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← Baobab Centre For Young Survivors In Exile

2021-03-31-accounts

THE BAOBAB CENTRE

For Young Survivors in Exile

Annual Report and Accounts for April 2020 to March 2021

Charity Number: 1135407 Company Number: 6816297 6-9 Manor Gardens London, N7 6LA Phone: 0207 263 1301 E-Mail: info@baobabsurvivors.org Website: https://www.baobabsurvivors.org

The Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile: Annual Report

The Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile: Annual Report and Accounts

The Annual Report for April 2020 – March 2021

The Covid-19 Pandemic and its impact on Baobab Community Members and Staff ................ 2 Examples of Resilience in Contrast to Vulnerabilities ................................................................ 5 Some quotes from young people from our 2020 monitoring and evaluation report ................ 5 Systemic Issues and Reflections ................................................................................................. 7 Underpinning and Stabilisation in order to Sustain our Holistic Model of Work and our Planned Therapeutic Environment (Real and Virtual) ............................................................... 7 Funding....................................................................................................................................... 9 Belonging and Community, Racism and Xenophobia .............................................................. 10 Our aims towards social change and influence as a human rights organization .................... 11 Influence and Sharing our holistic and integrated ways of working with young people......... 11 Integration and Working Through of our Rehabilitation and Advocacy Aims and Objectives 14

The Annual Accounts for April 2020 – March 2021

Report of the Directors .............................................................................................................2 Statement of Financial Activities ..............................................................................................6 Balance Sheet ...........................................................................................................................7 Notes to the Financial Statements ...........................................................................................8 Independent Examiners Report on the Accounts ....................................................................14

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The Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile: Annual Report

The Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile: Annual Report

The Covid-19 Pandemic and its impact on Baobab Community Members and Staff

This annual report covers the period of time during which the UK was following government restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic. At Baobab we aim to be a thinking and reflective organization and in this period we have had to step back and reflect on how we might achieve the two major aims of our non-residential therapeutic community: rehabilitation and justice . This mixture of the challenge of having a different context for our work and of having more time to reflect on our practice has characterised this period of time.

At Baobab our rehabilitation work takes place in a ‘planned environment’ which includes both individual and group psychotherapy as well as casework support and community events. At the centre of all our work is the idea that comes from therapeutic communities of ‘examined living.’ This means that whatever we do in our community we aim to reflect on relationships, (including ability to care for yourself, reasons for low confidence and ways to build confidence) conflicts, muddles and mistaken assumptions. We do this in activity based groups, community meetings and in individual sessions. Thus, a key part of our planned therapeutic environment is that it also includes a variety of arts and sports based groups including music, visual arts, drama and philosophical discussions where young people have opportunities to explore their identity and build their self -confidence and to meet others who share their experiences and thus learn about themselves in relation to others and to listen to others. Sporting activities include swimming, running, cycling, canoeing and climbing. Our aim in these activities is multi-fold but key is the building of trust in others and trust in community and the reduction of isolation. Young people gain confidence in co-operation and sharing, and in both their capacity to work and working together.

Our justice work is twofold. Firstly, we do advocacy and legal work for individual young people, based on their specific needs in relation to their asylum, housing and community care as well as their needs for accessing education and physical health care. Secondly, we advocate for changes to the wider political and social structures which currently create barriers to rehabilitation and justice for all young, unaccompanied asylum seekers and refugees.

At the start of the of the coronavirus pandemic we had to think quickly about how we might prioritise the central aims of Baobab that is, to meet the developmental and mental health needs of our community members and continue our holistic and integrated approach during periods of ‘ lockdown. ’ As a consequence of the restrictions on their movement and their anxieties about becoming ill many of the young members of Baobab’s Community felt increasingly anxious, depressed, unsettled, frightened, marginalised, isolated and invisible. At the same time most held on to their own personal strengths and resiliencies. This is a central characteristic of our population which is their clear vulnerabilities and resiliencies which exist alongside each other.

It was a challenge for all members of our community to be confined to their rooms and to have to access their education online only. The uncertainties they already have to live with, as asylum seekers in the UK, were compounded and multiplied. Generally young asylum seekers are expected to deal with more uncertainty than a young person can cope with. This is especially so if that young person has experienced a series of overwhelming and traumatic events when they were younger, including a sequence of violent events (usually traumatic), massive loss (often traumatic) and unplanned changes.

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The Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile: Annual Report

We anticipated that the isolation and fear of illness and death triggered by the pandemic and the government restrictions would be hugely stressful for many of our community members but that others would say something like one young man who remarked:

“After what we experienced in the war in our home country this is not a very serious cause of stress. Yes, I am stressed but not like the time when the soldiers came to our home in uniforms with guns and killed my mother when she tried to stop me being taken to be a child soldier.”

As a staff team, consisting of administrators and caseworkers and clinicians, we together decided to prioritise sustaining our connections and involvement with our community members by ensuring that all had sufficient data and were able to access internet via laptops and smart phones. This ensured that all young people were able to maintain regular contact with their individual psychotherapist, group facilitators and with our casework team online though a few psychotherapists and caseworkers met with young people occasionally face to face in the open air, for example in parks.

Psychotherapy groups were all moved online. We found that groups that were well-established in person maintained regular attendance on line. Even though group members complained about zoom they all also recognised that it was more important to maintain contact via the internet than have no contact. Group members were able to regularly reflect on how much they missed being in the same room as each other and talking and eating together and how irritated we all were by the vicissitudes of internet connection. However, our newest psychotherapy group that was not well established at the time of the first lockdown (March 2020), did not develop well on zoom and there were many missed appointments from most of the group members.

We were also concerned with building and sustaining the physical health of Baobab’s young people and ensured that all who wanted were sent food boxes containing vegetables, fruit, bread and milk. This led to many young people learning to cook a few dishes including British food as well as their getting on top of significant and memorable dishes from their own countries.

To better understand the impact of the pandemic on individuals we added a Covid-19 section to our annual monitoring and evaluation survey. This covered how each young person felt they had coped with the pandemic, the lockdown restrictions and social distancing. The survey found that a significant majority of those of our community members who participated in the monitoring and evaluation process acknowledged increased depression and anxiety, difficulties in regulation of affect, difficulties in sleeping, and increased intrusive thoughts and flashbacks about their own personal sequence of overwhelming experiences. Sleep in particular was negatively impacted. At the same time, many young people were, in parallel, trying hard to survive and engage as much as possible with community life, linking with their friends and including helping others.

The monitoring and evaluation team chose nine different aspects of our community members’ experiences to explore with the young people who participated. These nine aspects of their experiences were:

Anxiety Mood Anger
Habits Motivation Sleep
Relaxation Relationships Sense of Hope

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The Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile: Annual Report

The researchers asked which aspects of their lives since March 2020 during the pandemic lock down were made:

The picture they built from the answers to their questions were interesting and not straight forward. A significant (over 70%) proportion of Baobab community members described a worsening in their anxiety, their moods, their habits and their motivation. The majority (63%) described that sleep difficulties and their sense of hope in their future also significantly worsened. Many (90%) described that their capacity to relax was significantly lessened.

Examples of Resilience in Contrast to Vulnerabilities

The young people were also able to describe aspects of their experiences during the pandemic lockdowns that had not deteriorated significantly. A significant number of young people (a little less than half) described no deterioration in their links with close friends, their capacity to manage their anger, and, in their experiences of being bullied, some of this group described improvements.

In contrast to the negative experiences, the researchers also found that significant numbers of our community members described that their feelings of anger were much reduced during the lockdowns and many described that their relationships either remained the same or became better. Many of our young people have one or a few close friends. For many, although not all, their personal relationships with their peers and their relationships with Baobab staff and other community members sustained them during the lockdowns. In addition, due to the lockdowns most of our community members exposure to potentially conflictual situations was reduced. The enforced solitude also made many realise that they were powerless to address the usual internal and external, past and present triggers for their anger for example the inadequate responses from the Social Services Departments and the Home Office. The pandemic, seems to have led many young people to an increased acceptance of the difficult realities of their lives and the capacity to differentiate between what could and what could not be done to challenge these big bureaucracies. This went alongside their acceptance of the reality of their past experiences of violence and loss and unplanned change and their increased capacity to face both the past and the present realities.

Baobab operated online between March and August 2020 and between January and April 2021 and as our work is frontline work with troubled young people, we returned to face to face work under safe socially distanced conditions (with open windows, masks and many bottles of anti-bacterial hand wash) between August 2020 and December 2020 and then since April 2021.

Some quotes from young people from our 2020 monitoring and evaluation report

“I felt very bored and a little bit of sadness. I was scared to go out in case I got infected”.

Young woman, from Vietnam)

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The Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile: Annual Report

One young man from Afghanistan lived with flatmates at the time and reported feeling ‘stressed’, ‘gloomy’ and being ‘stuck at home’. He complained about how routines had been ‘messed up’ especially with sleeping and had felt his mental health was much worse, feeling ‘moody’ and ‘getting upset quickly’. This was in contrast to how he said he normally was prior to the pandemic, which was ‘happy’ and ‘optimistic’.

“Coronavirus has been a very difficult time for me. So boring, sad, and I’m stressed a lot all the time. I was alone the whole time and it's been a really bad time for me. I was not happy, I was very sad. So many struggles. I already had so many problems and the Corona make me more bad”. - Young man, from Afghanistan

“The lockdown affected me in two ways. First, I am feeling a little bit lost. I don’t know where it came from and when they are going to find a vaccine and all these questions. Secondly, I am being lonely, I can’t go and visit my friends, I am only meeting for example friends from Baobab online and everything we are doing is at zoom, that’s how it has affected me” .

Young man, from DRC

“I am feeling very stressed - at the moment I am doing my studying, you can't concentrate with an empty belly. My main concern is lockdown again. I am scared about being stuck without food and getting angry – I spoke to Baobab and to the social worker that the situation is so bad, the only option is going back to selling drugs. Baobab helped me to get out of that lifestyle. I started selling drugs in 2014 and then I was then in school for 6 to 8 months and then went to college where I got into a fight and then I got banned for two years. Then I began selling. Now Baobab is helping me to get back to college and with planning for my future”.

Young man, from Afghanistan

“I was always worried about getting the virus or what was going to happen. The pandemic left me really hopeless because the Home Office was closed”.

Young man, Kurdish from Iran

“I have had a difficult experiences like when the bus broke down and we all had to get off the bus I walked and waited for another one and then the bus driver drove the wrong way back to his house and refused to take me back home so I had to walk. Also, a cashier refused to take my money at the beginning of the pandemic because I was Asian. They were avoiding me and I think it's because the West blame the East for the pandemic. Also, I was attacked by a group of children for my race. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know if I could fight back because they are children so I ran. The police were very good, but it made be very scared”.

-Young man, from China

“It has affected everyone… I have been isolated with no external contact and being driven 'crazy'. I had to stop going to university, and I didn't have much work to do”.

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The Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile: Annual Report

Systemic Issues and Reflections

It has been interesting that during the pandemic the Home Office policy officers decided to move substantive interviews online and they agreed that interviews could take place in situations where the young people felt comfortable. While some were interviewed in Social Services Departments it was agreed that all young people who are members of the Baobab community could be interviewed at our centre if they agreed that they would prefer this, with both their legal representatives and their psychotherapist/key worker present. This has been a huge improvement and had the consequence that young people were less stressed during and after their substantive interviews.

Despite the challenges presented by the Coronavirus Pandemic and the government restrictions our work has continued to develop as we continue to reflect on what the young people need and adapt and develop our service in order to best support them resolve their difficulties and move forward in their development. One of the developing areas is small activity based groups, both throughout the year and in the school holidays. In 2020-2021 we managed to maintain regular, online, music, drama and philosophy sessions. In the Summer of 2020 while the restrictions were eased we organised group trips to the beach, outdoor art days, an outing to a pick-your-own fruit farm and bike rides. Even with restrictions our attendance remained steady with the young people using Baobab as a source of community support during this period of isolation.

In April 2020 – March 2021 Baobab Supported

Underpinning and Stabilisation in order to Sustain our Holistic Model of Work and our Planned Therapeutic Environment (Real and Virtual)

Though the pandemic brought many challenges the lockdown gave us all more time to think and reflect. We continued to hold our weekly multi-disciplinary, staff meetings online including: a monthly strategy and systems meeting, two clinical discussion meetings, one on group work and one on individual psychotherapeutic work, and a monthly reflective group enabling staff to share their feelings and experiences about the difficult work of listening to the trauma and loss narratives of our community members. All staff continued to have regular individual or small group clinical supervision at least once each fortnight. Clinicians also met online to discuss specific cases and our Director and Senior Social Worker met several times each week in order to discuss needs of individual young people in our community and always reviewing our whole population and making time to discuss our safeguarding and protection concerns. Our weekly operations meeting and six weekly community meetings were also able to continue online. Our operations team were able to hold daily meetings in

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The Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile: Annual Report

different combinations, in addition to meeting as a group. These meetings provided an essential space for making decisions that were often urgent when young people were feeling isolated and distressed, and often cold or hungry and needed practical support quickly as they were without data for their phones or money for basics such as food and payment of bills. These regular and frequent meetings were not only about emergency situations but also gave us all opportunities to talk together in a more reflective way and to begin strategic plans for the coming five years and for the future of Baobab. While all staff continued to have access to individual and small group supervision online, for many, working online was initially difficult. We all adapted to this form of communication without ever thinking, at any time, that this might replace face-to-face work. Two of our staff developed Covid and still have been unable to return to face to face work and two were clear that they did not want to return to face to face work with young people in these challenging times. This was a loss for us.

A Young Person Painting during a socially distanced Arts Session

The thinking time and space given to us by the vicissitudes of the various lockdowns was, however, a gift. During this time we were able to think about various ways of underpinning Baobab’s rehabilitation and advocacy practice. It became very clear, during this time, that to improve the stability and sustainability of our model of work we need to ensure that all future staff can commit at least 14 hours per week and ideally more. This will ensure all staff come to have a holistic understanding of our work and can participate as a member of the community and not simply meeting young people for individual psychotherapy sessions or for small groups. We also realized that it was essential that all staff have built in time to engage in spending time with some young people and get to know them in some depth individually and in small groups, this is in addition to our expectation that all staff become generally familiar with all young people and are able to engage with them and acknowledge them. Moreover, in order to offer therapeutic or casework support to young people, staff need to attend weekly staff meetings and regular supervision sessions and ensure that they are familiar with the changing internal and external contexts of our work. This includes, in particular, the specific character of the general waning of resources in the statutory sector and in

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The Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile: Annual Report

particular in many Social Services Departments and in the Home Office. It is also essential that all staff are updated on any changes in policy and practice in Social Service Departments and the Home Office.

In late 2020 and early 2021 we recruited two new positions within our Operations Team, a part time Clinical Administrator and a part time Fundraising Officer. This much needed increase in capacity has strengthened our ability to respond to the needs of the young people in our community and to develop the professional networks around each young person. Later in 2021 we will be advertising for a new Senior Manager post, as well for more hours in individual child and adolescent counselling and psychotherapy and for group psychotherapeutic work. We will also be advertising for a legal post in early 2022, if the Coronavirus context makes this possible. This legal post will be a significant development for Baobab and the post holder will support our clinicians and caseworkers in liaising with solicitors, guiding young people through the asylum process and advising on specialist clinical reports.

Funding

We are hugely appreciative of our funders, both the trusts and foundations and individual donors who enable our work and help us to sustain our specialised community for young and unaccompanied asylum seekers and refugees who have experienced a sequence of human rights abuses.

We were both pleased and very appreciative to be given extra financial support during the pandemic by many of our funders and also to be the recipient of new emergency funding made available during the crisis. These funders included:

Thank you very much to all who made donations. It made a significant difference to our ability to adapt and respond to the needs of the young people Baobab supports. This additional funding during the pandemic enabled us to help young people experiencing destitution and hardship as well as provide specific therapeutic and psychosocial support necessary to cope with the negative impacts of isolation and social distancing requirements in addition to the ongoing and regular themes of our psychotherapeutic and therapeutic work.

It was essential for our population that we were able to provide this support and it also made us realize that we need funds for destitution and financial hardship to continue after the pandemic

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The Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile: Annual Report

context passes. We are working to think how we might continue to support young people who are destitute. We also have an education fund to support the education of those young people who, owing to their asylum status, have no access to public funds including no access to educational grants. It is our aim during the coming year to boost both of these funds to ensure that none of our community members are destitute and that all have access to education and opportunities to learn and develop. It is very clear that opportunities to have ‘adequate’ funds and to be involved in learning and education has a direct positive impact on mental health. During the pandemic through generous individual donations to our education fund we were able to support the university education of two young people whose asylum claim was not yet resolved. In addition, we were able to give funding for short courses other individuals embarked upon during the year.

We are also appreciative of the various funders who have given ongoing support and unrestricted funding, enabling us to continue building Baobab’s capacity and stabilising the support we provide to the young people detailed in the section above.

Despite the support felt and received during the peak of the pandemic the situation for the 20212022 financial year looks rather different. Having come to the end of a number of multi-year grants, several of which we are not eligible to reapply for, we have a challenging year of fundraising ahead. We will be diversifying where we apply for funding including applying to new Trusts and Foundations as well as strengthening our existing relationships with our major donors.

Belonging and Community, Racism and Xenophobia

There have been many conversations in our community about the Black Lives Matter and the “Me Too” movements. These discussions have been ongoing and taken place in individual sessions, group and community meetings and have covered how we feel when others treat us with contempt, and how we can treat others with respect, dignity and kindness both within and beyond Baobab. We have also discussed institutional racism with reinforcement of expectations of how people should treat each other within our community. This work is ongoing. One of our community members, an adolescent from Sudan, shared the following feelings and thoughts in the monitoring and evaluation survey.

What helps you to feel that you belong?

“When other people treat me with kindness”.

What are your three hopes / wishes for your life and your future?

1. “To live a peaceful life

2. A decent life

3. to receive respect from other people around me”.

“Racism makes me feel sad. (...) Injustice makes me feel angry. When I am angry, I stay at home or go for a long walk outside”.

“The Baobab Centre helped me psychologically, mentally and financially”.

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The Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile: Annual Report

Our aims towards social change and influence as a human rights organization

During this year we have aimed to bring together different aspects of our justice work under the umbrella of our new advocacy group. Currently we are working on challenging three key and interconnected issues. These are: the draft Nationality and Borders Bill, the UK government’s response to the situation in Afghanistan and the inadequate provision of the essential involved care for young people who have experienced human rights abuses, in particular with regard to being housed in unregulated and unsuitable accommodation.

The Nationality and Borders Bill aims to prevent anyone who arrives in the UK by an irregular (illegal) route from accessing settled status in the UK. Most asylum seekers leave their home countries after experiences of human rights abuses and most have no way of accessing legal and safe routes to protection and settled status. This is especially so for unaccompanied young people. The 1951 Refugee Convention recognises this situation (in Article 31) and states that even those arriving by irregular routes should have the right to apply for settled status if they have a ‘well-founded fear of persecution’. Through the proposed bill, the current British Home Office is choosing to ignore the 1951 UN convention on the rights of refugees. We are also concerned that the bill aims to process all asylum seeker’s claims very quickly. It is our experience that young people who have experienced violence, (both witnessed and directly to their bodies) separation ,loss and many unplanned changes, experience both mental health and developmental difficulties which impact on their ability to care for themselves, to make and sustain trusting relationships and to think , to remember, to forget and to concentrate. Young people often say that they feel their mind is not working properly or that they used to be able to study easily, and that they need help with making their mind work again. The aims of the Home Office in processing asylum claims do not fit with the mental health and developmental realities of our young community members.

This issue is linked with the current situation in Afghanistan and with the care offered to unaccompanied young people in the UK. Young people’s vulnerabilities are often not properly assessed and recognized and their credibility is often challenged. This situation in the press is often called: ‘The Climate of Disbelief’ and ‘The Hostile Environment’, the latter a term coined by conservative party politicians. Currently young people over the age of sixteen are placed in unregulated accommodation run by companies whose staff have no knowledge of mental health or developmental vulnerabilities and no training in improving their practice.

We are aiming to campaign on all three of these issues. In particular, we are working to amplify the voices and experiences of the young people in our community sharing the real impact of policy decisions on individuals lives.

Influence and Sharing our holistic and integrated ways of working with young people

As a result of the pandemic we have been unable to carry out any teaching or run our regular Baobab Talks. However, we were asked to present at a conference organized by a group of lawyers, led by the former judge Catriona Jervis. This group are planning to set up an alternative holistic system and court for assessments and decision making in relation to the general needs and asylum claims of unaccompanied asylum seeking children, adolescents and young people. We decided that it would be too hard for our community members to talk on zoom to 100 lawyers so as an alternative we made a

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The Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile: Annual Report

film documenting their experiences which our director introduced and shared at the conference. Two of our young people did attend the conference. This film has since been circulated to MP’s, Members of the House of Lords, civil servants, other professionals and academics as part of our campaign to improve the context for young asylum seekers in the UK. The film can be viewed on our website and through this link: Baobab Film.

As can be seen from our monitoring and evaluation work it is clear that we work with a population of young people who are both unusually vulnerable and unusually resilient. It is essential in the interests of their human rights, their mental health and developmental needs and in terms of the policy and practice changes necessary to ensure justice for them that we share our expertise with others. This

A young person on Baobab's summer outing to a fruit farm

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The Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile: Annual Report

includes sharing the complexities of their needs and their experiences. In our ongoing work we need share with others the need to focus on both strengths and the vulnerabilities of our community members and our holistic models of rehabilitation in terms of a planned therapeutic environment which contains different therapeutic elements including casework. It is also essential that the young people experience our support in terms of our persistence in challenging any barriers to their gaining their rights and justice in terms of their asylum and their practical needs. It is a key part of our model of rehabilitation and advocacy that, over time, our community members participate in discussions and challenges against inadequate policy and practice by meeting with those who hold power, and sharing their experiences and their narratives. Our population have complex needs and it is part of our psychotherapeutic process that we give all young people opportunities to build their resiliencies. This enables them to be fortified to participate in education, work and community life in the future with self-respect and dignity and with the capacity to both listen and be kind to others at the same time as being able to disagree and hold their own in difficult discussions.

Over the years we have slowly built relationships with some of the Home Office Directors who we have previously invited to Baobab to talk with our staff and young people. This has developed into sustained communication and meetings where we can understand what changes the Home Office officials think are needed in the asylum system and where we can raise our issues and criticisms of the system. Our meetings have resulted recently in our being able to hold substantive interviews with the Home Office decision makers online. In these very important interviews the young person can be at Baobab, where they feel comfortable, and with their clinician and legal representative in the room to supporting them. We have also been able to directly raise specific cases where young people at

'The Baobab Tree' – a gift from one of the young people after his visit to Mali on a study placement

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The Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile: Annual Report

Baobab have had to wait for a very long time to hear the results of their claims. Sometimes this can prompt a positive response. These working relationships with Home Office staff who often have very different views to our own have been built over years. This part of our work is very important and we are thinking hard about best to evaluate the impact of our advocacy work.

Integration and Working Through of our Rehabilitation and Advocacy Aims and Objectives

Young people who deal each day with their own internal vulnerability and resiliencies in a difficult and sometimes hostile, racist and xenophobic environment often need a long period of therapeutic help and support. Brief treatments are insufficient to deal with complex and chronic mental health and developmental difficulties. Our aim is that the Baobab Centre provides a transitional space and place from which, either in parallel or sequentially young people can slowly begin to take part in the life of the wider community, taking responsibilities within the community and feeling free to be themselves. Our aim is to build resiliencies and this comes from the development of belonging, reflection, agency, creativity and connections with peers and adults in the community.

Between April 2020 and March 2021 we were unable to run some of our most important communal activities face to face. For example, in the past our annual Therapeutic Retreats have had a significant integrative function for young people to work through developmental and mental health insights they have been able to make during a year. On the Retreats where we live together one central concept of therapeutic community life, ‘Examined Living’, is highlighted. At the same time as us all having the opportunities to work through insights gained during the year we also have the opportunity to see and to generate individual and community issues and ideas that we need to work on during the coming year.

We have found that our different and diverse levels of integrated involvement with each young person hugely benefits from intensive work and living together for at least a few days each year where young people can focus and elaborate and process their experiences and get to know themselves and each other in greater depth.

We realize that our Retreats, where we live and work and have fun together in a rural environment, for a few days at a time, come to build our community relationships and strengthen the therapeutic work. Our therapeutic retreats provide a significant learning experience for us all. Our last Retreat took place in January 2020 and we plan for the next one to take place in August 2021. At Baobab our therapeutic retreats are a significant aspect of our work. The retreats provide an excellent opportunity for integration and the working through of insights and challenges and significant learning experiences both at an individual and at a community level. For these reasons we would like to build our resources in such a way that we could run retreats three or four times each year. When the pandemic passes hopefully our full programme of face to face work can resume so that every member of our community will have the possibility of participating initially in a small group and thus increasingly in community life.

Sheila Melzak Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist Director Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile December 2021

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BAOBAB CENTRE FOR YOUNG SURVIVORS IN EXILE (A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE)

ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2021

COMPANY REGISTRATION No: 6816297 CHARITY REGISTRATION No: 1135407

Pages 2 to 5 Report of the Directors Page 6 Statement of Financial Activities Page 7 Balance Sheet Pages 8 to 13 Notes to the Financial Statements Page 14 Independent Examiners Report to the Directors

Independent Examiners Ltd 2 Broadbridge Business Centre

Delling Lane Bosham West Sussex PO18 8NF

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BAOBAB CENTRE FOR YOUNG SURVIVORS IN EXILE (A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE) REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER CHARITY NUMBER START OF FINANCIAL YEAR END OF FINANCIAL YEAR DIRECTORS AT 31ST MARCH 2021

6816297

1135407 (registered 8-Apr-10)

01-Apr-20

31-Mar-21

Claire Helman - Chair John Clark Claudia Phillips Gill Martin Melanie McFadyean James Welsh Herman Otto Felicity Dirmeik Holly Hemming Enla Fees

COMPANY SECRETARY REGISTERED ADDRESS

Sheila Melzak

6 Manor Gardens LONDON N7 6LA

WEBSITE DATE OF INCORPORATION COMPANY STATUS GOVERNING DOCUMENT

www.baobabsurvivors.org

11-Feb-09

Company Limited by Guarantee

Memorandum and Articles of Association incorporated 11 February 2009 as amended by special resolution 24 February 2010.

BANKERS

Co-operative Bank 1 Islington High Street London N1 9TR

ACCOUNTANT INDEPENDENT EXAMINER

S Steven

P B Robinson MAAT FCIE Independent Examiners Ltd 2 Broadbridge Business Centre Delling Lane Bosham West Sussex PO18 8NF

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BAOBAB CENTRE FOR YOUNG SURVIVORS IN EXILE (A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE) REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Objects

Public Benefit

The Directors confirm that, in engaging in the activities described above, they have complied with the duty in section 4 of the Charities Act 2006 to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit, ‘charities and public benefit’.

Objects and Activities

Fuller information about our work can be found in our Annual Report available on application. Our areas of work include:

The Baobab Centre acknowledges with appreciation the financial support during the year of:

 Bromley Trust  Children in Need  City Bridge Trust  Comic Relief  Greenboard Trust  The Henry Smith Charity  Human Rights Aid  Lloyds Bank Foundation  London Catalyst  Peter Stebbings  The Rayne Foundation  The Roddick Foundation  Samworth Foundation  Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation  Tudor Trust

 And those funders who wish to remain anonymous

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BAOBAB CENTRE FOR YOUNG SURVIVORS IN EXILE (A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE) REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Financial Review

The Directors report an excess of income over expenditure of £151,461 which has come from funds held at the start of the year.

Reserves

The Trustees have set a reserves policy which requires that reserves be maintained at a level which ensures that the Baobab Centre’s core activity can continue during a period of unforeseen difficulty. The Trustees are to hold the charity’s reserves at a level which is at least equivalent to six months operational expenditure which is covered by a combination of unrestricted and restricted funds, as restricted funds are received by the Baobab Centre to cover core expenditure and not just for specific projects. The ratio currently being 25% unrestricted funds & 75% restricted funds. We have a commitment to ensuring that we maintain restricted funds at any given point during the year at the level necessary to fulfil the conditions of any grant and the expectations of any funder. Where funding has been received, we guarantee the use of the funds will be spread over the full period of the grant agreement and thereby fulfil any commitment we have made to the funder.

The calculation of the required level of reserves is an integral part of the Baobab Centre’s planning, budgeting and forecasting cycle. It takes into accounts the risks associated with each stream of income and expenditure varying from budget, planned activity level and future commitments.

In line with best practice in the charity sector, the Baobab Centre will also build up an unrestricted reserve. The Baobab Centre's unrestricted reserves are for the following purposes:

When unrestricted reserves are low we will manage income shortages by controlling expenditure and will retain in the reserve sufficient funds to meet our legal obligations in the event of closure. On 31st March 2021 the amount carried forward as unrestricted reserves was £272,362. The restricted level of funds carried forward was £148,126. We have therefore reached a reserve level target of 6-month operational expenditure and will be reviewing the reserve policy in 2021. Reserves will only be expended in pursuit of the above aims and as a result of a decision by the Board.

Risk Management

The Directors have reviewed the risks to which the charity is exposed and have ensured appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error.

4

BAOBAB CENTRE FOR YOUNG SURVIVORS IN EXILE (A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE) REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Statement of Director's Responsibilities:

Company law requires the directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year which gives a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company and of the profit or loss of the company during that period. In preparing those financial statements the directors are required to:

(i) select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently,

(ii) make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent,

(iii) prepare financial statements on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the company will continue in business.

The directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the company and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. In preparing this report the directors have taken advantage of special provisions of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

We approve the attached statement of financial activities and balance sheet for the year ended 31st March 2021, and confirm that we have made available all information necessary for its preparation.

16th December 2021 Approved by the Directors on ……………………………………………………………… and

Signed on their behalf by Director ………………………………………………………., Claire Helman

5

BAOBAB CENTRE FOR YOUNG SURVIVORS IN EXILE (A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE) STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Incorporating income and expenditure account

Notes
Donations and Legacies
Voluntary Income
Grants
2
Major Individual Donors (13)
Donations
Legacies & Bequests
Gift Aid Tax Recoverable
Trading Activities
Report Income
Events
Investments
TOTAL INCOME
EXPENDITURE ON:
Raising Funds
3a
Charitable Activities
3b
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
NET INCOME/ OUTGOING
Total Funds Brought Forward
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM:		 Unrestricted Restricted
TOTAL
TOTAL
Funds
Funds
2020/21
2019/20
£
£
£
£
120,700
416,886
537,586
303,389
41,584
48,000
89,584
87,565
17,346
8,322
25,668
8,981
-
-
-
-
694
-
694
4,710
3,657
-
3,657
4,792
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
183,981
473,208 657,189
409,437
27,501
0
27,501
27,160
100,498
377,729
478,227
377,674
127,999
377,729 505,728
404,834
55,982
95,479
151,461
4,603
216,380
52,647
269,027
264,424
272,362
148,126 420,488
269,027

Movements on all reserves and all recognised gains and losses are shown above. All of the organisation's operations are classed as continuing.

The notes on pages 8 to 13 form part of these financial statements.

6

BAOBAB CENTRE FOR YOUNG SURVIVORS IN EXILE (A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE) BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 MARCH 2021

Note
Fixed Assets
Tangible assets
1
Current Assets
Debtors and Prepayments
5
Cash at bank and in hand
Total Current Assets
6
NET CURRENT ASSETS
TOTAL ASSETSless current liabilities
NET ASSETS
Funds of the Charity
Unrestricted Funds
Designated Funds
4
Restricted Funds
4
Total Funds
Creditors:
amounts
falling
due
within
one year		 Unrestricted Restricted
Total
Total
Funds
Funds
31-Mar
31-Mar
2021
2020
£
£
£
£
-
-
-
-
7,044
0
7,044
21,149
279,603
153,282
432,885
259,176
286,647
153,282 439,929
280,325
14,285
5,156
19,441
11,298
272,362
148,126
420,488
269,027
272,362
148,126 420,488
269,027
272,362
148,126 420,488
269,027
253,316
-
253,316
208,376
19,046
-
19,046
8,004
-
148,126
148,126
52,647
272,362
148,126 420,488
269,027

For the year ending 31st March 2021 the company was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

Directors' Responsibilities

●The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476, of the Companies Act 2006.

●The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts.

These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies' regime.

16th December 2021

Approved by the Directors on ………………………………………… and

Signed on their behalf by ………………………………………..., Claire Helman, Chair of Directors

7

BAOBAB CENTRE FOR YOUNG SURVIVORS IN EXILE (A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE) NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Incoming Resources

Recognition of Incoming Resources

These are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) when:

Incoming Resources with related expenditure

Where incoming resources have related expenditure (as with fundraising or contract income) the incoming resource and related expenditure are reported gross in the SOFA.

Grants and Donations

Income from donations and grants, including capital grants, is included in incoming resources when these are receivable, except as follows:

When donors specify that donations and grants, including capital grants, are for particular restricted purposes, which do not amount to pre-conditions regarding entitlement, this income is included in incoming resources of restricted funds receivable.

Tax reclaims on Donations and Gifts

Incoming resources from tax reclaims are included in the SOFA in the same financial period as the gift to which they relate.

Contractual Income and Performance Related Grants

This is only included in the SOFA once the related goods or services has been delivered.

Gifts in Kind

Gifts in kind are accounted for at a reasonable estimate of their value to the charity or the amount actually realised. Gifts in kind for sale or distribution are included in the accounts as gifts only when sold or distributed by the charity. Gifts in kind for use by the charity are included in the SOFA as incoming resources when receivable.

Donated Services and Facilities

These are only included in incoming resources (with an equivalent amount in resources expended) where the benefit to the charity is reasonably quantifiable, measurable and material. The value placed on these resources is the estimated value to the charity of the service or facility received.

Volunteer Help

The value of any voluntary help received is not included in the accounts but is described in the Directors' annual report.

8

BAOBAB CENTRE FOR YOUNG SURVIVORS IN EXILE (A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE) NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

Incoming Resources Continued

Investment Income

This is included in the accounts when receivable.

Investment gains and losses

This included any gain or loss on the sale of investments and any gain or loss resulting from revaluing investments to market value at the end of the year.

Expenditure and liabilities

Liability recognition

Liabilities are recognised as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to pay out resources.

Governance Costs

Include costs of the preparation and examination of statutory accounts, the costs of the Directors' meetings and cost of any legal advice to Directors on governance or constitutional matters.

Grants with performance conditions

Where the charity gives a grant with conditions for its payment being a specific level of service or output to be provided, such grants are only recognised in the SOFA once the recipient of the grant has provided the specified service or output.

Changes in Accounting policies and previous accounts

There has been no change to the accounting policies (variation rules and methods of accounting) since last year, and no changes to the previous accounts.

Support Costs

Support costs include central functions and have been allocated to activity cost categories on a basis consistent with the use of the resources, eg allocating property costs by floor areas, or per capita, staff costs by the time spent and other costs by their usage.

Assets

Tangible fixed assets for use by the charity:

These are capitalised if they can be used for more than one year, and cost at least £1,000. They are valued at cost or, if gifted, at the value to the charity on receipt. The Company has no individual assets costing more than £1,000.

Investments

Investments quoted on a recognised stock exchange are valued at market value at the year end. Other investment assets are included at Directors' best estimate of market value.

Basis of preparation:

The financial statements have been prepared on the historical cost convention (as modified to include the revaluation of investments) in accordance with the Charities Act 2011, Statement of Recommended Practice - "Accounting and Reporting by Charities" (SORP 2015), applicable accounting standards. The accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis. The charity meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102, and being a small charity has claimed exemption under Section 1a not to prepare a cash flow statement.

9

BAOBAB CENTRE FOR YOUNG SURVIVORS IN EXILE (A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE) NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

2. GRANTS RECEIVABLE
AB Charitable Trust
Alan & Babette Sainsbury Charitable Fund
Bromley Trust
Children in Need
City Bridge Trust
Comic Relief
Greenboard Trust
The Henry Smith Charity
Human Rights Aid
Lloyds Bank Foundation
London Catalyst
Peter Stebbings
The Rayne Foundation
The Roddick Foundation
Samworth Foundation
Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation
Tudor Trust
Various grants below £1,000		 Unrestricted Restricted
TOTAL
TOTAL
Funds
Funds
2020/21
2019/20
£
£
£
£
10,000
-
10,000
15,000
10,000
-
10,000
-
15,000
-
15,000
15,000
-
29,475
29,475
22,352
-
51,250
51,250
41,000
-
51,143
51,143
52,500
-
-
-
-
41,000
41,000
41,000
-
-
-
-
33,900
33,900
23,094
-
1,250
1,250
-
-
5,000
5,000
-
15,000
-
15,000
15,000
30,000
-
30,000
-
-
90,105
90,105
-
-
110,893
110,893
35,000
40,000
2,000
42,000
40,000
700
870
1,570
3,443
120,700
416,886
537,586
303,389
3. EXPENDITURE ON:
a) Raising Funds		 Unrestricted Restricted
TOTAL
TOTAL
Funds
Funds
2020/21
2019/20
£
£
£
£
27,501
-
27,501
27,160

10

BAOBAB CENTRE FOR YOUNG SURVIVORS IN EXILE (A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE) NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

3. EXPENDITURE ON (Continued):
b) Charitable Activities
Notes
Staff Salaries
7
Holiday Projects Salaries
Sessional Fees
Interpreters
Supervision
Holiday Projects
Beneficiary Expenses
Staff Training & Vounteer Costs
Education
Hardship Payments
Beneficiary Legal Fees
Premises Costs
Training, Lecturers & Conferences
Monitoring & Evaluation
Board Costs
Bank Charges & Filing Fee
Management Accountancy Fee & Software
Independent Examination
COVID-19 Emergency Response
4. RESTRICTED FUNDS
Children in Need
City Bridge Trust
Comic Relief
Henry Smith Charity
Lloyds Bank Foundation
London Catalyst
Samworth Foundation
Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation
Tudor Trust
Various Grants below £1,001
Major Donors
Others		 Unrestricted Restricted
TOTAL
TOTAL
Funds
Funds
2020/21
2019/20
£
£
£
£
51,459
171,741
223,200
178,590
-
-
-
6,017
10,103
7,186
17,289
14,964
11,785
21,081
32,866
29,735
1,285
1,100
2,385
1,861
5,188
-
5,188
6,886
3,776
2,574
6,350
22,397
3,570
435
4,005
5,952
-
25,081
25,081
31,512
2,138
2,400
4,538
9,474
1,519
-
1,519
9,878
5,448
46,896
52,344
42,533
1,404
-
1,404
6,232
-
2,306
2,306
3,946
35
-
35
2,254
171
50
221
439
2,307
1,020
3,327
4,224
310
650
960
780
-
95,209
95,209
-
100,498
377,729
478,227
377,674
Balance
Balance
01-Apr
Expend-
31-Mar
2020
Income
ture
2021
£
£
£
£
-
29,475
29,149
326
-
51,250
40,884
10,366
17,500
51,143
68,643
-
20,500
41,000
41,000
20,500
9,082
33,900
33,950
9,032
-
1,250
1,250
-
-
90,105
51,714
38,391
-
110,893
57,572
53,321
-
2,000
1,100
900
-
870
-
870
5,565
48,000
39,144
14,421
-
8,322
8,322
-
52,647
468,208
372,728
148,127

11

BAOBAB CENTRE FOR YOUNG SURVIVORS IN EXILE

(A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE) NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

5. DEBTORS AND PREPAYMENTS

Unrestricted Restricted
Funds
Funds
£
£
Accrued Revenue
-
-
Tax Recoverable
-
-
Debtors and Prepayments
7,044
-
7,044
0
Unrestricted Restricted
Funds
Funds
£
£
Creditors
696
4,506
Accruals
6,780
0
Independent Examiners Fees
310
650
Payroll Liabilities
6,499
0
14,285
5,156
7. STAFF COSTS AND NUMBERS, VOLUNTEERS
Gross Wages and Salaries
Employer's National Insurance Costs
Pension Provision
Activities in furtherance of organisation's objects
6.
CREDITORS
AND
DEFERRED
INCOME:
AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR
Full time equivalent staff who were engaged in each
of the following activities:		 Total
Total
31-Mar
31-Mar
2021
2020
£
£
-
10,000
-
3,988
7,044
7,161
7,044
21,149
Total
Total
31-Mar
31-Mar
2021
2020
£
£
5,202
2,545
6,780
2,764
960
780
6,499
5,209
19,441
11,298
Total
Total
31-Mar
31-Mar
2021
2020
£
£
200,659
166,694
12,590
9,650
9,951
8,263
223,200
184,607
Total
Total
6
4
6
4

No employee received emoluments in excess of £60,000. Staff are paid through the PAYE scheme. During the financial year the company benefitted from unpaid work performed by volunteers.

12

BAOBAB CENTRE FOR YOUNG SURVIVORS IN EXILE

(A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE) NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021

8. DIRECTORS AND OTHER RELATED PARTIES

No payments were made to directors or any persons connected with them during this financial period. No material transaction took place between the organisation and a trustee or any person connected with them.

9. COMPANY STATUS

The Company is limited by guarantee and therefore has no share capital. The member's liability under the guanantee is restricted to a maximum of £10.

10. CONTINGENT LIABILITIES

The Company had no material contingent liabilities at 31 March 2021 (none-2020).

13

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT ON THE ACCOUNTS

Report to the directors of Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile on the accounts for the year ended 31st March 2021 set out on pages 6 to 13.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity's trustees (who are also the directors of the company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year (under section 43(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the Act), as amended by s.28 of the Charities Act 2006) and that an independent examination is needed.

Having satisfied myself that the charity is not sublect to audit under company law and is eligible for an independent examination, It is my responsibility to:

Basis of independent examiner's statement

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

Independent examiner's statement

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

  1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the trustees have not met the requirements to ensure that:

  2. proper accounting records are kept (in accordance with section 41 of the Act); and

  3. accounts are prepared which agree with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Act; or

  4. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

P B Robinson MAAT FCIE Independent Examiners Ltd Broadbridge Business Centre Delling Lane Bosham W. Sussex PO18 8NF

Date: 20th December 2021

14