## **Media Matters for Women UK Annual Report** for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022 |**CONTENTS**|| |---|---| |**Letter from the Chair**|**3**| |**Legal and Administrative Information**|**4**| |**Our Aim**|**5**| |**Our History**|**6**| |**Our Mission and Vision**|**7**| |**Our Values**|**8**| |**Our Strategy**|**9**| |**Growth and Moving Forward**|**10**| |**Our Charitable Objectives and Activities**|**11**| |**Financial Review and Reserves**|**12**| |**Statement of Trustee Responsibilities**|**13**| |**Independent Examiner’s Report**|**14**| |**Receipts and Payments Accounts**|**15**| |**Notes**|**17**| 2 ## Letter from the Chair 2022 was a year of growth for Media Matters for Women . Building on the work done in 2021 with the successful MMW Period Power Project, we introduced Period Power Project II. In this, we partnered with MMW Sierra Leone and 30 local, rural schools in 3 provinces of Sierra Leone, to reach over 1000 students in their Home Economics classes with critical information on sexual and menstrual health education and with skills training to make reusable sanitary pads that will keep them in school during menstruation. In light of the national elections in June 2023, we supported a civic education project focused on empowering women to understand their voting rights and the power of their vote, whilst educating them on why and how to register to vote in September-October 2022. In November, a major 16 Days of Activism on Violence Against Women and Girls campaign was held in 3 provinces of Sierra Leone, which included motorbike parades, handing the mic over to let listeners have their say, and radio shows supported by Africell - with listeners calling in to discuss SGBV issues in Sierra Leone. In conjunction with this, our grantee partner held the second-annual MMW Community Influencer Awards honoring MMW listeners who have taken real steps to curb violence against women and girls in their communities. Another important initiative, and our first financial empowerment project, was the opening of the Kamalenka Fish Farm in the Northwest province, which brought new skills training and income opportunities to women in this highly impoverished region of Sierra Leone. This initiative was sponsored by the World Bank. As we look ahead, significant challenges remain. The level of violence against women and girls in Sierra Leone continues to skyrocket(at least 62 percent of women and girls have experienced physical or sexual violence, which is the highest rate in West Africa, according to a 2019 USAID study.) In the wake of the contentious 2023 election, the potential for economic unrest and political violence remains high. Inspiring women to take a more active role in elections and voting is an important step in bringing greater attention to, and action on, women’s issues. MMW is ready to address these challenges and to ensure that every dollar donated directly contributes to the success of our efforts. MMW’s work in 2022 in Sierra Leone would not have been possible without the generous support of private donors and grants from the likes of Lush and The Oak Foundation, with further vital grants made to our partners organizations in the US. These funds have allowed MMW to concentrate on its core mission while strengthening the organization as it grows. To each member of the MMW staff, our volunteer advisors, donors, partners, and the many others who make MMW’s efforts possible and successful, we extend our sincerest gratitude. You continue to inspire this organization every day and your energy and commitment are the essence of MMW’s triumphs. Sincerely, Katie Faulds Board Chair Media Matters for Women UK 3 ## **LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION** The Trustees present their report and independently examined accounts of the charity for the period ended 31 December 2022. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements. ## **REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS** Registered charity name Media Matters for Women UK Charity registration number 1185508 Registered office Sable Lodge Pine Walk East Horsley KT24 5AG Trustees Katie Faulds Gaimin Nonyane Anthony Skinner: _Appointment in January 2023_ Lisa Sebree: _Resignation in December 2022_ Anton Mifsud-Bonnici: _Resignation in January 2023_ ## **STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE & MANAGEMENT** The Board of Trustees consists of three Trustees who continue in office until retirement or death. New Trustees are selected by existing Trustees and are people who have specific interest in the charity and a range of skills to enhance its development. New trustees undergo an orientation to brief them of their legal obligations under charity law, the committee and decision-making process and recent financial activities of the charity. Media Matters for Women UK is a charitable incorporated organization (CIO). It was established under a CIO Foundation Constitution which governs its activities, objectives and powers. MMW UK was registered in the United Kingdom with the UK registration number of 1185508 on 26 September 2019. Media Matters for Women UK partners with Media Matters for Women Sierra Leone, (MMW SL) a registered NGO located in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and MMW US, a 501(c)(3) organization registered in Bellevue, Washington, USA, whose mission and operations are aligned with MMW UK. MMW SL is overseen by the Board of Trustees of MMW UK. 4 ## Our Aim In 2022, Media Matters for Women UK focused on supporting MMW SL with its mission of helping women and girls in rural Sierra Leone that are excluded from the Information Age due to extreme poverty. Our aim is to achieve gender equality by engaging and empowering rural women and girls to actively take part in a women’s movement that begins in their village and spreads across the country. Working through partnerships, MMW has created a nationwide media network across rural Sierra Leone to amplify the visibility, appeal and reach of women’s rights agendas and the role of women’s movements in advancing democracy and justice. MMW UK works closely with international partners, MMW Sierra Leone, a registered NGO, and MMW US, a 501(c)(3) organization. Each entity acts independently, having its own Board and bank accounts. 5 History Since its first pilot project in 2013 through to the present, Media Matters for Women has created a communications network that is the foundation of a movement that lifts up and supports rural women and girls living in poverty in rural Sierra Leone. From humble beginnings with a staff of 4 to its current robust network of 82 trained activists, our grantee partner, Media Matters for Women Sierra Leone, has matured into a trusted and well-known platform for news and information that rural communities rely upon to understand issues, find critical services, and connect with one another to reach common ground and solutions to the issues they are facing. As the organization has evolved, so has our impact. Field staff of MMW Sierra Leone are hired directly from the communities we serve and are trained as women’s rights activists. They are considered by the people of the villages to be authorities in their communities due in large part to the carefully cultivated relationships and engagement with the traditional and religious leaders who hold immense power in rural areas. Direct-touch broadcasts in over 100 communities now reach over 50,000 listeners each month in three regions of Sierra Leone—the Western Rural Area, Northern Province, and Eastern Province. Through a partnership with Africell, broadcasts are now being aired nationwid ~~e.~~ on AfriRadio and its partner stations, including 8 rural community radio stations that now reach all 5 provinces of Sierra Leone. 6 ## Our Mission To connect women and girls—those beyond the reach of traditional media-- with information and inspiration that enables them to be healthy, live safely, and fully enjoy their rights. ## Our Vision MMW envisions a world where women and girls are in control of their rights and possess the tools to make informed decisions about their own well-being. 7 **----- Start of picture text -----**
Our Values
We maintain
integrity and
accountability
beyond reproach
We are socially,
financially, and We leave no one
environmentally behind .
responsible .
We strive for
excellence and to We do not
continually discriminate.
improve .
We build
We do no harm .
communities .
We are resilient.
**----- End of picture text -----**
8 Strategies for Strengthening the Work of Media Matters for Women 1. Strengthening and equipping journalists and young activist leadership and capacity Training and leadership development; exchange and dialogue; accompaniment and organizing support; power analysis and strategy development; political facilitation; risk analysis, wellbeing. 2. Building and accompanying alliances and networks around shared agendas for change Developing networks and movement alliance; strategic partnerships for skills/knowledge/access; development of organisational capacity. 3. Strategic advocacy, urgent action and mobilizing Influence Advocacy and strategic engagement on specific issues or cases, local to global; enabling women activists to engage power holders directly; mobilizing and leveraging allies inside and outside power structures; activating global solidarity on urgent action threats. 4. Generating and publishing knowledge (analysis, methodology) from practice Distilling insights from the work of the organisation to produce influential and useful resources; Shaping the thinking, and practice in related fields (human rights protection, citizen participation, etc.); developing and sharing feminist popular education methodology; participatory research and knowledge generation with activists. 5. Communications and amplifying voices Making “invisible” voices, stories and perspectives heard; challenging and changing narratives about women, women activists, and their agendas for change; creative use of mainstream, alternative and social media. 9 ## Growth and moving forward Media Matters for Women has reached a point where it can build on its solid foundation to begin to work at the higher policy level, leveraging both its nationwide listener base and established relationships with local leaders to create changes in both attitudes and the laws that reinforce them. We continue to see a strong need to develop and build rural women’s individual and collective power to transform their lives and the world around them. Through its work to date, Media Matters for Women has learned that access to information is only the first step. Now the organization will take that knowledge and work to influence the laws that impact rural women and girls. 10 ## **Objectives and Activities for the Public Benefit** The Trustees confirm that they have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the Charity’s aims and objectives and in planning future activities and setting grant making policy for the year. ## **Our Objectives** (A) To advance the education of socially and economically disadvantaged women and girls in Africa (initially in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) for the public benefit, in particular, but not exclusively by, the provision of grants, training and equipment to facilitate the dissemination in remote geographic areas of information relating to: - women’s rights (for example, as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and subsequent United Nations conventions and declarations, and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms); - women’s health (for example, sexual and reproductive health, family planning and gender based violence); - financial education; and - public or community health (for example, best practices and procedures to deal with communicable diseases such as Ebola and COVID-19). (B) To develop the capacity and skills of socially and economically disadvantaged women and girls in rural areas of Africa (initially in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in such a way that they are better able to identify and help meet their needs and to participate more fully in society. ## **Our Activities:** During 2022, MMW UK supported MMW Sierra Leone, through grant funding and mentorship, on the following projects: - Period Power Project 2 - Advancing civic education leading up to the 2022 national elections in Sierra Leone - The Kamalenka fish farm project - 16 Days of Activism (building a women’s movement) - Core support for MMW Sierra Leone operations 11 ## **Financial Review** MMW UK is grateful for the support received from individuals and foundations in the UK and US for the important work being done by our partners in Sierra Leone. During 2022, we were pleased and extremely grateful to receive significant contributions in the MMW UK arm from Oak Foundation, as well as private donors and crowd funding – funds which were used to further our cause, and which have had measurable impact in broadening our reach through a number of impactful initiatives. As at the end of 2022, we remain in a strong position financially and look forward to using the funds to continue our efforts in 2023. In FY 2022, MMW UK raised a total of £73,519 income (2021: £6,000). At the end of 2022 MMW UK held £7,645 in unrestricted funds in the MMW UK bank account (2021: £952). There were no restricted funds at the end of the year. ## **Reserves Policy** The charity intends to maintain low reserves, equivalent to one month’s operating expenses (circa £4,000), and will be reliant on donors. There will be an enhanced focus on funding and reserves moving forward in 2023. 12 ## **STATEMENT OF TRUSTEE RESPONSIBLITIES** The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102; The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). Trustees are required to prepare accounts for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including income and expenditure, of the charitable company for the year. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to: - Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; - Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP; - Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; - State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; - Prepare the accounts on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operations. The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable entity. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. The Trustees declare that they have approved the Trustees’ Report. Signed on behalf of the charity’s Trustees Katie Faulds Chair of the Board of Trustees 13 ## **Independent Examiner’s report** ## **Report to the trustees of Media Matters for Women UK (charity number 1185508) On accounts for the year ended 31[st] December 2022** I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31st December 2022. As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”). Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the Company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your charity’s accounts as carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’). In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5) (b) of the 2011 Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: - accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act or - the accounts do not accord with the accounting records I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Louise Alexander, ACMA 3 Upper High Street Ipswich IP1 3NE Date **13th October 2023** 14 **----- Start of picture text -----**
Media Matters for Women UK No (if any)
Receipts and payments accounts CC16a
For the period Jan-22 31-Dec-22
To
from
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds Last year
funds funds funds
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Grants 64,848 - - 64,848 -
Donations 500 8,156 - 8,656 1,000
Bank Interest 15 - - 15 -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total (Gross income for
AR) [ 65,363 ] 8,156 - 73,519 1,000
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - -
- - - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total receipts 65,363 8,156 - 73,519 1,000
A3 Payments
Transfers to Sierre Leone 56,253 4,956 - 61,209 -
Consultants - 3,200 - 3,200 -
Travel Expenses 2,122 - - 2,122 -
Bank Charges 237 - - 237 48
Software Subscriptions 58 - - 58 -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total [ 58,670 ] 8,156 - 66,826 48
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total [ - ] - - - -
Total payments 58,670 8,156 - 66,826 48
Net of receipts/(payments) 6,693 - - 6,693 952
A5 Transfers between funds - - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 952 - - 952 -
Cash funds this year end 7,645 - - 7,645 952
**----- End of picture text -----**
Katie Faulds CCXX R1 accounts (SS) 04/10/2023 1 |**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at**|**the end of the period**|| |---|---|---|---| |**Categories**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
**B5 Liabilities**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B1 Cash funds**|**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
Signature|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**7,645**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**7,645**
**-**
OK
OK
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
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**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
Print Name
Katie Faulds|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**952**
**-**
**-**| ||||**952**| ||||Agreement Error| ||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
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**Current value**
**(optional)**
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**(optional)**
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**When due**
**(optional)**
Date of
approval| CCXX R2 accounts (SS) 04/10/2023 2 Katie Faulds ## **Notes to the Accounts – For the period ended 31 December 2022** ## **ACCOUNTING POLICIES** ## **Basis of Accounting** The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), effective 1 January 2015 and the Charities SORP (FRS 102). ## **Going concern** The trustees have reviewed the finances for MMW UK and confirm that the charity has sufficient funds for the following 18 months and is a going concern. ## **Accounting period** The reporting period is 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022. ## **Donated goods and services** Donated goods and services are recognized as income when; - The charity has entitlement over the economic benefits that flow from the donation; - It is probably the associated economic benefits will flow to the entity; and - Their value can be measured reliably. Fair value is determined on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity. For example, the amount the charity would be willing to pay in the open market for such goods and services. A corresponding amount is recognized in expenditure within the relevant expense category. ## **Related Party Transactions:** Trustee Expenses for Lisa Sebree Travel to Sierra Leone April 2022: £2122 There are no other costs to related parties. ## **Grants:** In 2022 MMW UK received £64,848 in grants (2021: nil). The grants in 2022 were from The Oak Foundation (£62,347.99) & Lush Charity Pot (£2500). 14 ## **Donations:** In 2022 MMW received £8,656 in donations (2021: £1,000). The donations were as follows: - £5,331 from Sharon Bylenga £500 Paxus Donation £2,825 in Crowd Funding Donations ## **Restricted Funds:** In 2022, the donations from Sharon Bylenga were restricted funds (£5,331), to be used as follows: - £3,200 to fund a consultant that supported MMW UK during the course of 2022. - £2,131 to help fund the MMW SL Period Power Project. The donations that came through Crowd funding (£2,825) were also restricted funds, used to fund the Period Power Project. All restricted funds were used in the year, with no restricted funds left at year end. 15