OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2020-12-31-accounts

Annual Report and Accounts:

Friends of Amani Tanzania

Registered Charity Number 1114281 Year Ending – 31 December 2020

1

Charity Registered Address

Jaycroft, Elm Lane

Lower Earley Reading RG6 5UG

Trustees

Professor Ken Spours (Chair) Leslie Green (Treasurer) Bridget Green (Secretary) Catherine Swanson Kathryn Tudor Rachel Derry John Bullock

Bank Details

Royal Bank of Scotland Brunel House 17-27 Station Road Reading RG1 1LG

Account No: 10201087 Sort Code: 16-29-25

2

Trustees’ Report

The Board of Trustees of Friends of Amani Tanzania (the Charity) present their annual report for the year ending 31 December 2020 under the Charities Act 2011, together with the financial statements for that year which have been subject to independent examination.

Governance

The Charity was formed in 2005, made its Declaration of Trust on 24 March 2006 and obtained registered charity status on 18 May 2006.

The Trustees are obliged to hold at least two ordinary meetings a year. In 2020 due to the Covid pandemic the majority of meetings were held over Zoom. The Trustees met on:

The Trustees apply the income of the charity in furthering the following objectives:

Trustee and Associate Visits

There was one visit to Amani during the year: Planned visits later in the year were postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

3

About Amani

Located in the Chamwino area of Morogoro, the Amani Centre for Persons with Disabilities is a non-profit making organization that educates and empowers mentally and physically challenged children and youth. Established in 1992 by Josephine Bakhita, Amani has over the last 28 years grown to become a major social partner in the Morogoro area. It aims, with the support of its friends in the UK, to become a model NGO promoting awareness about disability, services for the disabled and broader partnerships for education and care across Tanzania as a whole. In 2010 Father Beatus Sewando was appointed Director of the Amani Centre; he continues in that role and is assisted by Emmanuel Mlegu, a teacher of special needs at Morogoro Secondary School.

Presently the Amani Centre:

About Shinyanga

FOAT Trustees reviewed the constitution at their meeting in December 2019 and agreed that the Charity could support work amongst the disadvantaged and disabled in Tanzania beyond the direct remit of the Amani Centre. Trustees Bridget and Leslie Green reported that Rev Stanley

4

Sewando, Anglican Priest who had been Project Coordinator for the Ecumenical work at Amani, had been appointed Diocesan Secretary in the Anglican Diocese of Shinyanga, Northern Tanzania in May 2019.

At the invitation of Bishop Johnson, Diocesan Bishop of Shinyanga, Bridget and Leslie visited Shinyanga – one of the poorest regions in Tanzania - in September 2019 and saw first-hand some of the challenges faced by the communities there. Learning from work with the disabled community in Morogoro, Rev Stanley, with the backing of his Diocesan Bishop, is now developing initiatives in Shinyanga to support the disadvantaged and disabled community there.

Projects amongst disadvantaged communities led by the Anglican Church of Tanzania in Shinyanga and supported by Friends of Amani Tanzania (FOAT) are independent from those at the Amani Centre, Morogoro. Funds for these projects are deposited into the FOAT account and ring-fenced for Shinyanga. Payments are made to the Shinyanga Care Ministry Account which is administered by the Diocesan Bishop, Diocesan Secretary and a named church volunteer.

..........

What follows is a summary of achievements by Friends of Amani Tanzania for the financial year ending 31 December 2020.

Fundraising and Awareness

The Charity has five major strategies for fundraising and raising awareness:

  1. Educational partnership and support.

  2. Corporate donations and bids to charitable trusts.

  3. Regular giving and gift aid.

  4. Harnessing the good will of UK Amani volunteers.

  5. Events and initiatives.

Examples of each are given below.

5

1. Educational partnership and support

The Charity has developed a range of important partnerships with schools, colleges, universities and churches. Perhaps as importantly, the number of young people whose awareness of poverty and educational circumstances in Tanzania has been raised by the work of the Charity is significant. The hope is that those young people in the UK who are involved in either fundraising or visiting the Amani Centre will continue to be committed to its work in the future, having learned a great deal in the process. In addition, the links with schools, colleges and universities in the Morogoro and Mvomero regions of Tanzania will not only lead to better resourcing for these institutions, but also to visits for some to the UK.

All student volunteers have spoken highly of their experience on their return whilst offering valuable constructive feedback on how certain procedures may be organised with greater efficiency. A volunteer legacy for Amani Centre and FOAT is the regular giving by those who are able.

Over the years FOAT has been in existence, Trustees Bridget and Leslie Green have developed a network of individuals through their local church (Redlands Parish Church in Reading) keen to support Amani’s work. In 2020, Bridget and Leslie have developed a further network of supporters, including from other churches, sponsoring care ministry work amongst the disabled in Shinyanga.

2. Corporate donations and bids to charitable trusts

Trustees and volunteers have worked hard to present their work to companies and other charitable organizations who might be interested in donating to the charity. In 2020 the Charity received funds from:

1. Park Family Trust £3,200
2. Fonthill Charitable Trust £3,100
3. John Pitman Charitable Trust £1,000 (Shinyanga, Buhangija appeal)
4. Lady McNeice Charitable Foundation £62,753 (Shinyanga, Solwa Medical Centre)

6

3. Regular giving and gift aid

This year for Amani we collected £8,985 from regular donations including the child sponsorship (an increase of £290 on 2019). We currently have 24 regular monthly givers (an increase of three on 2019) and a further eight annual givers. The child sponsorship scheme raised £3,610.

This year is the first we have reported on funding streams for Shinyanga. By the end of 2020, FOAT had four regular donors for the Care Ministry work in Shinyanga, giving a total of £1,063 for the year.

The Trustees have tried to ensure that regular givers and as many donors as possible, sign gift aid declarations in order to maximize the income to the Charity. This year the Charity received a tax rebate of £7,848. This includes Gift Aid on donations made for Shinyanga projects. In addition further Gift Aid was received via Just Giving amounting to £811.

Whilst the members of the Rotary Club of Reading have been unable to meet over lunch during the Covid 19 pandemic, they have been allocating their lunch money to support a number of overseas projects. The Amani Centre is one of four charities that receive a monthly donation towards their spiralling food costs. The Club has donated a total of £1,894 in 2020.

4. Harnessing the good will of UK Amani volunteers

Several of the former Gap Year students and other young people who have undertaken voluntary work at the Amani Centre have gone on to retain links with Amani and to fundraise for the Charity.

New volunteers and supporters, often with professional and medical skills, come forward each year either via the former volunteers’ universities or places of work, or through the Facebook web pages of Friends of Amani and the Amani Centre itself. While this is something that the Charity is keen to support, we recognize the need both for the young people to play an active and constructive role, and for the Amani Centre to provide relevant project work for them to undertake. We have been fortunate to be supported in this work by Cathy Swanson, who until December 2018 was resident in Morogoro and regularly visited the Amani Centre, to provide an independent view of Amani activities and to act as in informal mentor and medical adviser to volunteers. Cathy is still based in East Africa (Uganda) and can visit Amani whenever viable.

7

It is very unfortunate that the Covid-19 pandemic prevented any overseas volunteers from visiting Amani in 2020, but Trustees are hopeful that once the pandemic is over there will again be opportunities for overseas volunteers to visit.

5. Events and initiatives

Normally, the Trustees themselves organize and/or participate in a range of fundraising initiatives, including coffee mornings and sponsored events, such as marathons. Only one such event took place in 2020, due to the restrictions of the Covid 19 pandemic. A Tanzanian-themed coffee morning held in Reading in February 2020 organised by Bridget and Leslie Green assisted by Rachel Derry and John Bullock raised £516 for Amani.

A total of £4,304 was raised via Just Giving. This figure includes projects for Shinyanga.

Funds received by the Charity through on-line shopping such as Giveasyoulive, Amazonsmile and Paypal total £670. This is an increase of £437 on 2019.

Projects and Funding for Amani

In 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly affected the ability for all charities to hold fund raising events. Not only has the Charity been unable to hold its own fundraising events but the money from Charitable Trusts has also been much harder to obtain.

At Amani local support completely disappeared and as a result, the Charity’s focus has been on plugging the gap to provide staple items for survival and support the existing self sustainable projects. Trustees would once again like to express their thanks to the Rotary Club of Reading and The Fonthill Foundation for their assistance.

The following projects at Amani were supported during 2020.

1. Community-based rehabilitation work and economic sustainability projects at the Amani Centre.

A total of £27,565 was donated to Amani, a decrease of £13,052 on last year. This was primarily directed towards supporting the core mission of the Centre. General funds, including support for staff, Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) and social and medical costs equating to £15,830

8

was sent for use at the discretion of the Director of the Amani Centre. In addition £4,450 was given to the Amani Centre through the Child Sponsorship Scheme.

There are currently 34 children who reside at Amani and are part of the child sponsorship scheme. A total of 21 of these children have regular sponsors; some sponsors support more than one child. Sponsorship averages £20/month per child. This provides a source of regular income to support the children who reside at Amani Centre. All monies from this are collated and used to purchase food, clothing and medicines for all 34 children. All sponsors are encouraged to gift aid their donations. Trustee Rachel Derry, monitors the Child Sponsorship Scheme, communicates with the sponsors and takes the lead on seeking new sponsors. Rachel communicates frequently with Emmanuel Mlegu, Deputy Director of the Amani Centre, in order to obtain regular updates about the children, ensuring the child information is maintained and kept up-to-date.

Each year the Friends of Amani Tanzania pays towards the costs of a community Christmas Party at the Amani Centre which, not only raises awareness in the community of issues of disability and the work of the Centre, but also serves as a way of thanking volunteers and the increasing number of local donors, for their generosity. In 2020, £290 was donated for the party.

Funding is also provided to support a range of economic sustainability projects both agricultural and enterprise that involve members of the Amani staff developing their leadership capacities to provide sources of income that reduces dependency on overseas donors. Improvements to the Amani Hostel and Café, and development of the farmland at Mvomero are examples of such initiatives.

2. School/College fees for young people

The Amani Centre provides a home for able-bodied young people from some of the most rural areas in the surrounding district and pays for their education. In return, these young people assist in the care of the disabled children at Amani. In 2020, a supporter of Friends of Amani donated £175 for the education of one young person. A major donor is no longer able to support this initiative and FOAT is seeking future supporters through its networks.

In addition, an orphan child in Amani’s care, who lives with a local family independently of Amani, is sponsored to the tune of £600 per year.

9

3. Assistance for elderly people

£200 was made available to the Elders in Mvomero to support them in their social and educational activities at this Amani Outstation. The Charity has encouraged the elders to work more closely with the residential school to develop a market garden.

4. Mpapa-Msufini Dispensary

The ten rooms required under the new Government rules have now been built and water tanks installed in 2020 thanks to a very generous private donation in 2019. It is frustrating that despite Amani’s best efforts, the local government have not yet furbished the building or appointed medical workers. It is now expected that registration will take place and the dispensary begin functioning from July 2021.

5. Five-year Surgery Enablement Programme

Trustees would like to take this opportunity of thanking the Park Family Charitable Trust for their grant of £3,200 to enable eight children from Amani to receive vital surgery each year for the next five years, thereby facilitating their rehabilitation to their families and to the community at large.

VACT (Friends of Amani in the Netherlands) also donated £680 via FOAT to this programme.

6. School projects

The Special School at Mvomero was finally registered and officially opened in August 2018, although it had been in operation for three years before this.

The bid for a grant to create a new curriculum environment for Life skills Development for pupils with special educational needs was received positively by The Fonthill Foundation and two grants totaling £7,140 were received in 2019. A further grant of £3,100 was donated in 2020 in furtherance of this project.

The aims of the project are i) to enhance the students’ educational experience by developing the learning environment at the school, as well as providing the children with vocational skills; ii) to contribute towards the food security for the School, by developing the agricultural environment with self-sufficiency in mind. The project gives the children many more opportunities and more secure pathways for their futures.

Thanks to Fonthill, farming tools and educational items have been purchased to enable the children to utilise the outdoor space to support this vocational experience. The school children

10

can actively participate in planting and harvesting, as well as caring for the chickens and selling their eggs.

A primary aim of this project is the growing of food for the school. With help from Fonthill, the Amani Centre has now purchased some land nearby the school for growing maize, which is more secure than renting land. The school now has seven acres, which should provide all the maize needed for the school. Also, a substantial vegetable garden plot has been developed on the school site. As a result, the children also have the benefit of fresh green vegetables, as well as tomatoes and other vegetables, vital for their health. A chicken project has also now been implemented at the school where children learn how to care for chickens, incorporating the activity into both their curricular and extracurricular activities. Importantly, this opportunity enables the students to gain important entrepreneurship and business skills.

The school will receive its final intake of students in January 2021. At that point, the school will have achieved its initial and main aim of becoming a fully functioning primary school, specialising in children with a hearing impairment. In 2019 the students in Year 5 had to undertake a national exam; we were so pleased to know that they had all passed! It is these children who are now in their final year at Mvomero (Standard 7), and will again be taking National Exams, this time for entry into secondary school. Amani is now looking to initiate a special needs secondary school on the Mvomero site.

7. Mvomero Dormitory

In order for the Mvomero Special primary school to take the final intake of students, giving them the total of seven primary school years, plus a nursery class, two issues needed addressing: i) more classrooms and dormitory space to allow for the final intake, and ii) the visitor space had to be separated from the dormitory to satisfy government regulations. When FOAT Associate, Barbara Bristow visited the centre in February 2020, she met with the engineer to confirm plans for conversion of both spaces. The conversion of the classroom space was successfully completed whilst Barbara was there. Funds were left at the centre to cover the costs for the conversion of the dormitory space. Unfortunately, as a result of Covid-19, the money for the final stage of the expansion works had to be diverted and used as emergency funds. FOAT thus needed to fundraise in a very short timeframe to cover this. The work to increase the dormitory space and to furnish it was £3,000. FOAT launched an appeal which raised £900; the remainder of the funds were given by the Fonthill Foundation in 2021.

11

8. Ecumenical Social Entrepreneurship Project

Leslie and Bridget Green have continued to work to bring together members of the Anglican and Roman Catholic Dioceses of Morogoro to support people with disabilities and orphans.

In March 2020 a bid was submitted to UK Aid Direct Small Charities Challenge Fund for a grant to conduct economic social empowerment projects in the two villages of Chakwale and Matombo where ecumenical outreach had previously been conducted in 2017. Unfortunately the bid was unsuccessful. The search for funding continues.

9. Ecumenical Outreach projects

FOAT Trustees would like to express their thanks to the John Pitman Charitable Trust whose grant of £1,000 (made in 2019) enabled a team from the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches to conduct outreach visits to the villages of Lugoba and Kiloka in November/December 2020.

Many villagers came to receive advice and treatment for their children. At Lugoba, 23 children with cerebral palsy were identified and eight hard of hearing children were advised to join the Mvomero School to begin their schooling. Several families were invited to stay at Amani for a short while so they could access physiotherapy services. At Kiloka, 10 children were advised to visit Berega Anglican Hospital, over twenty were advised to go to Amani to receive physiotherapy and eight children with hearing impairments were advised to attend Mvomero Special School. These children had not previously been attending school.

The Ecumenical team in Morogoro continues to mobilise their churches to support disadvantaged groups and lobbies local leaders to help to educate the villagers about disabilities.

It has been noted earlier in this report that the ecumenical work at Amani was the catalyst to the initiation of work amongst the disabled in Shinyanga, led by Rev Stanley Sewando from the Anglican Church.

12

Projects and Funding for Shinyanga in 2020

1. Buhangija Residential School, Shinyanga

Towards the end of March 2020, the Rev Stanley Sewando (Diocesan Secretary) reported on the plight of the children of Buhangija, a residential school for children with albinism in Shinyanga. People with albinism in Tanzania face widespread persecution and most of the children resident at the school have been abandoned by their parents. With the fear of Covid-19, food prices had soared and the already very meagre local support they used to receive at Buhangija, had dried up. As a result, the 250 children were facing starvation. There was an immediate need to provide food over the next few months. Going forward, the plan was to develop a plot of land adjacent to the school as a vegetable garden. This would help to feed the children, as well as giving them an opportunity to learn new skills, and any surplus produce could be sold locally.

At the beginning of May 2020, assisted by a friend, FOAT Trustees Bridget and Leslie launched an appeal to donate towards emergency food supplies and for the establishment of a vegetable garden.

By early June 2020 some £8,000 was raised which enabled:

The children, staff and School Board were involved throughout the process, with some of the staff and board members contributing funds for water to fill the tanks as the rains had all but finished by the time the tanks were installed.

The garden has attracted widespread interest in the local area. The municipal education officer in Shinyanga has instructed his staff to ensure the long-term sustainability of the garden by helping with any problems that may arise, such as providing water for irrigation and the school will use the garden as a learning tool for the children, teaching them important skills. In addition, many other schools have come forward, wanting to learn from the Buhangija experience Most importantly of all, the project is helping to break down the preconceived ideas about disability and has raised awareness of what people with disabilities can achieve.

13

In due course, the Buhangija Community Garden will become the responsibility of the School to run and maintain. As soon as COVID-19 restrictions allow, there will be detailed discussions and a formal handover of responsibilities from the Diocese.

2. Solwa Medical Centre

Trustees Bridget and Leslie Green were fortunate in securing a grant of £62,753 from Lady McNeice Charitable Foundation to cover the cost of renovating the main buildings, toilets, and the houses for the medical staff at the disused medical centre at Solwa.

The facility which opened in November 2020, will initially be an outpatients’ clinic and is critically important in an area where there are health problems such as malaria, typhoid and high rates of infant mortality. To assist the medics with disease diagnosis and treatment, one of the rooms at the Centre has been equipped as a diagnostic lab.

3. Disability Training in Shinyanga

Thanks to the support of individuals and a grant of £1,000 from the Bishop of Oxford’s outreach fund, Disability Awareness Training was delivered to a group of Christians over a three-day period in early November. The training facilitators from the Amani Centre were Fr Beatus (Director) and Special Needs teacher, Emmanuel ‘Mlegu (Deputy Director). The trainees were drawn from Anglican Parishes in Shinyanga, the Anglican Diocesan leadership and six from the Roman Catholic church in Shinyanga, thus establishing the beginnings of ecumenical cooperation in support of the disabled in Shinyanga.

Future Plans for Amani

The main objectives for 2021:

14

which focus on work amongst disadvantaged communities.

With regard to the remaining objectives, FOAT will:

15

promote joint work and exchange visits;

Financial Review for the Year

The financial position of the Charity at the end of its 15[th] year of operation is satisfactory when considering the economic situation worldwide and the Covid 19 pandemic. Interest in the work of the Charity has increased. In addition to grants from Park Family Trust, the Fonthill Charitable Trust, John Pitman Charitable Trust and Lady McNeice Charitable Foundation, funds have been received from the Bishop of Oxford’s Outreach Fund, the Rotary Club of Reading, Dame Alice Owen School and VACT (Friends of Amani in the Netherlands). Barbara Bristow continues to work closely with FOAT as an Associate Member and to liaise with VACT. She raised £1,528 and made one visit to Amani early in 2020 before the Covid 19 lockdown.

Once again the Trustees have been encouraged by the extent of charitable giving received from:

Income for the year was £107,620.

Expenditure included:

Just Giving costs for 2020 totalling £216 are yet to be paid.

16

There was a surplus of income over expenditure of £4,910 for the year. This compares with a surplus of £2,055 in 2019.

The Balance sheet at 31[st] December 2020 showed cash balances of £9,063 and net assets of £8,847.

A tax rebate of £5,615 was received in 2020 for funds donated in 2019. In addition, a Gift Aid claim for monies given between April and September 2020 was submitted and resulted in a further rebate of £2,232. The tax due for funds donated in the period October to December 2020 totalling £6,576 will be submitted in 2021.

17

Friends of Amani Tanzania Charity No: 1114281 Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31 December 2020

INCOME
Regular Giving (incl. school fees)
Child Sponsorship Scheme
Card & Cake Sales
Bristow Initiatives excl. Just Giving (JG)
Charity Donation
London Marathon excl. JG
Fonthill
Mpapa dispensary
Park Family Trust
Social Fund
Ecumenical project
Rotary Club of Reading(Food)
SEN School (Mvomero)
Shinyanga ACT excl. JG
Just Giving & Virgin Money
Giveasyoulive & Amazon Smile
Gift Aid receipts
Interest
TOTAL INCOME
EXPENDITURE
Sundry Expenses
Bank Charges
Donations
Note 2
TOTAL EXPENSES
NET INCOME
Funds brought forward
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD		 2020
Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
£
£
£
3,900
775
4,675
0
3,610
3,610
1,265
0
1,265
0
500
500
1,777
1,410
3,187
0
0
0
0
3,100
3,100
0
0
0
0
3,200
3,200
100
600
700
0
0
0
1,894
0
1,894
0
330
330
0
72,334
72,334
307
3,997
4,304
545
125
670
2,938
4,910
7,848
3
0
3
12,729
94,891
107,620
390
0
390
27
55
82
12,825
89,413
102,238
13,242
89,468
102,710
-513
6423
4,910
1,457
1,480
2,937
944
7,903
8,847		 2019
£
3940
3,830
460
3,760
8,391
2,347
7,140
4,910
0
700
1,000
0
0
0
2,460
233
3,928
12
43,111
246
193
40,617
41,056
2,055
1,852
3,907

18

Friends of Amani Tanzania Charity No: 1114281 Balance sheet as at 31 December 2020

ASSETS
Cash and Bank Accounts:
Friends of Amani Tanzania
Less:Creditors
TOTAL NET ASSETS
FUNDS
Unrestricted funds: general reserves
Restricted funds
TOTAL LIABILITIES & EQUITY		 2020
£
9,063
216
8,847
944
7,903
8,847		 2019
£
4,153
246
3,907
1,425
2,482
3,907

19

Friends of Amani Tanzania Charity No 1114281

Notes forming part of the Financial Statements

1 Accounting Policies

(i) Income and expenditure is accounted for on a receipts and payments basis, is expressed in £ sterling, the operating currency of the charity. Figures are rounded to the nearest £.

(ii) Funds accounting

Unrestricted funds - these are funds which can be used in accordance with the charitable objects at the discretion of the trustees

Restricted funds - these are funds that can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor, or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

2 Grants Paid in the year to 31 December 2020

Grants Paid in the year to 31 December 2020
Amani
General Funds
inc. CBR , Food and Medical fees
Child Sponsorship
Ecumenical and Sustainable Projects
Education Projects
Mvomero Elders
School Fees
Sub Total
Shinyanga
Food
Buhangija Vegetable Garden
Solwa Medical Centre
Training and Outreach
Disability Training by Amani
Sub Total
TOTAL		 £
15,830
4,450
1,360
4,600
200
1,125
27,565

2,420
5,890
62,863
3,500
74,673
102,238

Approved by the Board of Trustees:

Ken Spours (Chairman)

Date: 4 May 2021

20

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Friends of Amani Tanzania

I report on the accounts of the Trust for the year ended 31[st] December 2020, which are set out on pages 18 to 20.

Responsibilities and basis of report

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity for the year ended 31[st] December 2020

As the charity’s trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“The Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts varied out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Nigel Gowing (BSc BFP FCA MBA)

Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales

118 Netherton Road, Abingdon, OX13 5LA

21