Help and Shelter - The 1997 Annual Report

 
Introduction
This is our third annual report. We will give a synopsis of the progress made during the past year and our plans for the coming year.
Appended to this report are 3 schedules:
Crisis Service Statistics for the period November, 1995 to December, 1997
Crisis Service Statistics for the period January to December 1997
List of Funds raised and received during the year

Membership
Membership as at 31 December 1997 stood at 34. Our emphasis continues to be on having as members persons who have shown an active commitment to the work of Help & Shelter.
1997 saw the inauguration of the Help and Shelter Annual Award for Outstanding Contribution, the purpose of which is to give recognition to the (non-director) member whom the directors consider has made the most significant contribution to the organisation during the past year. The first recipient of the award was Patricia Adams, a professional therapist, for her voluntary service in training, volunteer supervision and counselling, and our congratulations again go out to her.

Administration
The administration of Help and Shelter remains with the board of directors. Colleen Hopkinson and Doolarie Hopkinson resigned from the board in June and August respectively. At the 1997 Annual General Meeting, Elizabeth Cox was selected by the volunteers as volunteer representative.
The staff consists of Yvonne Mbozi, co-ordinator, a secretary/typist, an office assistant and a security guard.
Since April, Patricia Adams has been working with Help and Shelter on a consultancy basis two days a week, while continuing to give one day's voluntary service per week. She supervises and monitors the volunteer counsellors and has facilitated the establishment of a victims' support group.
In February, 1997 we moved our base of operations from the offices of the Georgetown Legal Aid Clinic which we had free use of since our establishment, to larger accommodation at the bottom flat of the Ministry of Labour Annexe on Homestretch Avenue. We have offered free space to other organisations which address the problems of violence, and to organisations which provide drugs, alcohol abuse and AIDS counselling such as ALCORE (which has moved in). We also allow free use of our meeting room to sister NGO's like Women Across Differences. We are most grateful to the Ministry of Labour for our rent free accommodation.
Our application to SIMAP for funding to rehabilitate the premises has just been approved. We have also been identified as the first NGO to receive technical support through the CIDA funded BCCP ( Building Community Capacity Project).

The Crisis Service
A training programme for new volunteers was run between May and November. Of the 25 participants, 16 are now counselling. Our thanks go to Janice Jackson, Patrice La Fleur, Beverley Braithwaite-Chan, Christine King, Helen Amsterdam and Karen De Souza for developing and running the training programme for us. Other volunteers were exposed to further education programmes. We are also grateful to Doreen Holder for her expert assistance with the cataloguing of our existing materials.
In the operation of the Crisis Service, we have established good working relationships with the Women's Affairs Bureau, the Probation and Welfare Service and a broad range of NGO's. A system of mutual referrals is in place. The Guyana Association of Women Lawyers members, Sheila Chapman-Wong and Elizabeth Deane-Hughes each attend the office one afternoon a week. We are most grateful to the them for their assistance.
We are also grateful to Lalita Sahai and Kaneka Franklin of the Statistical Bureau for their assistance in designing our data collection system to produce our statistics.
Thanks to a donation of foodstuffs from Cirkel Distributors, we were able to also give some material assistance to clients in need.
While the operation of the crisis service has not been without its difficulties - which is hardly surprising given the different backgrounds of everyone involved - the resolution of problems has been assisted through improved communication within the organisation and will be further addressed during the review of the organisational structure and mechanisms to be carried out under the BCCP project.

The Shelter
Our application to the Basic Needs Trust Fund for resources to establish a shelter has been approved. We are working on the design of the building with project Consultants CEMCO. The formalisation of the gift by the Government (of Guyana) of the property identified for the shelter is well under way.
Our congratulations go out to Carmen Kissoon of the Kamal International (a 'graduate' of our second training programme) and Genesis Project, who have already opened homes which will take in women in need of shelter from abuse.

Getting the Domestic Violence Act to work
During the year, Help & Shelter has been involved in a number of activities aimed at getting the legislation to work. We have networked with other organisations which address the problem of domestic violence, including the Guyana Association of Professional Social Workers, the Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association, Red Thread and the Probation and Welfare Department. We have worked with Red Thread and the United Nations Development Programme in preparation of materials educating the public about the act.
In the new year, we will continue to collaborate with other organisations in the education of the police, magistracy and others whose input is essential to the proper working of the act.

Public Education
Our public education programme has 3 elements

In furtherance of these elements we publish leaflets and posters and collaborate with other agencies in the production of public education materials, take part in radio and television programmes and provide resource persons for workshops and seminars on request.

Help and Shelter has joined with other agencies in Latin America and the Caribbean in "Women's Human Rights Campaign: A Life Free of Violence" which is part of a global campaign co-ordinated by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). During the week of observances to mark International Day Against Violence Against Women, we promoted the wearing of purple. We are grateful to Mr Michael Khan for designing the banner and to Ms Grace McCalman for designing flyers.

In November, our public education committee launched the group Men Against Violence Against Women, the object of which is to encourage men who are against violence against women to advocate.

Financial
The need for funds to operate the crisis service and enable us to do training, outreach work, public education etc., is ever present. There is a continually growing number of NGO's which look for donations to largely the same sources. It is difficult to also get funding for recurrent costs.
We have managed to stay in the black, and the prospects for at least the next 18 months are favourable due to the recent approval of our application to the Canada Caribbean Gender Equity Fund for funding to cover our Action Outreach Project. We are deeply indebted to Kathleen Whalen for her invaluable assistance in the preparation of the project proposal.
We are most grateful to our auditors, Barcellos Narine & Co for their voluntary services in auditing our accounts, which will be presented at our second general meeting in 1998. Details of grants and donations received and proceeds of fund-raising events during the year appear below.

Summary
Although we are by no means complacent about the work that lies ahead, particularly in terms of the opening and running of the shelter, and although, like any organisation, we have been faced with many problems both great and small, we have made significant progress during our third year of existence and with the material and technical assistance promised to us during 1998 and onwards, we have renewed confidence in the capacity of Help and Shelter to realise its goals.
We are , as always sincerely grateful to all those who have helped us in any way at all and we look forward to continued support during the coming year.

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Schedule of Donations and funds raised