The T.E.A. Project- Annual Report 2020 ## **Table of Contents** **A message from the Director of Sri Lankan Operations** **Annual Report** **1. Our Beneficiaries** **2. Our Aims and Priorities** **3. Overview of Our Work** **4. Summary and Outlook** **Financial Report Income Statement 2020** 2 ## **A message from the Director of Sri Lankan Operations** We have started the year with many hopes and objectives. But being a grassroots charity, raising funds to run day-to-day operations was a huge challenge for the T.E.A. Project due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, with the support of volunTEArs, donors, sponsors and strategic partners The T.E.A. Project has achieved many of its planned projects for 2020. The pandemic drastically affected the education of children especially in the tea plantations since most children do not have access to the Internet due to poverty. We helped the children and the communiTEA during lockdown by providing dry rations and study packs. I express my heartfelt gratitude to the donors, government officials and volunTEArs who supported us to help them during those difficult times. Despite all the challenges The T.E.A. Project has continued to grow and deliver much needed services. Our brand-new Centre for Children’s Empowerment (The Cloud) was officially opened by Mr. Grant Flower, Batting Coach of the Sri Lankan Cricket Team, on 26 September 2020. The event was a great success! The Centre will set standards in the children’s NGO sector throughout Sri Lanka due to its innovative programmes and the high quality of services provided to disadvantaged children, youth and the communiTEA. Furthermore, we celebrated seven years as an organisation, five years as a UK-registered charity and our first anniversary of becoming an INGO in Sri Lanka. Those are incredible achievements. 3 During an organisational restructure The T.E.A. Project welcomed new TEAm members and enabled career development for existing staff and recruitment of volunTEArs to paid positions. We have a wonderful TEAm committed to achieving our vision which instils confidence in our major stakeholders. We have worked hard to adapt to the changing organisational environment by developing new strategies to achieve our mission, which we are really proud of. Towards the end of the year, the ease of certain health guidelines and the government’s decision to open the schools again have raised hopes. Our key focus for the year ahead is to ensure the running of our Centre for Children’s Empowerment and delivery of the highest standards of service provision – to benefit the amazing young people who we have the privilege to work with. On behalf of The T.E.A. Project and the TEAm I again would like to sincerely thank you – our sponsors, donors, strategic partners and the supporters – for your generosity and encouragement during these difficult times and throughout the last seven years. We are fully equipped with skills and resources and we appreciate your continuous support and encouragement to make our vision become reality. This is just the beginning! Thank you very much, ## **Arun JP** Director of Sri Lankan Operations 4 ## 1. Our Beneficiaries In previous years the T.E.A. Project worked with thousands of vulnerable children and families including government schools, orphanages and non-profit organisations island-wide, delivering our TTT (training the trainers) programmes to teachers and empowerment programmes to children and adults. Since 2019 T.E.A. has begun to concentrate its work in the tea estate region of Hanthana, centralising support by establishing a dedicated Centre to run education and empowerment services from one designated building. The project gives young people a voice – a voice which develops ambition, skills, knowledge and opportunities for underprivileged children, unlocking a child’s hidden potential. We believe passionately that developing life skills, aspirations and confidence in young people is key to securing a positive and sustainable future for the next generation. The T.E.A. Project has a **school network** which includes **nine schools** situated within close proximity to The Centre, in rural Hanthana, Central Province. Our school partners vary greatly in size but they share common challenges such as extreme under-funding, high levels of pupil poverty, absenteeism and lone parenting due to parents working abroad. The population of our nine partner schools is 500+ teachers and 2,500+ school children aged from 5–17 years who represent Muslim, Buddhist, Christian and Hindu faiths. We support three local communiTEAs close to The Centre site which enables us to support children not only in school but in their communiTEA and extend services to their parents and adults. More than 90 % of parents residing in our target area work on tea estates as daily paid labourers and tea pickers. Families are exposed to 5 multiple socio-economic factors that create disadvantage, poor cognitive development of children and entrap children and families in the cycle of poverty. We run a profile on the platform **Workaway** that lists NGOs and other providers of volunTEAr work. Due to the pandemic, however, in 2020, we could not recruit a large number of international volunTEArs. We established partnerships with **AIESEC,** a global organisation that promotes our volunTEAring opportunities as well as a **travel agency** that offers a package to travelers interested in volunTEAring. International and local volunTEArs with their commitment and enthusiasm support our school-based outreach programmes and communiTEA events. The **construction works of our Centre for Children’s Empowerment** commenced on 3 March 2020 and completed in August 2020, our grand **opening event was held on 26 September 2020.** More than 100 people participated. We were proud to have **Grant Flower,** Batting Coach of the Sri Lankan cricket team, as our special guest to support our vision with an inauguration speech. This vision has been that the full development of The Centre would bring immediate benefit to people working within the tea industry and enable underprivileged families to access free education, daily nutritional meals, career guidance, employment opportunities and communiTEA development support. However, due to the pandemic we could not run services immediately after our opening due to national school closures implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 6 ## 2. Our Aims and Priorities ## **2.1 What does The T.E.A. Project do?** In September 2015 The T.E.A. Project became a registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) UK Charity no: 1163485. **In 2018 The T.E.A. Project was granted permission by the District Secretariat Kandy to work in the Central Province** and in 2019 an application was submitted for INGO registration in Sri Lanka which was granted in September 2019. We are governed by the jurisdiction of The UK Charity Commission and NGO Secretariat of Sri Lanka. T.E.A. is an acronym meaning **training, empowerment** and **awareness:** ## **T** is for **training** Our bespoke training makes T.E.A. unique! Programmes in English, Sinhala and Tamil promote health, safety, well-being and empowerment of children. We train professionals to develop best practice methods and uphold children’s rights principles. Children develop leadership qualities, life skills and aspiration. Training provides children and their communiTEAs with practical tools to make sustainable change at grassroots level. ## **E** is for **empowerment** We believe the empowerment of children is central to poverty alleviation. The project supports child care services at local and national level to improve standards and quality provision; encouraging service providers to value the contribution made by children. We create learning opportunities that develop ambition, increase resilience and unlock the hidden potential in every child. 7 ## **A** is for **awareness** The T.E.A. Project is a children’s rights-led organisation. We believe in **provision, prevention, protection and participation** rights of children. We promote the voice of every child and actively engages with children to make positive change. We advocate for children and run education programmes to increase practical awareness of the universal rights and principles enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. ## **The aims of The T.E.A. Project** 1. Advance personal skills and abilities of vulnerable children by providing training and workshops 2. Advance practical knowledge of children's rights principles and practices by providing education, advice and advocacy 3. Alleviate poverty by providing sustainable projects, training and workshop provision designed to raise aspirations and increase opportunities and capabilities of disadvantaged children ## **Core VALUES of The T.E.A. Project** - Help to give disadvantaged children and young people a strong voice and be their champion - Always listen, respect and value children and young people and treat all children and young people as individuals - Work to protect children and young people from harm, suffering and maltreatment - Work to fight the harmful effects of poverty upon children, young people and their families - Empower children to make good choices - Aspiration building - Developing resilience, soft skills and self-confidence in children 8 ## **2.2 Centre for Children’s Empowerment** Beginning of 2019 T.E.A. signed an agreement that secured a Centre for Children’s Empowerment for the next 30 years initially to ensure the best chance of realising the long-term success of the project and of sustaining our vision. To set up The Centre according to the needs of the surrounding communiTEAs we conducted a high number of consultation activities with communiTEA members, teaching staff and children. In addition, we held many networking and information sharing meetings with local government officers and local service providers. From the completion of The Centre in August 2020 onwards the focus was on delivering already planned services and create new programmes. However, since schools had to close again beginning of October due to the pandemic, we had to postpone services. The Centre will provide quality English-medium Early Childhood Education (ECE) provision for local children aged 3 years to 5 years; so that children will be safe and equipped with the skills to enter formal school ready to learn. Furthermore, we will offer a Youth Empowerment after-school programme for children from grade 6. The selection criteria, enrolment, curriculum, policies and procedures for the **Tiny TEA pre-school** have been developed and over 20 families have been interviewed to assess if they meet the criteria for a free Englishmedium pre-school placement. One parent (ParenTEAr) of each child will be required to work 5 hours per month on a voluntary basis assisting with kitchen duties, Centre maintenance and cleaning. Already **16 children have registered.** An interaction day was held on 2 October 2020 where each child received three sets of uniforms provided by Hirdaramani (t-shirt and shorts). 9 Our **F.O.O.D.** (Fueling Opportunities, Outcomes and Diet) **Programme** will provide a nutritious meal for up to 30 school children five days per week. Funding has been secured from The Neelam Trust (NTT) to fund the F.O.O.D. programme for two years. Children will arrive from school, eat a healthy meal then join the afterschool programme. A Food Programme Coordinator was recruited from the local community and joined the TEAm in August 2020. The project aims to recruit from within the local communiTEA to contribute to economic development. Food and ingrediatients are sourced from the local community as much as possible. Our **after-school programme** ( **Y.E.S. Youth Empowerment Service** ) will be delivered in local languages and Englsh. To this end we have been developing important registration documents and H&S guidelines. Afterschool activities will include empowerment programmes such as healthy relationship training, suicide prevention, language programmes (Sinhala and English) and tuition classes to improve outcomes in maths and science and to unlock potential and increase life chances for disadvantaged children. Empowerment training, educational workshops and vocational training activities will enhance the education, skill base and personal performance of children. Counselling and therapy interventions will decrease vulnerability levels and increase resilience. **90 children were registered** for the Y.E.S. programme at the end of 2020. Empowering girls and women will stay a key priority. The Centre will develop skills/knowledge, increase support networks, improve well-being and promote the voice and local participation of women and girls. Outreach programmes will develop teaching standards at local schools. Students and teachers will benefit from international volunteer and empowerment programmes. 10 ## **Objectives of The Centre** 1. To equip 25–30 vulnerable children and their families with information, guidance and practical support to increase education outcomes, health and social development of children through the provision of an excellent early-years education. 2. To provide a diverse after-school programme of education, vocation and empowerment opportunities to educate en-skill and increase the capacity of youth to actively participate in society. 3. To provide a holistic service to teachers and adult communiTEA members to access training, vocation and advice/information from key health and social care services. 11 ## 3. Overview of Our Work **3.1 Priority One: Education and skill development of children/teachers/communiTEA/parents in the estate region. To reach potential, increase outcomes and develop teaching and parenting skills** The project has finalised developing its **Suicide Prevention** training programme in 2019, which will target adolescents, teachers and communiTEA members. We have worked closely with multi-agency service providers in Sri Lanka and have conducted significant research locally, regionally and internationally. Our aim is to deliver a training programme focusing on mental health and suicide prevention that will equip children and adults with the tools and information they need. Our first training was held on 14 December 2019 and was delivered to our Youth Board. In 2020 we ran the programme from 25 November to 18 December with all registered children. It will be continued in 2021. Schools and institutions working with children in Sri Lanka do not have safer recruitment procedures or policies in place to protect children from abuse. A number of domestic laws do exist to protect children from harm however enforcement of laws and legislation is weak. Child abuse is a global problem that is deeply rooted in cultural, economic and social practices (WHO, 2002). There is an increase in economic migration from Sri Lanka of mothers and parents who travel overseas to work as domestic helpers. The children they leave behind are often defenceless against abusive from predatory family relatives and neighbours. Children whom we work with commonly suffer from neglect, inadequate housing, and poor sanitation and are vulnerable to the effects from parental alcohol, substance abuse, domestic violence and poverty. In August 2020 T.E.A. delivered its **SAFE-TEA training** to staff and volunTEArs and will be continuing to do so to educate professionals about **the** 12 **different forms of child abuse, signs of abuse,** how to **respond to disclosures** and **how to reduce harm** and **keep children safe from abuse** . This training is currently being reviewed to include a module on corporal punishment and positive classroom discipline methods. ## **Train the Trainers** Teachers are essential to happy, healthy and empowered children. We focus on giving teachers and our own staff the skills to be able to deliver our programmes as well as improve the level of teaching. In the reporting period The T.E.A Project has facilitated successful Training the Trainers (TTT) events. In January the TEAm attended a **First Aid Train the Trainers** event by French volunTEArs who supported the project for three weeks. In March the staff was trained in a programme called **Movement for Well-being** . It is a therapeutic stress release workshop that has been introduced to The T.E.A. Project by an experienced dance therapist from the USA. A one-day training was facilitated with the TEAm and a manual produced. A best practice report has since been produced which recommends how aspects of this training can be introduced into day-to-day practice at The Centre, specifically with the pre-school, staff TEAm and after-school training programmes. An **English development programme** for communiTEA volunTEArs and local school children was successfully implemented with a supportive four-day English Language Development Camp for Upper Galaha School primary children by volunteers. In May we launched a **communiTEA arts competition** to inspire children and positively engage their creativity during the pandemic. This project aimed to provide children with an opportunity to express their views on the global pandemic and engage in a creative competition. Art packs with competition guidelines were given to 74 13 primary and secondary school children. Completed pieces of art were safely submitted to one of our local volunTEArs. Out of 74 children, 64 entered the primary and secondary arts competitions. Six winners were selected and special prizes awarded by the board of judges and a director’s prize. Furthermore a **communiTEA writing competition** was held beginning of June for primary and secondary school children. We developed this project for the children who have been disengaged and out of school for three months without any formal education. It consisted of three different assignments to be completed. These communiTEA competitions successfully engaged children in creative learning during school closures caused by the pandemic. **World of Work** (W.O.W.) is a work experience programme we developed specifically for children aged between 12–18 years. It will support children and young people to gain practical work experience in the NGO sector in different fields, such asoffice, pre-school, kitchen and handling outdoor environment projects. The goal of this project is to increase practical knowledge, work ethics and skills in a safe and nurturing work environment. Children will be required to work 100 hours over a three-month period (Level 1), 200 hours in six months (Level 2), 300 hours in nine months ( Level 3) and 400 hours in one year (Level 4). A work experience certificate will be offered to each child who completes any of the levels. Weekly mentoring and supervision meetings will be provided. Due to the pandemic the roll-out will be postponed to 2021. T.E.A. introduced a **CommuniTEA Stearing Group (STEArs)** that will offer their experience, local and technical sector knowledge to ensure The Cloud fully implements its vision and objectives. It will increase the use of The Cloud, help to promote services and increase communiTEA participation of local stakeholders in strategic Centre planning. Monthly meetings will be held to discuss the development of the Centre and to suggest 14 suggest workshops, training and information sessions to address local needs in our **Saturday Service.** This service will address parents, communiTEA members and unemployed youth. 31 members have been identified from the estate sector who are part of the stearing group. It will be initiated in Q1/2021. ## **What next?** 1. SAFE-TEA Child Protection training will be delivered in the future to teachers from our nine partner schools with a focus on ending corporal punishment in schools. 2. We will run further suicide prevention training and teacher training programmes. 3. We will start our W.O.W. programme. 4. We will run Training the Trainers programmes to train teachers and local volunteers to deliver T.E.A. Project programmes within schools at grass root level. 5. We will work with partner NGO’s to develop commissioning opportunities which will enable our training to reach more children island-wide and raise revenue for the T.E.A. Project. 6. We will develop a library and quite study space at The Centre. 7. We will start to roll out our Saturday Service. 15 **3.2 Priority Two: Promoting health and well-being among vulnerable children and adults in the estate area, addressing to risks and hazards in the changing environment. Learning to address the mental, physical wellbeing and safety of the children and youth.** Evaluating the capacity to achieve can take decades and may depend on one key decision made during childhood. This section will outline some projects and programmes that we believe have the potential to transform lives, create peace and promote positive outcomes especially for vulnerable children. A French family (community nurses and their children) volunTEAred with T.E.A. in January 2020. They conducted **first aid trainings** at four different schools. More than **100 children became First Aid Care Givers** and 20 adult communiTEA members became first aid trainers. The volunTEArs donated their services and first aid equipment for small children of tea pickers who attend a day care services governed by the Janatha Estate Development Authority. In addition, the communiTEA was given advice and materials to improve health conditions. During curfew three communiTEA **food distribution programmes** were implemented on 2, 18 and 24 April at The Centre. The project aimed to support local low-income families to reduce the harmful effects of the Covid19 pandemic. Weekly dried food packs and hygiene essentials were provided to over 500 children from 214 families living within close proximity to The Centre. The **Single Mother Empowering Project by Women in Management (WIM)** reaches out to support households with single mothers. The T.E.A. Project selected five young people between 14 and 18 years of age. Selection was based on recommendations by school principals and key stakeholders in the communiTEA. In addition, 16 interviews were conducted. The Scholarship Award Ceremony was conducted on 20 June 2020 at a communiTEA centre in Kithulmulla Village. The children were awarded scholarship certificates along with an application form to open a Peoples Bank account. The progress of the children will be monitored and reported to WIM by The T.E.A. Project. ## **Arts and language programmes** Art-based work helps children to explore the world without boundaries, working with junk material, drawing cracks observed in school, mosaic painting and making art installations are some activities children enjoy. Therapeutic art workshops encourage students to express their feelings using art and creativity. Developing communication skills and using different tools in this way helps students to relax, have fun, **share their emotions and unleash their hidden talents** and creative abilities. All students have personal folders and they are encouraged to develop individual portfolios of their work. We are currently developing a **listening service** to listen to Youth Empowerment Service Users with empathy and provide a safe space to unfold their thoughts, emotions and any conflicts. Most of the children seek a comfortable and non-judgmental place to open up. The Listening Service will support service users to share personal problems and seek guidance on how to access local sefvices. This service will be implemented in 2021 in our library. ## **Celebrating youth events** The T.E.A. Project supports service users to organise local and cultural events. This is not because we are crazy about planning (which we are). Providing children with small budgets and guidance to develop child-led ideas into events and activities is not only great fun but it provides a vital learning experience. These events enable **children to celebrate how special they are** and for adults to realise their children’s potential.. We frequently 17 hear how surprised teachers are by their students’ abilities, this not only **raises children’s aspirations but it increases teacher’s expectations of children.** **Thai Pongal** was celebrated on 16 January 2020 at our Centre for Children’s Empowerment. This event was the first to be planned by our Youth Board members. 32 people attended this TEAm-only event wearing traditional Sri Lankan dress, including Youth Board members, local volunTEArs and French volunTEArs. Usually in April we would hold a **New Year’s celebration.** This important cultural event was planned to include creative art activities, traditional food and games. However, it was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions. Sadly our **Children’s Day celebrations** in October had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. For Christmas 2020 the T.E.A. Project did not run its annual Wish Tree event. Instead we coordinated an amazing Christmas gift box project with partners Dheeshana and the Theva Residency. Over 60 boxes full of gifts, including clothes, food, toys, stationary were collected and given to over 60 children. Children from partner primary schools received boxes, from three day care centres and our Tiny TEA’s pre-school children received a fantastic Christmas gift box. ## **What next?** 1. The Centre will have a busy calendar of cultural and important events to provide memorable opportunities for children to showcase their talents. Events will be planned and facilitated by service users including creative art exhibitions, writing and dance competitions. 2. Our Listening Service will be developed further and implemented in 2021. 3. We will create more programmes that help to address the mental and physical well-being as well as the safety of children and youth. 18 ## **3.3 Priority Three: Promotion of child rights, empowerment and awareness** Children are key actors within community development. Participation in learning should be active and promote meaningful engagement in society. We train children to understand their rights as enshrined in the **UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.** Sri Lanka signed up to the Convention in 1991, however knowledge of children’s rights remains limited among teachers, parents and children. Cultural norms often deny children and girls to make informed choices, fully exercise their rights and actively participate in society. **LIFE** (Leadership, Independence, Futures & Empowerment) **training** is a 12-hour leadership programme. Since launching the programme 4-years ago we have trained over 1,000 children throughout the Island. The training is facilitated in three languages; **Sinhala, Tamil** and **English** by a TEAm of local trainers. LIFE Training promotes **the Voice of the Child** and encourages active participation. Children learn leadership skills, personal safety, children’s rights and they develop a range of soft skills including active listening, communication andpresentation skills. In the reporting period we ran our LIFE training programmes within our Y.E.S. service from 25 November to 18 December for all registered children. The T.E.A. Project’s **Youth Board,** a group of local children representing all religious and cultural backgrounds, supported various programmes and events with special performances, such as planning a Thai Pongal event in January and a dancing performance for the grand opening of our Centre in September. Furthermore, the Youth Board is working with SIGHT Students from Hong Kong on two projects: the Anemia Project and the Well-being Project. The Well-being Project focuses on improving the well-being of the communiTEA by implementing new technical methods to develop their livelihood standards and hygiene. And the Anemia Project concentrates on 19 developing a healthy diet and improving cooking styles enriched with sufficient vitamins and irons to lead a healthy lifestyle. This project aims to develop healthy food habits and food hygiene amonst children. For 2021 it is planned that SIGHT students will visit our Centre to implement their ideas and methods and to create awareness through delivering workshops. The Youth Board received a Recruitment and Selection Training to prepare them to actively participate in the recruitment process. They formed their first interview panel for the recruitment of a new Project Officer and pre-school TEAchers, decisions on the which candidates to recruit were taken collectively between the adult and youth board. We have consulted with many different groups of children and listened to their challenges, needs and ideas. Feedback from children will be instrumental in developing The Centre and its empowerment and academic programmes. We will develop robust mechanisms to listen and respond to the views of children and communiTEA members during Centre development. Developing emotional intelligence and robust mental health of youth, especially girls is a key focus of our work.. In some areas literacy rates for girls fall behind boys by 19 %[1] this is why a major focus of The T.E.A. Project targets empowering girls. The unemployment rates of women have been double those of men for over three decades. Currently over 23.4 %[2] of households are headed by women and women bare primary responsibility for care work creating multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination that limit opportunities for them to fully integrate into the workforce. Over **one million Sri Lankans are employed in the tea industry,** a large proportion of this workforce are young women and the minimum working age is fifteen. Millions of women are > 1 UNDP, Gender Dimensions of the Millennium Development Goals in Sri Lanka > 2 UNDP, Gender Dimensions of the Millennium Development Goals in Sri Lanka 20 engaged in low skill, low income economic activities in the large informal sector and are also concentrated as unpaid family labour in agricultural communities. Their assets are limited by discriminatory laws and by social practices. EVERY-Body is a training programme conducted by The T.E.A. Project to enhance the knowledge of sexual and reproductive health. The programme helps adolescents understand emotional and physical changes during puberty and it develops the capacity of adolescents to stay safe and overcome challenges faced in the society. It includes breaking down male and female stereotypes and promotes respect of girls and partners. A key focus of this training educates adolescents on different forms of harassment, Internet safety and how to increase personal safety. For 2020 our EVERY-Body training was planned to be continued in collaboration with ChildFund, but could not be delivered due to the pandemic. Furthermore, a number of projects will be established from The Centre, to empower girls, promote sharing of experiences and develop capacity of girls to make informed and healthy life choices. ## **What next?** 1. We will continue to train and educate adults on children’s rights issues. 2. We will run further LIFE training programmes with new and existing school partners. 3. The frequent analysis of all training feedback will guide and influence development of training programmes. 4. Our Youth Board will be further involved in strategic decision-making and recruitment. 5. We will continue to run healthy relationship training through our EVERY-Body training, a new module EVERY-Body will be developed to educate youth (18+) on important subjects such as STIs, contraception and pregnancy. 6. We continue to deliver our Suicide Prevention training. 21 ## **3.4 Priority Four: VolunTEAr Mobilization** In 2020 we revised our key priorities and volunTEAr mobilization is a new **focus area.** VolunTEArs are a very important asset and contribute significantly to the day-to-day activities of The T.E.A. Project, they are an essential component of our vision. We encourage and have develops effective mechanisms to support international and local volunTEAring. One great example of volunTEAr mobilization is our **Youth Board** founded in 2019 where young people donate their time to support our organisation, gain knowledge and become involved in decision-making. The Youth Board will frequently recruit new members and expand their field of work. Another important pillar in the field of volunTEAring are our **ParenTEArs** who donate five hours per month to give something back for the free education of their children in our Tiny T.E.A. pre-school. On the one hand their work is put to good use and on the other hand it creates a feeling of ownership that increases the strength of and commitment for the project. ParenTEArs provide a vital source of groundwork and maintenance. To recognize outstanding volunTEArs and to motivate their contribution to the work of The T.E.A. Project, we created the **VolunTEAr Achievement Award,** a reward system for local volunteers. Every three months one local volunTEAr who shows extra-ordinary performance will be awarded a trophy, a certificate and a voucher as an incentive. Every volunTEAr will be monitored and assessed according to the following four criteria: shows initiative, hard-working, high impact, best support. T.E.A. held its first award ceremony for the best local volunTEAr of Q3/2020 in November. 22 Due to the Corona pandemic effecting every aspect of life, in 2020 T.E.A. was unable to recruit many new **international volunTEArs** as the government did not allow foreigners to enter the country. Thus, the focus in 2020 was on recruiting **local volunTEArs.** Nonetheless, T.E.A. is continuing its international outreach and also planning on activities in the field of voluntourism to make effective use of it once travelling will be safe again. This includes developing commercial opportunities and collaborations with travel agencies, platforms and NGOs that help place volunTEArs. To this end, in June T.E.A. developed a three-day paid package for tourists together with the Sri Lanka-based French **travel agency Atypique Lanka** to give travelers the opportunity to visit the Centre and volunTEAr for three days, raising awareness for marginalized communities in the tea plantations and generating funding. The travel agency will actively promote this package alongside their other offers. Furthermore, The T.E.A. Project started a partnership with the international organisation **AIESEC** that provides global volunTEAr exchange experiences. We signed the contract in December 2020 and are expecting the first international volunTEArs to come through their organisation in 2021. T.E.A. also succeeded in obtaining the **first NGO visa** for an international volunTEAr since it became an INGO. It was initially granted for a period of six months and can be extended up to three years. The NGO volunTEAr visa is a type of residence visa and allows the volunTEAr to work for T.E.A. up to three years without leaving the country. Last but not least we honoured our volunTEArs by organising a virtual event on the occasion of **International VolunTEAr Day on 5 December 2020** . Many former and current volunTEArs participated. We prepared 23 interactive games and volunTEArs could share their experiences. To make it feel more comfortable and social every volunTEAr was invited to participate with a cup of tea or coffee and a piece of cake. Thirteen past and present volunTEArs participated in this wonderful celebration of volunTEArism. All participants received a virtual certificate for their active and attentive input. **What next?** 1. We develop and en-skill our volunTEAr network of young people. 2. We develop an intercultural training for staff and volunTEArs. 3. We attract more volunTEArs and expand our network, especially in the field of marketing. 4. We build partnerships with universities, schools and other organisations to attract volunTEArs. 24 ## **3.5 Priority Five: Organisational Development** As part of our **revision of priorities** in the reporting period we have identified organisational development as another new key priority from 2020. We see this area as essential for providing high-quality and excellent standards of services to children and the communiTEA. This includes resource mobilization, partnership building and outreach, service delivery, accountability and reputation as well as monitoring and evaluation. Due to the pandemic and ongoing restrictions The T.E.A. Project developed a COVID-19 procedure that requires all visitors to wear face masks and wash hands when they enter. All areas, furniture and equipment will be disinfected at the beginning and the end of each day, and each space will be cleaned after every meeting / group activity. This procedure is essential in maintaining health and safety and ensuring highest standards at the Centre. T.E.A. held two **strategic meetings** this year, one in June with senior staff and one in July with the whole TEAm. In the first meeting a **restructuring of the organisation** was agreed and key roles were defined. Furthermore, the whole finance system was developed. The Project Coordinator has been promoted to Project Manager and the job position of VolunTEAr Coordinator has been changed to International VolunTEAr Coordinator. Following that new job descriptions have been drafted for those roles as well as future roles of F.O.O.D. Programme Coordinator, Tiny T.E.A. pre-school TEAchers and maths/science tutors. In the staff meeting the vision and objectives of The T.E.A. Project were introduced to the TEAm by Carl Gale, Co-founder. Plans for Centre service provision were shared, the significance of English as an organisational language was discussed, the new organisational structure was introduced and strategic priorities of The T.E.A. Project were shared. 25 In October 2020 a new Project Officer as well as a new F.O.O.D. Programme Coordinator have been recruited. Furthermore, an active volunTEAr was offered a position as our Y.E.S. Coordinator starting from 2021. In December senior management has communicated that as of January 2021 the Director of Sri Lankan Operations will take over the role of Chief Executive of The T.E.A. Project. Furthermore a new Finance Manager has been recruited. The staff and/or new TEAm members received the following training in 2020: **Health and Safety Training, Food Hygiene Training and Finance Procedures Training.** Furthermore part of the TEAm attended a **Stop Child Cruelty** Workshop on 4 and 5 January 2020 to raise awareness on corporal punishment and child protection. ## **What next?** 1. We will continue to train staff and create opportunities for personal and organisational development. 2. A project SWOT analysis will be conducted. 3. New partnerships with organisations in the same field will be established to secure funding as well as knowledge transfer and existing partnerships will be strengthened. 4. We frequently will revise our standards to maintain highest quality in our services. 5. An overall monitoring and evaluation system will be introduced. 26 ## **3.6 Other major achievements/events** 2020 was a remarkable year for The T.E.A. Project. We celebrated **seven years as an organisation, five years as a UK-registered charity and the first anniversary of becoming an INGO** in Sri Lanka. On this occasion the whole TEAm was invited to a hiking tour on 1 September. Our partner Suranjith Wevita guided us to Ooragala Mountain in Hanthana. 18 TEAm members took part and everybody brought home-made dishes for the TEAm lunch after the hiking. Since funding is an important pillar of our work we frequently organise fundraising events. However, due to COVID-19 in 2020 events where people gather physically were not allowed. As a consequence T.E.A. held its first **virtual CommuniTEA event** over twelve days in December before Christmas. Many local supporters, partners and VolunTEArs performed virtually and helped to raise funds for our free services for disadvantaged children at The Cloud. Content included concerts, yoga and meditation sessions, a cooking class, an art workshop and more. An incredible sum of 605,256.71 LKR (2,300 GBP) was raised with this event. Our first virtual online event was a huge success. 27 ## 4. Summary and Outlook ## **4.1 Summary** Primarily we would like to thank all of our corporate and individual donors who have supported the work of The T.E.A. Project in 2020. We are also extremely grateful to the generosity of local and international volunTEArs who donated their time and skills to empower children. The continued success and growth of the project is due to our valued donors and individuals who give regular donations, organised local fundraising events and supported various funding campaigns. We are furthermore grateful to our dedicated Board of TrusTEAs and especially Hirdaramani and ASICS for their incredible commitment and support of The T.E.A. Project. And last but not least, our new patron, Dr Sulochana. This year we were able to complete the building works of our first Centre for Children’s Empowerment in Hanthana and to open it on the premises that we have been leasing since January 2019. This is a milestone in our history as an organisation. In spite of the challenges we faced due to the pandemic we also managed to deliver some of our programmes, supporting disadvantaged children, as well as breathing life into the premises with diverse (virtual) events in the reporting period. We have finalised the planning of our first pre-school and after-school service and developed new programmes that we will introduce in the future once restrictions will be relaxed. Furthermore, we are proud to have been able to coordinate three large food distribution programmes to help the most vulnerable people in the area we operate. 28 2020 was also remarkable because we started a restructuring process of The T.E.A. Project. We recruited many capable employees, volunTEArs and our ParenTEArs who will be working together to realize our vision in the future. Thanks again to all supporters for your countless effort. ## **4.2 Outlook** With regard to the pandemic we are optimistic that we will be able to continue delivering services once government restrictions are relaxed. We are excited to see the Centre come alive and our services transforming lives. Children from 3 to 5 years will attend our Tiny T.E.A. pre-school and children from grade 6 to 12 will profit from our after-school service Y.E.S. Furthermore we are soon to launch our Saturday Service to extend our support to older youth and adults in the communiTEA. We hope to grow our network of supporters further to be able to expand our services to more children and communiTEAs in other areas. With our work we want to develop aspirations in young people, providing them with the practical skills and knowledge to positively improve their futures and implement sustainable change. Children and young people will be provided opportunities to learn skills and the build confidence needed to make good choices for a healthy participation in society. As part of our restructuring we are excited to welcome our Director of Sri Lankan Operations Arun JP as the new CEO from January 2021. At the same time this will mean that we lose Carl Gale who co-founded the project and has been guiding it as CEO for many years. The two co-founders Racheal Ireton and Carl Gale 29 communicated that they will return to Europe in early-2021. This is not a sudden decision. They always had the dream to hand over the project to the local communiTEA once it has grown out of its fledgling stages. We will miss both of them and would like to express our thanks for relentlessly and selflessly working for the project they founded to give vulnerable children a better future. 30 ## **Financial Report** ## **Operating expenses** In the reporting year operating expenses included the construction and the renovation of The Cloud, our Centre for Children’s Empowerment in Kithulmulla. Capital expenditure amounted to 21,154 GBP. Total expenses came to 49,343 GBP. ## **Operating income** In 2020 most of the donations have been received from local donors. Our total income was 51,691 GBP. 31 si•iemenis ofC•sh thws ￿￿￿3154 DptewbErZQ20 2010 2020 I.GEIIERAL I.X IEPORnNGEtfflTr ¢&th￿ca￿tq￿Trtatth?￿e￿￿￿IryOfI￿EF￿[ 59,391 35B fAsHfL(A¥FR￿ ￿￿ER￿lI￿￿{liV1￿Es sh ￿tt￿ptfrOrn Lac￿ Doncrs Réc*Ptfrom FOr1￿0￿￿Or$ Paymthtslothè5upp15èrs PayrnEDttD Employge5 Incr*a50ofkcountsPa¥abl 3,165,820 091.074 13,468 18.211 IIW9481 82'4th) 324 i.J ￿￿t)IF￿PA￿I￿ Npl CathFI(vw*orncwW4*l￿ArtK￿1l* 103,710 15,671 ThoFin4ncialSliivffl￿lSolthtÉ0Mp1Trv￿￿eb￿ipr1Pw￿lTr￿(01aMK•￿1h5￿L*)kbAt(uu￿t￿￿¢StlndIrdS4SLFA￿k7dllA$lIProrn￿1Y1 ¢45HFL(w4FpX￿ INVE51MEIIT ACllVII IddltlonstothèProwtyPl￿1￿￿d Equlpmont i.iuvurM(1114LAP4DVRi¥rKfAf(Ifi¢iMNIiKY (5'31¥'5141 CASHFLC6VFKW FWIFXEACn¥mE5 Ihloro5tlncom• InterertExwce54nd￿nkchKPI Neil8thflty**omFln￿reAt1￿Ioe• 86,774 ao'774 58,001 t￿h￿d(*￿E9￿n1 Endotthpp 962.595 3,785 32 ￿￿eSt￿l￿g FIn￿rI￿stateMentS ForthéYè*Endéd31 DètéMbér2020 2020 2020 GBP Forel￿D0￿￿tlDnl 148.438 600 120 3.756 901 200 FP FtsiréStÈr FPGWond•rbJlOr4 Syw SYM 49.620 FP MEARyHeNRYEVEty￿whl11ll+ ToDlf4TrdLquIpM￿t Sywri SYW 120 360 170 FPTEAMilt ￿ul•S FPTtr•PrQJe£tKStoi¢bD 429.302 64,340 28,290 130 3,471 P¥yP UKDDnitloni.thh 74 NDt•Q4 6'93ty85Q soo'ooo 504,333 28,000 400,000 N•dinTlruchdY4mTrurt 2,522 2,120 P￿￿SImr￿ Full NEX TtAFIELDchlldO￿￿OPrn￿1tFl￿ $0 376 332 504 77 79,000 120,000 GoodsDottati¢ns Oon•tionsahw 9.091.074 t4)teQ5 Oih•rlntorn Intve5tlnrome 34,429 88.774 33 Not•#toth• Stat•rn•nts Forth•Y••rÈnd•d #l D•c•mb•r2020 Noto$tot￿ Flnuncl￿$tst?Ments FDrth•Y••rEnd•d3L D•c•rnts•rlOIO 2020 Z020 2010 2010 Not•06 Admlnlstr4tlOn￿dE*4￿lIthmVTrt Not¢ 08 FoodPr4>V•mM• Cleaningand mainl￿anCe DryRatlDll5 Foodco ToolsandEqulpm¢nt Travdlin8 3.500 16'04S 24.000 13'1S9 37.233 490.385 60,882 40.259 43.000 540.000 2D'14S 13.820 67.560 81,508 2.995.844 83.439 15 67 ioi 56 135 2,061 256 169 181 2.270 85 58 354 343 12,592 351 95 389 378 194 146 1,930 45.214 31,160 11,484 1.623 18.000 190 EPF 12% Foodand 76 460 H￿th Insurancè& VISA Offlcemailenancè Membetship Fe@ otficeRental otficetrainin8& Oevdopmeni StampandLe8Jl Fe95 POSRunbox-Email RepaIr￿lI￿lormal1On VhKnolo8V Salaries Not•Qg T.E.A.C¥Trt•r 206,388 3.641 7.050 64.022 29'7ZI 447,389 25,440 40.768 22,380 Z90 27.380 ii'ooo 51.570 41,900 86,750 80,766 24.520 1.170.980 867 30 269 Food and Fu EPF12 107 Ttakootet mainten￿¢¥ 92.618 90.000 46.092 34.699 1.990 69.759 32.000 4,915.689 lowancf5 94 Teavan Rental Tdephoneand Int￿net Trav ToolsaDd Equipmeni 115 46 Telephone Too15and Equipmgnt5 TiavEllln8E¥pw)5ES Dallywagps Workshop Mateilal 293 134 20,731 176 365 339 103 4,922 Wages NDt•07 Pr•S¢hoDI Not• 10 Youth BDvd Fond &nd 13.886 i'ooo 7.543 18D'814 47.650 250'95Q S8.37 4.2Q 31.70 760.23 300.2B 1.055 TAephonÈ Tiavdlin8 Foodandsnack woikshophtsieria15 19,233 'doo 12.88 7.900 44.407 81 18 54 33 WiJik%hop Matetlal (hh 34 Forth•Y•4iEnd•d3LD•urnb•rZOZO y￿r￿￿51D￿p￿ 2020 2020 NDt• li J'Y68'( J15Y 3Q&ry FoodandBweTa8e5 Trwdlin8 Stbtlott WDrk5hop MatÈrl 13,673 3,905 21.968 1,767 1'gOD 57 16 92 12 I￿,154 I'oy J2VIS JirN 186 Not• 12 i>Y¥p 1I'4U AIIowJhtÈ5 FoodoDdHeveTo8E5 Loc41EKpen Workshop Malorl 350 TO•'Oii 3'00D 8,420 30.942 990 3.743 35 130 Jjo 16 548 Not• 1> Fln4ncld LYp•nMI 9.554 40 60 loo UK ￿kch418PS 35 36 **The T.E.A. Project No. 09, The Cloud, Kithulmulla, Galaha, Kandy 20000, Central Province Sri Lanka**