Charitable Trust No 1106650
www.gafsip.org

ANNUAL REPORT

Prepared for The Charities Commission

1st April 2006 - 31st March 2007

A new dimension in re-cycling & Investing in the future The Children of The Gambia

Patron David Hutchings, QFSM CRG Grad I FireE,
Oakdene, 64 Station Road, Winterbourne Down,
South Gloucestershire. BS36 1EN
Phone 01454 772529 / 0797 7117 424.
 E-mail:- info@gafsip.org

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INTRODUCTION

This year there has been a significant increase in activities and work for The Trust

As the profile of GAFSIP has risen in our area and with more tourists visiting The Gambia, there has been a tremendous increase in the donation of goods. Which in turn increases the demand for funding.

The vast majority of donated items are of immense value, but there is a clear need for rigorous sorting and selection which is time consuming. We have learned from experience that books, for example, have to be sorted into categories and packaged for agreed destinations. i.e. Primary education, senior, advanced and general library.

With regard to IT, again, experience has shown that all computers have to be professionally cleaned and reloaded here in the UK. We have found that we offer a dumping ground for redundant equipment. It is an area fraught with problems, yet there is a clearly identified need in The Gambia for quality IT.

This year there has been a high number of sewing machine donations which are of immense value for women’s groups seeking a degree of self sufficiency and independence. There exists a high demand for these goods.

South Wales and Hampshire Fire and Rescue Services have donated considerable quantities of small and fire fighting gear which is like gold dust in The Gambia. These donations have greatly aided our endeavours to work toward a standard stowage on at least one pump per station.
(This still remains an objective)

Training has been consistent with a healthy list of volunteers.
(A separate training report was prepared)

Fund raising has been hard work for those involved but successful in the fact that we have shipped all donated goods and vehicles and we still have a small balance. This year The Gambia has been unable to make a contribution due to financial constraints and difficulties there.

I must again record my sincere thanks and appreciation to my wife Claire for her hard work and my children for their tolerance and understanding linked to their total support. I also thank Sandra Connolly for her continued support.

The Gambia

The Gambia remains one of the poorest countries in the world locked into poverty. The exchange rate still hovers around the 50 Dalasi to the £1.

Their opportunity for realistic development still evades them, albeit in an extremely difficult fiscal climate the government of The Gambia has made some significant progress on infrastructure to attract more tourism.

The Gambia Fire and Ambulance Service struggles to survive on a hand to mouth basis, experiencing horrific shortages of fuel and repair and maintenance budgets as do all their services.

Our trainers continue to fund their own visits, as currently it would be impossible for The Gambia Fire and Ambulance Service to provide any reimbursement.
This position shows real commitment of those volunteer personnel, who work in the most difficult of circumstances, often short of basic equipment and indeed fuel on occasions.

The trustees and The Gambia Fire and Ambulance Service pay tribute to these volunteers who render a most valuable service.

Despite seemingly insurmountable difficulties, The Gambian Government is committed to supporting its Fire Service, recognising the social benefits with the provision of services in the provinces. The role of GAFSIP enables them to be a valued service provider to their communities; this is new for the people of The Gambia. This also has developmental problems in that, as people become aware of the services that are there, the demand rises.

We cannot generally imagine the day to day problems encountered - such as no fuel, power, tyres and vehicle batteries.

When the power is off, it’s off for everyone - including hospitals etc.

2006 was a tragic year for Members of the Gambia Fire and Ambulance Service.
On Sunday 5th March 2006, Fire-fighter Ebrima Sowe, aged 30, lost his life and his colleague Fire-fighter Modou Lamin Ceesay, aged 26, suffered terrible 30% burns whilst dealing with a bush fire in Kanilai.

The fire was threatening a village yet, despite this tragic event, the remainder of the crew dealt with the fire, preventing the loss of an entire village and their crops. Chief Fire Officer Kevin Pearson and The Avon Fire Authorities Vice Chair Cllr. Astra Brand attended the formal closure of mourning for the family at a Prayer Day in Kanilai

Our prayers and thoughts go to this young fire-fighter’s widow and children

Activities

Fire

Vehicles Shipped

Donated by Avon Fire Authority
1 Water Tender
1 Chemical Incident Unit
1 Boxer Stores Van
1 Rescue Tender

Donated by British Red Cross
3 ambulances

Donated by Ser-Co
1 Water Tender
1 Long wheel base land rover

Donated by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Services
Large quantity of small gear
Hand tools

Donated by South Wales Fire and Rescue Service
Large quantity of delivery hose
Road accident rescue sets and spares

Private Donation
1998 Vauxhall Astra Diesel Car

Spare Parts
A number of spares were obtained and sent on request for maintenance for fire vehicles and portable pumps. Fortunately these were small packages and able to be sent via passenger luggage on flights.

One of our key objectives is to achieve standard stowage on at least one appliance on every station in The Gambia. To date it remains around 40%.

Training
The objectives of the training plan agreed with The Gambia Fire and Ambulance Service is continuing. (Separate training report November 2006)

Real Fire Training

Education and Health

A truly phenomenal year for educational support, with school refurbishments and furniture replacement programmes here in the UK. A total of 5 high cube 40’ containers have been shipped.

City of Bristol College donated in excess of 28 tonnes of high quality tables chairs, filing cabinets, white and blackboards. This donation consisted of  one and a half 40ft containers.

The college also made a considerable donation toward shipping costs for which we were extremely grateful.

Filton Primary donated a large quantity of primary school furniture and teaching aids.

Sacred Heart Preparatory school closed in Chew Magna and through the good offices of Paul Cornelius, the Officer in Charge of Chew Magna Fire Station, we collected a magnificent range of furniture, teaching aids, books and pupil ready IT equipment.
(We spent 3 days collecting these goods which gives an idea of the quantity)

Long Ashton Primary School relocated and we were invited to clear a large quantity of books, furniture and pupil ready IT.

David Hughes, a previous visitor to The Gambia, continues to collect redundant library books from all around the area. Within this year the volume equates to around 16 tonnes.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital School continue to donate ’A’ level teaching books.

Red Maids School have donated large quantities of senior educational teaching books.

In excess of 100 schooling computers have also been donated

The Avon Youth Association has donated around 100 computers which are set up for literacy education programmes. The AYA staff also help GAFSIP by refurbishing all donated IT and reloading programmes.

Donated sewing machines and furniture in use by a women’s group

There have been numerous private donations of educational support material, teachers’ notes and training aids.

Within this year we have received two further requests for partnerships.

The Ridings High School, Winterbourne, International Baccalaureate Group and Sandford Primary School, North Somerset.

Adult Education

Adult Literacy IT for every Fire Station and Women’s Groups

80 Sewing Machines

20 Cycles

Liaison

Ndey Bakurin liaises with The Department of State for Education to identify those schools in greatest need.
Much of the educational support goes out into the provinces, well away from the normal tourist areas.
Our objectives are to help where we can in aiding The Gambia Government achieve their own objectives.

Medical Donations

Considerable medical donations have been made from Southmead, Frenchay and Weston Hospitals.
Nuffield private hospital in Cheltenham and Fairford Surgery.
We have also received considerable private donations ranging from high protein malnutrition feed to high dependency baby feed.
Medical Equipment is identified with The Director of the Royal Victoria Hospital Dr Malik Njie.
In addition to large quantities of specialist nursing care support, operating theatre tools, also sent were ECG machines, blood pressure testing machines, wheel chairs and general care items.
Red Cross continue to give us tremendous support.

Health

The clinics and hospital clearly identify their shortages and where possible we try to support with those items. In all other areas we liaise with the appropriate authorities, here again we only attempt to aid The Gambia meet their own objectives.

Value to the people of The Gambia

We only ship goods that have been requested or identified as being needed in The Gambia and that otherwise would have been scrapped or land-filled in the UK.

(Good intentions in sending inappropriate or over advanced equipment cause more trouble than they are worth. This is so pertinent in Medical and IT)

The development into education support and medical has been of immense value to The Gambia Fire and Ambulance Service.

The Gambia Fire and Ambulance Service is becoming acknowledged as a true community service provider in The Gambia.

The provincial Fire Stations, in particular, provide ideal base’s where members of the community can go for advice and assistance.

The Gambia Fire Service distributes all goods shipped.

Container unloading in Banjul by Dockers

Fund Raising

None of the work of The Trust would be possible without the generosity and kindness of so many people.

Fund raising remains the activity with the greatest demand on time and effort but is pivotal for the Trust’s existence.

This last year was a challenge incurring the highest shipping bill to date, £28,888. The demand for funds was significantly increased due to the high level of donated goods. The trustees are grateful to a small number of volunteers who achieved this magnificent sum, and to the regular contributors.

Winterbourne Down Carnival provided us with a superb start - raising £1500. This event progressed on to a local bird club making a donation and St Michael’s Church at Winterbourne nominating GAFSIP for the next three years.

Throughout the year we have attended a number of local events where GAFSIP has been benefiting charity.

The Cross Hands Winterbourne Down has again been tremendously supportive throughout this year again.

Sandford Primary School has adopted GAFSIP as a project and has held a number of fund raising events. It has progressed to forming a partnership with a school in The Gambia.

The Ridings High School International Baccalaureate Group in Winterbourne has  joined forces with GAFSIP and are also developing links with a school in The Gambia.

The ultimate challenge was to have been a major fund raising event but unfortunately fell short of expectations.

The rally again proved to be a reliable fund raising event but due to timing we failed to gain maximum benefit from a joint event, The Ultimate Challenge.

The giving of talks continues to be a valuable source of income.

Our private sponsors have increased this year with two very significant contributors.

Gift aid is steadily increasing outside of the Fire Service.

The Gambian Government contribution has not been forthcoming this year due to severe financial constraints within the country.

“Winnie’s” orphans receive toys and games

Summary of Achievements

The Partnership has:-

• Aided the continuance and development of The Gambia Fire and Ambulance Service
• Equipped 40 schools with furniture and supplemented 12 more
• Helped with resources for 3 women’s development centres
• Aided in the development of libraries both in and out of schools
• Assisted in the development of health clinics, with the first at Soma treating 1400 patients each month.
• Aided where possible the development of literacy education.

The inclusion of education and health has aided fund raising.

The trust has raised sufficient monies to ship all donated goods and remains solvent.

The Fire Service training programme is progressing with support from volunteers from Avon Fire and Rescue Service, Ser-Co at Airbus UK and Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service

Recommendations

Areas for attention or review

Fund raising events

The trustees need to review and put in place ground rules for events which require expenditure.

The amount of work in preparation and planning needs to be commensurate with the return anticipated.

The enthusiastic approach has in fact cost the trust money which would have better benefited shipping costs.

The key advice received has been the planning and lead in time needs to be ten to twelve months to attract major sponsorship for advertising return.

There must be agreed commitment to fund raising for any event undertaken.

Profile and publicity of GAFSIP

On each occasion when GAFSIP gets publicity we become inundated with offers of goods which places excessive demands on two volunteers for collection or sorting, this linked with greater awareness from tourists visiting The Gambia, present some difficult logistics. Certain of these offers present high value goods, for example a large quantity of quality sewing machines from Leicestershire, which are of immense value in The Gambia.

The rejection rate of offers of goods is around 60%, great care has to be exercised to ensure we or The Gambia does not become a dumping ground.

Unfortunately the financial support offers do not come from the publicity

The trustees need to consider a strategy to manage and link funding to offers of goods.

The Land Rover donated by Serco, driven from Bristol to Banjul, then to Basse,
where it is now stationed. A journey of almost 5000 miles!

Charity is to give to those in need, and proudly we can state that all work both here and in The Gambia, from training to container loading is voluntary. This is our key strength.

Financial Report

Income and Expenditure 2006/7

Introduction

2006/7 was another successful and busy year for GAFSIP.  In financial terms there was a deficit on the year of £7,382 which primarily reflects the cost of financing 5 shipments to the Gambia.  However the accounts only reflect financial transactions and do not represent the considerable value of donated goods, equipment and services.

GAFSIP started the 2006/7 financial year with a balance of £21,128.  £19,756 was collected in income during the year and £27,588 of expenditure was incurred, leaving a balance of £13,296.

Accounts 2006/7

£   £         Opening Surplus     21,128         Income       Donations / Gift Aid 19,756     Gambian Gvt contribution 0       19,756             Expenditure       Shipping Costs 23,206     Other 4,382       27,588             Deficit for period     -7,832         Surplus at 31/3/07     13,296

Income Analysis

A basic analysis of income for the year has been undertaken. The charity signed up to the Just giving website in order to support the Ultimate Challenge and Rally projects. So far the site has enable us to collect £1,396.15.

The main breakdown of income streams can be summarised as follows

Income Summary   Direct Debit Gift Aid 287.00 Donations 13,273.99 Fundraising Events / Projects 4,799.06 Just Giving website 1,396.14   19,756.19

£287 was raised via direct debit gift aid forms. This is an area that can be developed in 2007/8 to deliver a sustained source of income.

Expenditure Analysis

Expenditure for the year can be broken down as follows:-

Expenditure Summary   Shipping £23,206 Promotional Goods £2,234 Other £2,148   £27,588

Report On The Impact of Gambia and Avon Fire Services in Partnership (GAFSIP) In The Gambia for 2006/2007 By Roger Bakurin & Team March 2007

Report on the Impact of Gambia and Avon Fire Services in Partnership GAFSIP in The Gambia for 2006/2007

Introduction

Gambia and Avon Fire Services in Partnership (GAFSIP) continue to provide the needed valuable support to The Gambian population through its focused intervention areas. This has and continues to have positive impacts in the lives of the Gambians. In this regard, this report will focus on the gains and impact of GAFSIP in The Gambia for the past 12 months of intervention.

Impact of GAFSIP work in The Gambia

A. Gambia Fire and Ambulance Services:

• Appliances and Equipment

A number of appliances and equipment such as Water Tender, a Rescue Tender, van, Land rover and an Astra Car  among others has been provided to the GFAS. These  materials has assisted the brigade to provide a better service to the general public, the modern equipments has ease the manual work of firefighters thereby less strain on their health. Furthermore, there is the  enhancement of  support services and improve emergency communications.

• Capacity building and Training

Building a more effective fire service by building local capacity, filling service gaps and providing more robust public education through the PR section of the Brigrade. The impact included the provision of information on the best practices for providing preventative fire services to increase cooperation and coordination, improve training, broaden service delivery, sustainability and continual quality improvement.

• Clinic support

Ambulances and clinic equipments provided has improved the health, safety and welfare programmes within the fire service.

• Networking and advocacy

With the support in this area, the service is also a first line of response to all sorts of emergencies and is called on to deal with matters such as road traffic accidents, incidents involving dangerous chemicals, pollution and flooding, as well as fires.

B. Education sector

• Educational materials

Books, teaching aids, and school furniture provided were of great need to our schools particular public schools.

The school furniture ease the seating situation in our classrooms and other school activities such weekly masses and debates to name a few. Schools supported by GAFSIP can boost of well equipped library and resource centers which do enhance learning. The school books broadening the reading scope of the children and teachers cannot be overemphasized. These resources which were not easily affordable by the school and parents/guardians are making a positive impact in the children development and the schools providing quality education.

• Provision of Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

Another area of intervention which had great impact both at brigade and school level is the provision of computers and related accessories. It assisted for the groups to focus on computer literacy as it is important for two reasons. First, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) education is a significant contributing factor to the ability of a country to develop as a knowledge economy and participate in the global knowledge economy. Second, the use of ICT enhances learning in other subject areas and can adapt the learning process to the individual student level. This flexibility enables educational development to be accelerated. The attractiveness of using computers is an encouragement for the beneficiaries to learn.

• Twinning of schools (North –South cooperation at school level)

The introduction of twinning of schools through GAFSIP has assisted schools in the Gambia to build partnership, friendship and networking both at the teacher and pupil level.

C. Health sector

The equipments provided to RVTH this time round has contributed toward strengthening the health delivery service in the country and complimenting government efforts for provision of quality health services.

D. Community organizations

GAFSIP continue to support women's groups and encourage the formation of new ones this has lots of benefits for the women and the community at large. This has facilitated in building their capacity  and addressing basic human needs for grassroots communities that are often very poor has a direct impact on local living conditions and generates change. in line with government priorities and complement government interventions by working closely with the groups.

The development of the groups’ capacity particularly by providing them with resources such as sewing machines ,second -hand clothing , fabrics, furniture among others has ensure their ability to pursue profitable activities that improve the living conditions of local families. Support provided to the groups enabled them to take charge of their own development with tangible results.

Conclusion

GAFSIP is the Government of The Gambia’s main partner in bringing safe, effective and efficient fire and rescue cover to the people of The Gambia. This is the view of both government and the Gambian people.

This is so, because GAFSIP has and is impacting the everyday lives of the Gambian people through the Fire and Rescue Services, the reference hospitals, on the ambulances, in the schools and the communities. After sixteen years, GAFSIP is a matter of coming to The Gambia and seeing for oneself.

Annexes

Annex 1

Presentation of gifts on Thursday, 30th March 2006 at the Gambia Fire and Ambulance Services Headquarters in Banjul at 12.00noon
by
Gambia and Avon Fire Service in Partnership
  (GAFSIP)

The following schools received the donations:

• Gambia Senior Secondary School
• Methodist Lower Basic School
• Kutokala Nursery School
  

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Presentation of gifts on Thursday, 20th July 2006 at the Gambia Fire and Ambulance Services Headquarters in Banjul at 10.00am
by
The Chief Fire Officer-
Mr Roger Bakurin
Gambia and Avon Fire Service in Partnership
  (GAFSIP)

RVTH received the following gifts:

• Stretchers
• Wheelchairs
• Walkers
• Clutches
• Other relevant medical materials

Presentation of gifts on Monday, 16th October 2006 at the Gambia Fire and Ambulance Services Headquarters in Banjul at 10.00am
by
Gambia and Avon Fire Service in Partnership
  (GAFSIP)

The following received the donations:

Schools

• St. Augustine Senior Secondary School
• Albion Lower Basic School
• Essau Lower Basic School
• St Peters Lower Basic School

Community level:

• Fire fighters’ Wives Association
• APRC Banjul Divisional Youth Wing
• Kabafita women Association
• School desks, chairs, writing boards, books, computers and printers, Paino, football jerseys, balls
• Second hand clothing,T-shirts

Presentation of gifts on Monday, 5th January 2007 at the Gambia Fire and Ambulance Services Headquarters in Banjul at 10.00am
by
Gambia and Avon Fire Service in Partnership
  (GAFSIP)

The following received the donations:

• St Augustine Senior Secondary School (textbooks, computers,library books)
• Palen Fular Lower Basic School (school furniture & books)
• Winnie’s Nursery School (computers and printer,toys,puzzles)
• St Patrick Lower Basic School (school furniture & books)
• Tallinding Lower Basic School (computers & printer,books)
• Red Cross Society (two computers & two printers)
• Ebenezer seventh-day jnr & sen. Sec school (computers & printers)