2023 Annual Report
Welcome to our annual report for 2023. We are celebrating the amazing work of disability justice activists and organisations around the world.
(Image: Yumna, Fakihat, Jamila and Zakia, Tanzania)
A note from our Co-CEOs
Thank you for your support this year as we continued to transform ADD International into a participatory grant-maker. Our new way of working will better support disability justice, by ensuring that disability justice activists and organisations are the decision makers around how money should be spent. They know best what needs to be done and we exist to support their work. In doing so, we remain committed to high standards of safeguarding and ethics across all of our work. Thank you for being with us on this journey.
Fredrick Ouko and Mary Ann Clements.
A note from our Board Chairs.
In 2023 we piloted participatory grant-making for the first time. As part of our transformation to shift power to disability justice activists and organisations, we ran a pilot in Tanzania in which young disabled people decided how funds should be spent. Based on their experiences they chose the projects they knew would be most effective, including digital access in Zanzibar and access to public transport in Dar es Salaam. These projects used innovative approaches like educational songs and virtual campaigns to reach their peers to tackle discrimination and increase access.
When fighting broke out in Sudan we mobilized our network of partner organisations of persons with disabilities. They formed committees to decide how to use the funds raised through our emergency appeal. By checking in with their members they found other interventions had overlooked the requirements of the many displaced disabled people in Sudan, and they were able to share emergency cash which supported with food, medical care and shelter.
In Bangladesh, we supported organisations of persons with disabilities advocating for mental health support. In Cambodia, we worked with disabled women at risk of domestic violence. And in Uganda, we supported a group of disabled women in sharing agricultural skills with young disabled people, so they can earn a living.
To support this work, we continued to transform ADD into an organisation that shares decision-making between staff rather than from a UK hub by making changes to our structure, and raised flexible funds to support our work. We worked on advocating for greater inclusion and funding for disability justice in the development sector.
Thank you for supporting this work for disability justice.
Deborah Botwood-Smith & Matt Jackson, Co-Chairs of the Board of Trustees.
(Image: Samouen, Disability Justice Advocate, Cambodia)
Disability Justice in an Emergency.
In 2023, conflict in Sudan affected ADD staff, the organisations we work with, and disabled people across the country. Many people were displaced and in need of basics like food, shelter and medication. Disabled people face additional challenges and may require health and mobility support, which is now even harder to access.
ADD worked with our network of organisations run by disabled people in Sudan, who formed committees to respond. We ran an appeal to raise money for Sudan, and those committees decided how it should be spent.
In this emergency situation, the various groups decided to work together and share out all the money between their members. They didn’t want to waste time working on ideas that might not get funded through a competitive process.
Each group asked their contacts what they needed most, and found the aid being provided by larger agencies covered food and shelter but not vital things disabled people need like assistive devices and cash for hospital bills.
The network of organisations set about getting the money to disabled people in Sudan, through different channels like cash delivery and mobile money. They were innovative in how they reached people who had been displaced. They made sure everyone was included.
Disabled people in Sudan told us that they were able to get emergency medical care, food, and transport to safer areas. One woman who received money explained why this was important:
“The money support me to have safe delivery as I have to admitted to hospital for the surgery I was very sad because I haven’t money to pay the fees of hospital but when I received the money I paid the fees and delivered my child safety.”
– A disabled woman in Gedarif
These networks are vital in providing support through organisations of persons with disabilities. We are now preparing for the next round of grants to provide further support. The situation continues to be very serious in Sudan, and help is needed.
Launching Participatory Grant-Making
In 2023 we launched our first participatory grant-making pilot in Tanzania. In partnership with Bournemouth University, we launched the pilot with a three-day festival, during which the young people developed and shared their ideas, which were judged by a panel of their peers. Young disabled people themselves decided which ideas should receive funding.
Eva received funding to implement her musical campaign to tackle stigma among bus drivers to give better access to public transport to disabled people in her community. Yumna, Jamila and Fakihat (background image) received funding to deliver digital literacy training to young disabled people in Zanzibar. Zenna, a young disabled leader and restaurant owner in Tanzania was part of the decision making panel.
“People with disabilities are very skilled and should be given a chance to lead. In my country, it’s not very easy for Organisations of People with Disabilities to get funds. These are very small Organisations of People with Disabilities but with very brilliant ideas that I can guarantee will cause a movement of change. The fact that they were given a chance to easily access funds and decide how they were going to use them through their different projects is a game changer.”
– Zenna.
Our Fundraisers.
In 2023, our supporters took on new challenges to raise funds in support of disability justice.
Helen took on the challenge of a sponsored climb of Mount Kilimanjaro, raising over £2,000 and ran the Leeds Marathon for disability justice.
“ADD International believes in the things charities and development organisations are often bad at, but make a huge difference. They invest in homegrown leaders, handing over power and resources to the disability rights activists in Africa and Asia who are best placed to secure justice – from access to school or work to political representation – for disabled people.”
– Gareth
In addition to this we received gifts left by ADD Supporters in their wills. This money has helped us continue our work for disability justice.
100% Homegrown.
Thanks to generous donations to our appeal in 2022, this work in Uganda has begun.
Women farmers with a disability in Uganda have begun working to support young disabled people in their communities to grow their own vegetables, to generate food as well as an independent income.
“Because of my small garden my family always had food. If someone has a source of income it’s also a source of self-esteem.”
– Alice, Disability Justice Activist, Uganda.
Supporting survivors of domestic violence in Cambodia.
The Join Us for Social Transformation (JUST) project in Cambodia works with disabled women who are survivors of domestic violence. The project works with support groups in which the women share advice and connect with one another, as well as project to support economic empowerment.
This involved giving grants to the women to support activities like growing vegetables to sell.
“This small grant is helpful to me in extending my existing project. The cucumbers are easy to sell. I have a good relationship with the brokers who come to buy the vegetables at my home. My family situation is getting better with this business.”
– A participant of the project.
2023 Financial Overview
£2,501,084
TOTAL INCOME
£2,626,793
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
| Unrestricted funds £ | Restricted Funds £ | 2023 Total funds £ | 2022 Total funds £ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income from | Grants, donations and legacies | 873,808 | – | 873,808 | 614,953 |
| Interest receivable | 3,051 | – | 3,051 | 1,668 | |
| Charitable activities | 63,931 | 1,559,384 | 1,623,315 | 2,159,042 | |
| Other income | 910 | – | 910 | 6,339 | |
| Total income | 941,700 | 1,559,384 | 2,501,084 | 2,782,002 | |
| Expenditure on | Raising funds | 347,654 | – | 347,654 | 270,627 |
| Support of the International Disability Movement | 670,110 | 1,609,029 | 2,279,139 | 2,618,458 | |
| Total expenditure | 1,017,764 | 1,609,029 | 2,626,793 | 2,889,085 | |
| Net income / (expenditure) | (76,064) | (49,645) | (125,709) | (107,083) | |
| Transfers between funds | (28,668) | 28,668 | – | – | |
| Net movement in funds | (104,732) | (20,977) | (125,709) | (107,083) | |
| Fund balances at 1 January | 504,175 | 343,473 | 847,648 | 954,731 | |
| Fund balances 31 December | 399,443 | 322,496 | 721,939 | 847,648 |
For our full audited 2023 accounts, please see: add.org.uk/annual-reports
Thank you to our Supporters!
Thank you to our amazing supporters for empowering disability activists and their organisations to bring about vital social change. A special thank you in particular to:
- Allan & Nesta Ferguson Charitable Trust
- Arts & Humanities Council
- Beatrice Laing Trust
- Bournemouth University
- CAFOD
- Cambodian Women’s Crisis Centre
- Cambridge Education
- Children in Crisis
- Comic Relief
- DT Global / USAID
- Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
- Ford Foundation
- Open Society Foundation
- Players of People’s Postcode Lottery
- Robert Bosch Foundation
- See You Foundation
- Sightsavers
- United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women
- United Nations Women Fund
- Wellspring Philanthropic Trust