Dear VACD Colleagues,

It gives me great pleasure to present to you my annual report of our mission for FY 2023/24 for your information, consideration, and records.

As I look back and recall key milestones that we have traversed together over the past years, I recognise and appreciate the gems of wisdom and reality contained in these insightful expressions articulated by philosophers, philanthropists, and sages who through the ages have walked a comparable path to our somewhat own short 12+ year journey.

“Your true character is most accurately measured by how you treat those who can do ‘nothing’ for you”   – Mother Theresa 

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”- Mahatma Ghandi

“Our only hope lies in the power of our love, generosity, tolerance, and understanding and our commitment to making the world a better place for all” – Muhammad Ali

These are truisms that have inspired and motivated humanity and will continue to do so in our own pursuit to achieve our stated vision and mission for those whom we serve, care and love.

Our Vision & Mission:

Our mission is to empower and uplift children with disabilities and their families living in the poorest regions of Sri Lanka and to build strong and engaged support groups within their own local communities who would care for and support these children and their families to achieve a life of  inclusion, acceptance as equals and the ultimate goal of an enriched, fulfilling, and brighter future. 

We must continue to work towards eliminating poverty, ignorance, superstition, discrimination, social isolation, and all forms of overt and covert abuse encountered by children with disabilities and their families on a regular basis, through community engagement & advocacy, awareness programs & workshops and open and honest discussions & dialogue. We should also continue to seek assistance and guidance from the local community & religious leaders, government officials, social workers, and health experts to support us in this crusade.

The Uva province where we are based is one of the poorest provinces in Sri Lanka. Children with disabilities living in rural areas and even townships in this province are deprived of essential and critical rehabilitation services and facilities that they so desperately need in order to overcome a multitude of challenges that they face on a regular basis.

Our History in brief:

VACD was established to provide medium to long-term support, services and critical rehabilitation needs for disabled children and their families as the country and the province lack much needed infrastructure, financial resources, and trained experts to adequately address and resolve many fundamental shortcomings and difficulties experienced by this segment in society.

It all started back in June 2011 when I visited Sri Lanka on official work  and found the time to visit my Alma mater in Bandarawela (Uva province) Sri Lanka. I was shown a classroom of children with disabilities who were in desperate need of proper care, adequate facilities, and professionally trained supervision.  

A request and plea by a concerned staff member for me to support  these children at this school so that they could have a better future led to the eventual and propitious establishment of our organisation: “Volunteers to Assist Children with Disabilities Limited” (VACD) on 27^th December 2011, with a centre established in Bandarawela in 2014, a second centre in Badulla in 2019 and the third centre in Ambagasdowa in 2023.  

About us: 

VACD was registered in Australia with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) and the Australian Securities and Investments  Commission (ASIC)  as a benevolent public limited liability company in 2015.

VACD is administered by a Board of volunteer Directors in Australia who have the ultimate legal responsibility to oversee and ensure that all our mission activities in Australia and Sri Lanka are in keeping with our mission statement and conform to the governance and compliance structure adopted by us in keeping with the guidance provided to us by our Australian oversight authorities.

VACD Australia also has the sole responsibility for domestic and international fundraising under this compliance and governance structure, with funds raised by us being deployed solely and exclusively in projects and programs in Sri Lanka.

Since inception and as a policy, any expenditure incurred by VACD Australia directors in the process of them discharging their duties and responsibilities towards our mission’s objectives are borne by the directors themselves. These include administration costs, accommodation & food, all costs incurred on account of travel within Australia and travels to monitor, oversee and evaluate our VACD Sri Lanka activities, projects & programs etc.

VACD Sri Lanka was registered in 2016 as a private limited liability company under the Companies Act of the Registrar-General of Companies of Sri Lanka.  The duties and responsibilities of its Board of Directors are ring-fenced by a Memorandum of Understanding and Code of Conduct that binds and governs the two entities that are registered in two different legal jurisdictions but with a common commitment and purpose.  

VACD Australia and VACD Sri Lanka are two chapters of the same mission that operate as autonomous, legally constituted, and separate benevolent bodies that are independently administered by their own respective Boards.

VACD’s Boards of Directors both in Australia and Sri Lanka are respected and accomplished professionals in their respective fields, some of whom are retired, details of which are available on our website www.vacd.org.au. All Directors both in Australia and Sri Lanka serve as volunteers and do not receive any remuneration for their service.

We employ a total of 14 paid staff in Sri Lanka consisting of three special educators and a caretaker per centre, an office administrator and a recently appointed Manager Projects and Programs serving all three centres.

We encourage VACD Sri Lanka parents to volunteer their services at  their respective centres by serving on the 4 Committees : Education & Training, Sports & Culture, Health & Nutrition and Finance & Budgeting.  They also lend a hand at various public events and working bees, thereby ensuring funds are optimally used to implement projects and programs for their children.

VACD’s Organisational, Operating & Administrative  Model:

What we do:

• VACD’s centres are leased/rented properties where children with disabilities regardless of race, religion or caste gather on a daily basis to receive rehabilitation services, basic literacy and numeracy education, dance and music instruction, life skills training, physical training activity and enjoy opportunities to play and socialise together in a safe, loving, caring, and welcoming atmosphere.
• Health Clinics are held over a period of two days every quarter in collaboration with our partners Merrill J Fernando Charitable Foundation, who send a team of specialists; Speech Therapists, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Psychologists etc. to examine and provide therapy to VACD children and educate and train parents and family members on the administration of homebased rehabilitative therapy, care, and nutrition with the assistance of rest of their family members.

• Vocational training for families – a Self-Employment Introduction Program was presented to a select number of interested families from each of the three VACD centres by the Industrial Development Board. Interested families were to be identified by their strengths and skill sets for each possible employment option, with further training provided at a later stage.
• Parents receive coaching and training in feeding, nutrition, childcare etc as homebased rehabilitation and care and are encouraged to volunteer their services to ensure the smooth running of our centres and at special events.
• Dr. Kamalaseeli Mallawaarchchige – Consultant Paediatrician and her team from the Diyatalawa Base Hospital and Dr Mithran Coomarasamy an Australia based health professional who is a specialist Paediatrician and Paediatric Rehabilitation Physician practising in New South Wales Australia visited our centres, examined, and treated our children and provided guidance to our staff, parents, and guardians.

• Educational Assistance Program – under which children with disabilities or siblings who show potential to excel in their academic studies are given a monthly allowance  to meet educational needs and to encourage them to persevere with their education despite financial difficulties and to support their families in the future.
• Family Assistance Program – under which families are given a monthly allowance to meet essential household expenses, seek medical  assistance and purchase prescription medication.
• Nutrition Program – As a result of a Health Inspector’s visit when it was observed that our VACD children were not receiving proper nutrition in the meals that they brought from home, a Nutrition Program was initiated by us where a daily nutritionally dense meal is cooked and served to them at each centre.  Once a week older children participate in making and serving this meal as part of their life skills education.
• The children are taken on excursions as part of their education and to broaden their social skills and horizons.

• Parents are encouraged to sell their excess garden produce and crafts at regular market stalls held at our centres, with some of the day’s takings being put aside in savings accounts for the children.  The Rural Development Bank has pledged to match these initial deposits.

• Distribution of essential food items to registered families, to ease the financial burden of spiralling food costs are regularly undertaken by us.

• We are presently working on a “Rural Outreach Program” that includes community awareness camps, seminars, and workshops organized and conducted across 24 divisional secretariats in the Uva Province in collaboration with the Uva Health, Education, Social, Probation, Child welfare, other relevant Provincial Ministries, local agencies, and communities.
• VACD Australia Director Ms Gabriella Vascotto – Visiting Consultant to VACD schools in Sri Lanka, Learning Consultant Autism/Behaviour and Supported Playgroup Project Consultant for Catholic Education Melbourne is presently working on the “Early Childhood Supported Playgroup Program” for young children with developmental concerns. 
• All projects and programs designed and planned by VACD Australia and VACD Sri Lanka are implemented in Sri Lanka by the local leadership team, keeping to the strict guidelines of the Code of Conduct and policies that have been adopted to ensure and maintain transparency, compliance, proper governance, responsibility, accountability, reporting and safety, namely: 
  • Code of Conduct
  • Child Protection Policy
  • Anti-Money Laundering Policy
  • Anti-Fraud Policy
  • Anti-Terrorism Policy
  • Privacy & Refund Policy 

Funding our Projects & Programs & Governance:

Donors, Sponsors and Supporters

Donors and supporters of VACD consist mainly of friends, family, colleagues of VACD Directors, from private as well as commercial and financial sectors. The  majority of donations are from USA, Australia and a small proportion are from Sri Lanka.

Our three VACD centres are sponsored as follows:

• Bandarawela VACD Centre – Mr. William. C. Clarke & Family
• Badulla VACD Centre –  Mr & Mrs Gegory Fendler and Family
• Ambagasdowa VACD Centre – Teardrop Hotels Group

The Educational Assistance, Family Assistance and Nutrition Programs are self-sustaining through monthly sponsorships by benevolent individuals.

How donations are disbursed

Once VACD Sri Lanka’s projected expense statement for the coming month is received by VACD Australia, this is careful scrutinized and the required amount transferred to VACD Sri Lanka’s local bank account.  

The largest proportion of regular monthly expenditure continues to be salaries for the 14 staff members, followed by clinics and workshops and our Educational and Family Assistance programs.  

With regard to expenditure on programs, the most financially challenging  are the quarterly Health Clinics as VACD is responsible for travel, accommodation, and meals for the team of specialists over a course of 2 days.  

Regular monthly allowances given out under the three programs; Educational Assistance, Family Assistance and Nutrition Programs continue to grow, with demand for assistance under these programs seeing an increase proportionate to the new intake of registered children since the opening of our new Ambagasdowa centre.

VACD’s ethos of volunteerism and receipt of pro bono services for specialist professional tasks ensures the bulk of donations are secured for the benefit of our focus group of children with disabilities, thereby ensuring administrative expenses are maintained in single digits.

Expenditure Categories during FY 2023/24:

We have maintained our annual administration costs averaging around  6% since inception. We strongly believe that donor funds are meant to be used for our VACD children and their families and not used up by payments to Directors administering our mission. However, FY 2023/24 saw this amount reach 9% because we deployed A$5,000 of donor funds to promote our mission and establish a VACD chapter in Melbourne. 

Expenditure Ratio FY 2015/16 to FY 2023/24:

Proposed projects & programs in 2024/25

• Continued hands-on and special training for VACD’s special education staff
• Early Childhood Supported Playgroup Program through which we hope to screen children for congenital disabilities during pre- and post-natal stages of pregnancy in order to optimise therapeutic intervention results, build parents’ understanding of their children’s disabilities, provide opportunities for parents to socialise and support each other and reduce stigma, and also as a way for our “outreach” project to involve more children with disabilities and their families from across the province.
• Provide training for educators and parents to be able to provide physiotherapy, speech, occupational therapy as part of the children’s daily homebased therapy schedules in order to optimise results
• Provide physical and therapeutic exercise equipment for the use of children in the centres
• Vocational training programs for older children, their siblings, and parents to receive training in poultry farming, beekeeping, candle making, home gardening, baking etc., in collaboration with local government agencies and organisations willing to train and provide employment to suitable candidates
• Subsidise travel expenses for children/families who find it prohibitive to attend the centres regularly
• Provide free/discounted medications for those who find medical expenses unaffordable
• Furnish centres with exercise equipment for the use of children under strict staff supervision. 

THE FUTURE

• We need to work out a detailed succession plan over the next two years for our Australian mission in order to consolidate and enhance our achievements over the medium to longer term under a leadership team that is dedicated, passionate and committed to our humanitarian mission in Sri Lanka just as they are today.
• We need to work out a detailed succession plan for our Sri Lankan mission by encouraging young members with leadership potential and who are philanthropically disposed to join the local leadership team.

I wish to place on record my sincere thanks to each and every one of you for your continued guidance, counselling, support and confidence in my leadership over the past years that have made my reponsibilities a pleasure to carry and duties a delight to fulfill.

I wish you, your families, loved ones and colleagues the absolute best now and over the coming years and look forward to working with you closely to achieve the noble objectives of our mission and the continuation of our journey that began 12+ years ago.

Let me conclude my 2023/2024 Annual Report to you with a thought-provoking saying by Theodore Roosevelt – “Do Something Now. If not you, who? If not here, where? If not now, when?” 

Thank you for your past and ongoing suppport and guidance.

Sincerely yours in service.

Felix

Felix Stephen

Chairman of the Board of Directors,

Volunteers to Assist Children with Disabilities Limited. Australia,

& Member of the Advisory Board  of VACD Sri Lanka

ACN: 605 017 016 / ABN: 80 605 017 016/ ACNC & ASIC Registered

Cherrybrook, NSW 2126, Australia

Sunday, 4^th August 2024