ANNUAL REPORT 2020-2021 Harrmv AsgKl•tlon of Somall Voluntary Oryanlsatlons
HASVO ANNUAL REPORT 2020-2021
Table of Contents
| 1. | Introduction: .................................................................................................................................. 3 |
|---|---|
| 2. | Partnership.................................................................................................................................... 5 |
| 3. | Standard/Quality of Services: ......................................................................................................... 6 |
| 4. | Annual General Meeting: ................................................................................................................ 6 |
| 5. | HASVO’s Aims & outcomes during the year 2020-21 .................................................................. 8 |
| 6. | Summary of Major outputs during 2021: ........................................................................................ 9 |
| 6.1 | Advice, advocacy.......................................................................................................................... 10 |
| 6.2. | Provision of Information sessions............................................................................................ 12 |
| 6.3 | Youth activities and school achievement................................................................................... 12 |
| 6.4 | Enhancing Health & Wellbeing –Through Community Based Support ....................................... 13 |
| 6.4.1 Project Description ....................................................................................................................... 13 | |
| 7. | Parenting Project ........................................................................................................................... 14 |
| 8. | Feedback from service users: ........................................................................................................ 15 |
| 9. | Conclusion................................................................................................................................... 16 |
| 10. | Financial Statement................................................................................................................ 18 |
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HASVO ANNUAL REPORT 2020-2021
1. Introduction :
HASVO supports Somali and Arabic refugees in North West London with a focus in Harrow. Our main aim is to increase cohesion and volunteering, promote healthy living and prevent substance misuse, improve disadvantaged people’s quality of life, increase youth achievement, and support training and employment. We currently have a membership of 1493 individuals and is growing.
In Harrow and elsewhere in the United Kingdom people from ethnic minority groups have seen an increased burden of not only the morbidity and mortality of the pandemic but also faced additional layer of socio-economic and psychological setbacks posed by the lockdown and loss of incomes.
The diverse population of the UK is represented by various ethnic groups, each with their own distinct cultural identities and health beliefs. We have seen how poor understanding of population diversity, lack of language and cultural competence, together with institutional racism, can create barriers for people’s access to primary and mainstream services.
The new communities specially the Somalis and Arabic speakers have an extra layer of difficulties arising from the lower literacy, cultural and other socio-economic factors which impacts on their life and wellbeing something which have been highlighted by the disparity of outcomes from the recent pandemic’s mortality and morbidity rates.
Many people in Harrow live under complex and difficult life circumstances which impact on their daily living and long-term progress. Voluntary organisations such as HASVO work to a ‘social model’ by taking a holistic approach to the person’s needs within their wider life context.
The nature of support and services by small and medium organisations like HASVO is like building the blocks for sustainable community development while ensuring the rights of access and care by all people without hindrance due to their race or language or other barriers.
Advocacy and advice by trusted and culturally appropriate centres are essential primary support networks for refugees and new migrants and their children. They help them before things get worse or out of hand specially on debt, incomes and signposting to higher levels of attention. Our interventions have a positive impact on the family and their children’s achievement; their health and well-being; reducing stress and anxiety; preventing relationship breakdown; promoting employment and increasing incomes and empowering them to make wider positive changes to their life.
Stakeholders felt that the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on BAME groups presented an opportunity to create fast but sustainable change and mitigate further impact. Change needs to be large scale and transformative. Action is needed to change the structural and societal environments such as the homes, neighbourhoods, workplaces - not solely focusing on individuals. There is a legal duty and moral responsibility to reduce inequalities.
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All studies during the last two years demonstrate the need for investment in local bodies such as HASVO, they also acknowledge the valuable contributions made by these groups to facilitate cohesion and development and therefore reduce impoverishment and gaps in living standards.
Although, last year was a bit stable than the high peak seasons of the late 2019[th] and early 2020[th] , we have continued to deal with increased burdens from the pandemic particularly issues relating to loss of incomes, debt and uptake of vaccinations and youth support.
Our efforts have been supported by additional funds received from Harrow Council, Tudor Trust in addition to our ongoing projects from the Henry Smith charity, Trust for London and Northwest London CCG. Small short-term funds were received also from Harrow Giving and Refugee action team.
All these resources have helped HASVO to respond to the challenges faced by the community and enabled us to recruit sessional staff as additional support workers to effectively deal with the increased demand through outreach and drop-in services and engage groups proactively particularly young parents, youth and vulnerable clients.
In addition to the issues arising from the pandemic other needs and challenges continued to be dealt from different levels. Staff and volunteers have effectively doubled their working hours to meet and cope with the different challenges among the community.
We continue to actively support volunteers to campaign for changes amongst delivery agencies and authorities, to improve their competence and provide culturally appropriate service.
The HASVO centre has provided advice and advocacy services for over 17 years in north west London. Staff and volunteers have worked hard to develop partnerships with different local voluntary and council organisations in order to deal with the difficulties faced by the refugees and migrants. longevity and the reliable open doors to all people have made the centre a familiar feature even beyond Harrow, Brent & Ealing Boroughs.
It’s important to note here the extra ordinary burdens associated with small communities who already existed in the peripheral margins of the society with little or no cushion to lean on during crisis.
It is clearly apparent that the complexity of problems experienced by the Somali community and new arrivals from the Arab World is a direct result of insufficient and inadequate provision in the past to deal with problems at an early stage. It is hoped that over time those clients will present at an earlier stage with problems, and also become empowered to deal with issues themselves.
As in previous years, HASVO has been fortunate to receive moral, technical and material support from the local council team, Harrow and Northwest London CCG and London network funders to optimize its services in order to meet the growing needs of the group at a time of special difficulty.
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Special thanks to Tudor Trust for funding staff and volunteer’s wellbeing activities which has been a welcome investment at a time of great need. Our staff and volunteers faced issues beyond their experience and imagination. Some of the most acute issues faced included dealing with tasks of bereavement support and homelessness or loss of incomes for families. This was particularly difficult for the young workers and volunteers. Through the small fund from the Tudor Trust, we organised multiple social activities re energised them and improved their focus.
HASVO is grateful as always for the Trusts, Foundations and NW London CCG Harrow commissioning group whose resources have ensured the positive outcomes for the many vulnerable individuals and people with acute needs.
Although Harrow is described as an affluent and well-off Borough, there are, however, pockets and wards with deteriorating impoverishment and deprivation. Many of our clients are housed in temporary accommodations of poor quality and severely below the standards. The often large family sizes of the BME families adds to the difficulty of finding appropriate housing. There are very few four- or five-bedroom sizes houses built today in Harrow. The frequent changes and movement between temporary accommodations has been cited by the community as a serious issue of concern for their mental stability, employment and youth achiement. We are aware that families and individual tenants from this community change/move between four to five temporary homes before they are placed in semipermanent accommodations.
2. Partnership
There was an overall improvement observed in the working partnerships amongst the local voluntary groups, Harrow Council and funding community.
This improved partnership has enabled us to deal effectively with the COVID-19 pandemic. A notable example of support is the concerted effort and time The Harrow Council Divisional Director of strategic commissioning of Public Sector; The Public Health Director; Harrow CCG; The leader of the Council and their team gave to HASVO leadership to ensure that our community and team have the capacity to deal with the pandemic.
We continue to work closely with the Harrow Voluntary sector and have organised shared events with Harrow Carers and Harrow Community Connex formerly Harrow Mencap.
HASVO Trustees feel that we have received an unparalleled support from different levels to improve the life of the community and bridge the service provision gaps.
We believe the organisation has learned from the challenges of the COVID-19 and increased our resolve and resilience to deal with the increased demand and the impact of the new situation.
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3. Standard/Quality of Services:
We have successfully extended our routine annual online assessment questionnaire to continue the Matrix Standard Quality Mark.
We continued to increase the training and skills of our staff and volunteers to cope with the changes in the needs of our clients and to meet the demands for service level agreement standards and policies particularly with those arising as a result of the Covid-19.
We have been an active partner in the local affairs with the police, Council, voluntary sector and attended all sessions of the community leader’s meetings organised by the council to discuss issues of extremism; community cohesion and crime prevention, Covid -19 and public health meetings.
All trustees receive regular annual in-house and external courses on safeguarding and charity management courses.
Courses on safeguarding are provided by the local voluntary action Harrow which we are a member. The staff and volunteers attend courses on safeguarding organised and run by the voluntary action Harrow.
4. Annual General Meeting:
We held our AGM again on the13th August 2021 and have re-elected six trustees. The management which includes the chair, treasurer and secretary continue their meetings on every other Month (six weekly) in addition to the quarterly sessions by all the trustees. Trustees and staff have organised events for social gatherings during this year in late July and August in order to improve wellbeing and help break the cycle of isolation and loneliness during the lockdown.
We have since strengthened our special events for parents and young people and increased our supplementary and school achievement activities by opening an extra support session on Saturdays. These youth support sessions are now conducted face to face since Mid-November 2021.
All of our charitable activities are described in our objectives and focus on implementing supportive and enabling activities that help harrow communities to enjoy life in full and to reduce /bridge the gaps that are inherent in our societies as well as those originating from skills and knowledge gap between groups and communities.
Our centre is accessible through public transport and is located at the heart of the Borough, something that helped the easy access of all ages and groups with varying difficulties among
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the community. The centre serves as the meeting point of the elders both female and male elderly residents to get together on Fridays and occasional evening sessions during the summer and enjoy a hot soup, tea and refreshments (these sessions have not been carried out this year due to the covid-19 concerns and lockdowns imposed by the situation).
Attendees also receive information on relevant issues i.e., prevention of falls, prevention of fraud and tips for healthy eating. Those who have acute issues/problems make arrangements for outreach fellow up.
HASVO is grateful to all the people who contributed to the success stories of this organisation and the positive impacts their contributions have brought upon the lives of the beneficiaries we served whom without their timely & generous contribution and advice we would not have maintained this crucial service to the needy and hard to reach group.
As one of the key BME organisations in the Borough, the new refugees from the Arab World have turned to us for help. We have recruited volunteers and Arabic support workers for them which began with a Thursday Arab speaker only sessions until we were able to offer them unhindered services throughout the weekdays.
As newcomers, their issues remain complex and require linguistic and cultural specialities. Female members of this community are less likely to be forthcoming and seek help or access outside support without their male partners or family members due to conservative traditional and religious concerns. However, we have observed an improved number during the past 12 months. Some of the women attending the drop-in sessions or information raising sessions pointed out they were encouraged by their Somali women counterparts who are often overrepresented in our beneficiaries.
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5. HASVO’s Aims & outcomes during the year 2020-21
The Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organisations (HASVO) is a registered charity which supports Somali and Arabic Refugees in Harrow. Founded in 2004, we now have a membership of 1493 individuals. The organisation’s fundamental mission is to reduce the inherent service uptake gaps and inequality associated with their cultural, historic and language barriers and create an acceptable standard of living and happiness among the communities.
HASVO’s aims are:
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to increase cohesion and improve equity of access to resources and services by marginal groups; increase volunteering from the BME
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promote healthy living ; prevent substance misuse;
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improve disadvantaged people’s quality of life through advocacy and advice
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increase youth achievement and support training and employment.
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Support on housing and debt issues and liase with mainstream bodies
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Improve opportunities and infrastructural resources for prevention of crisis and later complications for the BAME community by giving them a primary care access and network of support.
To achieve the above aims, we offer the following activities:
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Drop in sessions - In our drop in sessions we offer free advice over benefits & access to rights, sign posting and networking with main service providers i.e. the local council , support on health issues including assisting those with disabilities or mental health to access services & benefits ; improve access to employment and volunteering, parenting, debt and integration for five days a week between 10:00 to 17:00 from Monday to Friday.
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Reduction of isolation and improving social networks - Many adults and people with disability are often house bound for long periods. We have offered a venue and organise events to help them find company and share experiences.
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Information sessions - We run a wide variety of different information sessions on health issues, substance missuse, access to housing & prevention of homelessness; parenting, home care and support of the elderly. These sessions help clients to improve their health, inform them of where they can get support, enhance their parenting skills and empower them to make appropriate decisions about life and healthy living.
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Education services for young people - Our work on the youth achievement/support includes increasing the community capacity and own resources to support their children in school, provide tuition and home work support through our supplementary school, and raising awareness against extremism, gangs and tackling youth hopelessness. We also continue to provide young people and families summer outdoor activities.These summer activities are funded by John Lyon .
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Outreach elderly and disable people’s support and organise special events for older people.
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Advocacy and Networking - HASVO is an active member of the Harrow Voluntary Sector Forum and Harrow advice and Advocacy network as well as the Mental Health Forum; Harrow Young Foundation and HCA. It’s through these forums and the partnership with the local Council that we offer an informed and accurate status of the community and raise their issues which are then taken to become part of the local agenda and fed into the national policies.
6. Summary of Major outputs during 2021:
We support socially excluded Somali and Arabic refugees and immigrants living in poor wards of Harrow. They face a number of issues including poverty and unemployment or low income. Other issues facing them include lack of English language skills, and a culture that leads to women in particular having a restricted role in wider society. These issues have become worse due to impact of Covid-19 which has had a terrible impact upon our clients. This has included a significant number of deaths, loss of employment (which often tended to be informal or insecure) and increased domestic violence as families have been forced to shield together.
Latest ethnicity statistics (2019) from ONS as compiled by Harrow Council shows that the Somali and Arabic community within the London borough of Harrow is estimated to be over 13,500 people, which is a 30% rise since our last bid. The majority live in poorer wards such as Stanmore Park, Roxbourne, Edgware, and Wealdstone. These areas have large numbers of poor-quality statutory housing, high levels of unemployment and poverty (above the national average), crime and anti-social behaviour, and other issues. The Harrow Joint Strategic Needs Analysis refresh (2016) backs this up. It shows that the average life expectancy for men is 8 years less, and for women is 4 years less in disadvantaged wards compared to more prosperous areas.
As mentioned earlier, the numbers and in-depth support provided this year has improved the outcomes of our work. This was mainly due to our proactive strategy of following up with the vulnerable individuals and families to offer advice and do enquiries on pressing needs to be supported. An initiative developed as a result of the lockdowns and impact of the pandemic to
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our regular drop-ins. In a way this was an added value element to our approach of service from the past conventional strategy as it provided a proactive preventative intervention. Despite the difficulties associated with literacy, digital poverty and internet accessibility, our staff and volunteers worked hard to put barriers aside and achieve positive results.
6.1 Advice, advocacy
Overall, the numbers of people benefitting from our different levels of services has surpassed last year’s outputs.
During this year we have made 4812 contacts across our different projects, resulting in supporting 1493 individuals directly from 1213 households.
Our beneficiaries were 67% Women and 33% Men and required support across a wide range of issues such as benefits: health awareness, debt, new claim to universal credit, housing, education, and employment support.
Service Users Gender
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Service Users Ethinicities
Areas of support provided
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6.2. Provision of Information sessions.
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We run a wide variety of different information sessions on health issues, substance missuse, access to housing & prevention of homelessness; parenting, home care and support of the elderly. These sessions help clients to improve their mental health, inform them of where they can get support, enhance their parenting skills and empower them to make appropriate decisions about life and healthy living.
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This year, informations were shared through youtube clips and leaflets about current issues specially on Covid -19, vaccine and booster uptake.
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Over 178 people benefitted from our different alternative routes of information and
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awareness raising sessions. These means of information and messaging has benefitted people remotely.
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Parenting and prevention of youth crime (2).
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diabetes and chronic illnesses (2).
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Health & wellbeing, the role of walking and exercise. (2)
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Booster vaccine and flu jap uptake (2)
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6.3 Youth activities and school achievement
We continue to support and engage our young people and parents with young children through multiple interactive activities. Our aim is to improve their wellbeing, happiness and school achiement. Through our engagement with parents and young people we intend to minimize school exclusion/expulsions and prevent young people from drifting into crime.
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A total of 35 young children benefitted from our intensive Year Six examination support programme though our weekly English and Maths sessions.
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Over 200 young people and 120 parents benefitted from our summer outdoor activities and trips conducted between July and August 2021.
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30 young people successfully completed this year’s Youth Quake project implemented in partnership with YOU PRESS and funded by the London Mayors GLA fund.
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6.4 Enhancing Health & Wellbeing –Through Community Based Support
This project is part of the CCG’s partnership with the voluntary sector to bridge the gaps and address disparity in healthy living; accessibility and health information in order to reduce unnecessary suffering and premature deaths among the new community. The project beneficiaries have an identified significant linguistic and cultural barrier that impacts negatively on their health and accessibility to service.
Our partnership with the CCG and Harrow Council as well as voluntary groups in Harrow and neighbouring Boroughs has proven positive outcomes during the recent pandemic of Covid-19 with increased uptake of relevant preventative information and vaccines by the ethnic minority groups.
Inequalities and disparities in healthcare are not a new problem and strategies have been attempted to tackle such issues in the past. The current reality facing many ethnic minority patients is one of substandard healthcare a reality proven by the recent outbreak of covid-19.
6.4.1 Project Description
The HASVO centre has provided advice and advocacy services for over 17 years in north west London. Staff and volunteers have worked hard to develop partnerships with different local voluntary and council organisations in order to deal with the difficulties faced by the refugees and migrants. longevity and the reliable open doors to all people have made the centre a familiar feature even beyond Harrow, Brent & Ealing Boroughs.
It’s a primary level preventative health initiative with the aim of increasing health literacy among people with very little or no background experience of the British Health care system and who in addition have substance misuse and proportionally higher levels of chronic illnesses and mental health .
HASVO plays a key role in the facilitation of group sessions, Volunteer Trainings and information events. Our work is aimed at making people aware of the available options that can enable them to make informed choices & decisions about their health and that of their dependents and family members. We actively encourage and highlight the need to exercise, participate in awareness raising sessions and expert training programmes organised by the public health teams; prevent isolation, enhance employability, improve confidence and help develop social independence.
99% of our beneficiaries have experienced difficult circumstances and violence during exile from their homelands which have left them with serious mental health scars. On the other hand, there is a stigma and shame about mental distress, which frequently leads to secrecy, denial by families ‘covering up’ mental health problems and individuals hiding their distress or disturbance until it becomes severe and un-manageable.
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Somalis and Arabs both believe that mental health problems are spiritual and not treatable through medication, thus there is fear, lack of trust in and perceived lack of credibility of the NHS mental health service. This situation and taboo has limited their access to professional services and complicated the recovery process as well as family and individual capacities for socio economic progress.
Our role in this area is not only limited to referral or sign posting but creating the right environment with the hope of reducing social isolation and therefore reducing the risk of mental health issues arising in the first place. This is achieved through our continuous active support and campaigns for changes amongst delivery agencies and authorities, to help them adjust and better provide support to members of the community.
The voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors contribute to the delivery of health outcomes in different ways including through supply of volunteers into NHS settings & programmes, through delivery of contracted services, through advocacy & representation of patient and community groups, and through direct action on the part of communities. Recent work commissioned by Healthy London Partnerships around Social Prescribing suggests the potential for savings from very well targeted interventions by the voluntary sector groups.
Commissioning small scale community projects like this one is therefore a key means of helping locally for partnerships in order to reduce health inequalities and ill health. It’s important to note here the increased significance of the numbers from the new Arab refugees benefiting from this service. This comprehensive outlook helps to address those most in need and enables the role of the social determinants of health to be brought into focus while giving all stakeholders particularly the voluntary sector to see how their work could contribute to the delivery of the strategy.
As health and wellbeing are more than just an illness our comprehensive approach for advancing the issues of the group and addressing their problems before they get complicated is an integral part of the health and healthy living principles and strategies of the North West London Integrated health care CCGs.
7. Parenting Project
HASVO has partnered with the Harrow Council’s children Services Department and the Ignite Voluntary group to empower young parents and help them shape their own lives and communities.
The aim is to increase the capacity and community own resources to deal with issues of raising healthy families, dealing problems of school exclusions, income/employment and improving neighbourhood and civic participation.
The overarching approach is to develop parent/carer champions within Harrow’s Somali communities to be able to educate, support and signpost other parents and carers on a range of issues and systems such as CSE, CCE and school exclusions.
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The training and engagement has been highly praised by the participants and groups engaged. Project activities will continue until next year October 2022 and hopes to reach out the whole Harrow neighbourhoods.
8. Feedback from service users:
We gather feedback from our service users after sessions and periodically to keep up with the views and observations of our beneficiaries.
We pride ourselves with being the only group in Harrow with Arabic and Somali Bilingual teams for five days a week. A service that is proactive, flexible, free and evolves around the needs of the individual and ensures that the vulnerable and less able individuals receive their rights from the mainstream by escorting them or offering free escort, outreach and interpretation support where necessary.
Instant feedback ratings from sessions and events have recorded 98% excellent. Short comings reported are often space and the need for community larger hall which is beyond the financial capacity of HASVO.
Individual comments include:
Ms Z who has joined us 4 years ago from a neighbouring borough to seek help over a serious educational matter with her son who have learning difficulty and expelled from school said in a recent focus group research “HASVO has prevented me from a complete breakdown after my first born was refused access to the school, there comprehensive support and resilience for a positive outcome has resolved my issue and put my family back into shape. I was referred to them by a friend at a time of desperation and I am grateful for their support which they continue to offer me and friends alike. I have now become a volunteer and regular service user.’’
A 54-year-old single parent with history of substance misuse, domestic violence and numerous criminal records said “My life have been in turmoil, I was always in debt, went without heating or income many times, was not able to fulfil the requirements for the benefits mainly due to my undiagnosed illnesses. HASVO volunteers and support workers patiently took me through the health care teams until I was treated from TB and my mental health issue was diagnosed. They helped me sort out my debts and I am living happily and independently with my children for the last three years. They were angels sent from heaven for me and my children’’.
A 77-year-old pensioner who has nearly lost his home and income said “when my pension income was suspended after I failed to respond to a letter, I lost my housing benefit, and the housing team started the process of repossessing my flat. The HASVO support worker tirelessly helped me to recover my income and suspended the proceedings against eviction. I was not in the best of mind at the time and was unable to manage things properly. Their
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intervention and support has awakened me to do things better, their centre also gave me a sense of belonging and company. I am so grateful for their selfless and timely support that helped me stand on my feet again’’.
Ms F, is a 38-year-old female who has an undiagnosed ill health and financial troubles for a long time said “I am an illiterate person with no working or educational experience when I came here as a refugee. I often lived with family members and didn’t attend work or school. After a while I got sick with a chronic infection, then I had a fall with multiple fractures. I was homeless and without benefits at some point.
Luckily, the HASVO team helped me to get treatment, a flat and finally an income. Am now comfortably living in my own flat. Whenever I receive a letter even if its advertisement, I bring it to the centre to ensure I don’t fall behind my rent again’’.
9. Conclusion
The timely and more in-depth services provided through our door-to-door outreach and befriending team as well as the proactive surveys and networking through telephone followups and WhatsApp group information has been received and commended positively by the client group.
We are confident that the out of hours’ services and improved connectivity with the community and the culturally appropriate nature of our services has played a vital role in ensuring a better coverage and extended much needed public health and Government services to grassroots level.
We were able to come up with alternative strategies to provide support to the community for new issues that faced them as a result of the pandemic, these included addressing food shortages, helping them remotely to access unemployment benefits (Universal Credit) despite the time-consuming digital illiteracy situations and the grieving and burial support advices.
Our intimate knowledge and lived-in experiences of refugee and BME lifestyles has helped us to predict that a large percentage of the community would miss out on their rights due to gaps of knowledge and language limitations. We were able to enable and improve their access and connectivity with the essential facilities and services including take up of vaccinations at a time of pandemics.
We understand gaps of service access and inequality will be with us for the foreseeable near future, but we are working extremely hard to overcome these societal barriers and reduce any inequality gaps present in the health and public services.
HASVO services had an added value benefit to the community and public health providers. Our position in the community network and popularity has helped many lone people and
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mental health clients to turn to us during this time. On the other hand, we helped many to reduce their debts and increase their incomes and happiness.
We pride ourselves for being there throughout the week and nearly day and night since people turn to us during individual or household crisis even if its midnight. Our volunteers and support worker’s approach is to follow the individual issues until its resolved. Some clients say that we have learned a means to help ourselves and others in the community as a result of the approach and nature of support we received from HASVO. Secondly, we are able to provide services to the community at a lower cost which could have costed more to the government and hence saving the government money.
Thirdly, we have improved the network amongst the community, increased their happiness, provided assurances for lone and mental health clients, raised the issues of the community amongst the different mainstream service providers – all these issues were very important for us to address in such an unprecedented time.
Finally, we were able to improve understanding and competence of the service providers about the issues burdening this community.
The issues that were discussed in detail in this report have demonstrated the significance of this organisation and the role in which support workers and volunteers have played in this difficult time to help each other.
All these achievements would not have been possible without the generous contributions of the people and organisations who have funded our activities and continuously offered us their advice and shared their networking.
We are grateful to those who have contributed in their different ways, funding, fundraising, networking, advocacy and partnership.
This is a unique collective work of all the people including volunteers, staff and trustees and agencies who were involved in ensuring that the inequality gaps within this community during this hard season were addressed.
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HARROW ASSOCIATION OF SOMALI VOLUNTRY ORGANISATIONS LIMITED.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021
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HarrowAssociatlon of Somali Voluntsry Organisations Limlted. Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2021 Index of Flnanclal Stat•ment Statement Page Index...........................-................-.-................-....................... Charlty Informatlon.........,.,,.................-..-............................. Statement of Responslbllltles ................-........-...-......,...... Independent Examlnerfs ReporL...........-..-.......--.-........-.... Statement of Flnanclal Actlvltles...................-.-.........-.....-.... Balance Sheet.........-..-.............................................................. Audlt Exemptlon.............-..........-...-...........-.-..................-.... Notes to the Aceounts.........-................................,.......-.........11
Harrow Assoclation of Somall Voluntsry Organlsations Limited. CHARITY INFORMATION FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021 Status: The organisatlon Is charltable company Ilmlted by guarantee incoiporated on 26 Aprll 2005, Governlng Documents: The Company wa5 estsbllshed under a Memorandum of Assoclation whlch establlshed under the objects and powers of the charitable company and Is governed under its Articles of Assoclatlon. Under thls artlcle, the members of the board are elected at the AGM to seNe of the perlod of two year& Charlty Number: 1129442 Company Number 5435204 Reglstered Office Operational Offlce 66 Lower Road Harrow MSddlesex HA2 OHD Operatlonal Offlce 66 Lower Road Harrow Mlddlesex HA2 OHD Banker Lloyds Bank Wembley Branch Middlesex Banker Bank of Ireland 7 St Johns Road Harrow Middlesex Independent Examiner MAAT Abdirahman Amin 3 Bob Currle Close Harrow Middlesex HA2 98F
Harrow Assoclatlon of Somali Voluntsry Organlsations Limlted. STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES RESPONSIPLITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021 The trustees of Harrow Associatlon of Somali Voluntary Organlsatlons Limlted are responslble for preparing the Trustees, Report and the accounts In accordance with appllcable law. Company law requlres the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financlal year, which give a true and falrvlew of the charity and the Income and expenditure of the charlty for that perlod. In preparlng tIKJse financial statements, the trustees are requlred to.. Select sultable accountln8 pollcles and then apply them con515tently. Make judgement and estlmates that are reasonable and prudent. Prepare the flnanclal statements on golng concern bases unless IVS Inapproprlate to presume that the charity wlll contlnue In operatlon. The trustees are responslble for keeplng proper accountln8 records whlch dlsclose wlth reasonable accuracy at any tlme the flnandal posltlon of the charlty and to enable them to ensure that the flnanclal statement5 comply with companles ACT 2006. They are also responslble for safeguardln8 the assets of the charlty and hence for taklng reasonable steps for the preventlon and detectlon of fraud and other Irre8ularfties. Thls report has been prepared In accordance wlth the small companles, re8lme In Part IS of the Companles Act 2006, and In accordance wlth the 8overnln8 document and the Statement of Recommended Practlce applicable to charltles preparln8 thelr accounts In accordance wlth the Flnanclal Reportln8 Standard appllcable In the UK and Republlc of Ireland IFRS 102- effectlve l January 20151- (Charlties SORP FRS 1021 and the Companles Act 2006. Flnanclal Revlew For the year ended 31 March 2021, HASVO LIMITED recejved total sum of £237,235 of which £219,215 was restrlcted funds and £18,020 unrestrlcted funds. Total expendlture for the year ended 31 March 2021 was £179.189 (£161.208 restrlcted funds and £17,981 unrestrlcted fund5). Thls year we manaBed to respond to the unprecedented need of our servlces users by Increasing our provlslons. Thls resulted In a larger emer8ency flxed term restrltted funds whlch we received from a range of different donors In order to adapt and deal wsth the Impact of the covtd19 pandemic. Our income increased from our standard income of £lll,IXKI to £237,234.56. In addltlon to the emergency fvndln¢s and OUT current grants, we also secured a new project grant for three years from the Tudor trust to Strengthen our drop-ln servlce by providing outreach and additlonal advlce session5 With two addltlonal part-tlme workers from both genders to further facilitate our reach and prevenlatlve work. The rest of the extra Income whlch Is equivalent to £ 107,094.96 was earmarked for a flxed term peilod for combatlng the covk119 and addresslng the acute needs of the communlty as a result of the pandemlL
Harrowknociation of Somali Voluntary Organlsations Limited. These funds are mainly to be spent on short term staffln& equipmen¢ publicity materlals, dlgltal support and developing our IT remote system. We are 8rateful for our grantor5 for thelr support and ongolng understandlng durlng the pandemic. To Harrow Councll, the Harrow CCG and Public Health Harrow who have tlrelessly 511PPOrted us wlth our local strategle5 In tacklng the local pandemlc response Initiatlves. To the Trust for London, The Henry Smlth Charlty the Greater London Authorfty, Tudor Trust, London Community Funders, Refugee Acuon and The Natlonal Lottery for thelr on8olng fundlng and support durln8 thts uisls. Through the fundlng that we were able to secure durlng thls reportlng perlod we have been able to addre55 the wellbeing of our staff, volunteers and deliver projects that were respondlng to deal effectlvely wlth the155ues surroundlng BAME groups, refu8ees and asylum seekers durlng thls dlfftcult tlme. Last but not least thanks to the extra ordSnary and selfless contrlbutlons from our voluntary sector partners l.e. the Harrow Mencap, Harrow Voluntary artlon, Mlnd, the Harrow Young foundatlon; Harrow Law Centre, Harrow Cltlzens Advlce Bureau, our local IAPT Team, Harrow Carers, Help Harrow and the Harrow food bank for thelr support and partnershlp work to better support the communlty. Trustees Dlrector: Cabdulqaadlr Trustee: Ahmed Yusuf.,.. Date 2610612021 Independent Examlners Appolnted MAAT, Abdirahman Amln was appointed as the charlty Independent examlner durlng the year and has expressed hls wlllin8nes5 to continue In that capaclty. Approved by the trustees on 26 June 2021
Harrow Association of Somall Voluntsry Organisations Llmited. INDEPENDENT EXAMINEIVS REPORT TO ThE TRUSTEES OF YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021 I report on the accounts forthe year ended 31 March 2021 setouton pagesfive to nlne. Respectlve responslbllltle5 of trustees and examlner The charity's trustees are responslble for the preparatlon of the accounts. The charlty's trustees consider that an audlt Is not requlred for thi5 year {under Sectlon 144(2) of the Charities Art 2011 (the 2011 Act)) and that an independent examlnatlon Is requlred. It Is my responslblllty to: Examlne the accounts under Sectlon 145 of the 2011 Act to follow the procedures lald down In the General Dlrectlons Bfven by the Charlty Commlsslon (under Settlon145151(bl of the 2011 Act). and State whether matters have come to my attentlon. Basls of the Independent examlner's report My examlnatlon VRS carrled out In accordance with the General Dlrectlons 8iven by the Charlty Commisslon. An examlnatlon Includes a revlew of the accountln8 records kept by the charlty and a comparlson of the accounts presented with those records. It also Includes conslderatlon of any unusual Items or dlsclosures In the accounts and seeklng explanatlons from you as trustees concernln8 any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provlde all the evldence that would be required In an audlt, and consequently no oplnlon Is 8lven as to whether the accounts present a 'true and falr vlew ' and the report Is Ilmlted to those matters set out In the statements below. Independent examlner's statement In connectlon wlth my examlnation. no matter has come to my attentlon: {11 Whlch glves me reasonable cause to belleve that, In any materlal respect, the requlrements to keep accountln8 records In accordance wlth Section 130 of the 2011 A¢¢. and to prepare accounts whlch accord with the accountlng records and to comply wlth the accountlng requlrements of the 2011 Act have not been met; or {2) To whlch, In my oplnlon, attentlon should be drawn to Ènable a proper understandlng of the accounts to be reached. The trustees present thelr report and the flnanclal statements for the year ended 31March2020. Abdlrahman Amin.... Llcensed Asso¢lation o Accountln8 Technldan BA {Honsl Accounting and Flnan 3 Bob Currle Close Harrow, Mlddlesex HA2 9BF 19/0612021
Harrow Association of Somali Voluntsry Organisations Llmited. Statement of Flnanclal Actlvltles for the Year Ended 31 March 2021. Description General Funds Restrlcted Funds 2020121 Total 201912020 Total Grant and Donatlons Other IncomlnB Recourses Total In¢omlng Recourses 18,020 219,215 237,235 111,943 18,020 219,215 237,235 111,943 Recourse5 Expended Offlce Admlnlstratlon and equlpment Estates Facllltles Cost Charltable Actlvltles 16,880 22,700 8,179 130,329 39,580 8,179 130,329 9.270 8,750 83,366 At¢ountants and Governance I,ioi,o 17,981 I,ioi,o 179,189 433 101,820 Total Resources Expended 161,208 Incomlng Outgolng Recourses 8efore Transfer Funds Brought Forward at 31 March 2020 Total Funds CIF at 31 March 2021 39 58,007 58,046 10,123 16,224 37,004 53,227 43,104 16,263 95,011 111,273 53,227
Harrow Association of Somali Voluntsry Organisations Umited. Statement of Balance Sheet for the Year Ended 31 March 2021. General Funds Restrlcted Funds 2020121 Total 2019120 Total Descrlptlon F5Med Asset$ Equlpment 210.0 7041 7.251.0 210 Other Flxed Assets Total Fix•d Assets 210.0 7041 7,251.0 210 Current A$5ets Debtors Cash at bank and In hand 16,263 95,010 111,273 53,227 Total Current Assets 16,263 111,273 53,227 Credltors Amounts Falllng due wlthln one year (150) 16,113 16,323 (5,391) 89,619 96,660 15,5411 105,732 112,983 Net Current Asset (Uabllltyl Total Assets less (Current Llablllty) Credltors Amounts fallln8 due after one year 53,227 53,437 {601 IL6501 11,7101 12101 Net Agset8 16,163 95,010 IIL273 53,227 Funds Avallable for Ihe next slx Months Years Employee Llablllty. Contln8ency Rent and Coun¢ll Tax Project Mana8er Salary General Funds Other On-going Projects Total Funds 2020121 15,200 14,723 10,020 16,263 55,067 111,273 2019120 12,260 14,723 10,020 16,224 53,227 AUDIT EXCEMPTfioN STATEMENT
Harrow Association of Somali Voluntsry Organlsations Limited. For the year endln8 31 Marth 2021, the company was entltled to exemption under sectlon 477 of the Companles Act 2006 relatlng to small companles. The members have not required the company to obtaln an audFt for Its accounts in questlon In atcordance wlth sectlon 476 of the Companle5 Act 2006. The dlrectors acknowledge thelr responsibility for complylng with the requlrements of the act wlth respect to accountln8 records and for the preparation of records. al ensuring that the Charitsble company keeps accounting records that comply wlth Sectlons 386 and 387 of the Companles Act 2006 and bl preparing financial Statements whlch give a true and falr vlew of the of the charitsble company as at the end of each flnandal year and of Its surplus or deftclt for each flnancial year In accordance with the requlrements of Secwons 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply wlth the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relatlng to flnanclal statements. so far as appllcable to the tharitable company. cl These flnanclal ststements have been prepared In accordance wlth the spedal provisSons of Part 15 of the Companles Act 2006 relatSng to small charltable companles and with the Flnandal Reportlng Standard for Smaller Entltles {effectlve Aprll 20081. The financlal statements were approved by the Board of Trustees. 1810612021 Trustees Dlrector: Cabdulqaadlr A M Tntstee: Ahmed Yusuf...... . ...... Date 1810612021 med
HarrowAssociation of Somali Voluntsry Organisations Llmlted. Notes to the flnancial statements for the year ended 31 March 2021 l. Accountln8 pollcles 1.1 Basls of Preparation of the Financlal Statements The flnanclal statefflents have been prepared under the historical cost conventlon and In accordance wlth the Flnanclal Reporting Standard for Smaller Entides {effective Aprll 20081, the Companies Art 2006 and the Statement of Recommended Prnrtice.. Accountlng and Reportlng by Charlties issued in March 2005. 1.2 Incoming resources Donatlons. legacies and other forms of voluntary Income are recognlsed as Incomlng resources when recelvable, except Insofar as they are Incapable of flnancial measuremenL All Inc(%nln8 resources are Included In the statement of flnanclal actfvltles when the charlty Is entltled to the Income and the amount can be quantlfled wlth reasonable accuracy. The followlng 5peclflc policies are applled to partlcular cate8orles of income: Voluntary Income and donatlons are Included Sn Incomlng resources when they are receivable, except when the donors speclfy that they must be used In future atcountlng periods or ¢ertaln condltlons have not been fulfilled, then the Income Is deferred. Grants where entitlement Is not condltlonal on the dellvery of a speclflc performance by the charlty are reco8nlsed when the charlty becomes uncondltlonally entltled to the 8rant. 1.3 Resources expended Charltable expendlture comprlses those costs Incurred by the charfty In the dellvery of Its actlvltles and servlces for Its beneficlarles. It Includes both costs that can be allocated dlrectly to such actlvltles and those costs of an Indlrect nature necessary to support them. Governance costs Include those costs assoclated wlth meetln8 the constltutlonal and statutory requlrements of the charlty and Include the Independent Examlner's fee and Costs Ilnked to the strateglc management of the tharlty. All costs are allocated between the expendlture cate8orles of the SOFA on a basls deslgned to reflect the use of the resource. 1.4 Grants 1.4.1. Grants are credlted to the Statement of Flnancial Actlvltles on the earller date of when thÈy are recelved or when they ar• recelvable unless It is speclfled that they are for future accountlng perlod, in whlch case they are Included on the balance sheet as deferred Income to be recognlsed In those future accountlng perlods. 1.4.2 Unrestrlcted funds are the funds of the charity whith the trustees have declded at thelr dlscretlon to set aslde to use for a speclflc purpose. Restricted fund5 are donatlons whlch the donor has specified are to be solely used for partlcular areas of the charltvs work or for spedfic projects beln8 undertaken by the charlty. 1.5 Tanglble Fixed Assets and Depreciation, Tanglble Flxed A55ets are stated at cost less depreclatlon. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to wrlte off the cost le5S the estlmated resldual value of each asset over their expected useful Ilfe, as follows: Flxtures fittlngs and equlpment: 20% Strai8ht Llne Basis 1.6 Financlal revlew: Reserves Policy Harrow Association of Somali Voluntary Organlsatlons Llmlted holds funds from Its reserves. The current flnancial risk Is low however the trust has a policy to hold a reserve of £30,000 to cover slx month's operaling costs.
HarrowAssociation of Somali Voluntsry Organisations Limited. 3. Tanglble Fixed assets Tanglbh Flxed A$8•ts Ct Cost 88 at 1 2018 Addlllons Revalualh)n Dlsposa Cost 88 al 31 March 2020 Dopra¢latlon Dew8d811on on 1 2020 Charg6$ lor the peflc On DIspo8al Total depredatlon at 31 March 2021 Equlpment 3.457 8.575.0 12,032 3.247 1534.12 4.781 N?t Book Value at 31 Mar¢h 2021 N•t Book Valu• at 31 March 2020 7.251 201 io