The board of the foundation.
The board of the foundation consists of:

Patricia Gracia Olthof, 22-11-1976, function secretary.
Margritte Zwaan, 06-11-1978, position treasurer.
Fred Eringaard, 04-11-1963, position chairman, co-founder.
Monique Dorrestijn-Eringaard, 16-08-1965, position co-founder and board member.

The board takes care of the publication balances that can be seen on our website under Annual figures.

Representation with disabilities on behalf of the foundation in Gambia.
Ousman Cham, 18-02-1977, position advisor and representative.

Policy plan 2017 :

Introduction:
In front of you is a policy plan of the Foundation Gambia, Giving with Love.
Our foundation was founded on 26 October 2016 and is located in Medemblik, The Netherlands.
In accordance with the articles of association, a policy plan must be drawn up and updated periodically.

The plan provides insight into:

• The Foundation’s objective.
• The board of the foundation & follow-up implementation.
• The foundation’s work.
• Other activities during the visit.
• Criteria selection and conditions of participating children.
• Recruitment of funds and goods.
• Communication (Newsletter, Facebook, Website).
• Use of the Foundation’s assets.
• Future vision.
• Dissolution of the Gambia Foundation, Giving with Love.

Since 2016, the Foundation’s objective :
Stichting Gambia, Geven met Liefde has been committed to disadvantaged people/children in The Gambia who are far below the poverty line and have no opportunities to develop in a positive way.
We mainly deal with small projects such as:

Education and Training Burbage Nurserey School in Dippa Kunda under the direction of school principal Mr. Buba Ceesay, this project is closed caused by financial behaviour Mr. Buba Ceesay.
Education Tree of Life Nursery School Manjai Kunda led by Mr. Lamin Jammeh.
Education and Training Amazing Grace Primary School in Dippa Kunda led by Mr. Moses Sanneh.
Medical care, Education and Training for the orphans of the Heart House in Kartong led by Mrs. Isatou.
Education and Training Bright Star Nursery and Primary School in Old Yundum, led by Mrs Betty Gomez, completed.
Medical care Banyaka Clinic in Banyaka led by Dr. Naffie Jatta, completed.

School sponsor project is the main activity of the foundation, the “garden project” is a result of conversations with local residents who can realize their dream through our input.
In Gambia there are many thousands of children who do not attend education because, for example, parents cannot pay the school fees or do not understand the importance of education.

Many children, especially in the countryside in the Serekunda and Sukuta and Bijilo region, are therefore unable to go to school and stay at home to help their parents with household chores, work on land or stroll around the largest rubbish dump in Serekunda to find any “good” products for sale on the street.
The importance of education for development is hardly to be underestimated. Children who have finished school are better able to make a living: the link between education and poverty is strong.

For girls, the importance of education is even greater if possible. Educated women have fewer children. Moreover, their children are healthier and better educated than children of unskilled women.
Gambia, Giving with Love shows how small steps are taken with few resources that have positive consequences. Thanks to a small-scale and personal approach, this is achieved. This way, every child can go to school.

Gambia, Giving with Love aims to give as many disadvantaged children as possible what they are entitled to: Education, nutrition, clothing, medical care and a roof over their heads.

Activities Foundation:
Stichting Gambia, Geven met Liefde works intensively with a team of volunteer local employees in The Gambia. Ours regularly receive a fee in the form of a 50Kg bag of rice, medicines and clothing.

They have been working for several Dutch foundations for many years and are extremely adept at their work. Weekly reports from Gambia to the board. This report contains the progress of the projects, a representation of the individual school performance and indicates which children may be eligible for sponsorship.

Two to three times a year, two of the board members travel to Gambia to maintain personal relationships and provide support in the implementation. This entirely at your own expense.

During these visits, the policy, the state of affairs and the plans for the future are discussed in detail with the volunteers, as well as with the principals Mr. Moses Sanneh, Mr. Buba Ceesay, Mrs. Isatou and the head of the Banyaka Clinic Dr. Naffie Jatta.

Other activities during the visit include:
Visiting the (new) children and families, visiting the participating schools, and all sponsor children, and the medical project. The delivery of the goods sent by container to Gambia, boxes for the sponsor children, explanations of how electrical auxiliary equipment for the schools, including e.g. the operation of a Digibord, Beamer or other sponsored products, and the distribution of individual material to the parents-siblings of the sponsored children.

In February 2017, the costs for the training and school materials of the recruited sponsor children in the period October 2016 to January 2017 were paid. Normally a school year starts in October, however, we have gone through with the Burbage Nursery school that our project only starts when a sponsor parent has been found, as of that date, the sponsor child enters the school year. In addition to their school materials, a tailor-made school uniform, the children all receive lunch every 3 times a week, school bag/ backpack with school supplies, shoes, a small gift (pop-ball marbles) and if the sponsor parent agrees to a bag of rice of 50Kg. In addition, the children receive medical assistance or dental assistance in emergencies, which will be reimbursed by the sponsor or the foundation.
Every quarter, photos are taken of the children for the sponsors that are posted online on our website and our Facebook.

For now, 2023, 51 children will attend Tree of Life Nursery School in 2022-2023. The age of the children varies from 3 years to 8 years. After the child has completed the Nursery school, it will be assessed which Primary school is suitable per child. In this case, that has become Amazing Grace Primary school, where 106 children will attend the 2022-2023 school year, explanation and info is listed below.

The principal of the Tree of Life Nursery Mr. Lamin Jammeh is responsible for selecting children for the school sponsorship project because he is closest to the locals and can give a better opinion on the situation.

The most vulnerable children and the children who need our help the most end up in our projects, as already indicated, we trust Mr. Lamin Jammeh in this. Some children attended school in the past, but had to leave school for several reasons, because of the loss of family members, such as a mother or father, but also because of diseases and the lack of food. All this may have led to the forced cessation of education. The children have suffered greatly from external factors, with all the consequences that entails.

In January 2018, for the follow-up education to primary school, we spoke to several schools and eventually we chose the Christian Amazing Grace Primery School for a number of reasons. First of all, this school is not religion related and for most students to do walking, the distance to this school is equal to the distance to the Burbage Nursery. The level of teaching was also a decisive factor for us, in total Gambia has 502 registered private schools which are under the control of a number of cluster monitors that report back to the Ministry of Education. The Amazing Grace school has a ranking of No 41 and is praised for its extreme disciplined teaching in all subjects. The costs for this school are higher than a ” primary school” but this is well substantiated. Every year the students receive new textbooks, of course 2 new school uniforms but also a sports uniform, every trimester a report, every trimester a scientific excursion and personal guidance in the choice which direction the student wants for the future. Also, the lesson times are different than before, at the Amazing Grace school one starts at 08:00 / 15:00 previously it was from 09:00 / 14:00.
At first the costs seemed quite high, but if you look at all the extras and also know that the teachers are obliged to receive retraining and earn a salary of about 70,00 Euro per month (for less they do not do it and can work elsewhere), electricity and water have to be paid every month. The cost per year including textbooks and 3 excursions is found that after our research at multiple schools and after a phone call with the Cluster Monitor Mr.M. Jabbi of this district this is a very acceptable amount. For 120,00 Euro per year the children can follow the further education here.

In consultation with Moses Sanneh, the director, we have agreed that the delivery of boxes and rice will be carried out in the same way, the goods will be collected in our warehouse and delivered by the teachers to the sponsor children at home and photos will be sent to us so that we can post them again on the internet and Facebook.

This school does not have the possibility to provide the sponsor children we bring with a lunch, because there are more than 330 students and one cannot distinguish between our sponsor children and other students. The majority of students are sponsored in a personal capacity and or contribution from the parents, there is no foundation here that cooperates with this school.

Criteria on which the headmasters select are as follows :
To help the headmaster in the decision which children he admits, Gambia Geven met Liefde has drawn up the following criteria

• no distinction in religion Muslim 90%, 9% Christian and 1% Indigenous, all brotherly together.
• however, both boys and girls are (for the time being) no older than 8 years.
• the family has a low income and few resources.
• the child cannot go to school without the help of Gambia, Give with Love.
• the prospect is that the child will not leave at short notice.
• no more than two children from one family.
• the child may no longer work in the household or on land.
• preference for orphan child, or comes from a single parent family.

Gambia, Giving with Love Communication :
Communication is a means for us to achieve a greater goal, namely transparency.
The website www.gambiagevenmetliefde.org is a communication channel for (potential) donors and volunteers, but Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Gambiagevenmetliefde/ is a better medium with a more direct approach to potential sponsors as well as the current sponsors.
On our website and Facebook you can find information about all projects, our method of transport to Gambia by container, the backgrounds and family composition and the development of the sponsor children.
At least 2 times a year the digital newsletter that is sent to all interested parties appears.
The foundation is regularly in the spotlight in The Gambia, when activities are organized, or when donations to our projects. These can be followed on Facebook.

Recruitment of funds and goods :
The activities of Gambia, Giving with Love are funded by donations, sponsorship and donations.
The Foundation recruits sponsors via Facebook and word of mouth. These sponsors donate a voluntary gift, to give sponsor children a perk in the form of schoolware, toys, preserved food or a bag of rice.
The sponsors clearly know in advance when board members go to Gambia, their donation in the form of goods can then be found per child on Facebook and our website by.m publishing photos during the handover. The board actively recruits sponsors in the form of schools that make their old equipment and inventory available without interest.

The use of the Foundation’s assets :
The board members/employees of the Gambia Foundation, Giving with Love do not benefit from compensation when carrying out the activities on behalf of the foundation.
The volunteers in Gambia do not receive a salary but clothing medicines or a food package.
In some emergencies there is a financial compensation for medication, but all in consultation with a Dutch doctor or dentist who are active in The Gambia. These make an analysis of the possible costs necessary to actually help the patient and consult with one of our board members.
Gambia, Giving with Love funds that benefit education, health, garden projects and individual projects, but never gives cash.
Indirect costs are minimal and only relate to expenses such as bank administration and transfer costs, registration chamber of commerce the costs of the website, storage costs warehouse in the Netherlands and in Gambia, and any transport costs from the warehouse in Gambia to the various locations in the country. This usually concerns fuel, maintenance costs for our car there a van or truck to rent (depending on the number of boxes and bags of rice that need to be handed out)

Vision for the future.
The forecast for school year 2023-2024 is that the growth in the number of children participating in the school-sponsor program increases due to the enthusiasm of the current sponsors and the shared posts on Facebook, which ultimately caused more than 2100 people to actively follow us.
In 2016, 48 children participated in the education program.
Our goal for 2017 was to have 70 children for education sponsorship at the Burbage Nursery school, but by October 2017 the number of sponsor children of 112 had already been achieved. September 2019 these have become 152 sponsor children.

In 2017-2018, a “flow” project for the Burbage Nursery School will probably start, but the Nawec (Gambian Nuon) will first have to talk about the infrastructure around this school. In mid-22-23 February 2017, that conversation was on the agenda and during the discussion it appeared that the Nawec had too many problems with the power supplies and was awaiting help from the new government. In any case, we as a foundation are on the radar.

Update May 2018:
The “power project” has become a fact, the Nawec has started the construction of power distributors to the Burbage Nursery and the headmaster now has everything to provide every room with stop contacts and lighting, all this has been made possible by the donations from sponsors. Photos will be posted in the coming weeks June 2018.

February 2017 there will also be research into possibilities to support the orphanage in Bijilo, where at least 12 children need acute help in the form of clothing, nutrition, medicine and education. On reflection, we have decided that the Bijilo orphanage project does not fit in with our thinking of helping third parties partly because of the rigid attitude of Iman Amadou, who sees only the Koran as the basis of life.

The approach of Gambia Giving with Love is aimed at ensuring that the children, after completing their primary school at the Burbage Nursery, can continue to do a follow-up to secondary education at amazing grace primary school.

Our motto “Children are the Future” which is reflected in our logo, has led several to decide to sponsor children.
The possibility of education breaks the vicious circle of the poorest in The Gambia: without money no education, without education no work. Education offers opportunities, not only for the child, but also for the whole family and the development of their country.

Dissolution of the Gambia Foundation, Giving with Love:
If the founders of the foundation are forced to stop due to illness or other factors, the funds, which are in cash, are available to Stichting Kinderhulp Gambia, ANBI-nr: 81.50.09.288, Ivonne and Fred Hulsebos in Veendam.

Stichting Gambia, Geven met Liefde Hazewaal 14, 1671LB Medemblik

www.gambiagevenmetliefde.org

https://www.facebook.com/Gambiagevenmetliefde

Email: gambiagevenmetliefde@gmail.com

Telephone: +31-6-54942707

• Chamber of Commerce number: 67189954
• ANBI registration: 8568.68.127