Jay Mawaka-Smith shares his thoughts on LeNoir Foundation’s achievements in 2017 and our ambitions for the year ahead.
It is hard to believe but 2017 is nearly over, during this time we have achieved a number of significant milestones that I wish to share with you as we move forward into the New Year.
Our partners and volunteers in India continue to make a tremendous difference to communities on a daily basis, as reported on our website and in the various blog posts. Most notably, our Community Engagement Coordinator, Prateek Saini has been outstanding and strengthened the quality of our programmes. This success has been acknowledged by our partners and other organisations that look to learn from us. But the best manifestation of our success is the improvement in the health and wellbeing of the children enrolled in our sponsorship programme.
Over the past twelve months, the sources and diversity of LeNoir Foundation’s income has continued to expand, reflecting the success and credibility of our programmes on the ground, which are generating interest from a wider audience. To build on this success, we have appointed our first full-time Director of Partnerships, Adrian Mugoba, his experiences come from his extensive work within the public sector, Universities and communities, schools, community based organisations and developing unorthodox partnerships to bring about change and involve people in that change. Under his guidance we look forward to strengthening and developing relationships with donors to enable us to continue and increase the good work we are doing with our partners in India and Southern Africa.
I am also delighted that the Board of Trustees (Our Team) has been further strengthened by appointing Hayden Norman as our new Development Design Coordinator. Hayden recently graduated with a degree in Engineering & Maths and brings an extensive range of skills and knowledge from various sectors.
Finally, I would like to thank our small team in London, Harare and New Delhi for their dedication and hard work over the past year as well as our growing number of supporters – both partners and volunteers – on whose contributions our Foundation relies for its ability to help even more children. The challenges that the children in Africa face are not insurmountable if we continue to work together towards the common goal – that every child has a happy and hope-filled future. I believe that this is a goal we are all committed to see becoming a reality.
I look forward to another busy and productive year ahead, and wish you all a very happy New Year.
With very best wishes,
J Mawaka –Smith.
J. Mawaka - Smith Director
