THE POTTER’S HOUSE C.B.O (COMMUNITY BASED ORGANISATION)
TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT
YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH 2021.
REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS
Name: The Potter’s House Community Based Organisation
The Potter’s House CBO
Registered Charity number: 1183023
The board of trustees: Mrs Ruth Stevens
Mr Benjamin Gill Mrs Ruth Magness Mrs Jane Dodds
Registered office: Glyn Canol, Manafon Welshpool, Powys SY21 8BS
Email: info@thepottershousecbo.com
STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
The Potter’s House CBO is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation Registered 17 Apr 2019
Governing document: CIO Foundation Constitution
Policies and operating decisions rest with the Trustees who meet at least four times each year to plan, oversee and monitor the support provided to activities in Kenya of The Potter’s House CBO, Njoro. Trustees are responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the Charity, all trustees are voluntary. New trustees are considered and appointed by the Board of Trustees in accordance with the constitution, taking account of their skills and experience in relation to the Charity's objectives and any areas of expertise where it is felt that recruitment would be beneficial. All trustees are Board Members of The Potter’s House CBO, Njoro, Kenya.
OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES
As stated in the constitution, the objects of the Charity are for the public benefit, the relief of those in need, in accordance with Christian principles, by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial or other disadvantage in particular but not exclusively by: (A) Providing items and services to families who do not have the
resources, skills or capability to provide for themselves, (B) By providing or assisting in the provision of education, training, healthcare projects and all the necessary support designed to enable individuals to generate a sustainable income and be self-sufficient, (C) By providing or assisting in the provision of accommodation and care for children who are in need and/or at risk of being neglected and suffering abuse in Njoro, Nakuru County, Kenya.
The Potter’s House CBO works exclusively with The Potter’s House CBO in Njoro, Kenya, a registered Community Based Organisation. The activities supported involve, education, skills training, disability awareness and support, Christian outreach, counselling, family, and community empowerment. The Potter’s House CBO acts as a partner to each activity with the day-to-day management for activities in Njoro being the responsibility of the Board Members of The Potter’s House CBO, Njoro. All Trustees are Board members.
PUBLIC BENEFIT
The charity trustees have complied with their duty in section 17(5) of the 2011 Charites Act to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission in exercising their powers and duties. The trustees always ensure that the activities undertaken are in line with our charitable objects and aims.
ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE
The Potter’s House CBO works exclusively with The Potter’s House CBO in Njoro, Kenya (hereby noted as TPH-N) a registered Community Based Organisation. TPH-N receives referrals from Njoro Children’s Services, social workers, police, village Chiefs, community health volunteers, schools, and other community level individuals. TPH-N meets the immediate and basic needs of a family but also offers long–term solutions. They support and strengthen families by providing items/services and empower parents by providing training and work opportunities, to become self-sufficient. TPH-N equip families with the knowledge and skills needed to break the cycle of extreme poverty and to be able to provide the safe, stable, and loving family home children need. TPH-N also facilitate disability support groups, provide child counselling, and carry out evangelistic activities.
Through the partnership with TPH-N, The Potter’s House CBO has funded the following activities in the year 2020 – 2021.
Support has been given to 29 families throughout the year, the extent of support has been dependent on both the needs of the family collectively and the individual needs of family members. The Living conditions of the families have been improved by supporting with items such as beds, blankets, mattresses, cooking utensils, clothes and shoes. For families where family members are missing meals on a regular basis because of poverty, we have supported the supply of regular food items. We have also given support for needed medicine or hospital treatment that was unaffordable to families. Parents have been empowered by being supported in skills training and education. 6 people living with disabilities were partially supported to get needed wheelchairs.
Coronavirus outbreak
In March 2020, following the outbreak of coronavirus, the Kenyan government closed schools and placed restrictions on travel. With no school, children spent much of the day wandering the streets and life for the poorest and most vulnerable became even harder. The poorest found it difficult to find work because the big farms, flower farms, hotels and sawmills had been closed. In the early days, wealthy farmers were not selling stock and instead storing it for themselves, while others were taking advantage and increasing the costs, as a result food prices increased sharply, supply decreased and due to lack of education about covid-19 people were afraid to buy from small shops or kibandas for fear of the virus. Wearing a face mask in public became mandatory despite many of the poorest and most vulnerable not being able to afford one.
The outbreak of the coronavirus inevitably disrupted some of the more usual activities of TPH-N but gave opportunity for others.
Covid-19 relief – Following the government directive regarding face masks, we were able to support the making and giving out of nearly one thousand face masks to families living in poverty who could not afford to buy one. At the same time TPH-N spent time educating the poorest and most vulnerable about the risks of covid-19 and how best to stay safe. Food was distributed to the poorest families, as was soap and fuel.
Education – We believe that the key to ending poverty is education and we have been pleased to be able to support TPH-N in funding a qualified teacher to teach 5 children and 1 adult daily during the time that schools were closed due to covid-19. Our support with education during school closures also extended to funding the placements of 2 young boys in tailoring courses at a local business and the placements of 3 parents in hairdressing or tailoring courses.
Once schools and colleges reopened in January 2021, we have been able to fund uniforms, school admission fees, school lunches, exam fees for all the children in families referred to TPH-N who were not previously attending school due to poverty, ensuring that all school aged children in these families are now receiving education.
Income generation – For some of the families, the greatest need is regular income. To improve the lives of the children and reduce poverty for the family, long term solutions are needed. 3 parents were supported to start up small businesses. The Parents were supplied with all the necessary equipment needed to start and mentored while establishing the business.
Bible Club – Following the closure of schools due to covid-19, we were pleased to be able to support TPH-N in providing a bible club for boys who had been wandering in the streets. The club ran Monday – Friday for 5 months and came to an end mid December 2020. During the club boys enjoyed games, teaching from the bible, discussion and mentoring as well as some snacks. The program was successful and out of this TPH-N was able to identify boys who had dropped out of school or had not been going to school due to family challenges. Wider social issues were also addressed.
Some of the positive changes that have been seen as a result of the club include, 3 boys who used to sleep on the streets have returned home, not as much stealing has been reported in the community, a 10yr old boy who used to stay out on the streets begging for food now attends school and no longer stays away from home, 3 boys who were not in education now attend school and relationships within the families have improved.
Disability awareness and support – We have been able to support TPH-N facilitating Disability Support Groups. Due to the increased workload, a new member of staff responsible for the disability group work was employed one day a week starting January 2021. Disability groups have been formed in areas within Njoro subcounty by working with community volunteers. The groups provide a fully inclusive space where the members feel accepted and equally valued. As a result of these groups many parents and carers have stopped hiding their disabled children because of the stigma they face and have started integrating them into their communities.
Parent Support Group – We have supported TPH-N to run a weekly parent support group for some of the parents that they support. The parents are taken through the Yekokeb Berhan “Better Parenting Training” course which is intended for volunteers, parents, caregivers, and others who work closely with the children and their families. The focus is on improving parenting knowledge, attitudes, and skills. Positive changes within the family environment and in relationships have been reported and seen. The support group also gives an opportunity to discuss and address other issues that families may be facing.
Food Bank – Many parents in Njoro struggle to feed their families and many children suffer from malnutrition as a result. TPH-N has formed a community food bank that encourages those in the community that can afford to, to donate food to be distributed to families in need.
Christmas food package – In addition to normal food support, we were able to support TPH-N giving every family referred to them a food package at Christmas.
Counselling – Many children living in poverty have been exposed to some trauma during their life and so we have supported TPH-N to employ a child counsellor two days a week to counsel traumatised children weekly. TPH-N has forged good relationships with local schools meaning that since January 2021 the counsellor has been able to work in the schools, counselling the children referred to TPH-N one to one, as well as taking group sessions requested by the school. These sessions have had a positive impact on the children’s mental wellbeing and on family life.
TPH-N provides spiritual guidance and actively seeks to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In conclusion, the impact of our support has been evidenced by children accessing education, parents learning new skills and generating regular income and so improving their living standards. Improved living conditions have been seen in all families, relationships within families have improved and less children are living on the streets. There has been increased awareness of covid-19, improved relationships within the communities for the disabled, increased awareness of disability leading to less isolation for children with disabilities and improved children’s mental health through counselling.
FINANCIAL REVIEW
At the end of the financial period the Charity had cash funds of £7241. These were the result of a cash funds at the opening of the financial period of £1591 then Receipts totalling £12,811 and Payments totalling £7161 over the financial period. Our principal source of funds was direct donations from individuals or churches, with the only exception being the PayPal Giving Fund (See detailed financial report)
This is because this year we were able to get ourselves registered with PayPal as a registered charity which has expanded the means by which we are able to receive donations. This has been particularly effective in allowing donations from further afield with donations from individuals in the USA, Canada and Australia as well as supporters in the UK. It has also had the unintended consequence that we now also receive funds from the PayPal Giving Fund which we have also put to use.
The policy of the Charity is to ideally hold sufficient reserves to be able to support the work of TPH-N uninterrupted for 3 months despite an interruption to donation income. As such it has been a great encouragement this year, despite the challenges of COVID, to see both awareness and consequently donations increase over the course of this year to the point that this has been achieved. As things stand at the moment, we are able to support our charitable objectives and hold sufficient reserves to ensure we can continue to do so regardless of further external circumstances.
It has been a humbling and wonderful to finish our second year as a registered charity (and our first in a pandemic!) without any deficit and having met our commitments, what is more, having built up our reserves.
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