Book Aid International 2019 Annual Report Including Trustees’ Report and Accounts for the year ended 31st December 2019 A year of books changing lives ALISoN tWEEd, ChIEf ExecutIvE The power of partnerships ALISoN tWEEd, ChIEf ExecutIvE In 2019 millions of people around the world books, sending over 1.2 million books to had no access to books. readers in 26 countries. We supported public library services across Africa. We For so many, a public, community or school partnered with dynamic NGOs to improve library offered the only opportunity to read. the quality of education in schools. We Yet most libraries and thousands of schools trained librarians, teachers and volunteers around the world could not buy a single to create safe spaces where young people new book in 2019. were supported to read, learn and grow. Every year at Book Aid International we This, our 2019 Annual Report, highlights the provide over one million brand new, impact of our work over the past twelve carefully selected books, generously months. donated by UK publishers, to libraries, schools, hospitals, prisons and refugee We would like to express our gratitude to camps in Africa and beyond. everyone who generously supported our work in 2019 and who, along with all of us In 2019 we helped an estimated 19.5 million at Book Aid International, believes in the Children enjoy a reading activity at a library in the West Bank people around the world gain access to power of books to change lives. Contents Where books are needed most TRUSTees’ REPORT 4–29 FINANCES, GOVERNANCE AND 24–29 thE Rt hoN LoRd pAuL BoAtENg, ChAIR STRATEGIC REPORT 4–23 ADMINISTRATION 2019 in numbers 4 Our fundraising 24 Looking back on 2019 I am acutely aware of schoolteachers, businessmen and women, Books changing lives in 2019 6 Managing our finances 25 a world where, all too often, the impact of environmentalists, social entrepreneurs, the climate emergency on the developing engineers and active and informed citizens. Growing our impact 8 Structure, governance and management 26 world was overlaid by conflict and growing Creating school libraries 10 Reference and administrative details 28 2019 has been a year of real achievement. I economic inequality. Supporting tomorrow’s leaders 12 feel privileged to work with an inspirational This saw whole populations displaced: group of fellow trustees and staff at home Reaching displaced and conflict- 14 INDEPENDENT AUDITor’s REPORT 30–32 affected people some, as in Cameroon, sheltering in the and with our partners around the world. AUDITED ACCOUNTS 34–54 forest, many others confronted by the Financial overview 16 2020 will bring fresh challenges. Meeting Statement of financial activities 34 realities of forced migration or facing Our supporter community 18 these challenges will require what books Balance sheet 35 the wreckage of homes and treasured Looking to the future 20 institutions by forces beyond their control. can offer; working together we can put Statement of cash flows 36 these precious assets in the hands of those Our partners 21 Notes to the financial statements 37-54 In all these situations Book Aid International most in need. Whatever the world throws With thanks to… 22 has, with its local partners, been there to at them and whenever and wherever they offer what access to books can provide: find themselves Book Aid International will hope and the prospect of transformed continue to be there for them. lives. Only your support and the generosity The Trustees present their report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2019. Reference and Thank you so much for making our work administrative information set out on page 28 forms part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory of our book donors has made this possible, requirements, the Memorandum and Articles of Association and the Statement of Recommended Practice – Accounting and Reporting and for that we are all enormously grateful. possible through your continuing support by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102. This Trustees’ Annual Report includes a and generosity. directors’ report as required by company law. The work we do is an investment for the Book Aid International is a charity and limited company registered in England and Wales. Charity no: 313869 future: in the next generation of doctors, Company no: 880754. Registered office: 39–41 Coldharbour Lane, London SE5 9NR. www.bookaid.org Book Aid International 2019 trustees’ Annual Report 3 2019 in numbers An estimated 19.5 million people have access to the books we sent in 2019 Where books are changing lives Building local capacity 635 327 398 public & university teachers and community libraries librarians trained libraries 38 23 12,063 prison refugee local books libraries camps purchased 1,567 417 primary & medical 24 secondary libraries libraries schools refurbished In 2019 we sent 1,211,423 books to 26 countries around the world The books we provided Where we sent books Africa Rwanda 73,787 Asia Europe Children & Higher Medicine & Development Cameroon 88,627 Sierra Leone 60,005 Bhutan 4,070 greece 7,017 primary education healthcare Eritrea 22,845 Somaliland 23,043 India 7,789 Italy 216 493,209 91,275 47,475 141,270 Ethiopia 48,490 tanzania 75,933 Nepal 966 Middle East 123,244 ghana the 44,078 Caribbean Iraq 6,013 Vocational, gambia English Reference & 131,426 Leisure reading technical & Kenya Antigua & Jordan 500 language skills Secondary 1,564 business uganda 118,371 Barbuda Liberia 31,152 Syria 1,065 225,568 Zambia 105,247 2,423 45,599 20,190 146,877 Malawi 51,989 Bahamas Zimbabwe 157,720 dominica 23,840 Book Aid International 2019 trustees’ Annual Report Solomon reads to his mum on the steps of their home in Accra, Ghana 5 Books changing lives in 2019 Books empowering adults in their communities Many people living in the rural villages of our vision is of a world where everyone has access to the books that can enrich, improve and change Zimbabwe’s Gwanda region are subsistence farmers. their lives. We believe that if this vision were to be fully realised, we would witness transformational Villagers often have little money to purchase even change for individuals and communities. simple commodities for their families. In 2019, we worked with a global network of over 120 library and NGO partners to give an estimated Trena and five others from her village worked with 19.5 million people the opportunity to access books, read and improve their life chances. our partner, the Edward Ndlovu Memorial Library to establish a reading group. They started to read Here are just three stories from 2019 that demonstrate the change we want to see: and discuss books on a range of different subjects, inspiring members to improve their lives through a community income-generation project. “Culturally in Zimbabwe amongst village people, women do not keep animals [but] by reading books Books getting children reading for a better future on rights, we discovered it is not wrong to go up against some of the traditions. So we started a goat Crime, illiteracy and teenage pregnancy are all too project. And this is an example for other women; we common in slum communities like Jamestown, can own animals without destroying our villages or one of the poorest districts in Accra, Ghana. Many our homes. children end up working on the streets to help their As well as books about goat-keeping and business, families earn money, rather than attend school. The we also read and discuss books on different themes. Street Children Empowerment Foundation (SCEF) Books on human rights, health, HIV, AIDS and gender works to give children like Mary (pictured left), issues.” access to books through their Jamestown Learning Hub. - trena, Zimbabwe Fourteen-year-old Mary is the first member of her family to learn to read. Two members of the reading group with the goats they are rearing Gwanda, Zimbabwe Mary’s mother, Rita, was unable to go to school and barely makes ends meet selling toffee on the street. However, Mary is determined to have a brighter Books improving work and career opportunities future and uses the books we sent in 2019 to pursue her ambitions of becoming a lawyer. In countries across the world, access to the right “Every day after school, Mary goes to the library run was during this spell that I realized the biggest book at the right time can inspire individuals by Street Children Empowerment Foundation (SCEF). gap in my life was my education level. to realise their full potential through study It’s really important for the children to have books. and career development, making a positive The turning point came when I attended a career Since going to the library, Mary is more confident and difference to their life chances. Improving exhibition in 2015 at the University of Zambia. can speak English really well. It makes me so happy. reading and literacy skills, as Tradwel Chilala has They had displayed books in various disciplines I really want her to be a prominent person when she done in Zambia, can make a positive difference from Book Aid International, including Public grows up.” to personal livelihoods and local economies. Administration. Having seen the books that - Rita, Mary’s mum, ghana were available in the university library, I enrolled Tradwel began his career with Kitwe City for a two-year Diploma Programme in Public “Reading is learning – if you read, you know more Council as a cleaner but an opportunity to read Administration. words and you can learn. And I want to know more and study enabled him to pursue his dream of a because there is something I want to achieve in career in public administration.