Bombali and Koidu Districts of Sierra Leone.
## **7. USAID (Sierra Leone)**
- For a school based eye health programme in Sierra Leone.
## **8a. Optometry Giving Sight (Sierra Leone)**
**16. Vision for a Nation - Medicor (Ghana)** - For completion Vision for a Nation’s Medicor project for Innovative Eye Care in Ghana’s Upper East Regions.
- For completion Vision for a Nation’s Medicor project for
## **17. VFAN - Peek (Ghana)**
- For completion of VFAN contract with Peek. Peek application use in Ghana Upper East.
## **18. Britford Bridge Trust (Remote Mentoring)**
- For remote mentoring scheme, Sierra Leone and Zambia
## **19. Steel Charitable Trust (Remote Mentoring)**
- For remote mentoring pilot to offer continuous professional support to eye health workers in Sierra Leone and Zambia
## **20. Maitri (Sustainability Project)**
- To fund staff, unrestricted programme, fundraising development, and change management costs to support organisation sustainability with regard to the impact of Covid-19 on operations.
## **18. Related and controlling parties**
There were no related party transactions during the year or previous year. The trustees are deemed to control the charitable company.
- For essential community eye care services in Bombali & Koidu Districts, Sierra Leone
## **8b. Vision Mundi (Sierra Leone)**
- For increasing the uptake of eye care services especially the use of glasses in Bombali & Koidu Districts, Sierra Leone
## **9. Kailahun (Sierra Leone)**
- For a community-based eye health and spectacle campaign in Kailahun district, Sierra Leone.
## **10. Vision for a Village (Sierra Leone)**
- For a community-based eye health and spectacle campaign in Sierra Leone.
## **11. Support a School (including Christmas Appeals)**
- For school based child eye care programmes in Sierra Leone, Zambia, and Ethiopia.
## **12. Beatrice Laing (Ethiopia)**
- For scaling of a school based eye health programme, Ethiopia.
## **13. USAID Child Blindness Programme (Ethiopia)**
- For Vision4Inclusion: Leave no Child Behind in Ethiopia.
## **14. EKFS (Ethiopia)**
- For ensuring School Eye Health (SEH) for rural communities in Ethiopia.
## **15. Veta Bailey (Ethiopia)**
- For enhancing eye health care services for children with visual impairment in Rural Ethiopia.
**42**
**43**
## **Acknowledgement and thanks**
## **Our Honorary Patrons are:**
## **We would also like to acknowledge the support of the Institutions, Trusts & Foundations we have worked with:**
Fiona Bruce
Beatrice Laing Trust, The Maitri Trust, Optometry Giving Sight, Scouloudi Foundation, The Clothworkers’ Foundation, The James Tudor Foundation, The Paristamen CIO, The Souter Charitable Trust, The Steel Charitable Trust, The William Brake Charitable Trust, USAID - United States Agency for International Development, Fundacion Vision Mundi, The Alfred Charitable Trust, Paget Charitable Trust, The Chalk Cliff Trust, The Britford Bridge Trust
James Chen
Dame Mary Perkins DBE
## **Our Honorary Life Members are:**
## **And our Corporate Partners:**
Ruth Davies
Dunelm Optical, Essilor UK Limited and Essilor Vision for Life, Jonathan Hall Opticians, Farther & Sun Limited – trading as Pala Eyewear, Specsavers, Retrospecced, Trailblaze IT, Freedom Destinations, The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers
Felicity Harding
Jeremy Jalie
Peter Mills
## **Vision Aid Overseas is a supporter/member of:**
International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), EYElliance, Clearly, Fundraising Regulator, Institute of Fundraising, BOND, and The Coalition for Clear Vision (TCCV)
Tym Marsh
Brian Mitchell FCA
## **Karen Sparrow**
Frank Norville
## **(18th February 1968 - 4th January 2022)**
We were deeply saddened by the passing of our very dear friend and colleague Karen Sparrow. Her work at Vision Aid Overseas will forever be remembered by all those who had the privilege to know her and work with her. Karen started volunteering for Vision Aid Overseas in 2007 and participated in no less than 13 overseas assignments between then and 2015, firstly as a team member, then as an outstanding team leader. She took on a number of other volunteering roles that she managed to juggle alongside her other work, including that of Education and Training Director, overseeing all our optical and volunteer development training and providing technical support to VAO. Karen’s knowledge and professional network was amazing, and her enthusiasm for the work was infectious.As a keen runner in her personal life, she took part in the Great Ethiopian Run in 2015, and with this and many other fundraising efforts raised over £4000 for the charity. She was always the first to encourage new volunteers and spread awareness of our work to university students throughout the UK as one of our talented speakers. We at VAO were honoured to award Karen with an Honorary Life Membership and she was also awarded our Trustee Recognition Award in 2010 and again in 2015 for outstanding work in her field.
David Parkins
David Scott Ralphs
Kath Stott
Clive Williams
Karen is deeply missed.
Karen Sparrow, 1968-2022
**44**
**43**