Trustees’ Report - 1 February 2023 to 31 January 2024
Training
Trustees are familiar with the charity's practical work and are encouraged to attend charitable membership awareness events, governance training, and seminars. In addition, we continue to expand their knowledge through training seminars, which have included Child Sexual Exploitation, safeguarding and risk management, and the Code of Good Governance.
Risk Management
The trustees have revised the risk management strategy, which comprises the following.
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An annual review of the risks to the Charity
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Systems and procedures to mitigate risks identified.
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Implementation of procedures to ensure minimum impact on the Charity should any risks materialise.
Objectives and activities
Invisible Traffick is involved in raising public awareness of human trafficking by delivering presentations, training sessions and education programmes to highlight the signs and indicators of Human Trafficking, which is also known as Modern Day Slavery.
We truly believe that no one should be inhumanely abused, forced to work against their will or treated as a slave anywhere in the world, but especially in our local towns and communities.
To help protect and educate children and young people the Charity has developed two Educational Resources, the first is delivered to Key stage 1 and 2 primary school children known as the Junior Education Programme. The second is delivered to post primary age young people and is called The Journey to Empowerment. Both of these highly developed resources are designed to teach children and young people about Modern Day Slavery using a child sensitive approach and to encourage teachers and parents/carers to become more aware of this immoral act. We continuously reaffirm the message of trusted adults and how to use bravery to speak up if something does not seem right.
The Junior Education Programme has been resourced through The Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland. The programme is delivered by Chloe our education facilitator who has been with the charity for almost 10 years.
The Junior Education Programme
Throughout 2023 the Junior Education Programme delivered across Northern Ireland to primary schools and some youth centres. The programme is in high demand, so much so that towards the end of this year we brought in an assistant to help deliver these sessions across the country. The programme continues to be delivered through a series of 6 short films based on the overall theme of Mission Not So Impossible. These films are a mix of live
acting and animation and cover subject areas such as online exploitation, ethical and fairtrade products, stranger danger, and identity theft. Each film is introduced by Chloe and is finished with a reflection of what has been learnt. All films are developed for audiences aged 8 to 11 and come complete with lesson plans for teachers and youth leaders. In addition to this we are delivering training sessions in Stranmillis College to student teachers, we also worked in partnership with Welsh National Opera to deliver a project in North Wales.
Journey to Empowerment Programme
Throughout 2023 the Journey to Empowerment Programme has been delivered in over 20 community and youth group settings. The focus of the work has moved away from primarily care experienced young people to engage a wider cross-section of young people across several areas in Belfast, Holywood and Lurgan/Portadown. The programme continues to offer a highly engaging method for discussing subjects such as grooming (online and in person), drug trafficking, healthy relationships, and human trafficking from a global perspective. The young people have responded very well to this programme. The programme was due to be completed in August 2023 however with an underspend in some areas and with the delay in getting started due to the Covid pandemic, we have been permitted to extend the programme until March 2024.
Additional Activity
This year we had the opportunity to work with the maritime industry to deliver training to a range of personnel who work within the arena. We partnered with P&O Ferries and addressed security officials; we believe this is an untapped market for our services.
In early 2023, we produced our Strategic Plan for 2023 to 2026. This plan clearly outlines where we are prioritising our work over the next few years. We also refreshed our Board of Trustees and appointed Mr Philip Bishop as Chairman.
Throughout 2023 we focused on making funding applications to support both our education programmes and our core staff. This is a time consuming, yet essential part of our work and we are hopeful that we will secure the necessary funding to continue to meet our strategic objectives.
Our Plans for the Future
Looking forward we will work with the maritime industry to develop an online training platform. We believe that this method of training is best suited to reach the many thousands of people working within that industry. We will seek additional funding to resource this project.
Our aim is to secure funding from the National Lottery Community Fund and from the Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland to secure our education programmes. We are also seeking support from Dormant Accounts funding to employ an additional member of staff to assist our CEO, we are mindful that our CEO is a volunteer, and we are keen to make the charity more sustainable as we move into the future.
We are keen to look at business sponsorship and meaningful partnerships to support our work and we will continue to fundraise with the support of our volunteers, staff and trustees.
By order of the Board
Mr. Philip Bishop - Chairman