Charity Registration No. 1138333
PROJECT SRI LANKA Charitable Incorporated Organisation
DIRECTORS AND TRUSTEES’ REPORT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2023
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 2023
The Directors and Trustees present this Report together with financial statements of Project Sri Lanka, for the year ended 30[th] September 2023
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:
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i) Providing or assisting in the provision of goods, services, resources, grants and trained volunteers; or
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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 2022-23 were:
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i) Continued monitoring of the work being done as a result 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.
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ii) Developing an application to the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International for another Global Grant linking Project Sri Lanka with Rotary Alnwick and Rotary Kandy, this being for a project which falls under the Rotary Foundation’s ‘Maternity and Child Health’ area of focus.
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iii) 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.
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iv) Ensuring the continued success of the ‘sponsor a child’ scheme.
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vii) Re-establishing visits by Trustees for personal contribution, development and evaluation activities if Covid-19 travel restrictions and the political and economic situation in the country allow for such travel.
Activities and programmes delivered during the reporting period included:
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i) Trustees were able to visit Sri Lanka for the first time since the global pandemic. The Chairman and Secretary spent two weeks in Sri Lanka in January/February 2023 and were able to engage in meetings with our partners there including officers of Sarvodaya and Rotary Sri Lanka. They also visited some of the sites of our projects, met with children being sponsored by the charity and attended the ‘opening’ of the site of the operating theatre being provided by the latest Rotary International Global Grant. (see below)
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ii) During the year, a seventh Global Grant was awarded by Rotary International, linking Project Sri Lanka with Rotary Clubs in Kandy and in Alnwick. The purpose of this grant was to fully equip an operating theatre dedicated to the treatment of mothers and their unborn babies and neonates in urgent need of surgical interventions. The theatre, sited in the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital, was completed in February 2023 and the first baby was born shortly after this. Without doubt this facility will save lives of pregnant women and their babies.
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iii) On the Trustees’ visit they were also able to monitor the progress of the project concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of cranio-facial deformities being
conducted in 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.
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iv) In the Report of the 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.
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v) 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, and it is noted that excellent work continues in the pre-schools we have established, despite the interruptions caused by the pandemic.
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vi) 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 2023 increased annual payments were made into the children’s bank accounts.
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vii) Various presentations (by Zoom) have been given by the Chairman of the Trustees on aspects of the work of Project Sri Lanka, notably to Rotary Clubs in the North East of England Rotary District.
Achievements and performance
All of the Charity’s objectives set for the period 2022-23 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.
2023 has marked the 18th 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 2023-2024 include:
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i) Continued monitoring of the work being done as a result 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 operating theatre at Peradeniya Hospital
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ii) Continued monitoring of achievements deriving from previous Global Grants from Rotary International.
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iii) 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.
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iv) Ensuring the continued success of the ‘sponsor a child’ scheme.
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v) Maintaining regular contact with our Sri Lanka partners by either by Trustee visit or virtual means in order to ensure continued success of all or our projects.
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 5 July 2024
PROJECT SRI LANKA
Charity registration No. 1138333
Statement of income and expenditure account for the year ended 30 September 2023[1 ]
| Funds (to nearest £) | Last year (to nearest £) | |
|---|---|---|
| INCOME | ||
| Donations | 4840 | 1639 |
| Interest on savings | ||
| account | 20 | 5 |
| Total Income | 4860 | 1644 |
| **EXPENDITURE2 ** | ||
| Grants | 13000 | - |
| Child sponsorship | 505 | 784 |
| Donations | 476 | - |
| Bank charges | 249 | 266 |
| Website costs | - | 250 |
| Printing and post | 63 | 55 |
| Transport, flights | 3869 | - |
| Total Expenditure | 18162 | 1355 |
| Net of payments | 13302 | (289) |
| Cash funds | 40279 | 53581 |
| TOTAL FUNDS3 | 40279 | 53581 |
Notes
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During 2022-23 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.
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All the expenditure was upon charitable activities. The expenses were all incurred in connection with the administration of the charity.
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The cash funds are constituted by two HSBC bank accounts:
Current account £39204 Savings account £1075 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 15[th] May 2023.
Signed on by Professor David E. Cooper on 10 July 2024