Universal Fraternity Banquet
The Trustees present their report for the year ended 1 October 2023.
The Trustees are:
Rev Solomon Ghebray – appointed 11 March 2022
Dr Kebreab Isaac Weldesellassie - appointed 11 March 2022
Eyob Isaias Teklegherghis - appointed 11 March 2022
Charitable Aims
To advance the Christian Religion in Birmingham for the benefit of the public through the holding of prayer meetings, lectures, producing and/or distributing literature on Christianity to enlighten others.
To further or benefit the residents of Birmingham and the neighbourhood, without distinction of sex, sexual orientation, race or of political, religious or other opinions by associating together the said residents and the local authorities, voluntary and other organisations in a common effort to advance education. To provide facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation and leisure time occupation with the objective of improving the conditions of life for residents.
In furtherance of these objectives the Trustees shall have power:
To establish or secure the establishment of a; community centre and to maintain or manage or co-operate with any statutory authority in the maintenance and management of such a centre for activities promoted by the Charity in furtherance of the above objectives.
Activities during the year
A bank account has been opened with the Co-Operative Bank and an unrestricted donation of £15,000 has been received. No payments have yet been made.
Mr Mark Eustace, Web Designer of Spires Web Tech has been appointed to design and maintain an interactive website.
. Strategic Plan:
In order for the Charity to implement its vision, mission statements and objectives as stated above, the Charity set up its strategic plan, strategic initiatives, tactics and specific period of time for executing these objectives. The trustee as a team operates and makes effective contributions to these and to how the Charity operates, directs and going forwards in accordance with its strategic plan, as well as it reviewed the Charity's internal and external position and factors. It meets via Zoom, and when needed, in person, at list once in a month
1
in order to discuss and analyse the mission and operation, to develop the plan at hand and to determine the direction and to identify the priority tasks for the execution.
The strategic planning includes internal and external factors, concise summary of vision statement, and the major goals needed to be achieved in order for the vision. As result, it has studied and developed the Charity plan's full-fledged implementation by asking the following two questions in detail:
-
Departing from where we are now, how it could be fully implemented the Charity's vision, mission and objectives departing from where the Charity is now; and
-
Analysed things that the Charity needed to do, to deliver and to get there - the way of implementing it vision, mission, objectives, values and techniques, as well as the responsibilities and resources needed to be assigned.
The Trustees assessed on how the conditions of the Charity develop to its potential and achieve its purposes and objective. It also made its strategic plan accordingly and specifically addressing the need for more strategic and doable plan and resources to support people in need, as well as to maintain and manage or co-operate with any statutory authority in executing of the above stated objectives.
As part of the strategic plan, the Trustees have drafted two achievable projects and made them ready for grants. These are:
Project-1 : Family & Children Integration Support Programme; and Project -2 : Apostolic & Social Television Programme.
Research has shown that self-isolation, long-term mental health and psychological problems in war escaped and refugees’ population manifested through different phases of crises, such as depression, identity crises, suicidal act, as well religious or faith nihilism can be influenced by the context in which they are placed. Dealing with these issues are critical to healthy development and make positive impact on behaviours and on building meaningful relationships.
In order to assist children, families, youth and refugees in responding to their needs, to empower their connections, improve their quality of life and to build humanities, the Charity operates drafted two projects which will be implemented through a variety of short- and longterm programmes. We are well aware of the unique socio-psychological, educational and cultural problems that our youth, families and children of refugee community face on a daily basis and are committed to adapting our Charity to meet to their needs. Our programme objectives include: to integrate the trauma-informed individuals and families into the larger community and to build a solid and health relationships between parents and children. The two projects run for two and a half years, after which we will re-evaluate.
These projects are priority tasks, and have two-year timeframe (January 2024-2026). The Trustee conducted a physical meeting with some potential funders for the A Apostolic &
2
Social Television Programme on 29 August 2023. The grant project proposal is in process. Furthermore, the strategic plan considered the key elements to the implementation of the state projects. These are assigning the goals and responsibilities with budgets within the time frame. Another key point is monitoring the progress of implementation and reviewing it against the strategic plan.
Volunteers
There have been 10 volunteers during the year contributing 2,860 hours.
3