Vredeseilanden/VECO Annual Report 2009

VREDESEILANDEN vzw

ANNUAL REPORT 2009

A better deal for farmers

VREDESEILANDEN VZW ANNUAL REPORT 2009

A better deal for farmers

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Content 2

Introduction ................................................................................................................

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1 About Vredeseilanden ................................................................................................

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2 Vredeseilanden and sustainability ................................................................................

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3 Vredeseilanden in the South ......................................................................................

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4 Vredeseilanden in Belgium ........................................................................................

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5 The social balance of Vredeseilanden ..........................................................................

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6 Environmental policy of Vredeseilanden ........................................................................

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7 Vredeseilanden vzw – Financial annual report 2009 ........................................................

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Introduction

I noticed her right away, standing among the dozens of dancing and singing women who were welcoming us: an enthusiasm that exceeded everyone else’s, a loud voice and a pair of eyes which gave me a penetrating look. Clarisse: farmer, single, administrator of the Lofepaco credit co-operative. Thanks to Clarisse’s straightforward cheerfulness it immediately felt as if we had known each other for years.

Lofepaco unites hundreds of women’s groups in the Kivu region, the provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo that border Rwanda and Uganda and that have witnessed horror and violence over the past few years. Many of Lofepaco’s nearly 20,000 members were victims of that violence, or they lost their husbands, children, siblings, everything they owned. They learned the hard way that there is no point in waiting for others to fulfil their needs.

With Vredeseilanden’s support Lofepaco helps women’s groups to start up small agricultural enterprises: goat farms, production of compost, joint marketing of their products. Furthermore, Lofepaco enhances its members’ leadership qualities through trainings. Clarisse is leading the way. She personifies the force behind the future success of the Congo’s agriculture. And that future should be more feminine, because in Clarisse’s opinion “Congo is too masculine”.

She’s definitely not to blame. During my conversation with the leaders of the dozen farmers’ organisations that Vredeseilanden supports in the Congo she states: “A few years ago we agreed that at least 30% of the leaders and staff of farmers’ organisations should be women. So why is it that I am the only woman here?” The twelve men in the room laugh sheepishly and look at their feet.

AgriCongo 2020 It is a pity that nostalgia rules in the reports on the 50th anniversary of the Congo’s independence.

Complaining about how much better life was prior to that independence will not bring food on the table nor prosperity to this country.

According to Vredeseilanden peace, well-functioning governments and investments in family farms are the keys to a prosperous DRC. Some 70% of its inhabitants live in rural areas, where they are struggling to survive on small plots of land. A well-thought encouragement policy by the government and targeted support from industrialised countries will help to reduce poverty and will allow their agriculture to become a solid base for economic development.

And that is exactly the aim of “AgriCongo”, a campaign initiative by Vredeseilanden, the largest farmers’ organisations in Congo and four other Belgian NGOs, which focuses on the Loi fondamentale agricole, the new agricultural law that is about to be passed in Congo. The farmers’ organisations contributed to the draft version. AgriCongo supports their lobbying initiatives to ensure that parliament adjusts the new law to the farmers’ needs. At the same time AgriCongo wants farmers’ organisations to have a louder say in governmental matters at the level of the province and in Kinshasa.

“The future of the DRC should be more feminine.”

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Searchers instead of Planners In ‘The White Man’s Burden’ William Easterly provokes by stating that there are too many “Planners” in development cooperation. People who believe that Big Multiannual Plans and truckloads of money will eradicate poverty. However, the socialist dictatorships in the former Eastern Bloc clearly demonstrated that complicated political challenges cannot be met by imposing rigid plans.

That is why Easterly believes that we need “Searchers” instead of Planners. People who try to find solutions for their specific situation, who follow them through and at the same time keep looking for better opportunities, without losing sight of their final target.

Clarisse is one of those Searchers. Always looking for possibilities to create a better life for the women in Lofepaco, despite the instability and violence that surround them.

Vredeseilanden is also a Searcher, scanning for new ideas, experiments and ways to replicate successful experiments at a much broader scale.

In 2009 we offered direct support to some 134,000 female and male farmers. Their families included, that means almost half a million people. We help them to turn their work on the land into an enterprise. To get to know the demands of their customers –local, regional or overseas– and to find out how they can meet them. To process, instead of merely producing. To negotiate with wholesalers and supermarkets. To switch to Fair Trade, organic farming, etc. This annual report will show you their achievements, as well as the obstacles they found on their way.

Successful campaign 2010 Another example of Vredeseilanden’s Searcher mentality was the set-up of our campaign on “Le Belge”, a farmer in Senegal who believed that proclaiming his country the 11th province of Belgium was the most promising route towards a prosperous life. The fictitious documentary that was made on the subject by Flemish singer Stijn Meuris was discussed during a late-night chat show on national television (‘Phara’), was broadcasted on the same TV channel (Canvas) and on the digital TV channel Acht, and prompted people of all ages to think about the subject.

Incidentally, “Le Belge” contributed to a slight increase of our proceedings through donations, despite the economic crisis. The confidence in Vredeseilanden that was expressed by over 100,000 donors has proven, much to our delight, that even a more complicated story on development cooperation can find its way into society.

We are very grateful to you for your interest and your support, and will continue to strive to earn your appreciation.

Fons Vaes, chairman of the Board of Directors, and Luuk Zonneveld, General Director

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About Vredeseilanden

A BETTER DEAL FOR FARMERS A better life for farmer families. Giving farmers a place in the market that will offer them the chances that they deserve. That is Vredeseilanden’s aim.

We all want tasty and reliable food on our plates. We want to take care of Mother Nature and of the future generations.

Farmers in the South as well as in Europe hope that their work on the land will earn them a sustainable income.

Vredeseilanden proves that those aspirations can perfectly coexist. Our sustainable agriculture programmes show how good quality food can be produced and marketed with respect for nature and with a fair income for the farmers.

And Vredeseilanden is not the only believer. Everybody now shares this point of view. The World Bank, the UN, scientists all over the world. The millions of farmer families worldwide can solve the food crisis and the hunger problem, and eradicate poverty – most of the poor people are farmers. And last but not least, family farms pay much more respect to our planet’s ecological balance.

That is of course easier said than done. Every solution seems to lead to a new problem. How can we ensure that farmers can get their products to the consumers and earn a living in doing so?

And that is what Vredeseilanden is now trying to find out. Together with our partners: farmers’ organisations, companies, universities, governments. Our efforts are modest, but ambitious, because we have a long road ahead of us. Conducting market surveys, organising consultations, founding cooperatives, acquiring knowledge.

In the end, it is about so much more than freeing people from poverty. You are also involved.

Solidarity is not just about helping people across the globe. Genuine solidarity requires a worldwide transition towards a sustainable economy, with a sustainable food production and consumption. That is why Vredeseilanden is promoting the daily consumption of sustainable products in Belgian schools, company restaurants, gyms, ...

Thanks to the commitment of thousands of volunteers and the choices made by engaged consumers, our actions speak louder than words.

BELGIË

LAOS HONDURAS NICARAGUA

ECUADOR PERU

SENEGAL GAMBIA

VIETNAM

INDONESIË BURKINAFASO TOGO BENIN NIGER

CONGO UGANDA TANZANIA

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Vredeseilanden and sustainability

SUSTAINABILITY IN EVERY ASPECT Nowadays nearly every organisation or company has some sort of sustainability policy. Vredeseilanden does not. Why not? Simply because we are a sustainable organisation. End of story. How we work, the choices we make, our vision and mission, our programme: it all oozes sustainability.

At Vredeseilanden, sustainability is not trapped in some policy. It is present at organisation level and at programme level.

Economic sustainability is a strong pillar in our programme. Our only option is sustainable family farming. We aim to strengthen the position of farmers in the agricultural chain, so that they can take control of their own future and receive the right price for their products. Together with farmers’ organisations we approach governments and companies in an effort to find out what policy can create a win-win situation for family farmers. And we encourage consumers to buy sustainable products.

The social sustainability pillar is reflected in our own human resources policy. We want to enhance the commitment and accountability of our people: during team meetings our colleagues are invited to participate in the decision-making, the organisation’s annual objectives are defined together with the heads of the regional offices, and our staff at the head office is informed of decisions and projects through regular briefings.

In 2009, the human resources department redefined the core competences and the competences per function. Subsequently, the job and profile descriptions were adjusted. There is also a so-called competence development plan for all employees, and feedback is given at appraisal and performance interviews, during which individual annual objectives are set.

The ecologic pillar requires Vredeseilanden to reduce its direct and indirect environmental impact. In order to assess the direct impact we measure the consumption of paper, energy and water, waste, and the use of transport and consumption goods in the head office and the regional offices.

Since 2009 we also measure the indirect impact of our programme in the South. Prof. Bernard Mazijn (University of Ghent) developed a measuring tool that allows Vredeseilanden to map the environmental impact of any agricultural chain (coffee, rice, peanuts, vegetables, fruit, ...). This tool was tested in Nicaragua and Indonesia, and adjusted after the initial phase. All regional offices were trained in the use of this tool and as of 2010 the environmental impact of all chains will be mapped (read more on our environmental policy on p. 45).

GRI This report has been drafted according to the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) criteria. A growing number of large companies and organisations worldwide will report within this sustainability framework. www.globalreporting.org The indicators are included on pages 72-73 of this report in a clear overview, as required in the logic of the GRI.

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Vredeseilanden in the South

MORE COLLABORATION WITH PRIVATE COMPANIES Vredeseilanden wants to be at the crossroads between farmers’ organisations, universities, companies and government bodies. It is our role to bring together the right parties and to remove the practical obstacles between dream and reality to achieve a sustainable food chain.

In 2009 we were active from eight regional offices (VECOs). That is why, outside Belgium, Vredeseilanden is better known as VECO. Vredeseilanden collaborates with 149 partner organisations, nearly half of them farmers’ groups. The other half consists of civil society organisations that are active in the field of lobbying or campaigning. We increasingly work together with private companies. You will for example find such companies in our list of partner organisations in Vietnam and Indonesia. Those companies do not receive any financial support from Vredeseilanden, but we collaborate in order to improve the position of farmers in the agricultural chain. Close collaboration with an enterprise may provide a lot of technical know-how and also often leads to interesting markets.

To give you an idea of the scope of our programme, the following pages contain a list of our partner organisations in each country and the number of people who benefit directly from that specific programme(component). With our entire programme we reached about 70.000 men and 64.000 women in 2009. But the impact of a development programme cannot only be evaluated by the number of people that are directly reached. In the regions where we run our programmes there is also a considerable group of people who are indirectly benefiting from our activities. Participants in trainings spread their newly gained knowledge. Due to political action laws may change in favour of a whole group of people. Changes in mentality cannot be expressed by figures either. Moreover Vredeseilanden chooses to set up pilot projects from time to time with a small group of people and to use the results to convince larger NGOs, companies or government bodies to adopt the positive aspects. www.veco-ngo.org

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VECO ANDINO 2009 was a transitional year for our programme in the Andean region. In Ecuador, VECO Andino terminated its collaboration with its partner organisations from the cocoa sector (see annual report 2008). We concluded new collaboration agreements with partner organisations in Peru and Bolivia, but in a first stage we will only focus on advocacy work. Concrete projects in Peru will take shape in 2010.

ECUADOR PERU

In the Andean region we mainly focus on the cultivation of coffee and vegetables. Moreover we started to analyse the opportunities of processing bananas, for example into banana crisps.

Our partners in Ecuador: • Federación Regional de Asociaciones de Pequeños Cafetaleros del Sur (FAPECAFES) – www.fapecafes.org.ec • Federación de Asociaciones artesanales de Producción Cafetalera Ecológica de Manabí (FECAFEM) • Servicio para un desarrollo alternativo del Sur (SENDAS) • Chuya Mikuna • Corporación de desarrollo “GRUPPO SALINAS” – www.salinerito.com • El Movemiento de Economía Social y Solidaria del Ecuador (MESSE) • El Espacio Colectivo and its members Coordinación Probio and Coordinadora Ecuatoriana de Agro ecología (CEA) • Coordinadora Ecuatoriana de Pequeños Productores de Commercio Justo (CECJ)

Our partners in Peru and Bolivia: • Asociación Nacional de Productores Ecológicos (ANPE) in Peru • Asociación de Organizaciones de Productores Ecológicos de Bolivia (AOPEB) • Centro de Información e Intercambio para la Agricultura Ecológica (AGRECOL) in Peru and Bolivia Just like in Central America we also provide support to MAELA, the Latin American agro-ecological movement.

With our programme we directly reached

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1,961 men, 821 women

November 2009: The goose bump moment of our collaborator Verónica Andino...

Upon entering the room my colleagues from El Movemiento de Economía Social y Solidaria del Ecuador (MESSE) and I were really astonished. The room of the Ministry for Agriculture was fully crammed and the Minister apologized because so many women farmers had no seat.

Maybe it was not the first time that a Minister of Agriculture invited the representatives of farmers’ organisations for consultation, but it undoubtedly was one of the few times that people hoped that the man would be willing to listen to them.

To us this was something new. The National Law on Food sovereignty had been voted in April 2009, but we thought it would remain a dead letter. The Ecuadoran state kept pumping money in measures that are not to the benefit of small farmers, such as the promotion of agrofuels, more chemical fertilizers,... Therefore we were surprised hearing the President say in November that he wanted a policy aiming at improving the living conditions of farmers’ families and not at large-scale agro-export. That statement prompted our partners of the Agro-Ecological Corporation and MESSE to develop a proposal for the Minister of Agriculture.

Then the Minister of Agriculture launched a broad appeal to all farmers’ organisations in the country to discuss the orientation of his policy. Farmers’ and indigenous leaders from across the whole country, the Minister, his staff members and advisors took the floor. At the end the Minister expressed his surprise about the interventions of the farmers’ leaders. “This meeting and your contributions are very important”, he said. “At my ministry I always hear arguments that we cannot implement agro-ecological policies, because the farmers would be against it.

Your interventions indicate the opposite. I ask you to develop concrete proposals for the next meeting concerning an agricultural policy that is based upon the agro-ecological model.”

Emotions were running high. This opened a window of opportunities.

Now we have to take up the challenge and develop those proposals.

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VECO MESOAMÉRICA In Central America, Vredeseilanden is active in three countries: Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras. We focus on four products: beans, sugar, vegetables and cashew nuts.

HONDURAS NICARAGUA

As announced last year, we reduced our activities in Costa Rica. Only the Costarican movement for organic farming (MAOCO) and Consorcio Cooperativo de Mercados Locales Campesinos e Indígenas R.L. still received direct funding in 2009. We keep in touch with our former partner organisations and because of their expertise we will keep calling on them for exchanges and training on specific topics.

Our partners in Nicaragua: • NICARAOCOOP • UNAG at national and regional level, the National Union of Farmers and Cattle Breeders. More specifically, VECO will set up a sugar project with the UNAG division in Nueva Segovia and a project on beans with UNAG in Carazo.

• FENACOOP • FEMUPROCAN • Alianza Agroecológica de Carazo/COOPAD • The Organic Agriculture Promotion Group (GPAE) • The Consumer Defence Society of Nicaragua (LIDECONIC) • The National Consumers’ Defence Network (RNDC)

Our partners in Honduras: • Conglomerado de marañon. A cooperative society that processes and exports cashew nuts, also to Europe.

• Coordination Council of Farmers’ Organisations of Honduras (COCOCH) • The Regional Association for Agricultural Services in the Eastern Area (ARSAGRO) • The Network for Alternative Joint Marketing (RED COMAL) • The Committee for the Defence of Honduran Consumers’ Rights (CODECOH) • La coalición Hondurena de accion ciudadana (CHAAC) • Asociación Campesina Nacional (ACAN) • Asociación de Productores agropecuarios de Oriente (APAO) • Unión de Trabajadores del Campo (UTC) Across national borders, VECO Mesoamérica also provides support to SIMAS, the Central American information service on sustainable agriculture, and Corporación Educativa para el Desarrollo Costarricense, Foro Mercados Locales (CEDECO). Just like in the Andean region we also work together with MAELA, the Latin-American agro-ecological movement.

In our programme we also brought in the expertise of FETRAF, a large Brazilian farmers’ organisation.

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Furthermore VECO Mesoamérica and the Dutch NGO Hivos are the initiators of two Central American structures aiming at improving the collaboration between various cooperative movements, farmers’ organisations and processing companies.

• PECOSOL has 36 members in five countries. Nicaraocoop, Red Comal, UNAG and some other of our partner organisations are affiliated to PECOSOL. • PROAMO is a collaboration network between seven organisations, among which Nicaraocoop from Nicaragua and Oro Verde from Costa Rica.

With our programme we directly reached

8,175 men, 6,665 women

September 2009: Participatory certification successful!

Small-scale farmers selling organic products on the local market want to show their customers that their products are of organic origin by means of a guarantee label. This selling argument is indeed becoming more important. But only seldom they can bear the costs of external screening. In such cases the so-called “participatory labels” provide some alternative.

In 2009, collaborators of Vredeseilanden in Nicaragua helped the farmers’ organisation Alianza Agroecológica de Carazo/COOPAD in elaborating and implementing such a “participatory certification system”. In doing so they also made use of the experiences of partner organisations from Costa Rica.

For about six months now 465 organic farmers of COOPAD have been selling their products at the market of Carazo with a label indicating that the products have been grown organically.

The initiators (consumers and organisations) supervise 110 ha according to fixed guidelines.

The certification system is based upon confidence and credibility of the different stakeholders: the farmers themselves, their customers, consumer organisations and the government. More important than the strict compliance with criteria is the discussion that has arisen between these stakeholders on agriculture, economy, nature conservation and the social aspects of agriculture and food.

The participatory certification appears to be a flexible system allowing for permanent mutual learning. Vredeseilanden will now see to it that these experiences are also spread among other organisations in Central America, so that they can apply the same system.

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VECO SÉNÉGAL/GAMBIA In 2008 we crossed the border to Gambia for the first time. This year a second partner organisation has joined us. Our operations in Senegal and Gambia revolve around three products: sesame, bananas and fonio (a local type of cereal).

SENEGAL GAMBIA

Our partners in Senegal: • Association des Producteurs de la Vallée du Fleuve Gambie (APROVAG) – www.aprovag.org • Fédération des Groupements de producteurs et productrices du Sofaniama Jimara de Kolda (PELLITAL) • Fédération des Unions des Groupements Associés du Niombato (UGAN) • Réseaux de producteurs et productrices de fonio dans la communauté rurale de Djendé • Union National de la filière de banane au Sénégal (UNAFIBS) • Association des Consommateurs du Sénégal (ASCOSEN)

Our partners in Gambia: • National Farmers’ Platform, The Gambia (NFPG) • National Women Farmers in Agriculture (NAWFA)

With our programme we directly reached

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1,354 men, 2,355 women

February 2009: Start of APROVAG’s fruit processing company The banana farmers’ organisation APROVAG is doing well. The last two years their membership has increased from 950 to 1250, and new members are joining every month. Also the female farmers are assiduously working for the future. Slightly more than 300 women are currently affiliated to the organisation. They also sit on the Board and have their own women’s department and women’s groups within the organisation. And meanwhile they hold their own ground in commercial talks.

The women have also started selling and processing other fruit than bananas. For there is also other fruit growing in between the banana trees. The fruit that was not eaten, usually remained on the trees to rot. Now the women collect it in time, process it in a traditional way and sell it. In particular dry fruit is quite successful.

But via APROVAG a large part of the fruit is gradually finding its way to the city of Tambacounda, where the organisation’s women’s department has been managing since recently a new semimodern fruit processing unit: ginger syrup, tamarind syrup, grapefruit syrup, bissap syrup, lemon syrup, baobab syrup and ... vinegar. At present this is the only place in Senegal where vinegar is produced.

The fruit processing unit should be profitable within three years. Currently, negotiations with the government are taking place to obtain a sales licence for the processing factory. Those negotiations are nearly concluded. Various marketing studies are carried out to find out the best ways to sell the products to women in the cities.

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VECO WEST AFRICA Vredeseilanden has been working for a long time in Togo and Benin. Since last year we are also active in Burkina Faso and from this year onward we also have one new partner organisation in Niger. The four countries share important border markets. This is also reflected in the structure. The regional office is located in Cotonou. The project officers work from two ‘field antennas’ in Togo and Benin. Later another ‘antenna’ will be added in Burkina Faso. In the whole West African region we collaborate with the farmers’ organisation ROPPA (Réseau des Organisations Paysannes et de Producteurs en Afrique de l’Ouest)) for political activities.

BURKINAFASO TOGO BENIN NIGER

In Benin our partners specialize mainly in rice and cassava. These are our partners: • • • • •

6 Unions Communales des Riziculteurs (in Glazoue, Dassa, Save, Savalou, Banet and Ouesse) Union des Riziculteurs du Centre (UNIRIZ-C) Conseil de Concertation des Riziculteurs du Bénin (CCR-B) Fédération des Unions de Producteurs du Bénin (FUPRO-Benin) Centre d’information, de recherche et d’action pour la promotion des initiatives paysannes (CIRAPIP) • Centre d’initiation et de recherche-action pour un développement durable (CEIRAD) • Ligue de Défense des Consommateurs du Bénin (LDCB)

In northern Togo our partner organisations are mainly active in the cultivation of vegetables and maize.

• • • •

Réseau des Centrales d’Auto promotion paysanne (RECAP) Fédération des Organisations Paysannes de la Région des Savanes (FOPAS) Coordination Togolaise des Organisations Paysannes et des Producteurs Agricoles (CTOP) Organisation d’Appui à la Démocratie et au Développement Local (OADEL)

In the south-west of Burkina Faso our partner organisations specialize in marketing niébé, a popular local variety of beans.

• Association Sons-Kouadba (ASK) • UPPA Boulgou • FEPAB Our first partner in Niger is the Plateforme Paysanne du Niger (PFPN). They specialize in the cultivation of rice.

With our programme we directly reached

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16,964 men, 9,726 women

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Š Marc Goldchstein

VECO EAST AFRICA

CONGO UGANDA TANZANIA

Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya form one regional market together. There are also many products from eastern Congo reaching the market in Uganda and vice versa. Therefore we have decided to increasingly harmonize our programmes in Uganda, Tanzania and Congo. This is also reflected in the structure. The regional office is located in Kampala (Uganda). The project officers work from various ‘antennas’ in Mbale (Uganda), Same (Tanzania), Chunya (Tanzania), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and Butembo (DR Congo). As from next year there will also be an antenna in Bukavu (DR Congo).

For the political action in this region we work together with the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF). They defend the interests of the farmers’ families in the East African region.

TANZANIA In the course of 2009 we experienced a lot of problems with the implementation of our programme in Tanzania (see page 49). By the end of the year we took several steps to put our activities on the right track again. Below you will find a survey for the various Vredeseilanden regions in Tanzania.

In northeast Tanzania we support activities in the area where the districts of Same and Simanjiro are bordering one another. We focus on chicken and goat breeding and the cultivation of onions. In 2009, 65 commercial farmers’ groups were set up and that number will even increase in the coming years.

Our partners in Same and Simanjiro: • Same District Council • Inyuat E Moipo • Simanjiro District Council • Mviwata Kilimanjaro Regional Network • Roman Catholic Diocese and Same KAYA SACCOS did not appear to be strong enough to fully take up their role in this programme.

Partnership with local authorities as a strategy for synergy and sustainability In 2009 Vredeseilanden worked with four partner organisations in the districts of Same and Simanjiro. Every organisation was assigned a very specific role in the implementation of the programme. This can be seen first and foremost at staff level. All partners “provide” their experts to the programme: Simanjiro District Council delegates ten of their collaborators to carry out the Vredeseilanden programme, Inyuat E Moipo provides two collaborators and the Same District Council five collaborators. In addition to the provision of staff the district authorities also pay their share for infrastructure works: until now irrigation channels, a water dam, a road and a cattle dip for cows and goats have been built.

This method of working is strongly appreciated by the district inhabitants and by the local authorities. In this way Vredeseilanden indeed strengthens existing development programmes and the authorities have to take up their responsibilities. This is the best guarantee for the continuity and sustainability of the activities.

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In the Mkuranga district, some 100 kilometers south of the port of Dar es Salaam, we work together with farmers’ groups who have specialized in cassava. We observed that the NGOs PELUM and TAWLAE in the region do not have the capacity to build up a commercial farmers’ movement.

Therefore Vredeseilanden has made the choice to set up and support a network of commercial farmers’ groups in the coming years.

Our partners in the Mkuranga district: • Mkuranga District Council (MDC) • Mviwata Mkuranga Regional Network The past few years VECO Tanzania supported the start of activities in the field of processing and marketing sunflower oil in the Chunya district. This appeared to be a lucky venture. In a first stage mainly women were active in sun flower cultivation, but when they saw that the activity was profitable, men gradually also became interested. It is remarkable that sunflowers currently make up 40% of the cash crop land, instead of tobacco and cotton. Sunflowers need less fertilizers, their cultivation is less labour intensive and they provide higher revenues. At the moment the demand is still much higher than the offer. Sunflowers have also had a positive effect on the food security in the area: since people gain enough income with the oil, they feel less compelled to sell their basic food (maize and beans).

In 2009 we started a new five year programme in the Chunya district. It is logical that this programme will mainly focus on the marketing of sun flower oil. Some years ago the local district authorities were still hesitant about Vredeseilanden, because they feared a reduction of their revenues from tobacco taxes, but now they fully cooperate in this new programme. They have observed that the farmers are better off and that this also increases their tax revenues.

Our partners in Chunya: • Chunya District Council • Mviwata Mbeya Regional Network • Mbozi, Ileje and Isangati Consortium (MIICO) • Chunya Farmers’ Network • Chunya Sunflower Farmers Business Associations At the national level we mainly work together for our political work in Tanzania with the Network of Farmers’ Groups in Tanzania (Mviwata), the national farmers’ movement in Tanzania. They do lobby work and also focus on the establishment of networks of farmers’ groups. They also provide training on various topics. At the moment Mviwata has 60.000 registered members across Tanzania.

With our programme we directly reached

3,053 men, 4,811 women

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UGANDA In the previous years Vredeseilanden was mainly working on market studies, analyses and activities with regard to peanuts. Next to that Vredeseilanden will this year also invest in the marketing of maize.

CONGO UGANDA TANZANIA

Our partners: • • • • • •

Lira District Farmers Association Kumi District Farmers Association Iganga District Farmers Association Tororo District Farmers Association Bugiri District Farmers Association Kagumu Sub County Development Association (KASCODA) and Kameke Farmers' Union (KAFU), in the Pallisa district • Sihubira Farmers Organisation, in the Busia district • Sironko District Farmers Association, but because of organisational problems the collaboration was ended in 2009.

For the political work at national level there was collaboration with the Uganda National Farmers’ Federation (UNFFE). Furthermore the Uganda Cooperative Alliance appeared to be an interesting partner as well. This partnership will start officially in 2010.

2,976 men, 3,476 women

© Layla Aerts

With our programme we directly reached

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January 2009: “A long journey always starts with a first step” “The farmers are satisfied about our services. We pay them a higher price than the middlemen and we use calibrated scales. We never use suspect measuring units. Therefore farmers know that they are properly paid. Moreover we pay in cash immediately, unlike many buyers who pay only very late and leave the farmers frustrated because they are not able to make urgent purchases.”

Richard Ariong, manager of Kumi Farmers Agricultural Commodity Marketing Cooperative Society (KUFACCOS) is proud. Last year the new cooperative in eastern Uganda made the first step to be officially registered as a trade cooperative. In January 2009 they received their certificate from the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry. Now they are evaluating their first year of activities.

At the start, the cooperative was able to rent a warehouse in Kumi. They filled it with 45 tons of peanuts from members, worth in total about 14,500 Euros. In June three quarters of the stock was sold and in the end they managed to gain a small profit of 750 Euros. The quality of their peanuts was not yet optimal, because the peanuts had been stored for too long in the warehouse. Moreover KUFACCOS did not succeed to carry on strong negotiations with peanut traders.

Vredeseilanden has supported them in the past few months to prospect for new customers.

There is indeed some interest from various sides: traders from nearby, but also from Kenya and even from Sudan. “But just as we thought that everything was going in the right direction, the landlord of our warehouse increased his price by 25%”, says Richard. “He saw that we were doing good business and therefore thought we were able to pay more. This has made us even faster look for funding for our own warehouse. This storage facility is now nearly ready.”

Peter Byemaro of Vredeseilanden provides support to this cooperative and others. He thinks KUFACCOS still has a long way to go. “Farmers must really get convinced that they can become an important player in the peanut market. Now they are still lacking confidence in their own capacities, understanding of what customers want and a commercial feeling to find interesting opportunities. Moreover they do not dare to take any risks. That is hardly surprising, for farmers’ families hardly have financial margins. But taking risks ... is precisely an essential part of conducting trade.”

Another problem is that the cooperative often has not enough peanuts in stock. “The second half of last year was a disaster”, Richard remembers. “Due to the drought farmers could deliver no or only few bags of peanuts. They had customers, but could only deliver one third of the quantity that was demanded. On the other hand they were able to make new contacts during agricultural fairs. A trader from Kampala is very much interested. The quality is all right and they can offer a variety of peanuts that customers like very much. Now they still have to negotiate about conditions. Depending on the price they agree upon, they will decide whether it is worth the effort to pay the high transport costs to Kampala.”

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DR CONGO

CONGO UGANDA TANZANIA

We have been working for five years now in the region around Butembo (North Kivu) with the following partner organisations to improve the income of men and women farmers in the area, by intensifying agricultural activities.

Our partners: • • • • • • • • • •

Coopérative Centrale du Kivu (COOCENKI) Syndicat pour la Défense des Intérêts Paysans (SYDIP) Association des Producteurs de Vuhimba (APAV) Ligue des Organisations des femmes Paysannes au Congo (LOFEPACO) Fonds à l’Entrepreneuriat Féminin (FAEF) Association des Paysans pour le Développement Rural (APADER) La Fédération des Organisations Paysannes au Congo (FOPAC) CACUDEKI Programme de Réhabilitation et de Protection des Pygmées (PREPPYG) FOSCAL With our programme we directly reached

5,490 men, 6,890 women

In 2008-2009 the following organisations carried out a rehabilitation programme: • Comité Anti–Bwaki (CAB) • Comité Inter Marais du Bushi (Cim-Bushi) • Umoja wa Wamama Wakulima wa Sud Kivu, ou l’Union des mamans paysannes du Sud Kivu (UWAKI) • Union Paysanne pour le Développement Intégré (UPDI) • ACIAR • We also collaborated with the cooperative COOCENKI and LOFEPACO, mentioned above.

With our programme we directly reached

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33,875 people

June 2009: Evaluation of the rehabilitation programme in South Kivu Vredeseilanden is no emergency aid organisation. Yet in 2008 and 2009 we coordinated a rehabilitation programme in the war-stricken region of South Kivu. Our philosophy is always focusing on sustainability. Thus, our partners introduced new varieties of sowing seed and fertilizers and they also established a credit system so that everybody in the region will be able to get good sowing seed in the future. Our partner organisations also reclaimed marshland and set up committees to maintain the water canals. In this way 33,875 people are able again to provide for their own food now and in the future. The first year they produced 837 tons of food together, which they sold in the villages and neighbouring towns.

Our partner organisations also took care of the construction of a new road, involving hundreds of jobless young people. The infrastructure works have positive effects for an even larger group of men and women farmers, because the new road has considerably increased the trade, thus raising their income. Moreover there are also considerable social benefits: people can get to hospital or to school much faster and easier.

Furthermore COOCENKI and ACIAR have built two mills in North Kivu and Ituri. Thanks to these mills the organisations will be able to provide more maize flour to refugees in the area, through the World Food Programme. The two new mills in Nortern Kivu and Ituri are the only ones in het region.

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VECO INDONESIA

INDONESIË In Indonesia we are still mainly working together with local NGOs and not with farmers’ organisations as we do in other countries. At the end of 2008 we concluded partnership agreements with three farmers’ organisations, which will get our support from now on: JTM, JANTAN and BITUNA. The products we focus on today are rice, peanuts, coffee, cocoa and cashew nuts.

Our partners on the island Java (rice): • Jaringan Tani Mandiri (JTM), in the Boyolali district • Lembaga Studi Kemasyarakatan dan Bina Bakat (LSK-BB), in the Boyolali district • Yayasan Pengembang Kreatifitas Generasi Muda (YPKGM), in Lumajang • Lembaga Pengkajian Kemasyarakatan dan Pembangunan (LPKP) • Lembaga Pengembangan Partisipasi Demokrasi dan Ekonomi Rakyat (LP2DER) Our partners on the island Sulawesi (coffee and cocoa): • Yayasan Duta Pelayan Masyarakat (YDPM), in the Mamasa district • Yayasan Jaya Lestari Desa (JALESA), in the Toraja district • Yayasan Komunitas Indonesia (YAKOMI), in the Mamasa district Our partners on the island Flores (coffee, cocoa, cashew nuts and rice): • Jeringan Petani Wulang Gitang (JANTAN), Flores Timur • Yayasan Komodo Indonesia Lestari (Yakines), in Manggarai • Yayasan Tana Nua (YTN), in Ende • Delegasi Sosial (Delsos), in Manggarai • Yayasan Mitra Tani Mandiri Ngada (YMTM-Ngada), in Nagekeo • Lembaga Advokasi Masyarakat (LAPMAS), in Ngada • Yayasan Ayo Indonesia (YAI), in Ruteng • Yayasan Ayu Tani (YAT), Flores Timur Our partners on West Timor (peanuts): • Yayasan An Feot Ana (YAFA), in the TTU district • Yayasan Mitra Tani Mandiri (YMTM), in the TTU district • Bituna, in the TTU district Vredeseilanden also collaborates closely with two private companies: Mars (for cocoa) and Toarco (for coffee). Obviously they do not get any funding, but these processing firms offer interesting training opportunities and markets for the cocoa and coffee farmers.

For our political work and campaigns on organic agriculture and safe food we mainly work together with • People’s Coalition for Food Soverignty – Koalisi Rakyat untuk Kedaulatan Pangan (KRKP) • Office of Environmental Education Centre (PPLH), Indonesian Development of Education and Permaculture (IDEP) and Yayasan Bali Organic Association (BOA), a consortium of consumers’ associations on the island Bali • Aliansi Petani Indonesia (API), known for their struggle for land rights

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• The Indonesian Organic Farming Network – Jaringan Kerja Pertanian Organik (JAKER-PO), LSKBB and Gita Perwini, a movement for organic farming • Serikat Bersama Indonesia Berseru (SBIB)

With our programme we directly reached

9,102 men, 6,068 women

December 2009: “We have been able to turn the tide” The land is dry in West Timor. With hills and slopes to 45°. On these slopes the farmers are growing various crops. 2,265 farmers from three ethnic groups have united into Bituna. “We have been able to turn the tide,” they tell us. “Until recently we were depending on midddlemen and were cheated by wholesale buyers, but now we have control ourselves. That is mainly because we understood that you cannot fight alone against mighty parties. By founding a farmers’ organisation we have been able to considerably change the relations.”

The farmers refuse to accept the middlemen's short measures. Nor do they want them to set the prices for their products. They don't want to be the ones who lose out all the time. That is the power of the association. They distribute tasks. Some negotiate with the buyers. Others look for market information. And still others again hold meetings with the grass roots community. They are no longer weak links that traders can use to play off against each other.

Now the traders have no other choice but to negotiate through Bituna. And their measuring units? They have to have them calibrated!

Bituna is just one example. VECO Indonesia is also supporting other similar organisations. In 2009 we observed that the farmers’ organisations have become stronger and that they get a higher price for their products, thus raising the standard of living for their grandchildren. And as their income increases, their self-awareness grows too. But more than that, the farmers have proved that they can achieve sovereignty and dignity through collective power.

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VECO LAO The Laotian government only allows local NGOs or farmers’ organisations to develop outside of the official bodies since 2010.

Before that time farmers could only try to get registered as a company. Therefore Vredeseilanden is supporting 19 farmer group enterprises in the norhern part of the country in the Meung, Tonpheung, Houaysay and Paktha districts. They process and sell maize, peanuts and tea. Last year one group also successfully started to process fish instead of maize. We also closely collaborate with the district authorities in those four districts.

LAOS

VIETNAM INDONESIË

In spite of our successes, it appears difficult to try and strengthen farmers’ organisations in Laos as we are doing in all our other programmes. It seems difficult to reconcile the road Vredeseilanden has chosen some years ago with the context in the country. Moreover the Belgian authorities want NGOs to limit the number of countries they are working in, in order to encourage collaboration among Belgian organisations and thus to use their resources in a more efficient way. Due to the combination of those two factors Vredeseilanden has decided to phase out its activities in Laos. In 2009 we have been working hard to help the farmers’ enterprises to become independent and other international NGOs (SNV, Oxfam) are interested to take over our programme. In this way it will be possible to ensure continuity. In the following annual report we will report about the final evaluation of our programme in Laos.

With our programme we directly reached

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3,383 men, 3,383 women

January and November 2009: Two key moments for VECO Lao In January 2009, VECO Laos concluded a year long battle with a Chinese tea company over a land concession for forest tea. The concession agreement, which had originally been signed by the provincial government, meant that the Akha villagers in the Meung district, Bokeo province would have had to sell their local tea, which they had been harvesting for generations, directly to the tea company as fresh leaves, rather than having the opportunity to process and sell it themselves. With the support of VECO the villagers formed a farmer group enterprise and successfully lobbied against the concession. Once they had secured their resources, they built processing facilities, received technical and marketing assistance and now they are producing and marketing their own tea. Early 2010 the tea farmers were approached by a Fair Trade Company in the USA to send some samples for analysis, with the prospects of a long term market.

After initial scepticism VECO Lao also received compliments from the central government for its work in Laos. In November 2009 a government representative visited the Farmer Group Enterprises in Bokeo. The Minister of Agriculture is currently developing a new law on farmers’ cooperative societies and wanted to hear from the farmers in Bokeo how they are working.

A first draft of the policy note of the Minister of Agriculture reported about the visit to Bokeo: “the maize farmers of Bokeo brought their capital together in order to jointly bring their products to the market. By organizing themselves in a better way they hold a strong position during negotiations with maize traders.�

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VECO VIETNAM Vredeseilanden is active in the northern Lang Son, Son Duong, Van Quan, Yen Lap, Binh Gia and Viet Tri districts. Until last year the agricultural services of the district authorities were our main partners. In 2009 we still worked together for some activities with the Agricultural Extension Stations, Plant Protection Stations, Veterinary Stations, Agricultural and Rural Development Departments and the official farmers’ associations of the above mentioned districts.

LAOS

VIETNAM INDONESIË

With the slogan “Creating markets for the poor” the Vietnamese government wants to promote entrepreneurship among the poor rural population. This fits perfectly in with the approach of Vredeseilanden and therefore the government fully supports our work. We work together with five farmers’ groups in the field of tea and vegetable cultivation and pig breeding. We link them to private companies if this seems interesting.

Our partners in Vietnam: • • • • • •

Tan Hoi Tea Group Minh Thanh Pig Group Yen Thuong Tea Club Tan Duc Farmer Group Na Chuong Cooperative Son Duong Fish Farm

The private companies we are collaborating with • Phu Ha Tea Processing Factory • Hop Thanh Pig Farm • Hiep Thanh Tea Company Furthermore we also work together at the national level with the Vietnam Standards and Consumer Protection Association (VINASTAS) and the Civil Society Inclusion in Food Security and Poverty Elimination Network (CIFPEN).

With our programme we directly reached

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2,518 men, 2,762 women

December 2009: “Today, many households in Tan Duc want to join the group” In Tan Duc vegetables are produced and sold throughout the year for the Viet Tri City local market. Nearly 95% of the families in the area are vegetable growers. They grow vegetables and apply chemicals without being aware of their negative effects. They only pay attention to productivity, while concern for human health is totally absent. In Vietnam, the number of consumers becoming sick from eating poisoned vegetables is extremely high.

Fortunately, in Tan Duc this is a thing of the past. The traditional approach of carefree application of pesticides is no longer practised. Tan Duc farmers have recognized that vegetable growing is their livelihood and has the potential for upgrading their living standards.

Mr. Thang, chairman of Tan Duc commune, wants the four villages of Tan Duc commune to become a known area for safe vegetables with a high reputation and brand name pegged on their products.

Mr. Thang narrates: “In the beginning farmers thought that growing safe vegetables would not help them to earn more, since the production process is complicated. Only 43 households joined the first group and we received trainings on pest management from the Plant Protection Department and other technical support from the Economic Department. VECO staff also extended support to the group as necessary. There was a lot of media promotion about Tan Duc and we felt proud. Our reputation started to grow. We also received many visitors and guests from as far as Belgium. Then a second group was formed. Later, after discussion with the both the management boards and the economic department, we decided to form one single group instead of having two groups. I was involved in this discussion as I was also the vice-chair of the first group. Today, the group includes 83 households. Though I am no longer in the management board, I make sure that I still participate actively whenever I can. Other families in the area now see the real benefit of joining the group. Today, many households in Tan Duc want to join the group. The prestige of the commune for safe vegetable production is very good in the area and I am happy about it.”

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Vredeseilanden in Belgium

VREDESEILANDEN MADE ITSELF HEARD AGAIN During our campaign weekend in January thousands of volunteers again approached some hundreds of thousands of people in Belgium. Schools and youth movements do not only participate in the campaign, but also make efforts to achieve more sustainability in their activities. Furthermore ever more Vredeseilanden supporters find their way to our websites and fan page. Some figures: • 353 key volunteers organized the campaign in at least 84 towns.

• Trainees, volunteers and Vredeseilanden staff gave 634 lessons in 91 schools and thus reached about 12,800 pupils.

• 225 organisations collaborated during the campaign weekend in January and sold an estimated 102,787 gadgets. There were also charity walks, parties, African meals, ...

• Some 60 youth associations participated in Foodhunt.

• 5,000 pupils of about 50 secondary schools worked one day for Uganda in collaboration with the non-profit association ‘Zuiddag’ (A Day for the South).

• 1,200 runners participated in the Run to Africa.

• 8755 donors received a certificate for tax deduction.

• 5838 people received our e-newsletter.

• More than 1000 fans follow Vredeseilanden via the facebook page.

• 61,131 unique visitors viewed our website. 9,094 unique visitors consulted www.mijnvredeseilanden.be.

• Thousands of listeners heard one of our 43 radio spots on Radio 1, Radio 2, Studio Brussel, MNM or Klara. www.vredeseilanden.be – www.mijnvredeseilanden.be

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16 OCTOBER: A DAY FOR THE SOUTH The concept of the South Day Foundation is simple: during school hours pupils from the two last years of secondary education go and work for one day with an enterprise, an organisation or a private person in their neighbourhood. They hand over this day’s wage to a youth project in the South. The non-profit organisation ‘ZuidDag’ (South Day Foundation) decided to work together in 2009 with Vredeseilanden and to fund a project in Lira (Uganda). The topic of the action was ‘A better deal for young farmers in Lira!’

During the summer months eight Belgian students from the participating schools travelled to Uganda. They stayed with host families and were submerged in the village and agricultural life. After their return to Belgium they adopted the role of ambassador and went to tell their story in various schools. A group of Ugandan youth also came to Belgium to witness about their lives in Uganda.

Since ‘ZuidDag’ coincided this year with the World Food Day, two Ugandan young people even got the chance to speak to the Belgian Parliament and to describe their dreams for their future in agriculture.

In the end some 5,000 pupils worked a day during ‘ZuidDag’. The proceeds from their ‘working day’ will be used in three schools in Lira to set up youth farms. In these model farms young people will gain knowledge and experience on sustainable agricultural techniques. They can also use that knowledge at home with their families. At the same time they produce food for themselves and they improve their entrepreneurial competences to gain an income through sales. The Belgian-Congolese singer Leki accepted to act as the patroness of this project.

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"LE BELGE", A SHORT FILM BY STIJN MEURIS The Flemish musician and journalist Stijn Meuris recorded in Senegal the story of Yacouba Doumbouja, a banana farmer who wants his plantation to become the eleventh Belgian province (editorial note: Belgium has only 10 provinces). With this absurd story Vredeseilanden wanted to draw the attention during its annual campaign to the situation of millions of farmers’ families who cannot or hardly live from their work in the field. The idea was developed by the communication agency Duval Guillaume Antwerp.

Who is “Le Belge”?

The main character Yacouba Doumbouja wants to create a piece of Belgium on Senegalese territory.

Once it will be part of Belgium he hopes to get proper training, better infrastructure, a larger market and – why not – some of the European agricultural subsidies. A stupid plan? Maybe. But for Yacouba this is only one of the many attempts to finally gain a decent income with his bananas. Between dream and reality there are however some practical (and diplomatic) obstacles.

Fiction or reality?

The story is invented, but it is day to day reality that men and women farmers do not succeed in obtaining an income from their work. The film was shot together with the members of the farmers’ organisation APROVAG in Tambacounda in Senegal (see page 15). Vredeseilanden has been working together with APROVAG for years to put the Senegalese banana on the map again. Now the farmers receive up to 60% more money for their bananas because they have improved the quality. With the right support no eleventh province is needed to build up a better living.

Where could people see “Le Belge”?

Stijn Meuris was invited at the television talkshow “Phara” to talk about “Le Belge”. The film was distributed online, shown on the television channels Canvas, Acht, TVLimburg and at a number of short film festivals. You can still watch it at www.vredeseilanden.be/lebelge and in 2010 it will be amply shown in secondary schools.

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FAIR TRADE TOWNS ... ... keep growing The FairTradeTowns campaign is starting its sixth year. Through this action Vredeseilanden, Max Havelaar, Oxfam-Wereldwinkels (world shops) and 11.11.11. want to promote sustainable products, both from fair trade and from sustainable agriculture in our country, and make these products more available. By the end of 2009 197 municipalities were actively participating in the FairTradeTowns campaign. That is nearly two thirds of all Flemish municipalities. At the end of 2009 78 municipalities had achieved the title of FairTradeTown and 22 new municipalities registered in the course of the year. We expect awarding the hundredth title in 2010. ... at province level The growing number of municipalities collaborating in the campaign challenged the five Flemish provinces to start up a similar campaign. After some meetings with officials for development cooperation of the provinces and the steering committee a new campaign was born in March 2009: FairTradeProvince. Just like the FairTradeTowns this campaign too is based upon six criteria. ... show impressive figures During the summer of 2009 the steering committee counted all the actors that participated in the campaign. At that moment 1138 shops and 532 hotels, restaurants and cafés registered with FairTradeTowns were offering fair trade products. 300 schools were active with regard to fair trade and 790 organisations and 252 companies consumed some fair trade products on a structural basis.

A next counting will be carried out during the summer of 2010. ... on the move This year again the campaign groups found very original ways to involve local authorities, associations, schools and journalists in the campaign. Just a few of the many examples: in Aalst they now have Fair Trade Cops, the bakers of Kasterlee use fair trade products in their ‘speculaas’ cookies and cake, in Malle the socio-cultural association KWB organized a fair trade Easter egg walk. The contest ‘who becomes the amateur cook of Overpelt’ contained plenty of recipes with at least 50% fair trade, organic or local products. In the province of West Flanders there was the “Local Food Express” in Poperinge and the big Fair Trade Walk in Ostend, Middelkerke, Koksijde and Nieuwpoort, offering various local and sustainably produced fish varieties, local beers, etc. ... part of something huge In February, staff members and active volunteers of FairTradeTowns from most participating countries met again, this time in Lyon. Immediately after that conference an international website was developed, helping all campaigns to learn from each other.

18 countries are internationally participating in the worldwide campaign in over 700 municipalities.

In 2010 the 1000nd title is within reach. ... award winning!

In December 2009 the Flemish association of lawyers VJV granted its 'Justice and Sustainability’ award to FairTradeTowns, ‘Advocaten Zonder Grenzen’ (Lawyers without borders) and ‘Public Affairs’.

They try to promote “fair trade in public tenders” by creating a legal basis "so that authorities can work in a more socially responsible way", we read in the justification of VJV in a press release. "Those associations want to make justice more sustainable, but at the same time they want to see to it that sustainable products find more acceptance among public authorities. In that way they kill two birds with one stone", said the president of the jury, Wim De Vilder. www.fairtradetowns.org

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SUSTAINABLE CATERING The more consumers show interest in sustainable family farming or ask for products from this form of agriculture, the more companies and authorities are prepared to get involved. Therefore Vredeseilanden wants to help making customers appreciate and consume sustainably produced goods. Thus we assist a number of large staff restaurants to switch over to more sustainable meals.

The Environment Department and the personnel restaurant staff of the city of Ghent were one of the first to get involved. A daily satisfactory vegetarian dish on the menu was the first step. Since the beginning of May one third of the visitors indeed choose the vegetarian dish. On Thursday (Veggie Day) this is even more than 50%. But that is not all. They also try to work as much as possible with seasonal vegetables. On the occasion of the ‘Week of Organic Farming’ the whole supply of drinks was readjusted and traditional soft drinks were replaced by locally produced organic juices. For the dairy sweets they switched over to the assortment of a local dairy farmer. According to the cook it was not feasible to switch to organic bread because of the higher cost price. Since the Fair Trade Week the chocolate mousse is prepared with fair trade chocolate. And currently they are checking whether it is also possible to switch over to organically grown and/or fair trade products for a number of basic products, such as rice, pasta and legumes, without too much increasing the price of the food.

Other large kitchens (the staff restaurant of the ‘Tower of Finances’ in Brussels, the open air institutions of the city of Antwerp and ‘De Kluis’ in Sint-Joris-Weert) make steps to work in a more sustainable way. Vredeseilanden provides intensive guidance to every participating canteen. We support the people in charge of the kitchen by providing information on sustainably produced goods, like a seasonal calendar, information on sustainable seafood, recipes with seasonal vegetables, vegetarian recipes, ... Furthermore we also actively help them to find possible suppliers for more sustainable products and we also organized a speed date to provide information on local suppliers and their products.

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TOWARDS MORE COHERENCE BETWEEN AGRICULTURAL AND DEVELOPMENT POLICIES The year 2009 showed the real extent of the difficulties in agriculture all over the world. In Europe dairy farmers in particular made the newspaper headlines and television newscasts. But milk is not the only sector in crisis. Farmers’ incomes have decreased virtually everywhere. At the same time the number of people going hungry in this world has exceeded the threshold of one billion. Belgium and the European Union recognize this problem, but for the time being they have not put the substantial political changes on the table that are needed to tackle this complex problem with regard to food and agriculture.

The European Common Agricultural Policy among other things determines how our food is produced and whether or not agricultural products are dumped in the South. Meanwhile European politicians have started to fix the main lines of a new European Common Agricultural Policy for the period 2013-2020. In this context the working party on agriculture of the “Vlaams Overleg Duurzame Ontwikkeling” (Flemish Consultation on Sustainable Development) and the “Boerenbond” (The Flemish Farmers’ Association) set up a series of dialogue sessions in 2009 on the objectives of the European agricultural policy after 2013. It was possible to achieve a consensus for many topics and that is quite a breakthrough as such, since not so long ago the water between “Boerenbond” and many of these organisations was still particularly deep. Thus agreement was reached that solidary agricultural policies are needed, in which developing countries in the short term need to be able to protect their markets from cheap import and that trade flows should not be destructive to family farming in those regions. Proper food security for basic products should be guaranteed and the proper agricultural system should be able to develop. This consensus text was also discussed with the Flemish authorities and was widely approved. But before we can convince the new European Commissioner for Agriculture, Dacian Diolos, to adopt the main lines of the consensus that has grown in Belgium, there is still a long way to go. Some Member States with more weight than Belgium are taking the opposite direction.

After a thorough assessment of the sector of agriculture in the Belgian development cooperation a first draft of a new strategy note on food security and agriculture has been put on the table of the Belgian Directorate General for Development Cooperation DGOS and the office of the Minister for Development Cooperation. The NGOs of the Coalition against Hunger provided an important contribution in 2009 by introducing policy proposals for the new note. That strategy note should promote proper and coherent support for family farming in the Belgian partner countries. We can only hope that our proposals will be taken into consideration, but at the time of writing the NGOs were not granted access to the draft versions of the new note.

Vredeseilanden is president of the working party on agriculture of the “Vlaams Overleg Duurzame Ontwikkeling” and a member of the Steering Committee of the Coalition against Hunger.

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CURRENT AFFAIRS: CAMPAIGNS AND PUBLICATIONS GMOs, a gadget nobody is waiting for Chris Claes and Jan Aertsen On the occasion of the debate in the Flemish Parliament on the rules for the cultivation of genetically modified crops in Flanders, Vredeseilanden and other organisations (Bioforum, Greenpeace, Bond Beter Leefmilieu, Wervel and Velt) wrote an open letter to the management of supermarkets. Our message: neither customers nor farmers are waiting for GMOs. Only a handful of large companies like Monsanto benefit from it. Vredeseilanden also interviewed a number of farmers in order to make their voice heard in the debate. In spite of our lobbying the Flemish Parliament adopted the Decree on Coexistence on 25 March. This Decree wants to guarantee that organic, conventional and genetically modified cultures can exist next to one another.

This publication is available in Dutch.

A way out of the milk crisis. Solutions for a European and international problem.

Gert Engelen Due to the milk crisis our Belgian farmers feel compelled to sell their milk at a loss or dump it by way of protest. Everywhere in Europe dairy farms are suffering terribly from the low milk prices. But the European milk sector is not only the victim, but also the cause of the milk crisis. In developing countries the local milk sector threatens to collapse under the price pressure, caused by imported, heavily subsidized European milk surpluses. All over the world the dairy market is in crisis. How did we come to this and what can be done to solve this problem?

This publication is available in Dutch.

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Never again hunger in the world. The Food Summit in Rome, a missed chance.

Gert Engelen Gert Engelen was a member of the Belgian delegation to the World Summit on Food Security in Rome (16-18 November) and closely followed the discussions. “This summit will go down in history as the umpteenth summit of missed chances. The meeting did not provide a substantial breakthrough in fighting hunger and poverty, because the participants are lacking unity on the structural measures to be taken. The heads of state and government leaders of the powerful countries did not react either: they could not gain so much credit here anyway.” Still there are some positive points too.

During the Food Summit a new institution was presented: the Committee on World Food Security (CFS). “As a matter of fact that institution already existed, but it will now be considerably reformed and reinforced to coordinate the international struggle against food insecurity. But we will have to check properly that it will not be paralyzed too quickly by financially embedding the institution in the World bank.”

This publication is available in Dutch and English. http://veco.vredeseilanden.org/en/worldfoodsummit2009

Columns published in newspapers and on websites: • 23/01/09 – Open letter to supermarket managers. (about GMOs) • 29/01/09 – Een wereldwijd relanceplan begint bij het oplossen van de voedselcrisis. (A world wide recovery plan starts with solving the food crisis).

• 12/05/09 – Prinses Mathilde snapt het. Nu de rest nog. (Princess Mathilde understands. Now the others should understand too).

• 05/06/09 – Na de grondstoffen nu ook de grond in uitverkoop? (After the sales of raw materials, now land in sales too).

• 19/06/09 – Ziezo, nu zijn er al één miljard hongerige mensen (Right, now there are already one billion people going hungry).

• 08/07/09 – Hoe komt voedsel op het bord van de G8? (How to put food on the plate of the G8?).

• 18/08/09 – De boer mag niet sterven (The farmer should not dy).

• 03/09/09 – Doodlopende hulp of doodlopend economisch model? (Aid in a dead end or economic model in a dead end?)

• 18/09/09 – Zink is geen voedsel (You cannot eat zinc).

• 16/12/09 – Boer redt klimaat (Farmer saves climate).

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The social balance of Vredeseilanden

THE PEOPLE BEHIND VREDESEILANDEN General Assembly The General Assembly is composed of 80 campaign volunteers, experts, members of the Board and former staff members. The General Assembly is the supreme body. It appoints the Board and ratifies the annual accounts and the annual report.

Board Leen Bas, André De Smedt, Patricia Grobben, Marleen Iterbeke, Roosmarijn Smits, Alfons Vaes, Jan Van Eechoute, André Van Melkebeek, Annelies Van Raemdonck and Lieven Denys.

President of the Board: Alfons Vaes The Board is responsible for the general management. The Board delegates operational responsibilities to the Executive Management of the organisation. The president and all other Board Members are volunteers. They receive no payment for their mandate and neither have an executive function within the organisation.

The Board has integrated the principles of good governance into its statutes. It based itself upon the text ‘Goede praktijken en aanbevelingen voor het besturen van Social Profit organisaties’ (Good Practices and Recommendations for the Management of Social Profit Organisations) of the King Baudouin Foundation.

Executive Management Luuk Zonneveld – General Director, Marianne Vergeyle – Manager Internal Services, Teopista Akoyi – Programme Manager Africa, Roos Peirsegaele – Programme Manager Amerasia, Lieve Vercauteren Programme Manager Flanders.

Staff at the Head Office The list of the Vredeseilanden staff members is published on the Vredeseilanden website.

Staff at the Regional Offices Regional managers per region/country: Amidou Diallo – Togo/Benin/Burkina Faso/Niger; Jan De Waal – East Africa and Congo; Rogier Eijkens – Indonesia; Roos Dewitte – Central America; Stuart Ling – Laos; Hanneke Renckens – Andes; Eduardo Sabio – Vietnam; Ibrahim Ouedraogo – Senegal/Gambia.

General Council and Workshops Once or twice per year the Vredeseilanden regional managers and the head office staff members exchange ideas about policy topics. In 2009 they met in April and October. Moreover staff members from our regions met for various workshops: Sustainable Agriculture Chain Development – Planning, Learning & Accountability – Financial Management.

The list of members of the General Assembly, Board and staff can be requested from Vredeseilanden (info@vredeseilanden.be) or can be consulted on our Dutch website www.vredeseilanden.be/mensen.

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Vredeseilanden/VECO is amongst others member of...

• ACORD: Amidou Ouedraogo (VECO Senegal/Gambia) is currently president of the Board.

• CONCORD EUROPEAN FOOD SECURITY GROUP: Vredeseilanden participates actively in the working group on food security and sovereignty.

• EUROPEAN PLATFORM FOR FOOD SOVEREIGNTY (EPFS): Vredeseilanden is a member.

• KAURI: Vredeseilanden is a founding member and still member of the Board • ALTERFIN: Vredeseilanden is a major shareholder of Alterfin and also has a seat in Alterfin’s Board of Directors.

• MAX HAVELAAR: Vredeseilanden is member of the Board.

• BIOFORUM : Vredeseilanden is member of the Board.

• IPC-INTERNATIONAL NGO/CSO PLANNING COMMITTEE: VECO is one of the facilitators.

• COALITION AGAINST HUNGER: Vredeseilanden is a member of the steering group.

• 11.11.11: Vredeseilanden is a member of 11.11.11 since 1962 and is represented in the Board of Directors, the General Assembly and the Board of Campaigns. www.11.be • COPROGRAM: Vredeseilanden is a member of the Board, the working group on finances, the HRM working group, the working group on ‘global education’ and the working group on quality.

• MO*: Vredeseilanden is a member of the Board.

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE OF VREDESEILANDEN

International Forum General Assembly

Volunteers

Board of Directors

Regional Office

National Council

Council of Sages

Executive Management

Regional Office National Council

(every six years)

Head Office

Regional Office

National Council

General Council

Regional Office

National Council

Regional Office

National Council

Regional Office

National Council

Regional Office

National Council

Regional Office

National Council Advisory relation

In 2009 there were no significant changes in the structure.

40

SOCIAL BALANCE (AS OF 31/12/2009) This section contains some figures and an explanation on the number of staff members of Vredeseilanden (situation 31/12/2009).

Head Office 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

41 44 45 51 49 Head Office

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

34.24 34.50 36.96 42.59 41.14

Number of staff members South Expatriates Local collaborators 16 107 16 1241 17 1302 15 103 14 105 Number of fulltime equivalents South Expatriates Local collaborators 16 16 17 1302 15 103 14 105

Total 164 184 192 169 168 Total

183.96 160.59 160.14

In case of vacancies in the South we first try to find local staff. Only if the specific required experience is not available in the country, we consider (re)recruiting an expatriate for that function.

The expertise is increasingly available in the countries we are working in and the knowledge and knowhow of these local people is growing too. Gradually we will also try and recruit expatriates in the broader region in the South and not focus mainly on enrolling expatriates from the North.

In 2009 62% of the Vredeseilanden personnel was composed of local staff.

Also within the group of expatriates there is an evolution towards more expats from the South (people of non-European origin). In 2009 eight of the fourteen expatriates were of non-European origin. In comparison with many other NGOs Vredeseilanden employs many expats from the South.

Expatriates are mainly deployed for the following functions: • to represent Vredeseilanden in the country or region; • for specific expertise: marketing and development of sustainable agricultural chains, substantial programme coordination, knowledge management, sustainable agriculture, organisational strengthening; • communication and networking.

Vredeseilanden also regularly involves trainees. Trainees offer innovation and rejuvenation to the organisation. They bring in new ideas, visions, working methods and topical and up to date knowledge. Trainees can also provide an academic input as a supplement to the knowledge of the field.

Moreover trainees form a good base for recruitment to find new staff members. Working with trainees provides the opportunity to make young people grow and develop within the organisation.

1 Excluding Congo and Tanzania: no data available from the external audit report.

2 Data from the external audit report, data for Congo are estimates by lack of audit report.

41

In the near future we want to focus even more on our work with trainees. We want to build up a relationship with training institutions and try and find a way to create ‘fixed’ trainee posts.

We provide traineeships at the head office and in the South. A survey of possible traineeships: • future teachers in Belgium who make an immersion trip to one of the Vredeseilanden countries and afterwards tell about their experiences in schools; • socio-cultural workers collaborating within the campaign team at head office; • an HR collaborator within the HR department at the head office; • Belgian students in Communication and Marketing that travel for a period of three months to a specific country and report about the activities there by means of film, audio reports, e-newsletters, ...

Since 2009 Vredeseilanden is also involved in the junior programme of BTC (Belgian Technical Cooperation). This programme offers young people the opportunity to acquire initial working experience in development cooperation. These young people work for minimum 1 year and maximum 2 years in a BTC project or a Belgian NGO programme. In this context a first junior will leave for Vredeseilanden to Benin early 2010 to go and help setting up experiments concerning the sustainable production of rice.

Gender balance At the head office Vredeseilanden employs far more women than men: 68% are women.

Women are also well represented at executive and management level. Seven of the ten management functions are taken up by women.

There is much more part-time employment among women. In 2009 four men were working on a parttime basis, against eighteen women.

Part-time employees receive the same extralegal benefits as full-time employees. No distinction is made. All employees fall under the scope of the Collective Labour Agreement of the Joint Committee 329.01. This is the Joint Committee for the Socio-Cultural Sector, to which belongs the subsector of development cooperation.

The gender ratio among the expatriates is currently out of balance. In 2009 there were two women working as expatriate, against twelve men.

More men than women are employed as local collaborators in the South: 57%. There are 60 men and 45 women.

Men and women get a 100% equal pay. This means that men and women receive the same wage if they hold the same function. This applies to the head office, the expatriates and the local staff in the South.

42

Personnel turnover

Head Office IN OUT

15 17

South Expatriates 2 3

Local collaborators 32 36

In 2009 staff members in Belgium mainly entered into office or resigned due to temporary assignments and replacements: 3 replacements for maternity leave and time credit, 2 temporary school educators, 3 temporary working students and 2 temporary assistants.

Some new recruitment took place, some of which in the context of the new Vredeseilanden objectives: • a credit coordinator (temporary); • a collaborator fundraising (major donors); • a collaborator sustainable consumption private sector.

Regarding the expatriates: • two expats had reached the end of their contract and were replaced; • the contract of one expatriate was terminated and no subsitute was recruited.

Learning organisation Vredeseilanden keeps making efforts to continuously offer its employees at all levels in the North and in the South, both individually and collectively, the opportunity to develop themselves. Vredeseilanden wants to be a flexible organisation, where people adapt themselves to new ideas and to objectives of the organisation and where mutual learning is stimulated. Therefore “learning” is explicitly included as an objective in the strategic plan.

Every year Vredeseilanden sets aside an amount of 250 Euros per person at the head office for training. Every employee can use this money to receive training that is relevant for his or her job.

Next to that a number of workshops are held every year about specific topics for both employees of the head office and for collaborators from the South.

In 2009 Vredeseilanden spent about 64,000 Euros on training and schooling of staff members from the head office and workshops for employees from the head office and from the South.

With regard to the new Vredeseilanden objectives a training plan (Competence Development Plan) was established in 2009 and a budget was earmarked for it too. The plan combined common training needs into joint training courses, workshops and training sessions. The plan was drafted for the head office, the expatriates and for the collaborators in the South.

Most of the training was associated with the following topics: • workshops organised by Vredeseilanden: PLA, SACD • chain development • sustainable food • language classes • training about fundraising • organisational strengthening • study days • others

43

In addition to the formal training sessions briefings on various subjects are regularly organised for all staff members in the course of the year. In 2009 there were 22 briefings at head office about for example new evolutions in the programmes in the South, the use of the new intranet, information on collaboration networks, projects and decisions from management,...

Every year there is a performance interview with every staff member and at the end of the year there also is an evaluation interview. During those meetings general and functional competences get a lot of attention as well as the targets for the next year. The interlocutors always check whether any training is needed to acquire or strengthen specific competences or to be able to achieve the annual targets.

Social consultation Vredeseilanden employs less than 50 employees at the head office and therefore is not obliged to establish a Works Council or a Trade Union Representation.

Two official staff representatives have been appointed on behalf of the personnel meeting, one of whom a union representative. These staff representatives organise the personnel meetings.

Such meetings are convened three to four times per year. In 2009 three personnel meetings were organised.

Well-being at work Vredeseilanden makes efforts to guarantee the well-being at work of its employees.

In 2009 specific attention was paid to measures to prevent Mexican flue. No absences were noted because of this disease.

In 2009 there were 202 sick days in total. This fairly high amount is mainly due to a number of prolonged absences because of operation, protracted recovery, injury, ...

In 2009 there were two work related accidents. Both accidents occurred outside the office buildings.

One employee was unable to work for one month because she fell with her bicycle and was injured at her foot. The second accident only caused some days of absence due to a hand injury.

Investments are made in informal moments as well, like an annual staff outing and visits to museums at head office. In the South too personnel events are organised, for example teambuilding activities, new year parties, ...

44

Vredeseilanden’s environmental policy

WHAT IS THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF OUR ACTIVITIES? Vredeseilanden’s environmental policy is a part of our global sustainability and accountability policy, which means that we can also be held accountable for our organisation’s environmental impact.

Vredeseilanden is committed to minimising the direct and indirect consequences of its activities on the environment. In order to limit the direct environmental impact: • Vredeseilanden’s staff at head office uses public transport or another environmentally friendly means of transport as often as possible. To that end, Railpasses (ten-journey cards from the national railway company) are available at the reception.

• the amount of waste is minimised by prevention and careful selection.

• we aim for a minimal consumption of water, energy, paper and office materials and unequivocally choose alternative energy sources.

• we optimise our consumption of organic, fair trade and environmentally friendly products.

Vredeseilanden’s indirect environmental impact is mainly the result of the activities in the South programme: water consumption for irrigation, use of fertilisers, the fight against erosion and soil pollution, energy consumption for the elaboration and transport of agricultural products. In order to map that impact Prof. Bernard Mazijn (University of Ghent) has designed a measuring tool for Vredeseilanden. It consists of a matric and a manual and will be used to measure the environmental effects of any agricultural chain in the Vredeseilanden programme.

The elaboration of the tool was the result of an interactive cooperation with a number of offices in the South and it was tested in Nicaragua and Indonesia. The General Council of October 2009 (meeting of regional heads of office and people from the head office) discussed the results of this test phase and made some changes to the tool. During the PLA workshop in November (PLA is the Planning, Learning and Accountability system that Vredeseilanden has developed in order to exchange its programme results) all offices received a training on how to use the measuring tool.

Vredeseilanden now has a suitable tool to measure the environmental impact of our activities. This analysis might then lead to certain changes in order to minimise that impact.

In 2009, Vredeseilanden decided to limit the CO2 emissions of its airplane journeys. On the one hand, we strive to reduce the number of flights from North to South and in the South itself, promoting the use of alternative means of transport wherever possible. On the other hand, Vredeseilanden will compensate for its CO2 emissions through CO2-gift.be (www.co2gift.be). The emission of each flight is calculated and converted into an amount of money, which will be used to support a number of projects that aim to reduce the negative impact of climate change. This measure started in January 2010.

6 45

Environmental results of head office Vredeseilanden engages to measure its CO2 emissions and to take measures to limit the emissions in the future.

The information below relates to the activities of the head office of Vredeseilanden.

Results in 2008 Results in 2009 PAPER Total purchase of A4 paper per annum (number of sheets) Total purchase of A4 paper per person per annum (number of sheets) Share of recycled A4 paper compared to white paper Total purchase of A4 paper per annum for mailings (number of sheets)

175.000 3.431 100% 1.448.300

212.500,00 4.336,73 100% 1.676.300

41%

60%

86%

82%

83%

83%

252 4,94

203 4,14

The majority of paper purchased is used for mailings to inform our supporters. We try to limit this number.

Paper consumption is going up, even though recto verso printers have been installed and fewer copies are taken.

The increase is due to the fact that more information brochures have been drafted about relevant topics, such as the food crisis.

Moreover, in January of 2009, we added a large number of fundraising annexes to newspapers and magazines as a one-off.

OFFICE SUPPLIES Amount of eco-friendly supplies compared to the total In 2009 we focused even more on finding ecological alternatives for office supplies, e.g. for workshop binders, magazine containers, whiteboard materials...

FOOD PRODUCTS Amount of food products purchased carrying an Organic and/or Fair Trade label If an organic or fair trade alternative of a food product exists, we choose to buy that alternative.

When buying food products to cater for events, there is still room for improvement.

MAINTENANCE PRODUCTS Amount of eco-friendly maintenance products bought compared to total purchases All maintenance products purchased are Ecover, except for a few products which do not have an eco-friendly alternative.

We continuously try to see whether we can replace certain products with an eco-friendly alternative.

WATER Annual consumption in m3 m3/person/year

46

Results in 2008 Results in 2009 ENERGY Elektricity: green power kwh/person/year Heating gj gas/person/year

528

663

1.564

1.567

4 0,7 0,8 9,9

7 0,7 0,9 13,2

95%

95%

18%

35%

89,5% 413.530

92,0% 372.790

227.600

140.850

Vredeseilanden uses green power.

Electricity consumption went up in 2009, among other reasons, because airconditioning had to be installed in the server room.

We will use a consumption meter over a certain period, to determine which appliances use a lot of electricity and to detect possible improvements.

WASTE Amount of non-recyclable waste per person per year (in kg) Amount of PMD waste per person per year (in kg) Amount of paper waste per person per year (in m3) Amount of compostable waste per person per year (in kg) Amount of drinking bottles purchased with returnable deposit compared to total amount of bottles purchased MOBILITY Work-related trips: proportion of public transport Commuting: proportion of km travelled by train, bus, bike or on foot Plane trips: km per annum Conversion of plane trips in CO2 emissions: kg of CO2 emissions per year Employees may use a company bike.

As of 1 January 2009, Vredeseilanden reimburses 100% of commuting expenses if public transport is used. This has caused various employees to switch to public transport.

This positive trend also continues in the professional work-related trips.

However, the car is still used often.

This is mainly due to the use of cars by the provincial volunteer coordinators during the annual campaign period.

Planned actions for 2010 • Taking part in annual campaigns such as “wear a sweater to work day” and “I do Kyoto”.

• Instead of organising 4 General Councils every 2 years, as of next year there will be 3 every two years. This will reduce the number of flights • Vredeseilanden undertakes to offset its CO2 emissions via CO2 donations. Emissions for each flight are calculated and converted into a monetary amount.

This is then donated to support projects offsetting the negative impact of climate change. This measure enters into force on 1 January 2010.

• We are investigating whether we can connect the water coolers directly to the water mains.

47

48

2009 Financial Annual Report Vredeseilanden vzw

FINANCIAL ANNUAL REPORT 2009

INTRODUCTION As last year, for the second consecutive year, we are submitting a full financial report for the entire Vredeseilanden group. It is the crowning achievement of a process that has taken many years to bring about. It allows us to provide a correct and full picture of all of our activities.

In these last few years, we have come leaps and bounds in setting up a global financial reporting system for the entire Vredeseilanden group. This group includes the head office in Leuven and the various regional offices (VECOs) in the South. This global financial report is referred to as the consolidated profit and loss account and balance sheet. Last year, we managed, for the first time, to submit a reliable, consolidated report for all of our countries. Vredeseilanden is one of the few NGOs able to present such figures.

Integrating the figures is a complex procedure, as it requires all countries to report to the head office in a uniform manner. This report is then verified by the head office’s financial department. All offices are then visited by local auditors of the international audit firm KPMG, who draw up a report on their findings. Eventually, after the head office has also undergone a thorough audit, the committee of statutory auditors of Vredeseilanden, consisting of Mrs. Marleen Vandeurzen and KPMG, draw up their final report, following a critical review of all of the reports of the various offices.

The financial report consists of 3 parts: the profit and loss account, the balance sheet and the statutory auditor’s report. The balance sheet is an overview of all assets and liabilities of Vredeseilanden as per the last day of the year included in the reporting. The profit and loss account gives an overview of all of the expenses and revenues of the organisation during one year. The statutory auditor’s report is an independent opinion about the correctness of the figures mentioned.

Apart from a consolidated balance sheet and profit and loss account of the entire Vredeseilanden organisation, we also give a detailed description of the head office’s profit and loss account.

In 2009, we encountered numerous problems in implementing our programme in Tanzania. The problems emerged during the follow-up and inspection visits from our regional office in Kampala (Uganda). As of May 2009, it was instructed to support all of the programmes in the entire region of Eastern Africa (see page 18). The problems were both concerning content and management. In addition, there was a burglary in our office in Dar Es Salaam, with various computers being stolen, among other equipment.

Based on the information received from the regional office during the missions, a number of staff members were replaced and the cooperation was stopped with a number of partner organisations which were clearly lacking in managerial capacity and expertise and were, thus, unable to contribute anything real to the achievement of the programme’s objectives.

If we look back on this issue now that a couple of months have gone by, we note that we have taken a number of major steps forward. The programme is back on track, but administratively, VECO Tanzania is still not performing well enough. In the course of the year, we regularly informed DGDC about the situation and we continue to include large provisions should part of the subsidies need to be refunded. In the course of 2010, numerous measures have been planned to lift the administrative – financial organisation to an acceptable level. Employees of the head office’s finance department will be travelling to Tanzania regularly over the next few months to follow up on and provide support to the new team.

7 49

1. PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT 1.1.

Consolidated profit and loss account (Cf. attachment a)

1.1.1. Expenses Services and various goods (Section 61 accounts) These are expenses related to the operations of both the head office and the country offices.

Salaries, social security contributions and pensions (Section 62 accounts) These are the total wages costs of all staff members, including staff at the Leuven head office, the expatriates and local staff.

Amortizations and provisions (Section 63 accounts) Amortizations are the depreciation of the investments in the current financial year. All investments in the country offices are fully amortised in the year of the purchase. Investments in the head office are amortised over various years, in accordance with the amortisation periods laid down by the Board of Directors.

This item includes a number of provisions for risks and costs. Most of these provisions are related to events taking place in our offices in the South.

Other operating expenses (Section 64 accounts) The major component of this item is, regarding the country offices, the payments to the various partners in the South. For the head offices, these are direct payments to international networks.

1.1.2. Revenue Operating income (Section 70-74 accounts) In the consolidated profit and loss account, all of the organisation’s ordinary revenues are included in this item. As of this year, we are making a distinction between 3 categories: “Subsidies”, “Donations, bequests and membership fees” and “Other operating income”. Most revenues intended for the countries are collected via the head office. A number of minor payments from foundations or subsidy providers are paid directly to the regional office, however, without passing through the head office.

More information about the revenues can be found in 2.4.2. Overview of the head office’s revenues.

50

FINANCIAL ANNUAL REPORT 2009

1.2.

Head office analytical profit and loss account

Unlike the figures of the consolidated profit and loss account, the head office costs are broken down per department. The advantage is that we can clearly indicate how much was effectively spent on the operations of each department and – more specifically – on overhead, fundraising and meeting our targets.

According to our budget, our result should have been -674,366 EUR. This loss would then have to be offset from the investment fund, after which the result should have been around 0 EUR, according to the budget. The final result for the financial year is 70,007 EUR. This result will be reconciled with the investment fund, subject to the approval of the General Assembly, naturally.

The reasons for this substantial difference between the budget and the actual result are the following: • Regarding the expenses, we notice that numerous countries did not fully spend the budgeted amount. The most striking cases are: Tanzania, Benin and Uganda.

There are numerous reasons for this. In some cases, the BOF (Belgian Survival Fund) was late in approving subsidy requests, meaning that some activities had to start later than planned. In some other countries, the DGDC programme or a BOF project was delayed.

In the North, we note that the budgets were slightly too optimistic in general. This is mainly true for the North programme, where we struggled greatly to get a good team together. As a result, the planned activities were delayed and we failed to spend the entire budget.

Also, only slightly more than half of the expenses to be borne by the investment fund were spent because a number of activities planned were delayed.

• The revenues in general are much lower than budgeted, particularly the earnings from private persons and NGOs, foundations and companies. The subsidies are also substantially lower than expected. This last point is directly related to what we mentioned above regarding the expenses: those government subsidies that were not spent were fully carried over to the next financial year, in accordance with the applicable legislation.

51

2009 RESULT compared to the 2009 Budget and 2008 Result EXPENSES OVERHEAD

RESULT 2008 Direction and executive bodies HR Finances Secretariat External Relations

TOTAL OVERHEAD

BUDGET 2009

RESULT 2009

RES/BUDGET 09

381,163 177,194 343,315 144,580 101,497

295,628 315,321 436,777 175,897 75,061

254,186 202,344 317,305 158,625 72,538

–14% –36% –27% –10% –3%

1,147,749

1,298,684

1,004,997

–23%

358,022 366,382

591,615 348,398

451,777 352,331

–24% 1%

724,404

940,013

804,109

–14%

338,565 169,341 332,738

574,347 238,639 512,148

403,889 208,165 435,487

–30% –13% –15%

840,644

1,325,134

1,047,541

–21%

408,458

39,572 140,159 106,352

445,617 65,683 124,501

1026% –53% 17%

286,084

635,800

122%

350,841 428,825 1,124,902

172,730 177,585 913,765

–51% –59% –19%

801,015 373,428 2,288,692 244,840 1,074,385 969,467 285,951 207,650 941,365 1,008,565 567,700

536,089 340,488 1,222,908 375,038 199,728 648,142 276,440 178,951 892,873 908,056 509,639

–33% –9% –47% 53% –81% –33% –3% –14% –5% –10% –10%

7,181,492

6,474,366

4,865,444

–25%

9,178,016

8,665,018

6,765,324

–22%

11,890,813

12,228,848

9,621,971

–21%

12,228,848

9,621,971

–21%

FUNDRAISING Fundraising Campaign in January TOTAL FUNDRAISING PROGRAMMES NORTH PROGRAMME Programme in Belgium Awareness raising and social basis Communication TOTAL NORTH PROGRAMME SOUTH PROGRAMME CO-ORDINATION OF PROGRAMME EXPERTISE Advocacy SACD (incl. credit) PLA (incl. learning)

245,933

TOTAL CO-ORDINATION OF PROGRAMME EXPERTISE Programme management Africa Programme management Amerasia Expatriates

654,391 497,692 844,441

COUNTRIES Togo/Benin Senegambia East-Africa

828,679 333,870 2,586,743 Congo Tanzania Uganda

Vietnam Laos Indonesia Mesoamérica Andes Others TOTAL COUNTRIES GENERAL TOTAL SOUTH PROGRAMME TOTAL EXPENSES Deferred charges and accrued income GENERAL TOTAL EXPENSES

52

309,077 230,835 1,210,430 932,823 730,134 18,901

287,365 12,178,178

FINANCIAL ANNUAL REPORT 2009

REVENUES GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES EU Project financing

RESULT 2008

BUDGET 2009

RESULT 2009

RES/BUDGET 09

105,872

0

0

North component South component Overdrachtsaldo vorig jaar in België Structural costs DGOS

800,057 4,563,480

996,609 4,031,463

–2% –11%

301,140

1,013,542 4,539,335 55,000 304,853

306,301

0%

BSF programmes in the North BSF programmes in the South

120,764 1,281,186

0 1,448,096

72,522 846,778

–42%

500,000

0 10,000 17,357

43% –31%

7,460 65,880

7,000 25,000 0 0

35,701 7,350 13,457 206,543 88,566

37,500 0 13,000 0 68,250

20,203 15,000 10,000

–23%

43,410

–36%

83,312

50,000

74,739

49%

140,514

114,440

186,584

63%

DGOS

Food Aid Argus PODDO Flemish Government – VAIS Flemish Government – ALDO/ALT

7,712

PROVINCES West Flanders Limburg Antwerp East- Flanders Flemish Brabant TOWNS AND CITIES SALARY SUBSIDIES (Maribel, Gesco, DAC) Other subsidies TOTAL GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES REVENUES FROM NGO’s, FOUNDATIONS AND COMPANIES 11.11.11 FOUNDATIONS, VZWs and NGOs COMPANIES TOTAL REVENUES FROM NGO’s, FOUNDATIONS AND COMPANIES REVENUES FROM PRIVATE PERSONS EVENTS (Loop naar Afrika, Senegal Classic,...)

DONATIONS PROSPECTION LEGACIES MAJOR DONORS PROGRAMME ZUIDDAG/SOUTH DAY FOUNDATION CAMPAIGN IN JANUARY TOTAL REVENUES FROM PRIVATE PERSONS FINANCIAL AND DIVERSE REVENUES INTERESTS DIVERSE REVENUES TOTAL FINANCIAL AND DIVERSE REVENUES Deferred charges and accrued income Buffer TOTAL REVENUES GENERAL RESULT OF THE FISCAL YEAR 2009 Result after withdrawal from the investment fund

4,435

–46%

615

8,325,717

7,676,016

6,639,293

–14%

282,892 1,124,509 30,000

286,934 1,485,013 10,000

287,788 795,865 30,000

0% –46% 200%

1,437,401

1,781,947

1,113,653

–38%

111,063 853,765

636,808

100,000 716,153 110,887 148,000 50,000 100,000 816,480

156,903 769,954 23,619 20,000 33,343 15,324 589,287

57% 8% –79% –86% –33% –85% –28%

1,833,797

2,041,520

1,608,430

–21%

198,592 601

110,000

135,012 55,577

23%

199,193

110,000

190,589

73%

232,161

144,996 –55,000 11,941,104

11,554,483

9,551,964

–17%

–237,074

–674,366

–70,007

–90%

165,039

4,306

310,522

7,111%

53

1.2.1. Analysis of expenses and revenues t Breakdown of the expenses

10% 8%

82%

Overhead Fundraising Programme activities

Overhead out of the regular budget out of the investment fund Fundraising out of the regular budget out of the investment fund Meeting the objectives out of the regular budget out of the investment fund Total

2009 1,004,997 917,098 87,900 804,109 654,903 149,206 7,812,865 7,669,442 143,423 9,621,971

10%

8%

82%

2008 1,147,749 1,076,668 71,081 724,403 564,635 159,768 10,306,025 10,134,762 171,263 12,178,177

9%

6%

85%

Overhead Overhead costs are the general operating and staff costs of the support services working at the head office (administration, staff, internal communication, management), of the management and the directors. Even though we spent less on Overhead this year compared to last year, we do arrive at a higher percentage, as the overall expenses have gone down more than the overhead costs. We try to keep this percentage stable at 10%.

Fundraising The fundraising expenses include the staff and operating costs for the campaign held in January and the fundraising throughout the year. A major part of the expenses related to fundraising (specifically for new initiatives) is funded by the investment fund. To calculate the percentage of expenses related to fundraising, these costs are naturally also included.

The organisation has decided to invest more in fundraising over the course of a number of years to achieve a long-term increase in the funds donated by private individuals, foundations, NGOs and companies. This way, we want to become much less dependent on subsidies from the Belgian government in the medium term. This investment is partly funded by the investment fund and also partly by the regular budget. A logical consequence is that the expenses related to fundraising are substantially higher this year compared to last year.

54

FINANCIAL ANNUAL REPORT 2009

Costs related to meeting the objectives This is the total amount of expenses, after deduction of overhead costs and expenses related to fundraising. These expenses relate to both our activities in the North and the South. Activities in the North are the expenses incurred under the actual North programme and expenses related to the coordination of the Expertise Programme (Cf. Chapter 4: Vredeseilanden in Flanders). When we talk about activities in the South, we are naturally referring to money spent in the various countries, but also to expenses related to providing support for those activities in Belgium and the expenses of our expatriates in the South. For an extensive overview of the activities in the various countries, see Chapter 3: Vredeseilanden in the South. A brief explanation of the differences between the budget and actual results in 2009 and, at the same time, an explanation for the major difference between the 2008 result and 2009 result can be found in the introduction to 1.2.

t Overview of revenues 2% 17%

Governement subsidies

12%

NGOs, foundations and companies

69%

Private revenues Financial and other revenues Sources of funding Government subsidies NGOs, foundations and companies Private revenues Financial and other revenues Total

2009 6,639,293 1,113,653 1,608,430 190,589 9,551,964

69% 12% 17% 2%

2008 8,325,717 1,437,401 1,833,797 199,193 11,796,108

71% 12% 16% 2%

Vredeseilanden has four major sources of revenues, which are briefly discussed below.

Government subsidies This is still by far the biggest source of revenues for Vredeseilanden. Both its relative proportion and absolute figure is going down compared to last year. This is mainly due to the delay encountered in a number of programmes in the South. As a result, a number of government subsidies were carried over to the next year. In last year’s report we already wrote that we want to get the proportion of this revenue below 70% by 2010. In 2009, we arrived at a proportion of 69%, thus meeting our goal.

As so many subsidies were carried over to 2010, however, this will probably be a one-off event.

Within this item, the Federal Directorate General for Development Cooperation (DGDC) remains the largest source of funding by far. Its funding mainly relates to programme funding and funding granted by the BOF (Belgian Survival Fund). In addition, we received employment subsidies (GESCO, DAC and lower social security payments (“Sociale Maribel”)) and subsidies from a number of lower levels of government in Belgium (cf. Attachment e).

55

NGOs, foundations and companies This item includes the payments received from a number of Belgian NGOs and foundations, of which 11.11.11 is certainly the most important, as well as payments received from a number of NGOs and foundations from other European countries and a contribution from 1 Belgian company (cf. attachment d). In 2008, our performance was markedly better, with an increase, compared to 2007, of 350,000 EUR and an increased proportion from 10% to 12%. However, we were unable to maintain this strong result this year. The proportion of this source of revenues has remained stable at 12% though. The drop in absolute numbers is certainly related to the economic crisis, as a result of which these donors are forced to critically review and limit their expenses. Our organisation has therefore decided to focus more strongly on institutional fundraising to reverse this worrying trend.

Income from individual persons Private revenues Events Donations Campaign Total

2005 53,723 1,078,667 694,854 1,827,244

2006 108,650 795,529 636,336 1,540,515

2007 100,507 853,315 795,466 1,749,288

2008 111,063 853,765 636,808 1,601,636

2009 156,903 826,916 604,611 1,588,430

2,657,355

402,178

53,099

232,161

20,000

Legacies

After government subsidies, this item represents the 2nd largest source of revenues for Vredeseilanden. It mainly includes donations received throughout the year (fixed monthly bank transfers, donations following mailings...) topped off with the proceeds from our annual campaign and events.

These events naturally mainly include the Run for Africa (‘Loop naar Afrika’) (20 km run in Brussels) but towards the end of 2009 we were already busy setting up the Senegal Classic and the first donations for this event were already received towards the end of 2009. Hence the strong increase for this item.

Despite the economic crisis, we are able to achieve a fairly good result, with a minor drop of 0.8% compared to 2008.

Because of their exceptional and unpredictable nature, legacies are still mentioned separately.

2.000.000 1.800.000 1.600.000 1.400.000 1.200.000 1.000.000 800.000 600.000

Campaign

400.000

Donations

200.000

Events

0 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Financial Revenues It goes without saying that we do not spend every Euro that comes in the very next day. That is why we regularly invest surplus cash on the short term in completely risk-free instruments with a guaranteed interest rate. We moreover ensure that our investments are as ethical as possible.

56

FINANCIAL ANNUAL REPORT 2009

2. BALANCE SHEET The Vredeseilanden balance sheet can be found in attachment b. The balance sheet contains 4 major categories, which will be briefly discussed below.

2.1.

Fixed assets

Material Fixed Assets For the head office, we mainly find the building in the Blijde Inkomststraat under this heading, which houses the Vredeseilanden offices. In addition, the material assets contain numerous small items, mainly IT equipment and furniture.

For the regional offices, this category is empty, as the office space is rented. Because of the applicable subsidy rules, the local investments are fully amortised in the year of purchase. For this reason, they do not occur in this summarised balance sheet.

Material fixed assets The majority of this heading consists of our shares in Alterfin cvba, a cooperative company granting loans to micro-financing organisations and fair-trade companies. The annual dividend we receive as a result of this investment is always converted into extra shares.

For the rest, we find a number of pledges for lease contracts, mainly in the Southern countries.

2.2.

Current assets

Stocks This item includes the stocks of campaign materials in the head office. The value of these stocks has gone down slightly compared to last year.

Financial investments and liquid assets The majority of the investments and liquid assets are held in accounts at the Triodos Bank. This is the consequence of a decision by the Board of Directors to invest our resources as ethically as possible. For our daily transactions we continue to work with the major Belgian banks, however, because there is no real ethical alternative.

Also in our countries in the South, at times there are a lot of liquid assets present. These are mainly funds received from the head office to be spent in the first months of 2010.

Accrued accounts This item mainly consists of surplus funds awarded to a number of countries in order to ensure a smooth start-up of their activities in 2010. In addition, it includes a number of subsidies for the 2010 financial year that had not been received on 31 December 2009. The majority of those subsidies are some outstanding instalments of projects approved by the Belgian Survival Fund(BOF).

57

2.3.

Equity

The equity of Vredeseilanden vzw consists of various parts. As the division used over the past few years was outdated, we decided to come up with a new functional division to be proposed to the General Assembly.

Social Reserve It goes without saying that our organisation needs to have a sufficiently large social fund to ensure that in times of grave crisis, we can let go of a large number of employees in an acceptable fashion.

The amount of this social reserve has to be updated annually, at the closing of the financial year and appropriation of the result, on the basis of the actual staff costs of the previous year. The social fund was updated as per 31/12/2009.

Provision for material fixed assets Our balance sheet includes a major material fixed assets. This fixed asset is our building in Leuven of which Vredeseilanden is the full owner. This building is crucial for the organisation to work. If we did not have this asset, it would become much more difficult to do our work. It is therefore essential to create a reserve fund.

Working capital Our organisation greatly depends on subsidies. It sometimes takes a while getting these subsidies paid. At the start of the current 2008-2010 programme, the first instalment of subsidies for the first 6 months of 2008 was only received in July of 2008, i.e. more than 6 months after the start of the activities. This may have been an exceptional case, but it is common for the government to be some 3 months late in paying subsidies. This applies to both the DGDC programme and the various cases of the BOF. Vredeseilanden must be capable of continuing its activities during this period and to provide advances to cover, at least, staff and fixed costs. Moreover, the activities in the South should also continue as normally as possible during such a period. The South should not be the victim of the Belgian Government’s payments being 3 months overdue.

Literature tells us that it is common for an organisation to ensure that it can survive for 12 weeks without revenues and to have working capital available during that period. As the payments from the Belgian government, as standard, are between 10 and 12 weeks overdue, a margin of 12 weeks may seem slightly limited, but as our campaign takes place in January, this rather limited margin is compensated for.

We may assume that the social fund is de facto available as working capital, but it is too small to cover the full 12 week period need for working capital. Therefore additional working capital is provided for.

Other dedicated funds If necessary, for other specific situations, a dedicated fund may be set up. The investment fund is such an instrument. Currently, there is no need to create other similar dedicated funds.

58

FINANCIAL ANNUAL REPORT 2009

Non-allocated equity The difference between the current equity, the provision for the material fixed assets, the investment fund and the working capital is the non-allocated equity. It is a “miscellaneous reserve”, available for the organisation to use.

Our current equity therefore looks as follows: Equity – new situation after division of results in 2009 Social Fund Provision for material fixed asset Additional working capital Investment fund Miscellaneous reserve Total equity

Amount in euro 1,631,283.44 419,554.27 1,324,124.56 751,377.08 886,894.73 5,013,234.08

2.3.1. Investment fund As this allocated fund is a specific component of our equity, we would like to focus some more on it. The investment fund is a major part of the substantial legacy Vredeseilanden received a number of years ago and was earmarked by the General Assembly for specific projects, actions and activities for which we do not immediately have funding available and that should allow us to greatly improve the quality of both our activities in the North and in the South. Every year, a budget is submitted to the General Assembly and every year a settlement of the previous year is proposed.

INVESTMENT FUND

Total budget

OCA

65,000

Competence development Brand development Extra fundraising actions Supermarket action

180,000 747,500

Expenses until 2008

Budget 2009

Result 2009

Balance available after 2009

60,473

0

6,628

–2,101 157,411

2,047

145,000

20,542

101,358

50,500

51,872

224,604

236,500

115,781

253,886

Budget 2010

Balance available after 2010 –2,101

95,000 45,000 45,000

163,386

100,146

62,341 37,155

33,426

–33,426

58,867

–92,293

Culture Youkali

100,000

50,000

25,000

25,000

25,000

25,000

0

Innovation project

100,000

21,085

28,260

0

South Studies

127,500

94,785

Structural adjustments South

217,500

151,401

Major Donors

Environmental actions Development and supervision HR manuals RO Not assigned TOTAL EXPENSES

37,805

62,411

1,900,000

78,915

78,915

32,715

32,715

108,000

91,552

–25,453

10,000

10,000

–10,000

38,257

25,729

262,354

37,805

–25,729

46,500

-10,000 38,257

262,354 768,094

678,672

380,529

751,377

–71,953

–63,986 262,354

353,624

397,753

The amount spent in 2009 of 380,529 EUR, after approval by the General Assembly is deducted from the equity.

Some offices in the South also have a small amount of equity. This comes from various local sources (not subsidies) accumulated in the past.

59

2.4.

Provisions

This category includes a number of provisions for a number of social and fiscal disputes ongoing in a number of countries and, on the other hand, a major provision if subsidies need to be refunded to the Belgian federal government (DGDC). The category of Provisions has decreased in value slightly compared to last year. In 2009, we were able to reduce a number of major provisions, but, on the other hand, we were forced to create a couple of new ones as well. The most important new provision is one for bad debt in Tanzania (cf. introduction).

2.5.

Creditors

If we compare our debts to the balance sheet total, we see that they are very limited. For the head office, there are a number of debts outstanding with suppliers and a number of social security debts.

Also in the countries do we find these debts outstanding with suppliers and a number of social security debts. Vredeseilanden does not have any bank loans.

2.6.

Deferred charges and accrued income

Here we find the subsidies that had not yet been spent on 31 December and were therefore carried over to 2010. These include both DGDC programme funding and BOF funding.

60

FINANCIAL ANNUAL REPORT 2009

61

Annex a: CONSOLIDATED PROFIT & LOSS ACCOUNT 2009

I

Operating income

III IV

HEAD OFFICE

2009

2009

Codes

Euro

Euro

70/74

10,584,422

9,440,572

D1. Subsidies

73

8,910,007

7,778,063

D2. Membership fees, donations, legacies

73

1,548,995

1,548,995

E. II

INTEGRATED TOTAL

Other company revenues

Operating charges

125,420

113,515

60/64

74

10,770,909

9,614,056

B.

Services and diverse goods

61

3,473,560

1,674,064

C.

Remunerations, social security costs and pensions

62

4,361,827

3,033,859

D.

Depreciation of and other amounts written off on formation expenses, intangible and tangible fixed assets

630

205,374

43,081

F.

Increase (+); Decrease (–) in provisions for risks and charges

635/8

–235,223

–245,255

G.

Other operating charges

640/8

2,965,371

5,108,306

–186,487

–173,484

Operating profit (+)

70/64

Operatin loss (–)

64/70

Financial income

75

134,273

111,392

B.

Income from current assets

751

111,392

111,392

C.

Other financial income

752/9

22,881

65

27,621

Other financial charges

652/9

27,621

Profit on ordinary activities (+)

70/65

V

Financial charges

VI

Loss on ordinary acitivities (–)

65/70

–79,836

VII

Extraordinary income

76

30,770

760

0

C.

A.

Extraordinary depreciation and other amounts written off on formation expenses, intangible and tangible assets Extraordinary amounts written off on financial fixed assets

761

0

C.

Extraordinary provisions

762

0

D.

Gain on disposal of fixed assets

E.

Other extraordinary costs

VIII Extraordinary charges E. IX

Other extraordinary charges

428

764/9

30,343

66

33,881

664/8

33,881

Profit of the fiscal year (+)

70/66

Loss of the fiscal year (–)

66/70

–70,007 –82,947

CTA to be incl. in fin. result (diff. average-closing rate on current year result)

14,767

CTA to be incl. in fin. result (diff. average-closing rate on current year result)

4,679

CTA to be incl. in fin. result (diff. average-closing rate on current year result)

–1,548

Profit (+) / loss (–) of the fiscal year*

–65,049

* The results of the regional offices are mainly caused by exchange rate fluctuations of the local currency unit.

62

7,915 –70,007

B.

763

7,915

–70,007

FINANCIAL ANNUAL REPORT 2009

BENIN/TOGO

SENEGAL

TANZANIA

UGANDA

DR CONGO

ANDES

MESOAMERICA

LAOS

VIETNAM

INDONESIA

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

789,135

356,466

586,029

652,219

468,541

589,302

944,073

198,272

255,304

934,423

789,135

356,466

577,469

652,219

468,086

588,756

942,054

198,013

255,237

934,423

454

547

2,020

259

66

785,689

356,461

598,945

649,550

471,195

579,092

945,007

206,689

245,021

969,151

287,800

102,250

270,948

222,071

73,321

135,902

202,695

156,535

74,846

273,127

141,928

107,974

167,633

234,705

43,548

178,131

136,690

50,154

110,747

156,459

53,887

5,300

18,758

5,064

34,456

3,562

22,715

8,560

750

17,801 10,032

302,073

140,937

3,446

5

141,606

187,711

–12,916 1

319,871

2,668 –2,654

12,916 5

5,827

5

5,827

58,678

–933 248

4,796

248

4,796

2,280 8,178

–8,416

–34,728 348

4,572

348

4,572

1,017

10,576

1,017

10,576

3,862

–2,654

54 –9,433

1,506

28,837

1,506

28,837

4,953

28,929

4,953

28,929

511,733

10,283

2,280

3,447 –3,159

582,906

10,210

12,916

1

261,497

–30,156 428

428

8,086 –3,159

–2,654

3,159

2,765

–2,029

0

0

–2,029

0

111

3,862

–8,086

–3,862

–143

–842

–143

–842

482 –9,433

–30,156

9,433

31,391 7,692

0

482

8,927

63

Annex b: THE BALANCE AS OF 31/12/2009 ASSETS

Codes

HEAD OFFICE

2009

2009

Euro

Euro

FIXED ASSETS

20/28

484,895.22

469,591.23

III

Tangible fixed assets

22/27

418,589.63

418,589.63

A. Land and buildings

22

388,344.22

388,344.22

22/91

388,344.22

388,344.22

23

26,370.18

26,370.18

1. In full property B. Plant, machinery and equipment

IV

1. In full property

231

26,370.18

26,370.18

C. Furniture and vehicles

24

3,875.23

3,875.23

1. In full property

241

3,875.23

3,875.23

28

66,305.59

51,001.60

284/8

66,305.59

51,001.60

284

45,505.61

45,505.61

285/8

20,799.98

5,495.99

Financial fixed assets C. Other financial fixed assets 1. Shares 2. Receivables and guarantees in cash

CURRENT ASSETS V VI

8,093,736.28 6,874,070.07

29

28,597.75

B. Onther amounts receivable

291

28,597.75

30

158,684.00

158,684.00

30/36

158,684.00

158,684.00

34

158,684.00

158,684.00

40/41

203,802.72

76,467.93

Stocks and contracts in progress 4. Goods purchased for resale

VII

29/58

Amounts receivable after more than one year

A. Stocks Amounts receivable within one year A. Receivables

40

600.64

B. Other amounts receivable

41

203,202.08

76,467.93

VIII Investments

50/53

4,643,127.58 4,361,857.52

IX

Cash at bank and in hand

54/58

2,465,187.67

X

Deferred charges and accrued income

490/1

594,336.56 1,945,676.64

20/58

8,578,631.50 7,343,661.30

TOTAL ASSETS

64

INTEGRATED TOTAL

331,383.98

FINANCIAL ANNUAL REPORT 2009

BENIN/TOGO

SENEGAL

TANZANIA

UGANDA

DR CONGO

ANDES

MESOAMERICA

LAOS

VIETNAM

INDONESIA

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

90,705.88

493,337.27

114,867.38

356,163.46

451,155.95

31,747.88

165,942.46

622,687.27

13,607.23

1,696.76

13,607.23

1,696.76

13,607.23

1,696.76

13,607.23

1,969.76

174,777.90

227,036.48

28,451.86

145.89

28,451.86

145.89

5,126.30

20,105.14

44,979.80

71,511.35

21,740.14

20,113.81

5,126.30

20,105.14

44,979.79

71,511.35

21,740.14

19,513.17

169,651.61

206,931.34

40,836.95

402,388.65

93,127.24

4,889.13

19,437.27

90,705.88

493,337.27

7,783.47

19,730.50

7,783.47

19,730.50

600.64 281,270.06

188,385.13

228,733.24

114,867.38

46,441.54

356,163.46

429,648.57

30,714.92

157,138.29

556,924.58

1,393.57

1,032.95

1,020.70

45,886.30

451,155.95

31,747.88

165,942.46

622,687.27

65

LIABILITIES

Codes EQUITY I

10/15

HOOFDKANTOOR

2009

2009

Euro

Euro

5,154,628.24 5,013,222.08

Funds

10

1,472,888.17 1,472,888.17

A. Starting funds

100

1,472,888.17 1,472,888.17

IV

Reserves

13

2,559,788.18 2,511,964.62

V

Profit carried forward (+) / Loss carried forward (–)

140

1,187,001.10 1,098,376.23

Result of the fiscal year head office PROVISIONS VII

A. Provisions for liabilities and charges 1. Pensions and similar obligations 4. Other risks and charges B. Provisions for revocable donations and legacies

CREDITORS A. Financial debtors B. Trade debtors IX

Amounts payable within one year C. Trade debtors 1. Suppliers E. Taxes, remuneration and social security

–70,006.94

16

557,700.25

421,731.24

428,110.42

292,141.41

160

105,527.13

163/5

322,583.29

292,141.41

168

129,589.83

129,589.83

2,866,303.01 1,908,707.98

17

0.00

170/4

0.00

175 42/48

0.00 593,209.42

452,148.99

44

247,499.64

206,346.05

440/4

247,499.64

206,346.05 244,880.32

45

339,431.34

1. Taxes

450/3

70,225.34

2. Remuneration and socal security

454/9

269,205.99

244,880.32

6,278.44

922.62

F. Other amounts payable X

–65,049.21

160/5

17/49

VIII Amounts payable after more than one year

Accrued charges and deferred income

TOTAL OF LIABILITIES

66

GEINTEGREERD TOTAAL

48 492/3

2,273,093.59 1,456,558.99

10/49

8,578,631.50 7,343,661.30

FINANCIAL ANNUAL REPORT 2009

BENIN/TOGO

SENEGAL

TANZANIA

UGANDA

DR CONGO

ANDES

MESOAMERICA

LAOS

VIETNAM

INDONESIE

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

Euro

1,406.54

–43,692.50

69,972.40

1,426.30

56,448.46

1,406.54

–43,692.50

2,098.91

22,086.12

8,600.94

46,693.40

12,069.78

13,667.66

49,915.28

1,987.90

–3,325.85

33,867.74

944.30

47,521.46

–2,029.00

111.00

–143.00

–842.00

482.00

8,927.00

46,583.73

24,529.28

23,955.84

40,900.16

46,583.73

24,529.28

23,955.84

40,900.16

18,131.87

22,539.26

23,955.84

40,900.16

28,451.86

1,990.02

186,978.59

272,425.73

20,733.48

493,337.27

112,768.51

300,978.79

379,933.14

31,747.88

140,560.32

525,338.64

10,558.30

56,401.18

–6,471.33

119,411.48

1,907.41

12,223.88

14,979.04

11,446.86

1,157.95

1,653.94

686.02

–13,196.43

117,065.77

12,579.78

4,571.80

1,653.94

686.02

–13,196.43

117,065.77

12,579.78

4,571.80

1,653.94

6,725.10

0.05

6,874.06

8,161.47

56,401.18

1,448.27

56,401.18

6,713.20

6,725.10

0.05

1,710.81

608.07

12,223.88

2,399.26

369.23

10,091.20

982.47

1,157.95

0.00

238.83

2,132.68

1,416.79

6,874.06

224.96

0.00

932.99

2,345.66

1,299.35

176,420.29

216,024.55

27,204.81

373,925.79

110,861.06

288,754.91

364,954.10

20,302.02

139,402.37

523,684.70

188,385.13

228,733.24

90,705.88

493,337.27

114,867.38

356,163.45

451,155.82

31,747.88

165,942.46

622,687.27

67

Annex c: STATUTORY AUDITOR’S REPORT The document below is only for information purposes, and it is not a legal translation of the original in Dutch. The original report of the Board of Commissioners can be asked for via info@vredeseilanden.be.

,KPMG and Partners Bourgetlaan 40 1130 Brussels

M. Vandeurzen Mautitz Noëstraat 59 3054 Vaalbeek (Oud-Heverlee)

REPORT OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS TO THE MEMBER ASSEMBLY OF VREDESEILANDEN VZW ON THE ANNUAL ACCOUNTS ON THE FISCAL YEAR CLOSED ON THE 31ST OF DECEMBER 2009

In conformity with the legal dispositions, we report to you in the framework of the mandate of the commissioner. This report contains our judgement on the faithful image of the annual accounts and the additional mentions and information.

Declaration on the annual accounts without reservations, with explicative section We have verified the annual accounts of Vredeseilanden VZW with respect to the fiscal year closed on the 31st of December 2009 and drawn up based on the accounting reference system applicable in Belgium, with a balance sheet total of € 8,578,631 and a results account closed with a loss on the fiscal year of € 65,047.

The elaboration of the annual accounts is the responsibility of the management organ. This responsibility includes the following elements: prepare, implement and maintain internal audit mechanisms with respect to the elaboration and faithful representation of the annual accounts to make sure that they do not contain any variations of material importance, as result of fraud or errors; choose and apply the appropriate assessment rules; draw up accounting estimations that, given the circumstances, are reasonable.

It is our responsibility to give our judgement on these annual accounts based on our audit. We have performed our audit in accordance with the legal provisions and applicable norms, issued by the Belgian Institute of Company Auditors. These norms require that our audit is organised and executed in a way that a reasonable certainty is obtained that the annual accounts do not contain any variations of material importance.

In accordance with the norms, we have performed an audit to obtain the necessary information on the amounts and explanations in the annual accounts. The selection of these controls depends on our judgement, with an appreciation of the risk that the annual accounts contain variations of material importance as the result of fraud or errors. In our risk-evaluation, we have taken into account the existing internal audit of the association with respect to the elaboration and faithful representation of the annual accounts in order to determine, in the given circumstances, which audits are necessary, but not to give a judgement on the effectiveness of the internal control mechanisms of the association. We have also evaluated, as a whole, the justification of the assessment rules, the reasonability of the accounting estimations made by the association, as well as the presentation of the annual accounts. Finally, the management organ and the responsible persons of the association have given us the required clarifications and information. We feel that the received control-information constitutes a reasonable basis to bring out our judgement.

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FINANCIAL ANNUAL REPORT 2009

Report of the Board of Commissioners to the Member Assembly of Vredeseilanden VZW on the annual accounts of the fiscal year closed on the 31st of December 2009

It is our opinion that the annual accounts closed on the 31st of December 2009 are a faithful reflection of the assets, financial situation and results of the association, in accordance with the Belgian accounting reference system.

Without prejudice to the above mentioned judgement, we draw attention to the annual report in which the Board sets forth the problems in the execution of the program in Tanzania.

Additional statements and information The management organ is responsible for the respect of the Law of the 27th of June 1921 on non-profit associations, international non-profit associations and foundations, as well as the statutes.

It is our responsibility to integrate in our report the following additional statements and information that do not change the scope of our judgement on the annual accounts: • Without prejudice to formal aspects of lesser importance, the accounting was kept in accordance with the applicable Belgian legal and administrative prescriptions.

• As in the preceding years, the transactions of the local Vredeseilanden Committees (i.e. in Flanders) have not been integrated in the accounting of the association.

• There are no other transactions or decisions that should be mentioned and that have been done or taken in violation with the statutes or the Law of the 27th of June 1921 with respect to non-profit associations, international non-profit associations and foundations.

Brussels, the 7th of June 2010 The Board of Commissioners

KPMG and Partners Represented by Luc Vleck Company Auditor

M. Vandeurzen Company Auditor

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Annex d: LIST OF DONORS Donor

Amount

11.11.11

287,787.66

ALT/ADLO Colruyt

30,000.00

Cordaid

391,554.08

DGDC BOF

624,421.45

DGDC Programme North

1,013,542.01

DGDC Programme South

4,537,886.66

DKA

15,000.00

Towns and Communes

79,122.80

Gilles Foundation

57,893.00

ICCO

35,000.00

Ileia

39,418.00

Salary subsidies

186,584.42

Misereor

207,000.00

National Lottery

70

7,711.59

615.08

Novib

15,000.00

Poddo (Governmental Programme Sustainable Development)

17,357.00

Province of Antwerp

5,000.00

Province of Limburg

15,000.00

Province of Flemish Brabant

55,909.67

Province of West Flanders

17,053.33

South Day Foundation

35,549.55

Annex e: LIST OF TOWNS Town Aalst Aartselaar De Pinte

Amount 4,603.16 12,000.00 625.00

Destelbergen

4,201.90

Diest

7,000.00

Eeklo

1,250.00

Genk

4,189.73

Grimbergen

5,460.00

Halle

2,500.00

Hasselt

1,500.00

Herent

2,771.77

Herentals

1,000.00

Holsbeek

1,200.00

Ieper

250.00

Lanaken

585.00

Lochristi

750.00

Londerzeel

4,732.40

Lubbeek

1,285.71

Maasmechelen

1,875.00

Malle

2,000.00

Mechelen

3,709.00

Mol

1,730.85

Oud-Heverlee

2,325.00

Oud-Turnhout

750.00

Rotselaar

2,500.00

Tessenderlo

1,250.00

Waasmunster

125.00

Wichelen

345.00

Wijnegem

5,185.28

Wommelgem

733.00

Zele

640.00

Zuienkerke

50.00

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Oversight of GRI reported on in this annual report GRI-indicator

Description

Page

PROFILE OF THE ORGANISATION 1.

Strategy and analysis

1.1

Vision and strategy on ST, MT and LT

2.

Organisation profile

2.1

Name of the organisation

2.2

Main products, brands and/or services

5

2.3

Operational structure of the organisation, incl. branches, departments...

40

2.4

Location of the head office

2.5

Number and name of the countries where the organisation is active

2.6

Property structure and legal form

2.7

Markets (geografic, sectors,...)

2.8

Scale of the reporting organisation (number of employees, net revenues, debt and equity, quantity of products or services provided)

Colofon

Colofon 10-29 Colofon, 40 9 39-42

2.9

Significant changes to the structure during the reporting period

2.10

Awards received in the reporting period

3.

Report parameters

3.1

Reporting period

Colofon

3.2

Date of the preceding report

Colofon

3.3

Reporting cycle

Colofon

3.4

Contact point for questions regarding the report or its contents

Colofon

3.5

Process followed to determine the report content

Colofon

3.6

Boundary of the report

Colofon

3.7

Specific limitations for the reach of the report

46

3.8

Basis for reporting on joint ventures, subsidiaries, leased facilities, outsourced operations, and other entities that can significantly affect comparability from period to period and/or between organisations

40

Explanation of the effect of any re-statements of information provided in earlier reports

58-59

3.10

40

3.12

GRI content table

4.

Good governance

4.1

Governance structure of the organisation

40

4.2

Indicate whether the Chair of the highest governance body is also an executive officer

40

4.3

Number of members of the highest governance body

40

4.4

Possibilities for participation of employees, volunteers and stakeholders

44

4.5

Linkage between compensation for members of the highestgovernance body, senior managers, and executives

40

Processes in place for the highest governance body to ensure conflicts of interest are avoided

40

Process for determining the qualifications and expertise of the members of the highest governance body for guiding the organisation’s strategy on economic, environmental, and social topics

40

4.6 4.7

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5

GRI-indicator

Description

Page

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 4.10

Processes for evaluating the highest governance body’s own performance

4.14

Oversight of relevant stakeholders

4.15

Inventory and selection of relevant stakeholders

40 31, 40 31

Environmental indicators EN1

Materials used by weight or volume

45-47

EN3

Direct energy consumption by energy source

47

EN8

Total water consumption/source

46

EN22

Total weight of waste by type and disposal methode

47

EN29

Significant environmental impact of products and transporting of employees

47

Economice indicators EC1

Direct economic value generated by the organisation

EC4

Significant financial assistance received from government Social indicators

LA1

Total workforce by employment type, employment contract and region

41

LA2

Total number and rate of employee turnover by age group, gender and region

43

Benefits provided to full-time employees that are not provided to temporary or part-time employees, by major operations

42

LA4

Percentage of employees covered by collective bargaining agreements

42

LA7

Rates of injury, occupational diseases, lost days, and absenteeism, and ` number of workrelated fatalities

44

Education, training, counseling, prevention, and risk-control programs in place to assist workforce members, their families, or community members regarding serious diseases

44

LA9

Health and safety topics covered in formal agreements with trade unions

44

LA10

Hours of training per year per employee by employee category

43

LA11

Programs for skills management and lifelong learning that support the continued employability of employees and assist them in managing career endings

43

Percentage of employees receiving regular performance and career development reviews

43

LA3

LA8

LA12 LA13

LA14

Composition of governance bodies and breakdown of employees per category according to gender, age group, minority group membership, and other indicators of diversity Ratio of basic salary of men to women by employee category

39, 41 42

Public policy SO5

Public policy positions and participation in public policy development and lobbying

36-38

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Vredeseilanden is a member of the following initiatives on transparancy and accountability:

• The Association of Ethics in Fundraising guarantees the moral quality of the fundraising and the transparency of the accounts. A part of this code of conduct is the right to information.

This implies that donors, members, collaborators and staff are at least once a year informed about what happens with the collected funds.

This annual report serves this purpose.

• A database with objective information and verified figures of charity organisations.

• A database about and from Belgian Development Co-operation ngo’s. The websites shows how donations and subsidies are spent.

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COLOFON For general questions on this annual report, please contact: Nele Claeys Head of the Communication Department 016/31 65 80 nele.claeys@vredeseilanden.be For specific questions on the financial report, please contact: Kris Goossenaerts Head of the Finances Department 016/31 65 80 kris.goossenaerts@vredeseilanden.be Vredeseilanden vzw Blijde Inkomststraat 50 3000 Leuven www.vredeseilanden.be info@vredeseilanden.be Vredeseilanden is member of 11.11.11, the umbrella organisation of the Flemish North-South movement.

This report treats the calendar year 2009. The previous report was on calendar year 2008. The reports are drawn up every year and discuss the global activities of Vredeseilanden in Belgium and overseas countries as mentioned on pages 9-38, unless otherwise stated.

This report has been elaborated by a work group with representatives from the concerned departments by authority of the executive management.

Cover picture: Jimmy Kets

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Vredeseilanden vzw | Blijde Inkomststraat 50 | 3000 Leuven Tel. 016-31 65 80 | info@vredeseilanden.be | www.veco-ngo.org