In 2019/20, our Goal Two work supported 370,000 people across 13 countries. We work with communities to ensure they have access to land and water. We also provide the skills and equipment to use these resources to provide income and food. Our biggest programmes under this goal area are in Ethiopia, Malawi and Kenya. This work is vital due to the worsening impacts of climate change. Small-holder farmers rely on rainfall to grow crops. Rising temperatures and worsening droughts are putting people more at risk of hunger. Work under this Goal area also helps communities stay on their land. People are vulnerable to land grabs from the extractive and agribusiness industries. We work with communities in Central America, in particular, to secure legal tenure.

In 2019/20, we provided humanitarian help to 1.8 million people in 27 countries. Our largest responses took place in Ethiopia, Sudan, D.R. Congo and Somalia. Our membership of Caritas Internationalis allows us provide relief in countries where we do not have a long-term presence. Last year we funded humanitarian relief efforts in Yemen, India and Ecuador. Our humanitarian relief provides shelter, food and sanitation. We provide healthcare in Somalia and Sudan. Throughout our humanitarian programmes, we focus on the protection of women and girls. Humanitarian programmes account for roughly 35 per cent of our total programme spend.

Trócaire has a dual mandate: to alleviate poverty overseas and work with communities in Ireland to build a culture of global solidarity. We work through schools and parishes to build people’s knowledge of issues facing people in the developing world. This work happens throughout the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Last year, we engaged 225,000 people in Ireland face-to-face. We also work with politicians to ensure Ireland is playing a positive role on the global stage. Our campaign helped make Ireland the first country in the world to divest public money from fossil fuels. Our campaign to ban trade with Israeli settlements led to the Occupied Territories Bill passing both houses of parliament.

In 2018, we launched the Innovation Awards to encourage a culture of innovation in Trócaire. We innovate in our programmes, particularly through our use of digital technology. Our teams are trialing blockchain payments, digital data collection and mobile money transfers. We are also innovating through digital technology in our Ireland-based work. We have launched a digital education game exploring climate change. Our Game Changers competition leads to school children creating board games on global justice issues.

In 2019/20 we raised approximately €64m from the Irish public and our institutional funding partners. Approximately €23m of this came from the Irish public, with €41m raised from our institutional funding partners. Our Lenten campaign is Ireland’s largest annual fundraising campaign. This campaign generated €8.3m in donations last year. We also secure grants from institutions. A key goal is to diversify our institutional donor base. Our three main institutional donors -Irish Aid, DFID and Caritas -now account for 45 per cent of income.

Trócaire has achieved Triple Lock Standard from the Charities Institute of Ireland (CII). This standard recognises charities achieving excellence in financial reporting, transparency and ethical fundraising. We strive to ensure the highest levels of accountability and effectiveness. In 2019, we won ‘Best Annual Report’ at both the Chartered Accounts of Ireland and Carmichael Centre awards. We have also increased the capacity of our safeguarding team. Our safeguarding work was externally evaluated in 2019. The report found “[a] clear and robust framework of policies and procedures [and] high levels of compliance with international safeguarding standards.”