2024-03-31-accounts

Trustees’ Annual Report for the period August 25[th] , 2023, to March 31[st] , 2024

Charity name:

IMPROVING LIVELIHOODS THROUGH CULTURAL INITIATIVES (IL-CI)

Charity registration number: 1204490

Objectives and Activities

Summary of the purposes of the charity:

Supporting initiatives that teach traditional crafts to relieve poverty and safeguard cultural heritage in fragile states worldwide

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:

	SORP reference
Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document	Para 1.17	THE OBJECTS OF THE CIO ARE THE PREVENTION OR RELIEF OF POVERTY IN YEMEN AND ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD BY PROVIDING OR ASSISTING IN THE PROVISION OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN THE CRAFT OF EMBROIDERY AND/OR OTHER ARTS AND/OR CRAFT TECHNIQUES AND PROJECTS WHICH PROMOTE THE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF THE REGION IN WHICH THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING WILL TAKE PLACE AND ALL THE NECESSARY SUPPORT DESIGNED TO ENABLE INDIVIDUALS TO GENERATE A SUSTAINABLE INCOME AND BE SELF-SUFFICIENT.
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	Identified and partnered with an organisation that delivers a programme with a proven track record of improving lives while preserving a traditional craft. A partnership agreement was signed in January 2024
Statement confirming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit	Para 1.18	The Charity Commission’s guidance was reviewed ahead of outlining the details of our above mentioned partnership agreement

Achievements and Performance

	SORP reference
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.	Para 1.20	Establishing a partnership with an organisation that had been running for some time and had been recognized for its work was very important thus we were delighted to sign this agreement with YENOF who has been active for more than 20 years and whose embroidery programme began over 10 years ago. The nature of the agreement is to help YENOF with its traditional hand embroidery programme. In the first few months of the agreement, we introduced YENOF to various cultural institutions in the UK and France notably, in London, Leighton House and The Mosaic Rooms and, in Paris, the Quai Branly Museum. We are pleased to have secured exciting collaborations for 2024 and 2025. Thanks to these collaborations YENOF can sustain 75 women and develop their hand embroidery skills further. This revival of a traditional craft also provides a much- needed sense of pride among extremely disadvantaged families. More generally, these collaborations with international art institutions have helped raise awareness of Yemen’s rich hand embroidery heritage very much at risk considering the country’s difficult situation notably since 2015.

Additional information

Additional information
Achievements against objectives set	Para 1.41	March 2024: Participated in the Al Yamaniah magazine launch at Mosaic Rooms in which a profile of our partner YENOF appeared
		Feb 2024: Opening a bank account which took some research and time. The account was finally opened on February 19th
		Jan 2024: Signed partnership agreement with YENOF
		Sept 2023: Opening an Instagram account @ilci.org

Future Plans

-Developing and delivering on the various collaborations established to date including workshops, fundraising sales and commissions.

-Identifying further initiatives that teach traditional crafts to relieve poverty and safeguard cultural heritage notably in fragile states.

Accounts & Financial Review

N/A as our bank account was only set up Feb 19[th] , 2024, and there was no financial activity between then and March 31st, 2024.

Note: Legal fees of GBP 4200 to help draft IL-CI’s constitution and the application for registration with the Charity Commission were financed thanks to a donation specifically designated for this purpose.

Structure, Governance and Management

Description of charity’s trusts:
Type of governing document (trust deed, royal charter)	Para 1.25	CIO Foundation Constitution
How is the charity constituted? (e.g unincorporated association, CIO)	Para 1.25	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	Apart from the first charity trustees, every trustee shall be appointed for a term of three years by a resolution of the charity trustees. In selecting individuals for appointment as charity trustees, the charity trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO.

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name	Office (ifany)
Isabelle Caussé	Chair(since August 25th2023)
Manas Ghanem	Development(since August 25th2023)
Julien Beynon	Treasurer(since August 25th2023)
Camille Caussé Culpan	Social media(since Feb 15th2024)

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) Isabelle Caussé

Position (eg Secretary, Founder Chair, etc) Date 21/01/2025