Reporting back Annual report and accounts 2010–2011 THERE IS A 'wHAT wE DO' SECTION IN THE wORD DOC. wHERE IS THIS GOING?? CAPTIONS NEEDED Bringing new life to the Amazon forests Practical Action is helping poor farmers on the border between Peru and Ecuador to produce fruit and quality coffee that can be sold for a higher price, while at the same time safeguarding some 100,000 hectares of forests located around their settlements. Practical Action Peru/Zul Mukhida Contents Joint message from the Chair and Chief Executive Officer 2 Report of the Board of Trustees Review of the year and strategic objectives Financial review Structure, governance and management Legal and administrative details 4 4 18 21 26 Independent auditors’ report Financial statements Consolidated statement of financial activities Consolidated and company balance sheets Consolidated cash flow statement Notes to the financial statements 27 29 29 30 31 32 Practical Action | Reg. Charity No. 247257 | Co. Reg. No. 871954 | Annual Report and Accounts 2010/11 1 Joint message from the Chair & CEO Practical Action is an inspirational organisation, and we are honoured to be part of it. 2010/11 has been an exceptional year. To share just a few examples from our work: n We have achieved our five-year goal of directly helping three million people by 2012, one year ahead of target. n Our knowledge sharing service Practical Answers reached out during the year to more than two million people and we now have more than 60,000 development practitioners around the world actively using our information and technical enquiry service. n We have grown our reputation and influence in the energy sector, giving us significant opportunities to raise at the highest level the issue of the three billion people lacking access to decent energy. n Our subsidiary company, Practical Action Consulting, worked in Rwanda with AJDR Co-operative helping street kids and unemployed young people earn an income by making fuel efficient charcoal burning stoves from scrap metal. 16,000 stoves have been sold in the past four years. AJDR were shortlisted for one of this year’s prestigious Ashden Awards for this work. n Achyut Luitel, our country director in Nepal, was honoured to receive on behalf of Practical Action the ‘Jose Entrecanales Ibarra’ award presented by the King of Spain. This award recognised a global standard of excellence for the design of gravity ropeways as ‘civil engineering that benefits society’s progress, wellbeing and security’. These achievements are particularly robust in the face of challenging political and economic environments. In the past year, the commitment of our supporters and donors to our work has increased our income by 21% to £27 million. This has enabled us to deliver planned new innovative projects and increase the scale and impact of our work. We are also delighted to have been awarded a substantial Programme Partnership Arrangements (PPA) grant by the Government – a vote of confidence in our continuing work in poverty alleviation. Technology is increasingly central to our world, yet the idea of appropriate technology as a foundation for sustainable poverty reduction remains alien to many people. Our vision is of a sustainable world free from poverty and injustice in which technology is used for the benefit of all. We are committed to working with others to deliver technology justice, thus bringing about real and lasting change. We look forward to the challenges in the year ahead with a continued passion for delivery and effective poverty reduction. And finally, we would like to express our pride in the worldwide Practical Action team, our gratitude to our partners, supporters, friends and most of all to the people we work with. Thank you! Practical Action/Anna de la Vega Stephen Watson (Chair) Simon Trace (Chief Executive Officer) 2 Practical Action | Reg. Charity No. 247257 | Co. Reg. No. 871954 | Annual Report and Accounts 2010/11 Irrigating land from a treadle pump Practical Action is helping to develop opportunities for socially marginalised families in North-West Nepal by increasing secure access to land and improving their technical skills in agriculture production. Nardi Raini is using a treadle pump to irrigate her land, which helps her to increase income, both by extending the traditional growing season and by expanding the types of crops that can be cultivated. Practical Action | Reg. Charity No. 247257 | Co. Reg. No. 871954 | Annual Report and Accounts 2010/11 3
Practical Action,