“ BUILDING A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN IN GHANA”

Registered charity 1105489

Annual Report 2011-2012

...................................................

All content © The Sabre Charitable Trust 2011Images supplied by staff and past volunteersDesign and layout by Jackie McAngus:Tel: 0034 663 713 308Email: info@elgastor.co.ukPrinted free of charge byDavis Langdon, an Aecom Company

Our long ter

m

ambition is to le

ave

a lasting leg

acy

of positive c

hange

through acce

ss to

high quality

public

education for

school children in

Ghana

2

I am delighted to introduce this year’s Annual Report which reflects a highly successful year for Sabre.

The past year has been one of growth and consolidation for Sabre. Turning to the charity’s core purpose first and foremost, a highlight of the year was the opening of the new Ayensudo kindergarten complex in Ghana which has brought better life chances for children in that area. I would like to congratulate everyone who participated in this project, both here in the UK and in Ghana.

Running a charity in these stringent economic times is no modest undertaking. However, it is a mark of the confidence of donors in Sabre’s vision and effectiveness that income has risen markedly over the past year. A significant proportion of the new income has been generated by strategic new appointments in the UK, who even at this early stage have proved their value to Sabre’s work.

There has also been significant development in the partnerships dimension of Sabre’s work, and new schools both in the UK and in Ghana

have made contact for the first time in what we hope will become a long term, mutually beneficial relationship. As headteacher of one of these schools in the UK, it was my pleasure to host two colleagues from our Ghanaian partner school recently, and I know from the experience of that, and my own visit to Ghana a year or so ago, just how important it is to build up mutual understanding between the young people of our countries. A group of my own students will be visiting our partners in Ghana in the summer of 2012.

Education is about good quality facilities, but it is also about people and interaction. This past year has seen the development of a range of projects which have helped to improve the confidence and capacity of teachers in Ghana. Making these improvements sustainable and continuing to develop teachers professionally remains a key objective.

Message from Chair of TrusteesIan Bauckham..........................................................................................................................................

As well as generating so many successful outcomes for young people in Ghana, Sabre never ceases to think strategically and to look to the future. The directors and trustees are absolutely committed to securing the future of the charity and continuing to fulfill its mission to improve education for children in the developing world in partnership with local communities. We look forward to exciting times ahead.

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We have seen some incredible change this year on so many fronts. Sabre Trust in Ghana has established itself

more formally, both in terms of finances and programme delivery, which is a step closer to the self-sufficient future we envisage.

Over the course of the year our relationship with the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the local government has developed significantly. This year saw some real focus emerging as to how effective our role can be. In two neighbouring Assemblies, Shama District and KEEA Municpality we have formalised the scope of our support to local education development matters by the signing of Memoranda of Understandings.

The next step in our development plan for local sustainability has been to set up an office much closer to the GES/Assembly headquarters in the areas we work. This has sent a clear message that Sabre Trust is a serious partner not only interested in, but indeed capable of, longer term sustainable partnerships. This office is the hub for the delivery of our sustainable KG programme as well as managing our local relationships. Our thanks must go to Michael Agbetepey for his sustained efforts in setting the new office up.

Following on from the successful completion of Ayensudu Kindergarten School, Joseph Stables, our UK resident engineer, confirmed what we had come to realise, that Lawrence Mensah’s apprenticeship would end with him being offered a full time permanent position with Sabre. Our model of training and capacity building was again bearing fruit. The final completion of the FIFA funded Football for Hope Centre in Cape Coast was a stern test for our construction projects team, working to shifting deadlines and snagging experimental technology, but one which they passed with flying colours. We are now very excited at the prospect of an entirely Ghanaian site team, managing a sustainable KG construction project from start to finish in either Amanano or Dominase.

The introduction of a pilot Teacher Training Programme in the summer saw us take a step closer to understanding how we can deliver a high quality programme which can run over several years to achieve a goal of training all teachers, to better deliver early childhood education. Nick Parish joined the team in June and has played a vital role in developing and coordinating this programme.

Reflections from Ghana Managing DirectorAubrey Malcolm-Green.........................................................................................................................................................................................

The new office near the KEEA Assembly has left a gap in the old office, but not for long! The growth of the Partner Ghana programme has been fantastic and both James Love (UK) and Nick Margalski (Ghana) are to thank for this. With a constant flurry of activity around teacher training meetings and student planning visits both offices are a hub of development education activity.

I am, as ever, delighted to have so many people across three continents visibly displaying their shared belief in what Sabre does. Year after year we are supported by a small group of indomitable volunteers and staff, and each new year brings more focus and determination. Thanks to Davina, Kathy, Erin, Beth, William, Osumanu to name but a few whose efforts continue to push us forward.

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Looking back on the last twelve months, I have the strong sense that this was the year when Sabre

grew up – figuratively speaking of course! It has been a year of significant growth, both in terms of income and impact. To show a revenue increase of 25% during a year of such economic turmoil is a fantastic achievement, and if the grant funding disbursed directly in Ghana is also included, this growth rate leaps to 40%. This reflects a really fantastic effort by the fundraising team, as well as the strong growth of school visit bookings for 2012 through our Partner Ghana programme.

To have replicated and extended the success of our Sustainable Kindergarten Complex at Ayensudo

is a great achievement – there are lots of examples of internationally designed school projects out there, each claiming to be more innovative and sustainable than the last, however very few get beyond the prototype stage or even off the drafting table. In completing our second sustainable kindergarten complex, we have shown our strong commitment to delivering a school design that can be scaled across Ghana, whilst staying true to the goals of creating a child-friendly school which is also kind to the environment. In Tullow Ghana Ltd, Arup and AECOM, we are incredibly fortunate to have three partners who are equally committed to our vision of building a brighter future for school children in Ghana, and for that we are extremely grateful.

Our school partnership programme has also gone from strength to strength, and we are pleased to welcome James Love onto our team. With 28 schools now involved in these partnerships, the scope and variety of projects being undertaken, and exchanges between pupils

Reflections from UK Managing Director Dominic Bond..............................................................................................................................................

and teachers is fantastic. With the endorsement of our strategic partner, the Association of School and College Leaders, we are able to promote these linking opportunities to almost 17,000 head teachers and school leaders across the country.

I started by referring to this as a year of growing up, and nowhere is this better reflected than in the work of the fundraising team. The hard work and dedication of our fundraising staff and volunteers has created a strong team that’s generating great results across all our fundraising activities. We are delighted that Nadine, who leads this team, has been nominated as this year’s Best Up and Coming Fundraiser by the Institute of Fundraising and wish her lots of luck for the awards ceremony in June.

We hope that you enjoy reading this report, and would like to extend our thanks to absolutely everyone who has supported our programme this last twelve months – we really couldn’t do it without you.

5

MEET THE TEAM..............................................................................................................................................................................................

6

Ian Bauckham -Chair of Trustees

Aubrey Malcolm-Green - Ghana Managing Director

Ama Yahans - Volunteer Support

Beth Warnock – International Volunteer

James Love – Partner Ghana Coordinator

Joseph Aggrey – Site Foreman

Kofi Sammy – Bamboo Technician

Lawrence Mensah - Construction Prog. Manager

Matt Christie – International Volunteer

Mike Agbetepey - Finance & HR Manager

Nadine Adamski - Fundraising Manager

Nana Akua Preston - Volunteer Support

Nick Margalski – Partner Ghana Intern

Osmanu Salifu – Logistics Officer

Nick Parish - Monitoring & Evaluation Mgr.

Tom Malcolm Green - Communications Officer

Solomon Mensah - Site Plumber

William Ampadu – Logistics Officer

Nana Preston – Project Support

Sampson Yahans – Project Support”

Steven Cole – Site Manager

Davina Fareti – Intern

Delhatu Abubakar - Driver

Emmanuel Mensah - Site Carpenter

William Quartey – Bamboo Technician

Eric Mensah - Trainee Site Manager

Erin Janca - International Volunteer

Isaac Kofi Gyim - Site Security

Francis Kwofie – Bamboo Technician

Dominic Bond - UK Managing Director

Abi Jago - Fundraiser

Kathy Weir - Tomorrows Stars

Kevin Mann - International Volunteer

TABLE OF CONTENTS..........................................................................................................................................

1. Introduction

81.1. Vision & Mission

81.2. Our achievements in numbers

92. Whole School Improvement Programme 102.1. Building Better Schools 12

2.2. Training Untrained Teachers 152.3. Creating Learning Resources 183. Partner Ghana School Linking Programme 203.1. Overview of Partner Ghana 203.2. Case Studies of Partnership Projects 233.3. Student and teacher visits 244. Partners

275. Funding our Work 285.1. Fundraising 285.2. Draft Statement of Financial Activity 306. Plans For 2012/2013 33

1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................

1.1. Vision & MissionSabre is a small charity working on a big issue – education. We are based in Ghana and work in close partnership with the Ghana Education Service to undertake projects which benefit marginalised and disadvantaged children in poor rural communities.

Our aim is to provide an integrated solution which supports government initiatives to enhance the school education system (4-16 year olds) in rural parts of Ghana. Our solution is child-centred, sustainable, scalable and community-based.

In delivering this solution, we partner with companies, organisations, schools, communities and individuals, in Ghana

and overseas, harnessing their skills and enthusiasm to support our projects.

Our long term ambition is to leave a lasting legacy of positive change through

access to high quality public education for school children in Ghana, whilst establishing

models that can be transferred to other countries, enabling future generations

to achieve their academic potential and contribute to sustained economic prosperity

for Africa.

In developing this year’s report we wanted to bring out some of the personal stories behind our programme. Alongside the descriptions of our projects and activities, you will find journals and accounts from some of the wonderful people who gave up their time as volunteers to help deliver on our goals.

Donors,

governm

ents

and eco

nomists

agree

that chi

ldren w

ho

receive

quality p

re-

primary

educati

on

stay in

school f

or

longer, a

chieve h

igher

educati

onal sta

ndards

and ult

imately le

ad

more succ

essful l

ives.

8

1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................

1.2. Our Achievements in Numbers

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O| llO| ll

O| llO| llO| llO| llO| llO| llO| llO| ll

Number of KG children reached by Sabre’s work

Number of UK students on Sabre supported visits to Ghana

228Increase of 80% Increase of 7%____________________________________________________

Increase of 180% Increase of 421%

Number of schools involved in the Partner Ghana programme

Funding secured from Trusts & Foundations

2010/11 = 450

2011/12 = 810

2010/11 = £7,250

2011/12 = £37,785

2010/11 = 10

2011/12 = 28

____

____

____

__ _

____

____

____

__

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2011/12 has been a critical year in the continued development of Sabre’s support to the Kindergarten (KG) sector through our Whole School Improvement Programme (WSIP). Our model is an integrated and holistic response to the needs of the KG sector, and the WSIP is made up of three core activity areas:

o Building Better Schools

o Training Untrained Teachers

o Creating Learning Resources

2. WHOLE SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME..............................................................................................................................................................................................

As the following sections illustrate, we have successfully implemented our second Sustainable KG Complex, achieving strong recognition for the excellence of the school’s design. We have also undertaken some important foundation work for the development of our teacher training programme, and furthered our support to teachers and children through our classroom resourcing schemes.

The needs and challenges at the kindergarten level in Ghana remain significant – there are over

600,000 four and five year old children not enrolled at kindergarten, only 50% of pupils have access to toilets at school, only one in three teachers has received any formal training, and on average there is one book for every three children in class. However, the benefits of a strong early years education are incredibly powerful and it is increasingly being recognised as the most critical sub-sector for investment in education. Donors, governments and economists agree that children who receive quality pre-primary education stay in school for longer,

achieve higher educational standards and ultimately lead more successful lives.

It is heartening to see that the value of a strong early years education is is being recognised as a critical issue by the Ghana Education Service and its development partners. We have been closely involved in a national initiative to review the current state of kindergarten education in Ghana and develop a new five-year operational plan for scaling up quality kindergarten education. This experience has allowed us to also develop our own consultancy service, which not only allows us to share our knowledge and expertise, but also helps to generate funding to support Sabre’s running costs.

The new sustainable kindergarten complex at Ayensudo

10

The Challenge:

Almost 5,200

kindergarten

classrooms are

either held in

temporary shelte

rs

or under tree

s.

11

Sabre has been involved with the kindergarten sector in Ghana since 2004, and over the next four years we gained experience of building schools to the standard government design. It became clear to us that funding the construction of more government-style schools, which were dark, humid and noisy, would not fully reflect the ethos and aspirations of the new kindergarten curriculum adopted in 2007, nor would it create enabling educational environments that would help Ghana meet its commitments to the Millennium Development Goals for Education.

Our vision for ‘Building Better Schools’ crystallised around the need to develop a new blueprint design that is child centred, sustainable, affordable, maintainable and creates a sense of ownership within the communities. The design had to be replicable nationwide to maximise its impact on children’s education and futures.

Recognising that within Sabre we did not have the technical skills to realise this project vision, we went in search of technical partners with expertise in this field that would bring knowledge, guidance and experience to the project. In September 2008, global construction firms Arup and Davis Langdon (now part of the AECOM group) were inspired by Sabre’s new vision, and agreed to participate in this project on a pro bono basis and help us design a Sustainable Kindergarten Complex. The first prototype complex was built in the remote community of Dwabor, and inaugurated to great plaudits in February 2010. The key achievement of this year’s programme has been to replicate that project in the village of Ayensudo, where over 100 pupils were being taught under trees and in an improvised shelter.

The Ayensudo Sustainable KG project was

primarily funded by Tullow Ghana Ltd, with Sabre again assuming direct responsibility for managing and delivering the building, with the support of our technical partners. A wide cross section of local residents benefited from the project and this benefit will continue in the coming years.

From the outset this project has adopted an inclusive and participatory approach. Before a brick was laid it was decided that members of the community, and the Chief of Ayensudo in particular, would be given a large amount of responsibility in ensuring that the project ran smoothly. As with previous Sabre projects, great emphasis was placed on using locally sourced and sustainable building materials, in addition to employing a predominantly community-based workforce.

Without the expertise of our technical partners at Arup and Davis Langdon, Sabre simply could not contemplate building schools to such a high standard – everyone on the technical team should be highly satisfied by the plaudits that this innovative school design is receiving. The new complex at Ayensudo has been recognised by UNICEF and the UK Department for International Development as providing some of the best kindergarten classrooms in the whole of Ghana.

We must also thank our generous donors, whose funding made this project possible. This is the first collaboration between Sabre and Tullow Ghana Limited, and we sincerely hope that the success of this project will be replicated in the future. Generous

donations were also received from the European School in Munich and the Ghana International Bank Foundation, both new donors to Sabre, and again we hope to continue working with them in the future.

We would also like to thank the staff at the Municipal Education Office, under Director Gabriel Gademor, for their continued collaboration and facilitation. The community of Ayensudo supported the project with land and labour and have demonstrated their strong commitment to the project.

Over 1,500 children will pass through the kindergarten during its minimum lifespan of 25 years. This will have an enormous impact on levels of literacy and numeracy whilst also tackling some of the problems faced in the primary school sector, where many pupils are ill-prepared for learning.

20 community craftsmen who were involved in the construction of the school have learnt new techniques and technologies working with sustainable materials. These skills will enable them to pursue new livelihood opportunities, as well as gaining work on other construction projects and participating in the school’s maintenance.

Current and future teachers will benefit from working in an improved learning environment which helps them to expand their teaching style beyond a rote-based learning approach. The regular in-service training provided by a partnership between Sabre and the Ghana Education Service (GES) will ensure that teachers are assisted in handling the unique challenges of kindergarten instruction.

H

H

H

2.1. Building Better Schools

12

13

“We have to say

that this is

one of the o

utstanding models

that shows how educatio

n can

be delivered in par

tnership

between the loca

l community,

the school, th

e PTA and the

government rep

resentatives, t

o

provide a tru

ly inspiration

al

learning envi

ronment.”

Rachel Hinton

, Human

Development Ad

viser, DFID

Ghana

Volunteer Viewpoint: Joseph StablesMy eyes sparkled during a whirlwind adventure in East Africa after my A-levels and I have been looking for an excuse to return to this great continent ever since. Now that I am working as a civil engineer with Arup, I have developed key skills which can really make a difference to people’s lives in the developing world. Through our partnership with Sabre I grasped the opportunity to live in Ghana for a year and oversee the construction of the Arup designed Sustainable Kindergarten project whilst also developing local skills to build more schools in the years ahead.My fiancée Uma was able to work for Sabre in a social media role, so it was a great opportunity for us to get away from London and

embrace a completely different lifestyle together. We lived in the community of Ayensudo with a local graduate engineer Lawrence,

who I was training to oversee the next school build. Our home was based at the school in a little clearing of acacia trees close to the

construction site but out of sight, so we could detach ourselves and enjoy village life in the afternoons. The sea was a short drive along

a rough road in an overloaded rusty taxi and made for an excellent cool down after a hot day under the sun. Ayensudo is a farming

community and had an abundance of melons, oranges (which are actually green!), and pineapples and being on the main road to

Takoradi we could squeeze into a passing tro-tro and explore the beaches, towns and rainforests at the weekends. The work itself was incredibly rewarding. In January we levelled the site and by November we had delivered three separate school

buildings each for 60 pupils, set in a fenced plot with biodiversity planting and outside teaching spaces. We also developed the sports

field into the pride of the community by levelling it and providing drainage and goals with real nets! Achieving all this was challenging at

times; especially in planning the works for voluntary community labour who worked to their own version of GMT “Ghana Maybe Time”

and also had farms, day jobs and funerals to attend to.

The most satisfying aspect for me was seeing so many different people engaging with and learning from each other. It was a real melting

pot of cultures including skilled and unskilled local labour, international volunteers, refugees from the Ivory Coast, Sabre staff, and local

and international stakeholders visiting and helping out.

In terms of a personal legacy I am lucky to have been able to contribute my engineering skills and knowledge in developing Sabre’s

capacity to build future schools without the need for an on-site international engineer. This is predominantly a result of a successful

training programme with Lawrence who is now not only the full time Sabre engineer, but also one of my best friends. I have returned to

the UK a more experienced engineer and a more rounded and flexible person with many fond memories and new friends.

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The need for teacher training at the KG level is significant. Nationwide there are 19,335 serving teachers in government schools who have never had any formal teacher training, plus a further 9,229 untrained teachers in the private sector. This combined figure equates to 69% of the KG teacher workforce, who are responsible for the education of over 1,029,000 children. Currently there are seven colleges of education and two universities offering pre-service training in KG teaching, and collectively they train approximately 800 new teachers a year – barely enough to keep up with retirements from the current teacher population. In response to such challenging figures, Sabre has taken a diverse and innovative approach towards teacher training, principally working on a small scale to support teachers in local kindergarten schools, with mentoring and guidance from our international volunteers.

This year we decided it was time to develop a more systematic and structured response to the needs of these teachers, and in July 2011 we delivered an intensive two week training course for teachers from six kindergarten schools, as well as representatives of the Municipal

The Challenge:There are over

28,500 untrained teachers in the

kindergarten sector in Ghana

2.2. Training Untrained Teachers

Education Office. The training course was funded by Tomorrow’s Stars, a US based not-for-profit organisation working closely with Sabre in Elmina.

The training combined experiential classroom learning with practical observations and feedback, covering seven key topics:

o The Healthy Child - what do children need for healthy development, what diet of learning do they need?

o The Healthy classroom – what makes a healthy classroom, both in terms of the physical environment and approaches to teaching?

o Time management – consideration of the timetable and how to structure and divide up the day to ensure the best learning outcomes.

o Behaviour management and positive reinforcement – strategies to cope with large classes, counter negative behaviours in class and encourage and reward good behaviour.

o Learning through creative play – ideas for lesson planning and delivery of learning

through play, with opportunities for teachers to put these into practice.

o Assessment of student learning – how to identify when children are/aren’t learning, and assessing different ability levels.

o Lesson planning – practical ideas for lessons, based on the learning goals of the curriculum.

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One of the greatest achievements of the programme was that it created an environment in which teachers and trainers were able to openly discuss all manner of issues. These ranged from understanding the obstacles facing teachers in their jobs, to experimenting with different methods of classroom management and discipline. The workshop was not designed to be in the form of a lesson – Sabre’s teacher training

staff consciously took the decision to make every module as interactive as possible in order to ensure maximum comfort and participation. As such, the trainers gained a far deeper insight into the difficulties facing KG teachers and were able to map out a variety of alternative approaches. Crucially, the teachers played a very active role in this process and this undoubtedly contributed to the programme’s overall success.

Extracts from feedback slips:

o “This workshop is becoming more interesting with the sharing

of ideas.”

o “The workshop is very good for me, I have more ideas e.g. three

ways to teach one idea. This will help me with my lessons.”

o “The programme is good and should be encouraged. I think

it will help us to achieve our aims. It will help us assess our

children, observe them and also help us teach. It will also help

us develop the children’s talents.”

Extracts from trainer reviews:o “You choose students to answer even if their hand is not raised and this is a wonderful strategy to let students know they always have to be ready.”o “You could find ways of children responding in groups rather than individually to the whole class.”o “You have built a very positive relationship with the children in your classroom. You like them and you can tell that they like you very much. Well done!”

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Volunteer Viewpoint: Lisa MelassaccioMy trip to Ghana really started a year before my departure date. Having been accepted on Sabre’s volunteer programme I got the whole of my school to raise money for the Ayensudo Sustainable Kindergarten Complex. The teachers, children and parents really took the initiative to heart and it created a really positive attitude to what I was doing and in a way made me put any worries about doing the voluntary work to the back of my mind.

I arrived into Elmina on a Sunday morning after a massive storm and there seemed to be water and people everywhere! It was such a change from Munich where I live, with all its efficiency, rules and Western standards of living. Elmina was bustling, loud and chaotic in comparison. I knew this trip was going to be very different from anything I had done before!On Monday we began our two week Teacher Training course with 10 Kindergarten teachers plus representatives of the local educational department. The teachers brought with them such a wide range of experience and such different working conditions to anything that I had ever experienced in Europe. The changes that Sabre are trying to facilitate are so far reaching that it sometimes felt insurmountable but in the end every improvement has to start somewhere and I was pleased and humbled to be able to be part of the first step towards better trained Kindergarten staff in Elmina. The individual teachers were wonderful people, ready to listen, learn and share. I have never danced, sung, drummed or clapped so much in my life. I also realized that I have, relatively speaking, absolutely no rhythm!In the second week I went to 3 different schools to do observations to see if the teachers had taken on board some of the teaching styles and classroom management. It was great to see that the teachers were trying out what we had workshopped the previous week. Even better was the opportunity to be in schools with the children. Their smiles were so bright and eyes so full of curiosity and life that they are with me still. Your hands were never your own as one child after the other held on in such a friendly and welcoming way!I returned to my ‘normal’ job in September with songs to share, photos to show, stories to tell, an enormous Ghanaian drum to play and a sense of being very privileged to have been a tiny part of an amazing project that will bring a brighter future not only to the children but also the kindergarten teachers of Ghana.

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Building on this experience, we have assembled a fantastic advisory panel of early years specialists, who are helping us develop a longer term training programme to launch in August 2012. This one year intensive course will equip both existing teachers and student teachers with the skills, knowledge and confidence to adopt a child-led and activity-based approach.

The training will be delivered in collaboration with the University of Cape Coast (UCC), which accredits all teacher training nationwide, and the OLA College of Education, one of the seven colleges currently offering the diploma in Early Childhood Education, with the close involvement of the Municipal Office of the Ghana Education Service. The training programme will build on the Kumasi model developed by the Israeli Development Agency MASHAV, and will also be informed by the draft Teacher Education Modules being developed by GES and UNICEF.

The Challen

ge:

There is just

one

workbook for every

three children in

kindergarten – t

he

government m

inimum

target is thr

ee per

child.

2.3. Creating Learning Resources

As mentioned in last year’s report, Sabre was kindly donated the entire contents of the Church Crookham Montessori Nursery when it closed in 2010. This wonderful complement of resources, which are specifically related to early years education, was shipped to Ghana and stored at Sabre’s office pending the completion of the Sustainable KG Complex at Ayensudo. In keeping with

the wishes of the nursery owners, as far as possible the resources were kept together as a

single set, and Sabre’s team worked with the teachers at Ayensudo to furnish the three classrooms with these fantastic resources ready for the school’s inauguration. As a result this is one of the best equipped

KG schools in the municipality, and the children have access to lots of engaging learning materials and stimulating play equipment.

One of the most often cited reasons that teachers do not feel able to support activity based learning is a lack of basic classroom resources. In part, our new teacher training programme will address this by demonstrating how many useful and engaging resources can be developed from everyday and readily available items. However there is a basic kit of materials that can help teachers to introduce arts and crafts activities in the classroom. Sabre has been supporting schools with resource packs for many years, but this year, the team began to take a more focussed approach to the kinds of materials that would make the kindergarten teachers’ lives easier and their classes more stimulating. From the start of the new school year in September, 10 classes received KG resource packs, which have since been replenished at the start of each new term.

Having distributed all of the resources we received as donations in 2011/12 we are now turning our attention to the challenge of making learning

resources locally from sustainable and recycled materials. This has long been an ambition for Sabre, and the forthcoming teacher training programme gives us a fantastic opportunity to test our designs for a resource box made entirely from local materials by carpenters and seamstresses. The development of our training site on community donated lands at Bronyibima is central to this strategy. The site currently supports the preparation of bamboo for our Building Better Schools programme, but the workshops have the potential to double up as carpentry workshops for the Creating Learning Resources programme. In addition to supplying the bamboo to the Ayensudo KG Complex, Sabre also used the training site to deliver a contract for the supply and fitting of 1,800 pieces of bamboo to the FIFA-funded Football for Hope Centre in Cape Coast. This high profile project covered the set up and initial operating costs of the bamboo production workshops, and also helped to support the operating costs of Sabre in Ghana.

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Volunteer Viewpoint: Charlie & Simon KingAs a structural engineer and a practically minded scientist, we decided it was time to volunteer our skills outside of work and take a break from our hectic life in London, setting up a five-month placement with Sabre in Elmina, Ghana. I had just finished my PhD in Chemistry and my wife, Charlie, had been working for five years as a structural engineer, so the move to Ghana was a pretty huge lifestyle change. However, we had a great team of people around us who helped us settle in and showed us the ropes.

Charlie and I spent the majority of our time in Ghana working at the Sabre Training Site near Bronyibima, producing treated and finished bamboo for both the kindergarten school at Ayensudo and the FIFA sponsored Football for Hope Centre in Cape Coast. Bamboo is an excellent resource which grows quickly and is readily available in Ghana, but needs to be treated and varnished to ensure it will last longer without being attacked by beetles or fungi.Working in Ghana was an incredible and enlightening experience; the Ghanaian people are wonderful and we had an insight into the culture which you wouldn’t get as a tourist on a short visit. We spent every day working with the local team

which was employed by Sabre, and were very sad to leave them behind when we returned to England. Our new friends from Ghana are

the defining memory of our time there. It was a privilege to share their hopes and aspirations, lives and histories, as well as the Fante

they taught us.

That’s not to say it was all easy! The weather in Ghana is hot and humid whether the sun is shining or not, and when it rains, it really rains. The electricity supply is inconsistent, as is the water, and the roads can be pretty bumpy. However, this was all part of the experience and the support from Sabre and the other volunteers reduced any difficulties to minor inconveniences.Experiencing the local culture was great fun and we got involved in the Ghanaian lifestyle by buying some chickens and housing them in a bamboo hutch that we constructed. Our time in Elmina also gave us a chance to explore the rest of Ghana, from the Akosombo dam and mountains in the east, to the crazy market in Kumasi and beautiful palm-lined beaches fading into the distance in the west.Overall it was an amazing experience. We learnt a huge amount about bamboo, made lifelong friends and

also managed to fit in some time just to relax and enjoy being in Ghana.

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3. PARTNER GHANA SCHOOL LINKING PROGRAMME..............................................................................................................................................................................................

More than ever, the importance of global learning is being recognised in the UK and this enabling environment has contributed to the number of schools joining the Partner Ghana Programme. Ghana too is increasingly connected and educators there are realising the importance of exposing their students to other cultures as well as invoking a deeper sense of pride in their own.

The passion, enthusiasm and understanding that schools in both the UK and Ghana display through their partnerships is outstanding. This has been a year of growth and change, and in the coming year we look forward to building on these strong foundations to help more young people learn, communicate and cooperate for a better world.

By linking up schools in Ghana with partner schools in the UK, the Partner Ghana programme aims to facilitate educational exchanges between students and teachers in both countries for the mutual benefit of both schools. We believe strongly that, in order to prepare young people to become responsible, global citizens, it is vital to give them a chance to interact and learn together with their peers from all over the world. These experiences encourage tolerance, openness and a spirit of cooperation for a better world.

In 2011/2012, the Partner Ghana programme has continued to flourish. James Love has joined the UK team as our Partner Ghana Co-ordinator and has brought his strong development education ethos to bear on strengthening our programme. Thanks to our partnership with the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) and our work with the KEEA Municipal Education Office, more schools have become aware of the opportunity to

partner and eighteen new schools have joined the programme.

We were able to take advantage of the British Council’s final round of reciprocal visit funding as well as ASCL’s ‘Starter Grant’ fund, securing grants for 8 schools to send teachers on a week’s visit to their partner school. These visits have proven invaluable in giving schools the opportunity to understand their partner’s context, build relationships and plan for the future. As part of the teacher visits to Ghana, two schools organised field trips to nearby cocoa farms, giving the Ghanaian students the chance to carry out practical field work and exposing the UK teachers to how Ghana’s biggest export begins its life.

This year we have worked closely with our partner schools to develop and implement curriculum projects on an exciting range of global themes and facilitated a number of pen-pal exchanges.

3.1. Overview of Partner Ghana

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We believe strongly

that, in order to

prepare young people

to become responsible,

global citizens, it is

vital to give them a

chance to interact and

learn together with

their peers from all

over the world

These exchanges have helped to bring education to life in both countries, giving students the chance to make connections with another culture. Working closely with one of our most experienced link teachers, Moyra Zaman, we have also produced six shared learning activity guides on different themes. These guides are packed with ideas and links to useful resources and were included as part of our new partnership guide, which was distributed to all schools in February.

As part of Sabre’s commitment to being a sharing, learning organisation, we have been busy building relationships with other organisations in the school linking arena. Attendance at three BUILD networking meetings and participation in working group meetings with Tzedek, Link Community Development and Link Ethiopia has given us the opportunity to both learn and share knowledge with other organisations, strengthening the sector as a whole.

The passion, enthusiasm and understanding that schools in both the UK and Ghana display

through their partnerships is outstanding

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Teacher Viewpoint:

Paula Ayitey & Comfort Otchere

Ankaful Junior High School and Bennett Memorial Diocesan

School have been linked since February 2011. The

headmistress, Paula Ayitey and link teacher, Comfort Otchere

made a visit to Bennett in early 2012, as part of a British

Council funded reciprocal visit, and on their return to Ghana,

they shared their thoughts about the visit:

“We wanted a partnership because we felt it would help our students in many ways. We

wanted to motivate them, broaden their minds and also help them to overcome stereotypes and

misconceptions about British people.

The visit to Bennett has been so fruitful. We have learnt a great deal of things – it feels like we

were there for months, rather than just a few days! The approach to teaching is really different

here, for example in the Religious Education class we observed, the focus was on the students

and the instruction made use of group activities like mind-maps. Students were asked to consider

a question and to give their opinions. This kind of approach is so important for nurturing critical

thinking. It is not widely practised in Ghana but it is something we want to introduce.

We also noticed how the students move from class to class during the day, instead of teachers

changing class as they do in our school. This helps to keep the students active and motivated. The

walls are full of posters, drawing and displays too. We want to put up similar materials at Ankaful

but unfortunately it is very difficult to stop them being removed or damaged.

Now we are back, we are going to organise a training session with all the staff. We have collected

so many resources on a USB stick that we will share with them. It may be difficult to adapt all the

practices we have seen at Bennett into our school – the education system is quite different and we

have to follow policy. Nevertheless, we will see where we can be flexible and what we can change.

We really enjoyed our time in the UK and look forward to sharing all of our photos and

experiences with our students. The visit has helped to take our partnership forward in many ways

and we look forward to welcoming students from Bennett in the summer.“

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At a glance:Number of school partnerships:14 = 180% increase over 2010/11Number of schools receiving British Council Reciprocal Visit Funding6 = Success rate: 85%Number of teachers visiting:

UK to Ghana: 8

Ghana to UK: 6

3.2. Case Studies of Partnership Projects

Development Education

The Partner Ghana programme aims to embed development education practice in schools through joint projects. Development education, often referred to as ‘global education’, seeks to teach young people about global issues and interdependence, celebrate diversity, build critical thinking skills and encourage informed action for a better world. This year, we have supported schools with training days and produced shared learning activity guides on different themes including sustainability, creative writing, fair trade and slavery.

Artwork exchange between Kimbolton School and Essaman United

Essaman United MA School was linked with Kimbolton School in September 2011 and the partnership got off to an energetic start. Having secured funding for a reciprocal visit in March and with a student visit already planned for 2013, the schools explored ways of sharing the burden of resourcing for shared projects. Through Partner Ghana, Kimbolton supplied the start-up costs for art materials which Essaman students then used to produce a range of pieces, including paintings of adinkra symbols, wooden ornaments and jewellery. The Essaman students loved being able to explore their creative side and the quality of work attests to the long tradition of craftwork in Ghana. Artwork was taken back to Kimbolton after the UK teacher visit, where it will be auctioned off to fund shared projects looking at the slave trade, cocoa and religious practice.

We wanted a partnership

because we felt it would help

our students in many ways

Planting trees during a st

udent visit

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Teacher visits

A total of fourteen teachers from eight schools made visits to their partner school this year, the largest number yet. These trips were made possible thanks to support from the British Council and ASCL, as well as funds raised by individual schools. Reciprocal visits have given teachers a valuable chance to get to know their partner schools and plan together.

Hosting schools have gone to great lengths to welcome their guests, often accommodating them at the home of one of the staff members. Taking part in school trips to cocoa farms and slave forts in Ghana and visits to local primary schools and sites of interest in the UK have broadened teachers’ awareness about their partner’s country. Most importantly, having a teacher from another country present in school for a week has given students the opportunity to ask questions, over-come preconceptions and deepen their appreciation of diversity.

Results from our pilot evaluation studies have been encouraging: they have demonstrated the positive impact these visits can have on the ability of teachers to use their partnership to bring a global dimension into the classroom, whilst increasing awareness of the way in which the students’ actions impact around the world, and also can overcome issues of inequality to achieve a true partnership. We will continue our evaluations next year and publish the results.

3.3. Student and teacher visitsShared curriculum projects between Sir William Perkins School and Bantuma Junior High School

Sir William Perkins School (SWPS), Chertsey and Bantuma MA Junior High School, Elmina have been linked since 2010. Teachers from each school have visited their partners twice, allowing for in-depth planning of joint curricular projects. This year the schools have carried out exciting projects in a range of subject areas.

A shared project on cocoa and fair trade has helped students at both schools understand the important role this commodity plays in both economies, as well as some of the issues surrounding international trade chains and fair trade. Students at SWPS began by investigating fair trade and produced booklets for their counterparts at Bantuma. During a visit to Ghana in September, a student visit to a nearby cocoa farm was organised. Bantuma students carried out field work on how cocoa is grown and packaged for sale and this information was then fed back to SWPS. For many Bantuma students, this rare opportunity to go on a field trip was a motivating and memorable experience.

An investigation into diets at both schools has also proved illuminating. Pupils at both schools kept food diaries for a week, noting down the amounts and types of food they ate. This information was fed into software producing some surprising insights into whose diet was healthier. The schools have also found out about experiences of tropical diseases like malaria through the use of video diaries and sound recordings.

The partnership has had a real impact on both schools by bringing subjects to life and engaging students in stimulating, relevant projects. This work will continue to be expanded and the schools are looking forward to trying new ideas this coming year.

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3.3. Student and teacher visitsTeacher Viewpoint: Claire KennedyI am a Geography teacher at Kimbolton School in Cambridgeshire, and since I began teaching here five years ago I have wanted to set up a school partnership between Kimbolton and a school in Africa. I was keen to give my students the opportunity to experience a culture very different from their own whilst also benefiting a school in a less privileged part of the world. I had previously spent several enjoyable months in Ghana so the country was an obvious place to lookfor a partner school. Partner Ghana has done a great job in helping us to liaise with our new

partner school, Essaman United School and I’m very happy with the way the partnership is developing.

As part of this process I recently paid a visit to Essaman United. On arrival, I was welcomed to the school by Kwame Essuman, the lead link teacher, together with the Headmistress and local dignitaries as part of an amazing ceremony. On the second day of my visit I was introduced to the twenty-four pupils who have been chosen to “buddy” with our pupils. Seeing them reading the letters and photos our students had sent was a great moment, and one of my fondest memories of my time in Elmina.

I also received a range of artwork created by Essaman pupils, including painted Adinkra symbols, wooden tortoises, bangles, necklaces and earrings. These will be sold in order to raise money for buying materials to carry out joint projects. One of our first joint academic projects, to be carried out by pupils in year 8, will focus on fair trade cocoa. We hope to get other projects going across multiple subjects so that as many pupils as possible can benefit from the partnership. I took out a laptop and digital camera for Essaman United, which we hope will allow better communication and facilitate such projects. I also paid a visit to nearby Elmina Castle, an historic slave fort. It was a sobering reminder of the terrible conditions in which slaves were kept. Our students will be taking a similar trip with their Ghanaian buddies when they visit - I think it will be a very important experience for them to share. More broadly I think our pupils will have a wonderful time experiencing the warm Ghanaian welcome and the amazing variety of arts and culture in Elmina.

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Student visits

This year saw our busiest expedition season yet, with 10 schools sending 13 teams made up of 228 students and teachers to Ghana during July and August. Seven of these schools were on trips where Sabre acts as the ground agent for expedition providers World Challenge Expeditions and Wilderness Expertise, whilst Partner Ghana schools Weydon School, Lord Wandsworth College and Batavia High School sent teams to visit their partner school.

These teams worked on a variety of projects in eight different communities, and the student groups from our Partner Ghana schools were buddied up with students from their partner school to jointly deliver the school improvement projects.

Through the student visits to Ghana, a number of small scale improvement projects were completed. These consisted of three playground construction projects, four classroom improvement projects, fourteen classroom decoration projects, one library development project, two ICT laboratories, one rainwater harvesting project and two malaria awareness campaigns.

When a group of students from Batavia High School visited their partner school at Ayensudo, we asked the students to complete a short survey about how their perceptions of Ghana and development issues had changed as a result of their trip.

Volunteer Viewpoint: Erin Janca

In 2007 I walked out of the movie theatre after seeing “Blood

Diamond”, a movie set against the backdrop of civil war

and chaos in 1990’s Sierra Leone and the illegal mining of

diamonds, and I could not get the images or the thoughts

of such a struggle to live, out of my mind. It was during my

walk to the car that I said to my husband, “I have to go

to Africa and help in the only way I know how… through

education.” I went home, got on Google and searched for

“short-term volunteer organizations” and the rest, as they say, is history.

I found Sabre.

The charity’s mission, vision, and focus on education aligned exactly with my area of interest

and my professional expertise. Having been a special education teacher for over a decade, I

knew that putting our time, efforts, and resources into supporting and training kindergarten

teachers would yield the greatest results as far as student achievement and teacher

satisfaction. I have worked collaboratively with Sabre over the past six years to develop teaching

methodologies and a process for obtaining standardized data on student growth. I have been

fortunate enough to work with professionals from all over the world. We’ve come together with

the common goal of supporting kindergarten education in order to strengthen the foundation

on which Ghanaian children will learn.

My work with Sabre and the Ghanaian people I have come to know as my family, has been the

most rewarding experience of my life. I am more certain now than ever before that I was called

into the field of education 17 years ago because Ghana was in my future.

In 2011 I began bringing student groups from Batavia High School where I work over to Ghana.

I knew I needed to extend this global, collaborative, extraordinary experience to the future

leaders of our world and what better way to do that then have them experience Ghana; the

culture, the people, the environment, first-hand. To date I have brought over 35 students to

volunteer in Ghanaian schools and my rewards now pay off in the form of 17-year-olds choosing

their focus of study at university to be international relations, peace and conflict studies,

medicine, and education.

I am one of the lucky few in this life to be able to say that because of education, Sabre, and

Ghana my cup truly runneth over.

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4. PARTNERS..............................................................................................................................................................................................

A number of organisations have been absolutely vital in supporting our work over the last twelve months, and without their kind and generous assistance we could never have the results recorded in this report. We would like to use this space to recognise six of our partners who have had a significant impact on our work

Ghana Education Service – Sabre has always enjoyed a warm and collaborative relationship with the Ghana Education Service at the district level, where our programmes respond to the needs and priorities identified by the Municipal Director of Education and his team. With Sabre’s involvement in the programme to scale up quality KG education nationally, we have had the opportunity to work more closely with the national unit for Early Childhood Development led by Margaret Okai. This has been a wonderful experience which has furthered our understanding of the issues and challenges confronting the sector, and we look forward to a continued positive relationship with all sectors of the service.

Ove Arup & Partners – The team of willing Arup volunteers who have given up their evenings and weekends to work on our school designs now numbers over 50, headed up by the unstinting support and enthusiasm of Jo DaSilva and Hayley Gryc. In addition to the team’s sterling technical inputs, Arup staff have also helped us to gain print recognition for our work in industry magazines and publications, as well as hosting our project celebration event, and raising over two thousand pounds in support of our Big Give Christmas Challenge.

Tullow Oil plc – Through its subsidiary Tullow Ghana Ltd, the firm played a key role in funding the Ayensudo Sustainable Kindergarten Complex, a project which allowed us to expand our Building Better Schools Programme. We are very excited by the potential of this partnership, and look forward to developing a joint programme for the coming year.

AECOM – Davis Langdon has been a core partner since selecting Sabre as its staff charity in 2008, and following the firm’s recent merger with AECOM, we are delighted to announce that Sabre is now one of the group’s strategic charity partners. In the coming months our UK roadshow will take us around the country meeting employees in the main offices and giving us an opportunity to introduce Sabre and reinvigorate this important relationship.

Tomorrow’s Stars – Tomorrow’s Stars has been active in the education sector in Elmina since 2003, and over the last two years, have become increasingly involved in supporting Sabre’s work and collaborating on shared projects. Valuable initiatives such as the scholarships programme, literacy libraries and kindergarten resource packs would not be possible without the support and commitment of founders Kathy and George Weir. In particular, Tomorrow’s

Stars provided the start-up funding needed to deliver the teacher training pilot and Kathy’s first hand knowledge of many of the schools involved has been vitally important in designing the programme.

ASCL – The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) is the UK’s largest head teacher membership body, and the association’s endorsement of the Partner Ghana school linking programme has been vitally important. Additionally, ASCL has already provided £10,000 in charitable funding to support the development of school partnerships, with a further £20,000 committed over the next four years of the programme.

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“This project is evidence of Tullow’s commitment to delivering integrated and effective education

solutions that support the government’s policies on

education reform.”David Lawrie, Regional Business Manager, Tullow Oil plc

This year our fundraising activities have

focussed on securing the funding to complete

the Ayensudo Sustainable Kindergarten

Complex and generating grant based funding

for our ambitious programme in 2012/13.

The following Trusts and Foundations have

made generous donations towards our

Building Better Schools programme. We

sincerely hope that one day they will come and

visit the projects they have supported:

o The St. James Place Foundation -

supporting the Ayensudo Sustainable

Kindergarten Complex

o The Evan Cornish Foundation – supporting

the Dominase Sustainable Kindergarten

Complex

o The British & Foreign Schools Society

– supporting the Dominase Sustainable

Kindergarten Complex

o The Christadelphian Meal A Day Fund

- supporting the Dominase Sustainable

Kindergarten Complex

The summer months were a flurry of activity

for our community events and we would like to

extend our thanks to:

This year has been a really significant one in the development of Sabre’s fundraising function. Our small team has grown from one to three and we have put in place a really solid framework of fundraising activity.

Being awarded the Vodafone World of Difference grant allowed Nadine Adamski to take a two month placement with Sabre to focus on writing a much needed fundraising strategy. Such was the impact of those two months, that she was offered a permanent position as Fundraising Manager. In her own words this has become the best roller-coaster ride of her life. Working in such a small team brings plenty of challenges, but with the support of the rest of the Sabre team, Nadine has injected a new momentum and approach to our fundraising which has seen our annual fundraising income increase by 25%, allowing us to extend our programme activity.

The year began with the launch of our fundraising strategy that was heavily scrutinised by our trustees and other fundraising experts before it was released. Already just one year in, we can look back and see that some of our projections were ambitious but the process was just as important in creating a new energy for Sabre and a very clear direction for fundraising.

5.1. Fundraising

o Reach Cambridge for another successful

‘Summer of Fun(draising)’ through their

community outreach programme

o The International Project Finance

Association for again selecting us as a

partner for their fantastic corporate quiz

o Haymarket Events, and especially Jeremy

King, for inviting Sabre to be the beneficiary

charity at the Events Industry Award

Ceremony 2011

We are continually overwhelmed by the

support we receive from such a diverse array

of organisations and individuals, each equally

vital in helping to support the delivery of our

programmes. Our sincere thanks are extended

to every single one of you!

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5. FUNDING OUR WORK..............................................................................................................................................................................................

Sabre receiving BFSS grant

We identified five core funding avenues to focus our efforts on:

o Corporate Partnerships

o Trusts & Foundations

o Community Fundraising

o Social Enterprise Activity

o A Group of Champions

The funding streams have progressed at different rates but of particular note is the momentum we have gained on our Trust and Foundation submissions. Previously this was a very under-explored area of fundraising for Sabre, and we have now made a total of 22 applications and with a 30% success rate which we believe is good going in the current funding environment. Not bad for our first year!

The fundraising team is expanding and this year we have recruited some valuable internship assistance. Alex Pollitt joined Sabre for the summer, to help organise our November project

5.1. Fundraising

celebration event and research prospective corporate partners in Ghana. Abi Jago joined Sabre as a volunteer in May, to support our Trusts & Foundations submissions. She is an excellent writer and very committed to Sabre’s goals. She has since spent two months in Ghana at the end of last year and has recently been awarded the Vodafone World of Difference grant which is enabling her to work with us for longer. Our most recent addition to the team is Nana Nortey, who is working in a voluntary capacity to support our events and most importantly launch our outreach work within the UK Ghanaian diaspora. So far there doesn’t seem to be anyone she doesn’t know!

The fundraising highlight of the year was our participation in the Big Give Christmas Challenge. This was the first time Sabre had applied to take part and we could never have anticipated such a strong response. Building the campaign, preparing the marketing and collating our donor database were all areas of unfamiliar territory but we were proud to deliver a very professional campaign. During the week itself, there was an immense amount of adrenaline and energy buzzing around the Sabre office and we were able to raise an outstanding £47,910. Not all of this was “new money” to Sabre, as the pledge pot was made up of confirmed grants, and some further grant monies were pledged during the challenge, but in the final analysis, the campaign generated almost £25,000 in new funding which

Sabre would otherwise have been unable to access. In terms of campaigning, this was an unprecedented fundraising success for us and one which we hope to build on next Christmas.

Fundraising isn’t as straightforward as it may seem and there are a lot of hints and tips which make a fundraiser’s task that little bit easier. We have been very fortunate to benefit from the knowledge of a number of charities who have shared their wealth of experience with us and in particular experienced fundraiser Helen Varma, who has now joined our trustee board, has been an excellent mentor and inspiration to the team.

It is hard to imagine how next year could be even more exciting, but with the goals and targets we have set ourselves it is definitely going to be

challenging and hopefully very fruitful.

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5.2. Draft Statement of Financial Activity for the Year Ended 31 March 2012

Unrestricted Restricted Total 2012 Total 2011 Funds £ Funds £ £ £_______________________________________________________Resources Incoming_______________________________________________________Incoming Resources from Generated Funds 77,130 58,235 135,365 107,134__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Incoming Resources from Charitable Activities 17,467 206,052 223,519 178,480__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Other Incoming Resources 133 0 133 397__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Total Incoming Resources 94,730 264,287 359,017 286,011_______________________________________________________Resources Expended_______________________________________________________

Costs of Generating Voluntary Income 39,487 11,059 50,546 45,710__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Costs of Charitable Activities 39,055 173,498 212,553 222,663__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Governance Costs 15,160 0 15,160 14,617__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Total Resources Expended 93,702 184,557 278,259 282,990__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Net Income for the Year 1,028 79,729 80,757 3,020__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Fund Balances at 01 Apr 2011 39,647Fund Balances at 31 Mar 2012 120,404

*Note that these figures for the year ended 31 March 2012 are not the statutory accounts of the charity, but a pre examination approximation. Full and final statutory accounts will be presented to Companies House and the Charities Commission by 31 December 2012 for the year ended 31 March 2012. This information will then be updated and presented in a final form.

30

31

£400,000

£350,000

£300,000

£250,000

£200,000

£150,000

£100,000

£50,000

£0

2011 2012

School Expeditions income up by 25%

£223,519 ÷ £178,480 = 125%

Total Incomeup by 25.5%

£359,017 ÷ £286,011 = 125.5%

Fundraising income up by 26%

£135,365 ÷ £107,134 = 126%

Charitable Activities (School Expeditions)

Generated Funds (Fundraising)

32

Volunteer Viewpoint: Abi JagoI have been volunteering for Sabre since May 2011 and have spent my time researching different funding bodies and working with the team to draft applications and proposals. Having studied Geography and Development at university I have always had an interest in development projects and dreamed of working abroad for a charity, but I never felt brave enough to make the change. With my full time employment ending I found myself with some free time and decided I wanted to see first-hand the projects Sabre was delivering in Ghana.

I had a ten week trip to Ghana and continued the role I had in the UK, but shifted the focus of my research to find potential Ghanaian based funders and corporate partners. I was lucky enough to be there for the opening of the Ayensudo Sustainable Kindergarten Complex and was part of the team responsible for coordinating the inauguration ceremony. I found the whole experience a real eye opener!I also had the chance to visit a number of schools while I was in Ghana including the site for the next project in Dominase. I had been writing about the ‘need’ in Ghana for months and now I was seeing it for myself: a steel roof on pillars, no walls, not enough chairs, children cramped in and no toilets! Seeing what I’d been writing about first hand was brilliant and I hope it has greatly improved the content and passion of my funding applications.

Whilst in Ghana I worked with colleagues in the office to compile a detailed bid to a Ghana based corporate partner. It was a lovely working environment and was great to share ideas with such a diverse group of people, I learnt so much from them all. Achievements are sometimes slow to materialise in a grant writing sense as it may take months before you find out if you have been successful – I do know that since I have been volunteering for Sabre I have helped secure £29,000 in project funding - now that I have seen firsthand what this could pay for I feel really very proud!My fondest memory of my time in Ghana was the children from Ayensudo dressed in their traditional clothes for the inauguration ceremony – they were so excited about their new school and I felt very emotional watching their performance! Seeing them made the many hours of research, writing and editing so worthwhile and just refuelled my fire and passion for Sabre!!

Whole School Improvement Programme Targets for 2012/13

o Undertake a series of scaling-up studies with Arup to develop a national solution for

KG infrastructure

o Construct a Sustainable KG Complex in the community of Amanano in Shama District

o Upgrade shelter school at Dominase to the standard of a Sustainable KG Complex

o Develop a model KG complex to support teacher training at the Colleges of Education,

with a pilot project at OLA College in Cape Coast

o Pilot a teacher training scheme in KEEA Municipality, involving teachers from 10

schools and student teachers from OLA College

o Support an international study visit for key GES staff to visit a variety of early years

settings in the UK and see a child centred approach in action

o Develop a model pedagogical centre in KEEA Municipality which supports teachers to

make their own learning resources

o Pilot the fabrication of a KG resource box, made from sustainable and recycled

materials

o Develop outdoor learning and play areas which provide a low-cost enhancement to

existing facilities and resources

o Develop a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation programme to measure the

impact of these projects on children’s learning and development

Partner Ghana Targets for 2012/13o Set up 8 new partnerships by April 2013o Build communications capacity in Ghanaian schools by working with partners to get a laptop and dongle into every schoolo Secure funding for 6 Ghanaian head teachers to visit their UK partners for professional developmento Research and pilot a ‘Global teacher’ programme for volunteer UK teachers to support teacher training in Ghana

o Adapt and develop Ghana focussed global learning resourceso Undertake a participative review with key stakeholders and implement robust evaluation of the programmeo Strengthen the sector by continuing to share knowledge

as part of a dialogue with other organisations in the school partnership sector

Fundraising plans for 2012/13o Launch a successful Regular Giving campaign

o Develop a Major Donors income stream

o Recruit new corporate partners

o Build a team of Sabre Champions to promote and support our work

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6. PLANS FOR 2012 / 2013.....................................................................................................................................................................................

Supporting AfricaByRural EndeavoursSabre Charitable Trust (UK),The Old Dairy, Unit 5,South Lodge Court, Ironsbottom, Reigate, Surrey, RH2 8QG, UK

Sabre Charitable Trust (Ghana),P.O. Box Elmina 329,Central Region, Ghana

Telephone:+44 (0) 203 239 9476+233 (0) 247 919 469Email: trust@sabretrust.orgWeb: www.sabretrust.org

Registered in England.Sabre Charitable Trust. No.1105489. Registered Office: 1 Bagley Cottages, Ironsbottom, Reigate, Surrey, RH2 8PT, UK

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