Hope, Dignity & Justice: Our Annual Report 2021-2022

30/6/2022

Children on the Edge envisions a world in which every child thrives regardless of their geography, ethnicity, gender, or caste. We place children at the heart of everything we do by working hand-in-hand with local communities to restore hope, dignity, and justice; and to actively involve everyone in creating transformation.

Our work over throughout 2021-2022 reflects these values and we’re delighted to share with you what we’ve achieved, thanks to our generous supporters.

Download the Full Version or read our summary below.

OUR IMPACT in 2021-2022

HOPE

We believe in cultivating hope as a catalyst for change; a gritty, determined, can-do kind of hope that restores people’s motivation and ability to transform their own lives.

This year, we’ve seen this hope in the Kyaka II refugee camp, where children who were completely cut off from early years learning through the pandemic have been able to access community based, quality education. This was achieved through a new award winning Cluster group model which, even now schools have reopened, is continuing to make education accessible for thousands more Congolese refugee children.

DIGNITY

We treat everyone with the dignity they deserve. We have witnessed that people who are pushed to the edge of society, overlooked, or told they are worthless often start to believe it.

Those we work with have been completely sidelined during lockdown, facing around 18 months of school closures without the home support offered to other children. We ensured they have been noticed, protected and given access to decent education through this time. As schools reopened, thousands of Rohingya refugee children were met with flowers, chocolates, balloons and banners to underline just how much they are respected and valued.

In India, children were given leading roles in encouraging friends out of child labour and back to school and, in Lebanon, Syrian refugee children graduated high school exams with flying colours, and went on to be celebrated with certificates, speeches and formal caps and gowns.

JUSTICE

When it comes to justice, every child has rights, yet these are rarely realised for children living on the edge.

Rohingya refugee children in Bangladesh are still banned from learning in their own language, so our digital lessons provide visual education, enabling them to finally learn in a meaningful way.

In May 2021, after five years of campaigning with our partners in Uganda, we saw the passing of the Prevention and Prohibition of Human Sacrifice Bill. This new law aims to curb rampant cases of human sacrifice by addressing gaps in existing legislation, bringing justice and protection for hundreds of children who, without it, are at risk of being killed or mutilated by perpetrators acting with impunity.

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COUNTRY HIGHLIGHTS

BANGLADESH

“Myself and the children at my learning centre are very happy. I also like to teach through the projector, and the children come to school very happily. I am able to explain to the children quickly through the projector what I have been explaining for a long time through books”

ROJIN AKTER
Teacher in Kutupalong

SCHOOLS REOPEN

178 of our classrooms re-opened in Bangladesh after lockdown in September 2021 to the delight of the children. 7,448 children from Kutupalong were given new school bags and learning materials and were welcomed back to school with sweets, flowers and chocolates.

NEW LEARNING CENTRES

Five model classrooms were established on Bhasan Char island, to create a benchmark of quality education for arriving Rohingya children. A new six-classroom Learning Centre was built in Khurushkul community, Cox’s Bazar, for 300 students who had been relocated due to the international airport expansion.

FIRST TERM EVALUATION

- We had a 96% attendance rate.

- 96% of the children reported using what they had learnt at home with parents, helping with calculations for businesses and market shopping.

- 89% of children reported feeling liked at school, showing a boost in confidence.

- 100% of children were very glowing about their teacher; with 81% saying they love their teacher and 81% saying their teacher loves them.

- Teachers, parents and children reported positive changes in students in 2021, including increased cleanliness, confidence, optimism and interest in learning

CONNECTION BEYOND THE CAMPS

‘Moja Kids’ video newsletters increased to a weekly production, and the first steps for connecting the children in Bangladesh digitally with children in Uganda, India and Cambodia are underway. The Moja kids video newsletter has become a well-established favourite for the children we support; increasing attendance, confidence, connection and joy among all the children in the classrooms.

DIGITAL LEARNING

The digital education curriculum was fully implemented, along with 30 videos on health awareness and a monitoring and evaluation system developed to assess impact. Digital lessons increased attendance and enabled Rohingya refugee children to engage in meaningful learning in a language they can understand. 100% of teachers interviewed think it is excellent for children’s learning, whilst 100% of children love their video lessons, with 73% saying it’s what they like most about school.

INDIA

“I have a dream to continue my studies and become a teacher in future. I lost my father in an accident after which we could not afford for all us children to study, but now my sisters and I are studying in the learning centres. I am in sixth grade now and, with the help of the teacher, I am enrolled with the government school”.

ARTI KUMURI
Learner in India

BACK TO SCHOOL

After continued batch learning classes through lockdown, classrooms re-opened in July 2021. Children led a successful ‘Back to School’ programme encouraging peers out of child labour and back into the classrooms. Teachers gave such dedicated help to returning students that they adapted quickly and performed well in their December exams, and computer classes resumed to provide basic IT skills for 250 children, enabling them to apply for higher education and job opportunities.

‘NIOS’ OPPORTUNITIES

30 students were able to continue with their NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling) studies, which gives them the chance to take formal exams and access college or university in the future.

LET’S CELEBRATE

A rich variety of celebrations and competitions continued this year for thousands of children and local community members. They served to boost the self-esteem and confidence of the children, increase local support for education, and attract new students to our learning centres.

CONTINUED COVID RESPONSE

Throughout the second wave of the pandemic in India, the team improved on their response methods, using local networks to provide 3,000 families with survival packs and 500 frontline health workers with safety kits. A mobile mentoring programme identified those most in need, connecting 250 COVID-19 patients to medical support and oxygen, identifying 65 households for home visits, enabling testing for 250 people and circulating training videos to hundreds.

CHILD PARLIAMENTS

12 Child Parliaments provided training and advocacy opportunities for 152 children, who continued to grow in confidence, advocating for their peers with government officials and leading in their communities.

LET’S FLOURISH

A new ‘Flourish’ programme began for 340 teenagers, giving them extra support in navigating and understanding this stage of their adolescence.

WOMEN’S GROUPS

89 Women’s Groups (nine new this year) with over 1,057 members and 50 ‘Community Resource Persons’ were trained on their rights, savings, parenting, small business loans, and the prevention of domestic abuse, child marriage and trafficking.

LEBANON

NEW PROGRAMMES

Still in its infancy, our ‘Shine for Girls’ programme for 17 girls (aged 12 -14) helped to develop their self esteem and confidence.

Over the winter period, the Grade 9 students took the initiative to support their local communities by rebuilding tents and fixing clothes.

This year saw the start of a new primary prep class.

IT and sewing classes were opened up to the wider community to invest in the skills and wellbeing of parents. Women from the sewing classes report how they have gone on to find tailoring work to support their families as a result of the skills developed.

ROSS BORDER EXAM ADVENTURE

13 Grade 9 students were supported to study for their high school certificates, and took a challenging trip across the border to Syria to sit their exams so that they have the right qualifications to continue their education if and when a return to Syria is possible. All 13 students passed these exams, which was an amazing result, given that the average pass rate is 75%. The Zahle school was the only place in Lebanon to get a 100% success rate in these exams.
BENEFITS TO REFUGEE TEACHERS

The children are taught by Syrian refugee teachers in their own dialect, using a bespoke Syrian and Lebanese curriculum. All Syrian refugee teachers reported that their role has had a significant impact on their lives, giving them confidence, purpose, pride, social status, respect, independence and an improved financial situation.

CONFIDENCE ON THE UP

After an initial dip in the children’s confidence brought about by intermittent lockdown disruption, interviews showed much improvement as they reengaged in class. 100% of children interviewed said how much they enjoy school with 70% saying that learning is the thing they love the most. All the children also said they are ‘well liked’ in class. This number increased throughout the year and shows an improvement in confidence and self worth. All the children also felt that what they were learning would help them in the future, including finding employment, achieving dreams, independence and confidence.

MYANMAR

“This year is a very tough year for every family in our camp. Some families could not even afford table salt for their meals. We are very pleased to have your assistance during this difficult period.”

KAWN MAI LI
Teacher from Sha-it Yang

LOCKDOWN LEARNING AND CENTRES REOPENING

Adapting early education provision for a second year of increasingly strict lockdown restrictions, in the most remote conditions, has continued to be an incredible feat, with home learning support maintaining the children’s progress and enthusiasm.168 students graduated from the 14 Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres we support in nine internally displaced people’s camps in Kachin State, with a ceremony and caps and gowns for all, despite most of their 2020 education having been from home. All our centres reopened in the first few weeks of January 2022 for 377 excited children. Enrolment numbers are expected to rise to 530 throughout 2022.

KEEPING CHILDREN WARM

Warm clothes were distributed to 340 children to help them manage in the high altitude winter temperatures. Clothing parcels included hats, coats, trousers, socks and shoes.

DISPLACED COMMUNITIES AND TEACHERS STEP UP

Community ownership of the Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres has been maintained, with parents and ECD Committees continuing to help with building renovations and the creation of indoor and outdoor supplies. Teachers have grown in confidence as a result of their training this year, especially with regard to lesson planning and interaction with children.

HUMANITARIAN SUPPORT

For the first time this year, we supported a two-day humanitarian relief programme for the hard-to-reach camps, early in 2022, ensuring essential food items and COVID-19 prevention materials for 970 families (4,496 people). Delivering food relief was a huge achievement as travel to the areas we work, even for humanitarian relief, was not permitted. Through negotiating with the Kachin Independence Organisation’s (KIO) COVID-19 Prevention Committee and the IDPs and Refugee Relief Committee (IRRC), our local partners were granted access to the most remote camps.

JINJA - UGANDA

CHILD PROTECTION TEAM ACTION

We supported and resourced six Child Protection Teams, in six different slum communities, ensuring the were trained, and providing food parcels over lockdown. 81 workshops were delivered, with around 70 people attending each session, learning about issues including hygiene, local crime, teen pregnancy, child counselling, sexual assault and domestic violence. Teams handled extensive caseloads including 42 police referrals, 20 health referrals, 42 child labour cases, 65 domestic abuse cases, 52 child abuse cases and ensured 24 missing children returned home safely.

CHILD PROTECTION TEAM IMPACT

Child Protection Teams saw a reduction in crime, domestic violence and sexual assualt cases. They reported an improvement in parenting, harmonious marriages and increased engagement from parents in supporting children’s learning. Teams were also successful in encouraging many local children who had fallen into damaging life choices over lockdown, to go back to school when they reopened. Slum areas became cleaner, and as a result of negotiating with local landlords in Masese I, 90% of the homes there now have latrines.

EXPANDING CHILD PROTECTION TEAMS

A new Child Protection Team in Mafubira dealt with a sexual assualt case less than two weeks from starting, seeing the perpetrator charged and sentenced. The team has become well established and built good relationships with local authorities. Ongoing research, networking and needs assessments was carried out in Busia, Karamoja and Namataala, ready for further replication of our Child Protection Team model.

CHILD RIGHTS CLUBS MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Three Child Rights Clubs were supported to work alongside Child Protection Teams and trained in various child rights issues including the prevention of sexual exploitation and child labour. Advocacy from the Child Rights Clubs has resulted in many parents and teachers changing their treatment of local children for the better, including many refraining from physical abuse and the practice of child labour.

LOCKDOWN LEARNING

500 children were provided with ‘Cluster Group’ early learning throughout Covid school closures and 136 students from our Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres received home study packs and ongoing support. As a result of their home learning through lockdown, all Early Childhood Development learners made good progress and 41 were able to transition to primary one level.

BACK TO SCHOOL

Wandago and Loco ECD centres were re-opened in January 2022 for 144 children, who were delighted to return to the classroom. All children received full health checks, deworming and vitamin supplements.
OWNING THE STORY

A new ‘Lead Storyteller’ programme was launched, to encourage five participants to take ownership in representing their work and their communities, using their own ideas and narrative.
We provided all Child Protection Team members and 50 struggling community members with food parcels to support them through lockdown.

103 small business owners were supported with ‘education loans’ and savings training, with the aim of helping parents to create reliable incomes to care for their children and afford school fees.

CHANGING THE LAW

After five years of civil society campaigning, the Prevention and Prohibition of Human Sacrifice Bill, 2020 was finally passed by Ugandan Parliament on the 4th May 2021 and assented by the Prime Minister on the 14th July 2021. Together with fellow campaign members we rallied to ensure the passing of this Bill before dissolution of the 10th Parliament. This new law aims to curb rampant cases of human sacrifice in Uganda by addressing gaps in the existing legislation.

KYAKA II - UGANDA

THE START OF CLUSTER LEARNING

We ensured that refugee children living in Kyaka II settlement were not cut off from learning throughout lockdown, by providing 6,750 children with home learning materials, support, and connection with early learning radio lessons five days a week. This led to the development of our new Cluster Learning Approach to meet the overwhelming longer term demand for early education in Kyaka II, which offers small group lessons in communal spaces for the youngest refugee children.

CLUSTER LEARNING MODEL DEVELOPS

We ran a short-term trial for 2,896 children in May 2021 and a more focused pilot in 10 identified Cluster points in September, for 896 children. The project was then scaled up to include more areas of the settlement, increasing enrolment to 1,024 children. Our Cluster Learning Approach model was selected as a winner in the 2021 Theirworld Education Innovation Awards and commended by the Senior Education Officer from UNHCR Kampala as a model for early refugee education in the area.

LEARNING CENTRE CONSTRUCTION

Partnering with Haileybury Youth Trust, we completed six new Early Childhood Development centres (with four-stance Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrines) and began building a further four. The building work uses sustainable methods, and 24 new refugee building apprentices were trained in the process. New classrooms are bright and colourful, offering a safe, inviting space for the children to learn.

These six newly built centres were added to four built last year, nearing our goal of refurbishing and rebuilding 14 centres. Completed centres were handed over to communities in time for schools to be re-opened in January 2022 and the four remaining construction sites were near completion by the end of the financial year.

SCHOOLS OPEN AFTER LONGEST LOCKDOWN IN THE WORLD

In January, 30 Early Childhood Development centres re-opened their doors after over 18 months of lockdown, enrolling 5,539 children who were thrilled to be back in the classroom after such a long time at home. The centres were filled with colourful resources and offer a high quality education and care to children who would otherwise be cut off from learning.

FIRST EVER TEACHER GRADUATION IN KYAKA II

Teacher training continued for 233 teachers, with exams supervised by Makerere University in February 2022 for 48 candidates. 42 teachers graduated with teaching certificates after passing their Makerere University exams, along with 24 refugee apprentices, a representative from the District Education Office commented, “This is the first time in the entire district to have an ECD caregivers’ graduation and indeed Children on the Edge Africa is a game changer. The issue of using untrained teachers should be something of the past.”

We continued to provide 28 small business loans for teachers, enabling them to successfully generate independent sustainable incomes.

UKRAINE RESPONSE

At the very end of the financial year, on the 24th February 2022, the Russian military invaded Ukraine, shattering peace in Europe and bombarding a democracy of 44 million people. In the following weeks over 10 million people have been displaced, both internally and over the borders to neighbouring countries, including Romania and Moldova where Children on the Edge worked closely with local partner organisations between 1990 to 2012.

Our relationships with our partner organisations in both these countries (Speranta Centre in Moldova and Fundația COTE in Romania) remain strong to this day and, thanks to the generous support of our donors, we were able to move quickly to help them respond to the crisis on the ground.

In Moldova we began by supporting three transit centres for refugees, based in Tudora, Chișinău, and a larger hub further inland in Vatici. All three centres are linked up, with transport provided where necessary between them as refugees travel through the country.

In Romania, we set up a dedicated, flexible emergency fund so our partners could respond to the needs of the most marginalised refugees as they emerge.

As the situation is changing on a daily basis, we continue to monitor the situation and how we can support those refugees who need it most. Find out more about our work supporting Ukrainian refugees.

THE NUMBERS

For every £1 donated to Children on the Edge, 86p is spent on our projects supporting marginalised children, and 14p is spent on fundraising the next £1.

INCOME

Throughout the year. we have seen income from a broad range of sources. This mix of Trust, Corporate and Individual donors remains a focal point of our strategy to ensure organisational health.

Whilst overall income was down on the previous year, this was largely due to one significant donor moving their financial year which resulted in no income from them during the period. They remain a supporter and their planned income has since arrived.

Additionally, some of the spike in income from one corporate fudner during the first lockdown has returned to previously forecast levels.

EXPENDITURE

Overall programme spending has remained consistent at £1,897,658 although as we managed the impact of the COVID pandemic in all locations, we saw fluctuations throughout the year.

We managed to adapt and continue to run services during lockdowns in both the UK and on project locations as well as re-start full operations once restrictions were lifted.

Where savings were made, we used surplus funds in areas that needed additional support.

FUNDRAISING HIGHLIGHTS

Our fundraising team works to raise funds in a number of different ways; engaging individual donors, soliciting gifts from foundations and trusts, a growing regular giving scheme, strategic corporate partnerships as well as community fundraising and challenge events.

We do not engage the services of ‘professional fundraising’ businesses; all our fundraising activity is delivered by our own fundraising team.

Our fundraising year was strengthened with a mix of digital and online connection with supporters, as well as face to face happening again. A particular highlight from 2021 has been the launch of a partnership with Pennies and Montezuma’s allowing their customers to make small micro-donations with purchases.

With new roles in our fundraising team, we were able to trial and launch several new fundraising events, including the Big October Cake Bake as well as some virtual challenges; Jog 50 miles in June, Walk 100 miles in July and Squatober. More than 600 supporters took part in these new events in 2021, raising over £45,000.

Local support in Sussex, and connections through The Body Shop at Home led to more partnerships with schools; we are really grateful to students and staff at Hall Green Infants, Benson Community School, Prebendal School, Fishbourne Primary and Glebelands for their support.

We are grateful to so many grant makers and individuals who generously responded to the continuing COVID-19 crisis and donated to help us reopen schools safely towards the end of the year, as COVID restrictions were finally lifted across all our locations.

We ran our third matched giving campaign with the Big Give in December, investing in a new ‘cluster model’ to deliver community-based Early Years education for Congolese refugees in Uganda. With thanks to matching funders; the Charles Jacob Charitable Trust, Pacific Star Charitable Trust and the Coles-Medlock Foundation, we were able to connect with new donors, inspire 225 donations and raise an incredible £40,922 during the campaign.

We were delighted that this new cluster model also won Theirworld’s 2021 Education Innovation Award. The prize for Children on the Edge and four other winners, was a £50,000 grant, masterclasses and mentoring to help us scale up our cluster model to reach thousands more children.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT FUNDRAISING FOR US

THANK YOU

Children on the Edge is in a strong position to serve the needs of the most marginalised and vulnerable children around the world despite the ongoing economic and political challenges that continue to impact the charity sector.

This is only possible because of the ongoing generosity of supporters, from one-off donors to those who give every month, businesses of all sizes, trusts and institutional funders as well as those who give their time.

We deeply appreciate every single one of you. Thank you.

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