2021-09-30-accounts

Charity Registration No. 1138333

PROJECT SRI LANKA Charitable Incorporated Organisation

DIRECTORS AND TRUSTEES’ REPORT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2021

PROJECT SRI LANKA

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Companies House Certificate of Incorporation number: 07318625 Converted to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) 5/11/18

Registered Charity number: 1138333

Registered Office:

West Acres Cottage West Acres Alnwick Northumberland NE66 2PU

Directors and Trustees

Professor Joy Annette Palmer Cooper JP (Chairman) Professor David Edward Cooper (Secretary) Mrs Alison Hilary Brown JP (Vice Chairman) Mr Michael Alan Brown

Secretary

Professor David E. Cooper

Bankers

HSBC 110 Grey Street Newcastle upon Tyne

PROJECT SRI LANKA

TRUSTEES’ REPORT 2020

The Directors and Trustees present this Report together with financial statements of Project Sri Lanka, for the year ended 30[th] September 2021.

Structure, Governance and Management

The governing document is the Governing Document submitted with the application to become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.

The number of Trustees shall not be less than 3 but shall not be more than 12. For the period of present reporting there have been 4 Trustees and Members as named above. The Trustees have the power at any time to appoint any person who is able and willing to do so to be a Trustee. Upon his appointment as a Trustee, a person shall automatically become a Member of the CIO, subject to any maximum number not being exceeded. A person shall not be entitled to act as a Trustee until he has signed a declaration of acceptance and willingness to act in accordance with the terms of the Articles of Association.

The Trustees have accepted ultimate responsibility for directing the affairs of Project Sri Lanka and for ensuring that it is solvent, well run, and delivering the charitable outcomes for the benefit of the public for which it has been set up. All of the present Trustees are very well qualified to provide oversight of the affairs of the charity. All are long-established and successful educators and all have worked in Sri Lanka in relation to our humanitarian endeavours. Two of the Trustees are Justices of the Peace and thus have extensive training in legal matters and of working with situations that require application of justice and equity, principles of human rights, and the need to consider the welfare of children and vulnerable adults in difficult circumstances. They will ensure that any person

appointed in future as a Trustee is appropriately inducted and trained to understand the nature of the charity and its operations and their responsibilities in relation to compliance, duty of prudence and duty of care.

Project Sri Lanka employs no staff. Business is managed by the Trustees in accordance with the Governing Document. The Trustees examine the major strategic, business and operational risks to which the charity is exposed and satisfy themselves that systems or procedures are in place to minimise such risks and ensure that any risks remain insignificant.

The Trustees have policies for Working with Children and Vulnerable Adults and Risk Management which are reviewed on an annual basis. The Chairman serves as Safeguarding Officer.

Objects

The CIO’s objects are specifically restricted to the following:

The advancement of education and the relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, poverty or those living in socially or economically disadvantaged communities, primarily in Sri Lanka but not limited to this area, in particular but not exclusively by the following means:

• i) Providing or assisting in the provision of goods, services, resources, grants and trained volunteers; or

• ii) Providing support to schools and teachers and developing educational and environmental infrastructure; or

• iii) Providing people with the means to live and support themselves and their community for the present and the future.

These objects are clearly for the public benefit. Trustees have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission in exercising their powers and duties.

The charity seeks to enhance the lives of people, primarily in Sri Lanka, by providing assistance and support as detailed regardless of ethnicity or religious belief. The charity is committed to equality of opportunity, integrity, tolerance and respect for others in all of its endeavours.

Specific Objectives for 2020-21 were:

• i) Further monitoring of the substantial project on the provision of equipment for paediatric oncology surgery in association with the Rotary Club of Kandy – the subject of a completed Global Grant from Rotary International.

• ii) The commencement and monitoring of the latest Global Grant from Rotary International, linking Project Sri Lanka with the Rotary Club of Kandy and the Rotary Club of Alnwick, this being dedicated to the treatment of cranio-facial deformities.

• iii) Sustaining the quality of pre-school education and general usage in our community buildings by continuing training and ensuring that each has a pre-school teacher where appropriate and/or a range of successful community activities.

• iv) Ensuring the continued success of the ‘sponsor a child’ scheme.

• v) Maintaining visits by Trustees for personal contribution, development and evaluation activities if Covid-19 travel restrictions allow.

Activities and programmes delivered during the reporting period included:

• i) Sadly, due to coronavirus restrictions associated with the global pandemic, Trustees once again have not been able to make personal visits to Sri Lanka over the period covered by this Report. However, significant efforts have been made to monitor the progress and development of projects by alternative means. As reported last year, The Oral Cancer Detection, Awareness and Treatment project is being conducted in partnership with Cancer Care Services in Sri Lanka and the Department of Dental and Maxilofacial Surgery at the University Hospital of Peradeniya. Funds for the project have been donated by Project Sri Lanka, the Rotary Club of Kandy and the Rotary Club of Alnwick in RIBI District 1030 and it has been the subject of a Rotary International Global Grant. The project has entailed conducting field visits to Sri Lanka’s rural tea plantation communities and engaging in screening for early signs of oral cancerous lesions or cancer in its more advanced stages. Individuals with detected problems have then been referred to the Peradeniya hospital for treatment. The project has also included an all-important educational dimension where young children are taught the dangers of betel leaf chewing and encouraged not to become involved in this life-threatening habit that affects the lives of so many rural workers. The formal period of the Global Grant is now concluded, and the project has been deemed highly successful. That said, now that Cancer Care services are working in partnership with the surgical team, their work continues, and successful identification and treatment of cancers will be routinely made. We were very greatly impressed by the work being conducted for this project which is most certainly saving lives of people in remote rural communities.

• ii) In the Report of a previous year, it was noted that Trustees had ‘officially’ handed over multiple items of equipment for paediatric oncology surgery – this being the subject of a further Global Grant in association with the Rotary Club of Kandy and the Rotary Club of Alnwick. This project has been monitored by reports from Sri Lanka and we note the highly successful nature of it. Many more patients continue to be treated as a result of the acquisition of the donated equipment which is being put to extensive and excellent use by the surgical team.

• iii) Trustees were delighted to have been awarded a further Global Grant from Rotary International, linking Project Sri Lanka with the Rotary Club of Kandy and the Rotary Club of Alnwick. This grant is dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of cranio-facial deformities. At the time of writing this Report, the project is nearing completion in the sense that the promised equipment has been duly delivered and reports from Rotary Kandy describe how it is being put to excellent use by the surgical specialists at Peradeniya. Further information will be available in due course and the Trustees look forward to visiting Peradeniya in person when travel restrictions allow.

• iv) During this year, as with the previous one, the Chairman has been in regular communication with the officer in charge of monitoring activities in many of our partnership villages and project locations in the Matara and Ratnapura Districts, this being Mr Bandula Senadeera, Head of the International Division of the organisation Sarvodaya Shramadana. Where challenges have been identified, these are being addressed, though once again it should be noted that in-country travel restrictions have necessitated this monitoring to be done from Colombo.

• v) The Charity’s ‘Sponsor a Child’ scheme has continued throughout the year. Children supported through this activity continue to receive regular financial assistance for their education. In January 2021 the due increased annual payments were made into the children’s bank accounts, noting that Trustees were not able to visit the children.

• vi) Various presentations (by Zoom) have been given by the Chairman of the Trustees on aspects of the work of Project Sri Lanka, for example, to Rotary Clubs in the North East of England Rotary District.

Achievements and performance

All of the Charity’s objectives set for the period 2020-21 were met through the programmes and activities as set out above. Alongside our continued interest in education and provision of water supplies, the Trustees have embraced several projects in the areas of health and care for those with disabilities, urgent medical and basic human needs. The Trustees remain committed to exploring and

being receptive to new opportunities for community development and the provision of basic human needs.

2021 has marked the 16th anniversary of the commencement of Project Sri Lanka’s activities in Sri Lanka, activities that were originally organised under the auspices of Durham University and which later became the Charity Project Sri Lanka. Most sincere gratitude is expressed to all donors and friends of the Charity for their continued support.

Plans for future periods

Specific objectives for 2021-2022 include:

• i) Regular monitoring of the latest Global Grant from Rotary International, linking Project Sri Lanka with the Rotary Club of Kandy and the Rotary Club of Alnwick, this being dedicated to the treatment of cranio-facial deformities.

• ii) Sustaining the quality of pre-school education and general usage in our community buildings by continuing training and ensuring each has a pre-school teacher where appropriate and/or a range of successful community activities.

• iii) Ensuring the continued success of the ‘sponsor a child’ scheme.

• vii) Re-establishing visits by Trustees for personal contribution, development and evaluation activities if Covid-19 travel restrictions allow.

Statement of trustees’ responsibilities

The Directors and Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the accounts in accordance with the Charity Commission requirements for a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.

This report was approved by the Directors and Trustees and signed on their behalf by

Professor David E. Cooper Secretary and Trustee Dated 15 June 2022

PROJECT SRI LANKA

Charity registration No. 1138333

Statement of income and expenditure account for the year ended 30 September 2021[1 ]

Funds (to nearest £) Last year (to nearest £) INCOME Donations 1951 3333 Interest on savings account 1 60 Total Income 1952 3393 EXPENDITURE[2 ] Grants 16000 15000 Child sponsorship 801 1050 Bank charges 200 287 Website costs 500 ---- Total Expenditure 17501 16337 Net of payments 15549 12944 Cash funds 53292 68841 TOTAL FUNDS[3] 53292 68841

1

Notes

1. During 2020-21 no financial activities (such as investments) took place other than receiving income and expenditure on charitable purposes. There were no gains or losses other than those shown above.

2. All the expenditure was upon charitable activities. The expenses were all incurred in connection with the administration of the charity.

3. The cash funds are constituted by two HSBC bank accounts:

Current account £42246

Savings account £11046 Project Sri Lanka has no assets (such as investments or property) other than the funds in the two bank accounts.

These accounts were prepared by Professor David E. Cooper, a Trustee and the Secretary of Project Sri Lanka. They were approved by the Trustees on 14[th] June 2022.

Signed on 14[th] June 2022 by Professor David E. Cooper