Oct 19

The last day of this project and as I leave Benin, I finish this diary where I began, “what is it all about?” Youth Action for Change International (www.yaci.co.uk) supports children and vulnerable adults in poor countries through local charities. They needed a finance volunteer to help them help a charity called Espoir de Demain (EDEM) based in Porto-Novo, Benin.

EDEM aims to support orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) in Benin through schooling, apprenticeship, social support and awareness raising. They have already managed to school 198 OVCs in Porto-Novo, but there is always greater need…

If you wish to make a personal contribution to the lives of these vulnerable children, please do so through the fundraising page:

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/beninvoluntary

All donations go to YACI which directly funds EDEM in Benin. EDEM then pays the school fees and provides school supplies for OVCs.

In order to expand, EDEM needs to strengthen their financial management. That's where I’ve been helping these two weeks. I reviewed the financial risks, independently verified the expenses of EDEM, reviewed the financial procedures in place as of today, proposed updated financial procedures, taught EDEM staff bookkeeping, reporting and budgeting and also identified some potential future projects…

As the financial volunteer, I was connected with YACI and EDEM by “Accounting for International Development” (AfID). If you are a finance professional and would like to help similar charities around the world, please contact AfID. As an organisation their objective is to provide non-profits and social enterprises with specialist volunteer programmes designed to build the financial management capacity of small community organisations (www.afid.org.uk).

Thank you YACI, EDEM and AfID. Good luck!

Photo: this year’s school-start ceremony with the distribution of school supplies.