2021-12-31-accounts - Krio Descendants Union UK And Ireland

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Trustees’ Annual Report for the period

From: 1[st] January 2021 To: 31[st] December 2021

Charity name: Krio Descendants Union United Kingdom & Ireland

Charity registration number: 1189037

Objectives and Activities

	SORP reference
Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document	Para 1.17	(1) The advancement of the education of the public~~in~~the culture and history of the Krio people of Sierra Leone. (2) The promotion and protection of health in Freetown, Sierra Leone, by the provision of health outreach programmes that consist of health awareness sessions/talks in the areas of basic hygiene, nutrition, disease prevention, HIV, sexual health and pregnancy that are delivered by registered health practitioners.
Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public benefit, in particular, the activities, projects or services identified in the accounts.	Para 1.17 and 1.19	Activities: Owing to Covid-9, we were only able to host a social evening for members to meet and socialise with each other. We continue to have virtual meetings to share ideas and brainstorm on philanthropic work to be undertaken in Sierra Leone and how to raise funds when possible. Fundraising Activities: The organisation cancelled all public facing fundraising activities due to Covid-19. All funds raised during the year were from members’ subscriptions and donations.
Statement confirming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit	Para 1.18	The Trustees continue to put in place policies, financial regulations and systems for the efficient management of the organisation. In doing so, Trustees pay due regard to the guidance of the Charity Commission, particularly in relation to public benefit.

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:	Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
Policy on grant making	KDU UKI does not offer grants.
Policy on social investment including program related investment	KDU UKI has not engaged in social investment.

Contribution made by As stated under Fundraising above. volunteers Other

Achievements and Performance

	Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the difference the charity’s work has made to the circumstances of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a whole.	One year since I was elected as president of this noble group on the 29thJanuary 2021 has gone so quickly with all the difficulties that the world had to contend with due to the COVID 19 Pandemic. However, due to our resilience, we have been able to make do with the situation and support each other as best as possible. The 2020 Trustees election which was the organisation’s first ever election to elect permanent trustees was conducted in a professional and organised way to give individual members the democratic opportunity to choose their trustees. The elections team including the two external elections officers (Messrs Herbert Marlin and Winston Webber) did a brilliant job and the organisation thanked them for their professionalism. I started my role with few vacant posts that the trustees had to elect members to fill until the by- election. This took place in April 2021 but there were no candidates put forward for the positions. Therefore the trustees had to appoint members to fill in the vacant positions. The organisation was able to continue business as usual by holding the monthly trustees and general meetings via Zoom for the whole year apart from August and December 21 when a collective decision was made by the group to take a break to give members the chance to spend the summer and Christmas holidays with their families. Trustees The trustees have been meeting virtually to discuss and make vital decisions about the progress of the organisation. I would like to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to all the trustees and ex-officio for all their hard work in making some significant progress in moving the organisation forward.

During the past year the organisation has made progress in the following areas. Resolution of the use of the KDU name with KDU Global – we have been able to open positive communication with KDU Global and we are proud to say that KDU UK & I is now a chapter of KDU Global. Confirmation letter from Global was emailed to all members for their information. The response has generally been positive and we look forward to continuing progress with good relationships maintained with the entire KDU/KDY family at home and in the diaspora. Trustees have worked with the Governance team to file the relevant paperwork to the Charity Commission (CIO Annual Returns and Accounts) as required. A very big thank you to Bro. Khadiru and Bro. Kayode for all your hard work and continuous support in explaining and updating members with the governance requirements. Trustees have been able to sign the CIO declaration form as required by the Charity Commission. Plans for the Inaugural Thanksgiving Service are in progress and a date has been set for the 20 February 2022 – The plan is to have a virtual or hybrid thanksgiving service celebration depending on the COVID restrictions. The building of the Organisation website is in progress, although the progress is currently slow. A big thank you to Bro. Abdul Thomas who has contributed £500 towards the building of the website. Social evening was held on the 11[th] December 2021 - The organisation was able to successfully organise a social evening for members to meet and socialise, particularly the new members. A big thank you to the social team for taking the lead to organise the event. The organisation has been able to recruit a total of 12 new members for 2021. The organisation continues to receive membership applications from interested Krio individuals. Members have been able to agree on one of the traditional ‘print’ fabric patterns in the market which members can use until the organisation is in the position to produce their own unique/authentic

‘Ashobi’/uniform.

The organisation is currently planning for our second AGM on 29[th] January 2022. The Governance team is taking the lead to put the relevant papers together to share with members and work with the elections team to organise the election as required by the constitution. Resolutions for amendments to the constitution in some sections will also be put forward to members at the AGM. The organisation has been able to successfully apply for online banking for the President, Secretary and Treasurer to monitor and manage the account. The Heritage team has been creative in thinking about ways of learning about our culture and heritage by sharing parables etc during general meetings to make the meetings more interesting The IT team has been proactive by ensuring that the online forum is up to date with the forum rules and keeping members attuned to the expectations. Things that are still in the pipeline for 2022 . Effort was made to liaise with KDY to contribute towards the Christmas health outreach for 2021, unfortunately it was too late to put the plans in action. This will be done for Easter or Christmas 2022. Plans to undertake fund raising activities such as Luncheon Sale and Dinner & Dance or African Night will be discussed depending on the COVID restrictions. Plans for the organisation to explore partnership/ working relationship with other charitable organisations in England. Promoting our philanthropic work in Sierra Leone Supporting the Krio Museum building in Sierra Leone via KDY Finance

The Treasurer position was one of the posts that was not filled during the election for trustees and subsequent by-election. However Mrs Valerie Easmon-George was kind enough to continue with the post until a suitable person is appointed to the

post. Unfortunately Sister Valerie could not continue after mid 2021 due to personal reasons. A very big thank you to Sister Valerie for all her hard work in maintaining the accounts. The president had to oversee the accounts until end of 2021 when Lindsay Benjamin agreed to accept the Treasurer post to manage the accounts. A very big thank you to Lindsay and Cecilia Pratt who has been contacting members to pay their subscription and also maintaining and updating the membership spreadsheet. Moving forward, Lindsay will be working with the finance team to set up a Benevolence account.

Secretariat/Membership

We have an effective secretariat team who has been working hard to keep the communication flowing by sending agendas and minutes to members before every meetings.

On behalf of the trustees, I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Yvette for managing this post with the support of the team to ensure that someone is available to take minutes at every meeting.

We currently have a healthy membership number of 71 paid up members. Within the past year we have had an increase of 12 new members and few more applications are currently being processed.

The membership policy and process is working effectively and the trustees and members will continue to monitor and keep it under review.

The trustees and members would like to say a big thank you to Cecilia Elliot for working efficiently to recruit new members and liaising with possible applicants to join the organisation. Cecilia continues to keep trustees and members up to date about the timescales for new members to join the forum and ensures that they pay their admin fee and subscription at the start of their membership.

Pastoral Team

The pastoral team has been working tirelessly to keep in contact with members who are sick, bereaved and generally keeping in touch with members to check on their wellbeing and how they are getting on

during the COVID pandemic. Regular birthday messages are posted on the general forum by the pastoral team to wish members on their birthdays. This has been working well and members appreciate the care and support that they have been receiving from the pastoral team. A very big thank you to Nellie and the Pastoral Team for all their hard work in keeping in contact with individual members during this unprecedented time. Organising Social Team

The organising social team plays a pivotal role and will always step up when the organisation is planning an event. Although the planning of fund raising activities has been slow due to prevailing circumstances but the team have been working hard to think about creative ways of planning activities. The team was successful in taking the lead to organise the Christmas social evening. Members pulled together and contributed in various ways to make the event a success. The team is currently working with the Pastoral team/Thanksgiving committee to plan for the upcoming thanksgiving service. A very big thank you to Beatrice and the Organising Social Team for working hard and liaising with members to take part in the planning and execution of events. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to say a very big thank you to every individual member for all your support and putting your trust in me to lead this our noble group. I have learnt a lot within this short space of time and will continue to learn to achieve our goals.

I have learnt to be extra patience to maintain decorum and work almost effectively with individual characters to ‘steady the ship’. This has been my highlight for the year, because without the support and cooperation of everyone, I would not have been able to make significant progress to achieve some of our objectives.

We still have a lot to achieve and with all our effort and God’s help, we can make progress in achieving our goal.

Additional information (optional)

You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

Achievements against Para 1.41 objectives set Performance of fundraising Para 1.41 activities against objectives set Investment performance Para 1.41 against objectives Other

Financial Review

Review of the charity’s financial position at the end of the period	Para 1.21	Details in the Income and Expenditure Report.
Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves statingwhy they areheld	Para 1.22	This is in development as we grow our funds.
Amount of reserves held	Para 1.22	This is to be determined as we grow our funds.
Reasons for holding zero reserves	Para 1.22	Not applicable
Details of fund materially in deficit	Para 1.24	Not applicable
Explanation of any uncertainties about the charity continuing as a going concern	Para 1.23	Not applicable

Additional information (optional)

Additional information (optional)	Additional information (optional)
You may choose to include further statements		where relevant about:
The charity’s principal sources of funds (including anyfundraising)	Para 1.47	Subscription and donations. We anticipate funds from fundraising activities to be the mainsource of income goingforward.
Investment policy and objectives including any social investment policy adopted	Para 1.46
A description of the principal risks facing the charity	Para 1.46	Covid-19 and resulting inability to undertake fundraising activities and provide services for public benefit in the short term.

Other

Structure, Governance and Management

Description of charity’s trusts:
Type of governing document (trust deed, royal charter)	Para 1.25	Constitution and Bye Laws
How is the charity constituted? (e.g unincorporated association, CIO)	Para 1.25	Charity Incorporated Organisation (CIO)
Trustee selection methods including details of any constitutional provisions e.g. election to post or name of any person or body entitled to appoint one or more trustees	Para 1.25	Election of Trustees is in accordance with our Nominations and Elections Procedures which allows every paid-up member one vote per contested position. The constitution makes provision for elections to be overseen by two independent Electoral Officers.

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements	Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements	where relevant about:
Policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees	Para 1.51	Trustees Roles & Responsibilities, Code of Conduct, NCVO Charity Governance Code for Small Charities, The Essential Trustees: Trustees’ 6 main duties (Charity Commission’s Guidance).
The charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works	Para 1.51	Organisational Structure: Chair & Trustees, Sub-Committees, Members. Networks include Small Charities Coalition and National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO).
Relationship with any related parties	Para 1.51	None.
Other

Reference and Administrative details

Charity name	Krio Descendants Union UK & Ireland
Other name the charity uses	KDU UKI
Registered charitynumber	1189037
Charity’s principal address	75 Northview Swanley Kent BR8 7BG

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year
Ellen Samuels	President	29.01.2021 – present
Mr George Wilson	Vice President	29.01.2021 – present
Mrs Yvette Erritan John	General Secretary	30.11.19 – present

Martin Morgan	Heritage Secretary	29.01.2021 – present
Samuel Rex-Dyfan	IT & E- Communications Officer	29.01.2021 – present
Mrs Beryl Genevieve Juma		30.11.19 – Present
Dr Kayode Ronald Adesimi Robbin-Coker	Assistant Heritage Secretary	30.11.19 – Present
Mrs Beatrice Comfort Scott- Boyle	Organising Secretary	30.11.19 – Present
Angella Peterson-Caulker	Assistant Organising Secretary	29.01.2021 – Present
Ramatulai Adisa-Sesay	Assistant Welfare & Pastoral Officer	29.01.2021 – Present
Lindsay Benjanin	Treasurer	01.01.2022-Present
Corporate trustees–names of the directors at the date the report was approved Director name Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity Trustee name Dates acted if not for whole year Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others Description of the assets held in this capacity Name and objects of the charity on whose behalf the assets are held and how this falls within the custodian charity’s objects Details of arrangements for safe custody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets
Director name

Name of trustees holding title t
Trustee name	Dates acted if not for whole year


Description of the assets held in this capacity
Name and objects of the charity on whose behalf the assets are held and how this falls within the custodian charity’s objects
Details of arrangements for safe custody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets

Additional information (optional)

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Additional information (optional) Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)	Additional information (optional) Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)	Additional information (optional) Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)
Type of adviser Name Address
Charity Governance	Khadiru Mahdi

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Exemptions from disclosure

Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details

Other optional information

Declarations

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Full name(s) Mrs Ellen Samuels Position (eg Secretary, President Chair, etc) Date 13th July 2022

KrioDescendantsUnionUnitedKingdon&Ireland	KrioDescendantsUnionUnitedKingdon&Ireland	1189037
	Receiptsandpaymentsaccounts		CC16a
Fortheperiod from	Periodstartdate 1stJanuary2021 To	Periodenddate 31stDecember2021