Sierra Leone Bicentenary Trust
Charity 700447
http://slbtbhm.homestead.com/HOME.html
Overview
Summary
The Sierra Leone Bicentenary Trust appears to be a Birmingham-based, diaspora-rooted voluntary organisation whose unusually broad charitable remit combines practical welfare advice, education and capacity-building with cultural memory and advocacy about Sierra Leone. Its public material suggests it has tried to operate both as a direct support service and as a resource body for the voluntary sector. However, the evidence is largely undated and centred on historic website content, so its current operating scale, active partnerships and delivery model remain unclear.
Operational geography
Coverage: International
Operational areas:
Evidence and reasoning
Supporting evidence
Remaining uncertainties
- The Charity Commission currently records the trust as operating in Birmingham and Sierra Leone, supporting an international overall footprint, but does not identify neighbourhoods, delivery venues or service locations within Birmingham.
- The charity's current Charity Commission contact address is also presented on the website as the secretary's contact address. This does not by itself establish that it is an active public-facing or service-delivery site.
- The organisation's website describes Birmingham voluntary-sector information sharing, advice, training and support, but its content substantially refers to 2007 commemorative activity and does not provide dated evidence that these services are currently delivered at particular Birmingham locations.
- The website names historic or informal links, including the Krio Descendants Yunion and a proposed network for 2007 commemoration, but does not evidence current material partnerships that extend the trust's operational reach within Birmingham.
Additional evidence needed
- A current annual report, activity report or service timetable identifying where Birmingham advice, training, advocacy, grants or community activities are delivered.
- Confirmation from the trust of whether its current Charity Commission contact address is an active operational base, a correspondence address, or both.
- Current information from the trust or named partner organisations on active Birmingham delivery partnerships, referral arrangements and venues.
- Evidence of the scale and location of current activity in Sierra Leone, to distinguish direct delivery, grant-making and partnership-based work.
Areas of work
- Accommodation/housing
- Armed Forces/emergency Service Efficiency
- Arts/culture/heritage/science
- Disability
- Economic/community Development/employment
- Education/training
- General Charitable Purposes
- Recreation
- The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives
- The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty
Who they help
- Children/young People
- Elderly/old People
- Other Charities Or Voluntary Bodies
- People Of A Particular Ethnic Or Racial Origin
- People With Disabilities
- The General Public/mankind
How they help
- Acts As An Umbrella Or Resource Body
- Makes Grants To Individuals
- Makes Grants To Organisations
- Provides Advocacy/advice/information
- Provides Human Resources
- Provides Services
- Sponsors Or Undertakes Research
Discoveries involving this organisation
The Atlas has not published any Discoveries involving this organisation yet.
Observations
A diaspora-memory organisation with a practical civic role
The Trust appears to connect commemoration of Freetown, Sierra Leone and abolition with practical support for people in Birmingham. Cultural identity seems to be treated as a basis for civic participation and mutual support, rather than as a separate heritage activity.
Why it matters
This helps explain why its stated work ranges unusually widely across heritage, advice, training and community development: these may be connected by a shared effort to strengthen a diaspora community's voice and opportunities.
Show evidence
“The Trust was founded on 25 November 1987 to mark the founding of the settlement of emancipated Negroes.”
Source:Organisation“It aimed to raise the profile of Sierra Leone's issues with statutory agencies and the wider community.”
Source:Organisation“It sought partners across private, public, voluntary and community sectors to mark the 2007 abolition commemoration.”
Source:Organisation
Potentially a bridge between residents and institutions
The Trust appears designed to help people navigate formal systems, while also supplying information, training and assistance to other charities. It may therefore have played an intermediary role rather than functioning only as a frontline advice provider.
Why it matters
An intermediary role can create value beyond individual cases by improving voluntary-sector access to public institutions and by making community needs more visible.
Show evidence
“It offered free confidential advice on welfare benefits, debt, housing, homelessness, immigration, nationality and family matters.”
Source:Organisation“It could help people contact MPs, councillors, council departments and solicitors.”
Source:Organisation“Its objects include providing information, guidance, training, technical and professional aid to individuals and charitable organisations.”
Source:Charity Commission
Breadth may be a strength, but also signals delivery uncertainty
The Trust presents an exceptionally broad set of purposes, beneficiary groups and interventions, spanning counselling, housing, poverty, disability, arts, research, grants and sector support. This may reflect a responsive community organisation, but the evidence does not show which activities were core, sustained or resourced.
Why it matters
Understanding this distinction is essential before treating the Trust as a partner for a particular need; its formal remit may be much wider than its practical capacity.
Show evidence
“The charity helps children and young people, older people, disabled people, people of particular ethnic or racial origin, other charities and the general public.”
Source:Charity Commission“The charity reports grants, services, advocacy, research and umbrella or resource-body work.”
Source:Charity Commission“The Trust described itself as a voluntary organisation relying on charitable funding and volunteers.”
Source:Organisation
- Whether the website-described advice, counselling, training and sector-support services are currently active.
- Which Birmingham communities use the Trust, and whether its work primarily serves Sierra Leonean and Krio communities.
- Whether the requested cross-sector partnerships developed into durable collaborations.
Remaining uncertainties
- Recent annual reports, accounts, trustee reports and Charity Commission filing history.
- Current service data, staffing or volunteer capacity, referral partners and beneficiary feedback.
- Evidence of current relationships with Sierra Leonean diaspora groups, local authorities, schools and voluntary-sector organisations.
Additional evidence needed
Charity Commission profile
Activities
SIERRA LEONE BICENTENARY TRUST offers young people in particular new opportunities to develop to their full potential.
Charity objects
TO PROMOTE FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE CITY OF BIRMINGHAM AND SURROUNDING AREAS, WITHOUT DISTINCTION OF AGE, SEX RACE, CREED OR COLOUR, OR OF POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS OR OTHER OPINIONS, ALL CHARITABLE PURPOSES BY THE PROVISION: (I) OF INFORMATION, ADVICE, GUIDANCE, TRAINING, CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC ACTIVITIES, AND OTHER EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES TO INDIVIDUALS AND CHARITABLE ORGANISATIONS; (II) OF TECHNICAL AND PROFESSIONAL AID, SUPPORT AND OTHER ASSISTANCE TO INDIVIDUALS AND CHARITABLE ORGANISATIONS; CALCULATED DIRECTLY TO ASSIST THE MORE EFFECTIVE WORKING OF CHARITABLE ORGANISATIONS IN THE SAID AREA.