The Report reflects a year of significant achievements in the development of the Foundation. During 2019, trustees continued delivering against three over-arching strategic priorities to ensure that the Foundation could deliver significant, long-term and sustainable impact on the issues about which the charity most cares:

• Promoting strong and cohesive communities
• Enabling young people to realise their potential
• Empowering women and girls

As well as delivering against core priorities through existing grant agreements, the Foundation has made important new investments.

This report covers the period up to the start of April 2020, a point in time when the UK had just entered the first UK national COVID-19 lockdown. Like many other countries, including many in which the Foundation’s partners operate, the full implications of the pandemic were only just starting to be appreciated. We have also felt a heavy responsibility to ensure that we were able to support our partners and the communities they serve at this time of crisis. As this report sets out, we recognised quickly that we needed to provide additional emergency support to those communities most in need and there are some excellent examples of the impact of those investments. The Foundation also recognised the impact of the pandemic on our charitable partners and was quick to sign up to the London Funders’ commitments to charities affected by COVID-19, including revised project timelines, bringing forward of payments and additional funding to enable partners to move to new modes of delivery.

Notwithstanding the importance of our response to the Coronavirus pandemic, we are proud of the key achievements of the Foundation and its partners in respect of our long-standing priorities.

The report sets out some fantastic examples of the achievements of our partner charities, such as the Fahmida Begum Foundation, The Noor Project, The Prince’s Trust, the East Africa Character Development Trust and the British Asian Trust. The report also covers new partnerships in to which we have entered, particularly those focussed on our Women and Girls priority such as the African Gifted Academy, Home-Start Croydon and Approachable Parenting.

Reflecting on the Foundation’s work ahead, Chairman Haroon Sheikh stated:

“The commitment to our long-standing partners and the investment in new projects demonstrates the
ambitions of the trustees to ensure that the Foundation delivers life-changing impact across all of its priorities. Together, we seek to leave a sustainable legacy of positive change in those communities in which we work. Whilst we know the challenges remain as great as ever, I am confident that the Foundation is making an increasingly-important contribution to some of the most critical issues facing our communities.”

The report is available to download here: COSARAF Annual Report 2019-20 FINAL.