ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020
FRONT COVER Aminata Kamara is 24 years old and lives in Kissy - one of the largest slum communities in Freetown, Sierra Leone. She was part of Dreamtown’s project “Urban Space Challenge”, where youth groups from Kissy competed on designing the best public spaces for youth. In early 2020, she joined Dreamtown at the World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi to share her experience from the project. Aminata is especially passionate about women’s empowerment and about education.
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CHAIRPERSON'S STATEMENT 2019 has been another exciting year for Dreamtown. Throughout this year, we have experienced growth both within our project portfolio and within the organization, which is showcased in this annual report. In 2019, we started partnerships and projects in both Zimbabwe and Uganda, and developed new projects in Sierra Leone. Besides new projects, Dreamtown has also established partnerships with larger international organisations and with universities from Australia and Sierra Leone. Within the organization of Dreamtown we are happy and grateful to have been able to finally form and expand our team, which now consist of three permanent employees: CEO, Managing Director, and Finance Manager. Furthermore, we have welcomed a new trainee, who is supporting us on all our urban design projects. Once again, Dreamtown has also welcomed new interns and volunteers both in Denmark and abroad. They have been an essential part of the good work within our projects. A huge thank you to the team - without you all of our work would not have been possible. 2019 was also the year where Dreamtown finally moved into our new office space in Copenhagen, which has been a long time dream of ours. Having our own office provides us with a solid organisational base in Copenhagen, from where we are able to work on all of the projects, together with the future growth of the organization.
All in all, Dreamtown now has a strong presence in Sierra Leone, Uganda, Zimbabwe and is growing strong partnerships with new and exciting partners, with a common goal to support the development of safer, greener and more creative spaces in slums. Through our projects and partnerships, we are proud to have had a positive impact on thousands of young people across three countries, five cities, and sixteen vulnerable communities. We will continue to let our work be guided by the dreams of the young people we are working with and towards realising our mission: to increase the wellbeing of young people living in slums. The outbreak of COVID-19 in the beginning of 2020 has naturally had an impact on the lives of the people we work with. Despite the challenging situation, we are proud to be able to continue our work, and play an active part in tackling the corona crisis together with our partners. Finally, on behalf of the entire board, I thank you for the support you have given Dreamtown. It is of enormous help to us, and your support inspires and motivates us to keep going forward and initiate new ideas and project. Together with our partners and with the support from our members, Dreamtown will continue to improve the wellbeing of young people in cities.
Katrine Kirkegaard, Chairperson, Dreamtown
HIGHLIGHTS
URBAN GARDENS KAMPALA UGANDA Dreamtown and the Kampala based organisation Network for Active Citizens (NAC) supported 30 young people from the ghetto in Kampala to establish their own urban gardens. This is part of our #GhettoGoGreen programme, where we also established three green public spaces in the communities of Katwe, Kyebando, and Kinawataka.
HOUSE OF ARTS FESTIVAL HARARE ZIMBABWE More than 2000 festival goers from near and far came by to support the line-up of more than 35 artists at the House of Arts Festival, in Mbare. Young artists from Mbare and other near-by communities showed off their talent, entertaining the audience with rap, acrobatics, percussion, poetry, dance, comedy and much more.
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PUBLIC SPACES FOR YOUTH SIERRA LEONE In partnership with Youth Dream Centre Sierra Leone, eight community centres have been developed in partnership with local community based organisation. The centres have been built in vulnerable communities across Freetown, Makeni, and Kono where they are used for young people to meet, have fun, be creative, discuss what is important to them, dream - and come together to make those dreams come true.
YOUTH WELLBEING STUDY SIERRA LEONE Together with University of Canberra, University of Makeni, Urban Synergies Group, and Youth Dream Centre Sierra Leone, we conducted research that examines multiple dimensions of well-being of youth in Sierra Leone. The study includes interviews with more than 1000 young people and has a particular focus on public spaces.
HIGHLIGHTS
ROSKILDE DONATION We are extremely proud to be on the list of projects that were supported by Roskilde Festival together with 31 other amazing projects! Our donation supports the work we do with House of Arts Association in Zimbabwe, which is all about empowering young people through music and art. This is a part of our Creative Space Programme.
SAFE IN THE CITY SIERRA LEONE Together with YMCA Sierra Leone, Youth Dream Centre Sierra Leone, and Freetown Media Center, we launched our new safety project Safe in the City. The project is a youth led response to the emergency of sexual and gender based violence in Sierra Leone, through enhanced capacity, collaboration and engagement of non-formal education institutions, youth groups, and government authorities.
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URBAN SPACE CHALLENGE SIERRA LEONE 100 young people in Kissy, Freetown, competed in a competition on who could make the best public spaces in their community. In the end, ten youth groups developed ten public space projects, covering counselling centres, hangout spaces, public sanitation installations, a drainage transformed into a sitting accommodation, and a playground. The project increased the confidence of the youth, and improved their dialogue with community stakeholders. We are now planning the Urban Space Challenge 2020 in Dworzark community in Freetown.
WORLD URBAN FORUM ABU DHABI Dreamtown participated in the 10th World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi with a group of cool young activists. On top of lots of networking with interesting people from the world of urban development, we presented our work and facilitated a full house event on developing public spaces with youth together with friends from Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe. Now, we look forward to the World Urban Forum in Poland in 2022!
HIGHLIGHTS
WORLD CITIES DAY COPENHAGEN DENMARK We celebrated World Cities Day 2019 with inspiring talks and great food at Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke’s Globalhagen Kitchen with our friends from Australian Urban Synergies Group and Danish COurban. Our focus was on developing sustainable and lovable cities.
CPH:DOX COPENHAGEN DENMARK At the movie festival Copenhagen Dox, we had the pleasure of hosting a screening with WeOwnTV’s film Survivors, which is about some of the heros from the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. Director of the film, Arthur Pratt, gave his take on how to tell people’s stories in the midst of a crisis like Ebola
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CHANGING THE GAME SIERRA LEONE Together with the Danish organisation FANT (Football for a New Tomorrow), we brought together six civil society organisations in Sierra Leone for training in local fundraising. The training was facilitated by West Africa Civil Society Network (WACSI) and gave the organisations some tools to approach how to mobilise more funding for their work locally.
COVID-19 RESPONSE As a response to the COVID-19 crisis that hit the whole world in 2020, we are working with our partners in Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, and Uganda to tackle the virus. We have done this through community awareness raising campaigns and social media campaigns, setup of hand washing stations, provision of protective equipment and sanitation items, and by communicating stories from young people in our target communities.
IMPACT SAFE SPACES Together with young people, we transform slums into safe spaces. Spaces where young people can move freely around their community without fear of violence. Violence is one of the major challenges facing young people living in slums. Safety is especially a challenge for young women. The safety programme brings together grassroots, businesses, youth activists, media professionals,
schools, NGOs, and government actors around the common goal of tackling violence against young women in slums in Sierra Leone. Our core approach is participatory safety planning. This implies supporting young people to take the lead in analyzing the safety situation in their community, develop strategies, and implement projects that target the key drivers of violence.
GREEN SPACES Together with young people, we transform slums into green spaces and raise awareness about the negative impacts of the climate crisis. In many communities, the dangerous effects of flooding is a major concern. Due to the scarcity of space within cities, the competition for land use increases. This makes it harder to find room for green spaces which are important for creating a vibrant,
attractive, and sustainable city. Dreamtown’s green space programme addresses issues facing young people in slum communities in Kampala related to the climate crisis. Our work includes the development of green public parks and community gardens, urban agriculture, establishment of climate awareness hubs, and campaigns based on community journalism.
CREATIVE SPACES Together with young people, we transform slums into creative spaces. Spaces where young people can be inspired, express themselves, and learn new skills. In many countries across the globe, young people find it challenging to make their voice heard, and to participate in decision making processes and in the development of their community. With brutal force, we see governments striking down on youth
led resistance. Working through the creative sectors of arts and culture, young people are finding new ways to express themselves. Our Creative Space Programme supports young artists and community based organisations to host musical festivals, develop art installations, transforms public spaces into inspiring environments, and develop culture and youth centres.
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KEY RESULTS
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safe and inspiring public spaces for young people developed by youth groups in Kissy in Freetown, including counseling centres and hangout spaces.
Safety initiatives for young women in urban Sierra Leone were launched as a part of our Safe in the City programme, which addresses the emergency of sexual and gender based violence in Sierra Leone.
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urban gardens developed by young people in Kampala’s K-zones, using innovative urban agriculture techniques.
green public spaces established in three ghetto communities in Kampala, where young people can learn about and be inspired by creative solutions for urban agriculture.
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Youth Climate Ressource Centre and rooftop garden established established in Kampala, where young people can learn about the climate crisis and receive training in climate resilience and urban agriculture.
#GhettoGoGreen climate awareness campaign was rolled out on social media, reached thousands of people, and attracted the attention of multiple new interested partners in Uganda.
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big festivals were hosted in two communities in Harare, where young artists performed and showcased their creative talents in front of thousands of people, which was also covered in national TV.
young people trained as community journalists and actively engaged in sharing young people’s stories from Kampala’s ghetto communities.
marginalised young people in Sierra Leone gained access to free nonformal education and technical and vocational skills training in a safe learning environment.
community centres were established for young people in eight vulnerable communities across Sierra Leone.
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1093 1093 young people participated in a large survey on youth wellbeing in Sierra Leone.
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250 250 young artists participated in openmic sessions, roadshows, festival and other performances in Harare, Zimbabwe.
FINANCIAL YEAR (2019) THE RESULT FOR 2019 Dreamtown’s financial year of 2019 was characterised by some major developments and achievements. Firstly, we had a significant increase in project activities, as our work expanded from only taking place in Sierra Leone to including projects in Uganda and Zimbabwe. This can be seen in the increased overall income, which has more than tripled compared to 2018. This increase is largely due to our four CISU funded projects which were granted and commenced in 2019 and account for 1,960,349 DKK spread over 2019 and 2020. Overall, 94% of Dreamtown’s income can be attributed to project funds from CISU – Civil Society in Development. However, income from both private donations and memberships has
increased in 2019, which also marks the first year in which Dreamtown received project grants from a private foundation, as The Roskilde Foundation supported our work with House of Arts Association in in Zimbabwe with 200,000 DKK. Secondly, the increase in project activities enabled the continued development of Dreamtown, which in 2019 included the appointment of CEO Rasmus Bering as well as building a strong base of volunteers to be included in current and future projects and in the operation of Dreamtown. The increased income has mainly been spent on project expenses and on increased administrational costs, which has led to a small negative net income of 18,945 DKK for 2019.
OUR EXPECTATIONS FOR 2020 For 2020 and the near future, we will continue to consolidate and further develop the concepts of our current CISU projects in Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, which will serve as a basis for our future project activities. In addition to this, we will continue to strengthen our ties to private foundations, ensuring that we diversify our income as much as possible. Based on the projects that have already been granted, and the concepts and applications that will be developed,
we expect to increase our income significantly in 2020. The level of ambition and increased number of projects means that we will continue to invest in the development of our capacity and the skills that are needed to develop ideas, implement projects, and run the organisation effectively. The expected increased income for 2020 will enable this organisational strengthening. As a result of investing in the organisation, the objective for 2020 is to achieve a net income close to zero.
INCOME Funding from other foundations 3%
Donations 2% Memberships 1%
Funding from CISU 94%
NOTE: ‘Funding from CISU’ and ‘funding from other organisations’ entails funding that is tied to specific projects.
EXPENDITURES Administration and organisational development in Denmark 28%
Dreamtown technical assistance on projects 5%
Project activities in Africa 67%
NOTE: ‘Administration and organisational development in Denmark’ contains salary costs, property expenses, and additional administrational costs. ‘Dreamtown technical assistance on projects’ contains project salary for Dreamtown staff and external consultants.
LOOKING FORWARD In 2020 we are venturing into the last year of Dreamtown’s five-year strategic plan (2017 – 2021). When we developed the strategy in 2017, we changed our mission from working on non-formal education, towards a broader focus on improving the wellbeing of young people living in slums. In the strategy, we set out the ambitious goals of developing three new thematic programmes focused on creating safe, green, and creative spaces for young people in slums, and from only working in Sierra Leone to starting up activities in Zimbabwe and Uganda. With one year left our five-year strategy, we are close to achieving these goals. In Freetown, we collaborate with activist youth on making the streets safer for young women; in Harare, we work with talented artists on making the voice of young people heard; and in Kampala, we have joined forces with young climate activists on making urban slums flourish through the establishment of urban gardens and green recreational areas. In this last year of our strategy, our focus will be on consolidating these initiatives, ensure that we create a strong impact on the wellbeing of the young people that we are working with, and document learning in order for us to scale up actions in the years to come. 2020 also marks the beginning of the Decade of Action. 10 years are left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. In Dreamtown, we will continue
to contribute towards SDG 11 by making cities and informal settlements more inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. In doing so, we acknowledge that it is not enough to engage in development actions abroad. Since the Sustainable Development Goals relate to all of us, we also see a need to engage more young people in Denmark through debate and action on how we reach the 2030 benchmark. As we write this in the beginning of 2020, we are also looking at all our plans in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to UN-Habitat, more than 95% of all cases of the virus are recorded in urban areas. For the 60% of the African population who live in informal settlements, the pandemic, and political strategies to tackle it, will have devastating effects. In Dreamtown, we will make a strong contribution towards ensuring that the young people we work with across Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zimbabwe get the support they need, and are supported to help others around them, in order to make it through these trying times. Despite these challenges, we are extremely optimistic about the year to come. Following the ideas, drive and inspiration of the young people we work with will ensure that Dreamtown keeps being at the forefront of the youth led agenda for sustainable development in cities.
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THEORY OF CHANGE
WELLBEING OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN CITIES
SAFE
GREEN
CREATIVE
Every young person feels safe and moves freely around in their community
Every young person has the space to express themselves and be creative
Every young person can access green space and is protected against climate change
SPACE
SPACE
SPACE
STORIES We broadcast the stories of young people in cities
ACTION We support dreams and actions of young people in cities
RESEARCH We co-produce knowledge that informs our work and shows young people's development priorities
THANKS TO... OUR PARTNERS
OUR DONORS
...AND ALL OUR WONDERFUL MEMBERS!
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BACK COVER Augustine is a member of The British Dancers. They are a group of 11 young dancers, living together in an old house in Kono, Sierra Leone. They train dance and acrobatics, and persform to get money for food and school fees. They dream of performing internationally with their unique dance.