STANDING IN THE GAP SUPPORTING FORGOTTEN CHILDREN ON THE MARGINS Report of the Trustees & Financial Statements for The Year Ended 28 February 2017 for Children on the Edge Registered company number: 4996130 (England and Wales) Syrian refugee children stand outside one of the tent schools we support in Lebanon. TABLE OF CONTENTS THE TRUSTEES REPORT PAGE 3 STANDING IN THE GAP: SUPPORTING FORGOTTEN CHILDREN ON THE MARGINS CHAPTER ONE: REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS PAGE 4 CHAPTER TWO: OBJECTIVES PAGE 5 CHAPTER THREE: OUR WORK THIS YEAR PAGE 6 INDIA-NEPAL BORDER PAGE 7 INDIA -PATNA PAGE 8 BANGLADESH PAGE 10 MYANMAR PAGE 12 UGANDA PAGE 14 LEBANON PAGE 16 CHAPTER FOUR: FINANCIAL REVIEW PAGE 18 CHAPTER FIVE: STRUCTURE GOVERNANCE & MANAGEMENT PAGE 20 CHAPTER SIX: TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES STATEMENT PAGE 21 THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS REPORT PAGE 22 THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS PAGE 23 "2 Rohingya refugee children from Kutupalong makeshift refugee camp, Bangladesh. THE TRUSTEES REPORT STANDING IN THE GAP SUPPORTING FORGOTTEN CHILDREN ON THE MARGINS ! Children on the Edge exists to support some of help further groups of Rohingya children who are the most marginalised children across the world. as yet, unnoticed. We focus entirely on those who are living on the edges of their societies and excluded from the • In the last year, an 8 year-old ‘untouchable’ Dalit basic rights inherent to a healthy childhood. girl in Bihar State, India, was severely beaten by a group of men when she dared to say that she As a small organisation, we go where the need is could be a magistrate one day. It is here we are greatest and ‘stand in the gap’ where children are supporting education and non-violent activism to facing desperate circumstances, and no-one is tackle ingrained caste discrimination. helping. • Currently, the practice of child sacrifice in Uganda We exist for those children who have been neglected is still going unreported and gaps in legislation or persecuted by their own governments, and yet go enable perpetrators to go free. Here we are unnoticed by the larger aid agencies. Those who are working with a Ugandan child rights group and the facing tragedy, but remain out of the media limelight. government, to address the problem whilst expanding our child protection teams in local Working closely with local partners, we restore the communities. ingredients of a full childhood through the provision of hope, life, colour and fun, and support children to a You will find many more examples of this kind as you place where they can realise their rights. This may read through the activities and achievements in the come in the form of accessing local child protection, following pages. We hope you enjoy finding out about mainstream school or government services, it may be our progress, and feel inspired to join us in our future working alongside persecuted communities until the plans. international spotlight finds them and attracts wider support. At this time, we move on to help those who With hope and gratitude, remain unnoticed. This is standing in the gap; and this year our role has been more vital than ever. As the political climate reflects the rise of nationalism and sees barriers to the marginalised growing, our dedication to those living on the edges of society has been steadfast: Rachel Bentley Stuart Gallimore • In October, 75,000 Rohingya refugees fled horrific International Director Chair of Trustees human rights abuses in Myanmar (Burma), joining the masses of exiled Rohingya already in Bangladesh. It is here we are providing education for over 2,700 Rohingya children in a makeshift border camp. We have been ‘standing in the gap’, supporting this community for over five years. Our hope is that now the international community has recognised the problem, we will be able to ! handover this work to the UN, and move on to ! ! 3 Community Library in rural Musahar community, Patna - India. CHAPTER ONE REFERENCE & ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS Registered Company number Auditors: 4996130 (England and Wales) BD&M Ltd, Chartered Certified Accountants Registered Charity number Skies, 20 Martinsfield, Winterborne St Martin, 1101441 Dorchester, Dorset, DT2 9JU Registered Office: Bankers: 5 The Victoria, 25 St Pancras, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 7LT CAF Bank, PO Box 289, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent, ME19 4TA Chief Executive:! Rachel Bentley The Trustees who are also directors of the Charity for Company Secretary: the purposes of the Companies Act present their Ben Wilkes report and the audited financial statements of the charity for the year ended 28th February 2017 which Trustees: are also prepared to meet the requirements for a directors’ report and accounts for Companies Act Mr Stuart Gallimore purposes. Director of Children’s Services The annual report and financial statements have been Mr Alan Finch prepared in accordance with the accounting policies Director set out in notes to the accounts and comply with the charity’s governing document, the Charities Act 2011 Mr Colin Buchanan and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement Director of Recommended Practice (SORP) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with Mr Andrew Rush the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK Director and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) effective January 2015.$ Mrs Mary Loosemore Barrister Mr Paul Suter Finance Director ! (appointed 08/12/16) 4 One of the child councils we support for working children in Bangladesh. CHAPTER TWO OBJECTIVES From the time we were founded until the present In doing this, our approach is to: day, we have been a charity that restores the ingredients of a full childhood to forgotten 1. Exclusively serve forgotten children in forgotten children. places. You will often find us in the places where the cameras do not click. The places you don't Too many children are leading forgotten lives in scroll past on your news feeds. We focus on the barren, dangerous places. Many are neglected or situations where aid agencies either do not even persecuted by their own governments, ignored venture or have moved on from, leaving gaps in by international media and missed by large overseas essential services. aid agencies. Young survivors of conflict and abuse are being 2. Develop projects with the knowledge that one size robbed of the fullness of their childhoods and are does not fit all. Each project is innovative, existing on the edges of society. bespoke and built on extensive research and collaboration with local partners and communities. Our objective is to restore the ingredients of a full Consequently they are often used as models of childhood, bringing hope, life, colour and fun into good practice. children’s lives. 3. Each project is based on conversations not Together with our local implementing partners, we do clipboards. We support grassroots work that is this by: designed, owned and developed by the local community and that nurtures independence.Each - Transforming the most vulnerable communities, child is valued as an individual. They are not seen enabling them to create and sustain safe and as victims or beneficiaries, but supported in the protective environments for their children and realisation of their rights. They are encouraged enabling them to uphold children’s rights. to have a voice and to develop as agents of change in their own futures. - Providing quality, accessible, child friendly education and play to some of the most vulnerable In planning our activities for the year we kept in mind and marginalised children across the globe who the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit otherwise have no access to education. at our trustee meetings. The objectives of the charity 2016/2017 were achieved through the following - Enabling children living in marginalised communities activities. to become the best version of themselves, with improved confidence, aspirations and hope for their futures. 5 CHAPTER THREE OUR WORK THIS YEAR OBJECTIVES ACTIVITIES ACHIEVEMENTS & PERFORMANCE FUTURE PLANS Pattern making at the sewing class on the India-Nepal border. INDIA - NEPAL BORDER In the north of Bihar, the border of Nepal is one of • Special effort is also made to emphasise the the largest corridors for human trafficking on the intrinsic value of each child. As migrants or planet. Children here are surviving in red - light members of the Dalit castes, these children feel communities, extremely vulnerable to trafficking, scorned by the society around them. forced labour, prostitution and sexual abuse. Achievements and Performance Partners - Tatvasi Samaj Nyas (TSN) • The sewing skills programme has provided a critical Objectives way out of prostitution for 30 young women this year, and a method to support themselves. Without • Provide vulnerable migrant and Dalit children with this type of training, the girls report that the security, support and education about their rights. overwhelming expectation upon them is to work in • Pave the way for them to find a life beyond the the sex trade by age 18 or younger. confines of the red light district. • The Centres have become places where children feel secure and have been begun to engage with a Activities world outside of the red light district. • Together with TSN, established two education Future plans centres in the heart of two of Bihar’s most renowned red light areas. • Build the capacity of each Centre to move beyond • Provided a sewing skills programme which skills training to provide lessons to children ages provides preparatory job training to 15 adolescent 5-16 in subjects like reading, writing, maths, and girls at each site. hygiene. • Enabled 65 school-aged children to access basic • Offer a more intensive training programme for education. teachers in the coming year, to address the • Teachers have been trained to work with the challenge of developing lessons for multiple age students to create a safe and caring environment groups and learning abilities.