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← Newborn, Infant And Child Health Education International (Also Known As Niche International)

2024-10-03-accounts

Newborn, Infant and Child Health Education International

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Registered Charity Number: 1174977

Trustees’ Report and

Accounts

For the Year Ended 3[rd ] October 2024

Contents

tents
Legal and Administrative Information 3
Report of the Trustees 4
Independent Examiner's Report 7
Statement Of Receipts and Payments 8
Statement of Assets and Liabilities 9

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Charity Name: Newborn, Infant and Child Health Education International

also known as NICHE International

Charity Number: 1174977

Principal Address: Lytchett House, 13 Freeland Park, Wareham Road, Poole, Dorset, BH16 6FA

Charity Trustees:

Trustees who served during the year:

Alison Earley Chair Alison Grove John Madar Alistair Morris Sebastian Palmer Julia Thomson Catherine Harrison

Also 2 co-opted charity members: Dr Jarlath O’Donohoe and Mrs Grace Ndze Bongban

Independent Examiner:

Alliah Hamid Swan Accountants Studio 208, Embroidery Mill, Abbey Mill Business Centre, Paisley, Scotland. PA1 1TJ

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES

Structure, Governance and Management

Newborn, Infant and Child Health Education International (also known as NICHE International) is a Charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales with effect from 4[th] October 2017, with registration number 1174977.

The charity is constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). The charity is governed and administered in accordance with its constitution, which was adopted on 4[th] October 2017 and amended with effect from 12[th] February 2018.

Trustees are appointed for a term of two years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees.

There are 7 trustees, 5 of whom are doctors, and the chair of the trustees rotates. Trustees have experience working for teaching and medical charities in Cameroon, Liberia and other resource poor countries, in project management, post-graduate teaching and business. The charity Trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no remuneration or other benefits in return for their work.

The charity operates a safeguarding policy, an equality and diversity policy, an advocacy policy and a code of conduct to which all trustees and volunteers must adhere.

Partnerships : In Cameroon, the charity works in partnership with the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services (CBCHS). Course candidates come from both the CBCHS health facilities and the government hospitals in all areas of Cameroon. In Uganda the charity works in partnership with Bwindi Community Hospital, and UK based charity Child Health Matters

The charity has a Memorandum of Understanding in place with three other health education charities working in developing countries:

Risks relate to travelling and working in middle- and low-income countries with poorly resourced health systems and/or political instability. Each trip is risk assessed with reference to in-country advisors and Foreign & Commonwealth Office guidelines.

The charity provides comprehensive travel and medical insurance. A Security and Safety Operating Procedures handbook (SOPS) is provided to all trustees and volunteers.

Objectives and Activities

Charitable Objects

To relieve sickness and to promote and protect the good health of babies and children. To work to reduce mortality rates in low- and middle-income countries, by assisting in the provision of training courses and other healthcare projects.

Main Activities

In planning our activities for the year, we have kept in mind the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit at our trustees’ meetings.

Our focus is to continue to teach the Neonatal Care provider courses to frontline practitioners from all healthcare sectors in Cameroon, Uganda and other poorly resourced areas of the world. These courses have been designed by ALSG and MCAI especially for resource limited settings and we have made further adaptations for our work in Cameroon, Liberia and Uganda. Two of the charity trustees sit on the ALSG Strengthening Emergency Care committee, which oversees the educational content of the Neonatal Care Course.

The course covers resuscitation at birth and problems which occur in the first weeks of life. Simple equipment is used and there is an emphasis on basic care such as breast feeding and skin-to-skin care in line with the World Health Organisation’s ‘Every Newborn Action Plan’.

We aim to promote sustainability by training local staff to become instructors and to teach the Neonatal Care course to others. Training local trainers is done through the ALSG / Resus Council Generic Instructor Course (GIC), which covers educational theory and practical teaching, assessment and feedback skills.

We believe that training local instructors is vital for embedding new ways of working and for the sustainability of the project.

We work to encourage peer to peer skills practice among local health care staff.

We continue to develop partnerships with our in-country hosts in order to deliver these courses as widely as possible, and also with organisations in the UK which develop and promote healthcare courses and course materials which are designed for middle- and low-income countries.

The volunteers who work for NICHE International are doctors, nurses and resuscitation officers with appropriate clinical backgrounds who have been accredited by the Advanced Life Support Group (ALSG) and/or the Resuscitation Council (RC(UK)) to teach neonatal and other life support courses in the UK. All have considerable experience of instructing, some of them as course directors, and also have knowledge of teaching in low- and middle-income countries. Instructors are recruited through ALSG, and through teaching contacts of current instructors.

These volunteers give their time and expertise to deliver the Neonatal Care course alongside the qualified NICHE trustees.

Achievements and Performance

A partnership has been formed with the charity, Child Health Matters (reg charity no. 1174977) to deliver Newborn Care Courses in Bwindi Community Hospital, South-West Uganda. Contact has been maintained with the hospital, and further courses planned for January 2025 (see below).

In February 2024, NICHE instructors returned to Cameroon and delivered a 2.5day Instructor Development Day. This followed a successful one day course in 2022. The course was designed to support and update the skills of Cameroonian health care professionals who had already qualified as Instructors. This was followed by a Generic Instructor Course, to train more Cameroonian health professionals to teach the Neonatal Care Course.

Cameroonian Instructors have travelled to various Regions of the country and taught courses. Civil unrest in the country remains a problem.

Trustees started work on updating the Neonatal Care Course enabling more of the curriculum to be delivered as workshops. E-learning modules accessible on smartphones for learners without access to computers have been created.

In the UK, more trainers have been recruited, and NICHE trustees have held 2 webinars to disseminate information about the charity.

Future Plans

Uganda: 3 Neonatal Care Courses to be taught by UK and Ugandan Instructors in Bwindi in January 2025.

Cameroon: A Cameroonian nurse with training in nurse education has been identified. The plan is to give her some further training to enable her to fulfil the criteria to be an Advanced Life Support Educator for the GIC. This should complete our 10 steps to sustainability, see https://www.nicheinternational.org.uk/front-page/truly-sustainable-training.

Further training and Instructor support is planned for 2025. Facilitation of peer-to-peer learning.

India: Trustees are exploring a request for training in neonatal care.

Updating the Neonatal Care Course : Plan to complete work on this to provide more interactive sessions, and accessible online modules for learners. A trial run of this course will take place in UK before it is taught in Uganda inn January 2025.

Fuller details of NICHE International’s background, achievements and plans, including costings, are detailed in the charity’s current business plan which may be found on the website. www.nicheinternational.org.uk

Financial Review

Policy on reserves

The charity currently holds no substantial reserves. The funds available have been used for charitable activities.

Should the charity be in the position to build up reserves in unrestricted funds, this would be used in the first instance to provide an emergency fund in case extraction of the charity’s volunteers working overseas were to become necessary.

Review of accounts

During first part of the year, funding came from a mixture of grants and fundraising by the trustees.

The online support of courses and material developed, which is listed above, was carried out by the charity’s volunteers.

Funds currently held will be used to deliver our training courses – Neonatal Care Course (NCC) and Generic Instructor Course (GIC)

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:

Signature(s): Full name(s): Alison Earley Sebastian Palmer Position: Trustee Trustee Date: 31[st] May 2025 1[st] June 2025

INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS REPORT

Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees/Members of NICHE International

I have examined the accounts of NICHE International for the year ended 3rd October 2024, as set out on pages 8 to 9 of this report.

Trustees' Responsibilities

As the trustees of NICHE International, you are responsible for preparing the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (the "Act").

Basis of Independent Examiner’s Report

I report on my examination of the charity’s accounts, conducted under Section 145 of the Charities Act 2011. In carrying out my examination, I have followed the relevant directions issued by the Charity Commission under Section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent Examiner’s Statement

I have completed my examination and can confirm that nothing has come to my attention during the examination that causes me to believe, in any material respect, that:

I have no other concerns or issues to raise regarding the accounts that would need to be highlighted to ensure a full understanding of the financial statements.

Signed:

Dated: 22 May 2025

Alliah Hamid Swan Accountants Studio 208, Embroidery Mill, Abbey Mill Business Centre, Paisley, Scotland. PA1 1TJ

STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS

For the year ended 3[rd] October 2024

2024
Unrestricted
Funds
£		 2024
Restricted
Funds
£		 2024
Total
£		 2023
Total
£
Receipts
Public Donations 2,784 0 2,784 17,256
Donor Funds 3,500 0 3,500 15,000
Fees 0 0 0 0
Repayments 0 0 0 0
Gift Aid Claimed 0 0 0 1,250
Total receipts 6,284 0 6,284 33,506
Payments
Bank Charges 0 2 2 24
Communications 0 0 0 160
Independent Examination Fees 144 0 144 144
Insurance 0 255 255 0
IT Software 144 132 276 0
Postage 0 0 0 170
Stationery 0 0 0 32
Sundry 0 226 226 0
Travel Expenses – Cameroon 0 6,746 6,746 1,188
Travel Expenses – Uganda 0 0 0 7,016
Course Expenses - Cameroon 0 0 0 164
Course Expenses – Uganda 0 0 0 2,881
Total Payments 288 7,361 7,649 11,779
Surplus / (Deficit) for year 5,996 (7,361) (1,365) 21,727
Transfer between funds 0 0 0 0
Cash funds at 4thOct 2023 10,925 17,387 28,312 7,832
Cash funds at 3rd Oct 2024 16,921 10,026 26,947 28,312

STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

As at 3[rd] October 2024

Unrestricted Restricted Total Funds Funds £ £ £ ~~a~~ Cash Funds Bank account 16,921 10,026 26,947 ~~a~~ Cash 50 0 50 ~~i~~ Paypal 1,207 0 1,207 ~~a~~ Total Cash Funds 18,178 10,026 28,204 ~~a a~~ Other Monetary Assets: ~~a~~ Debtors 0 0 0 ~~a a~~ Assets Retained for the Charity’s own use: ~~a~~ Equipment – Manekins (2021), Projector (2022) 718 0 718 ~~a a~~ Liabilities: ~~a~~ Professional fees – Independent Examination 385 0 385 Catering and Hotel Bill - Cameroon 0 4,000 4,000

The financial statements were approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by:

Signature(s): Full name(s): Alison Earley Sebastian Palmer Position: Trustee Trustee Date: 31[st] May 2025 1[st] June 2025