Motivation Australia Annual Report 2017-18

At Motivation Australia, our mission is to enable people to stay healthy and access assistive technology from local services through trained personnel.

In the past year, we have made significant headway. This is thanks to the collaborative work of our team and partners; the support of our board, donors, members and supporters.

We are delighted to share with you through our Annual Report some of the highlights and stories about changes to lives and communities.

We hope you will be inspired to share the work of Motivation Australia and our partners through your networks to help boost our support base and Australian community connections.

Contact us at any time if you would like more information or to find out how you can get involved.

Signature of Kylie Mines, CEO and Lloyd Walker, Chairperson of Motivation Australia

 This is a poster of a collection of infographics, with an overall title of 2017-18 Our Impact This Year. Infographics as follows: Title: more women more impact. Text: 2% more women and girls accessed the services than last year. Infographic: Shows that 55% male and 45% female. Text: 12 local service partners in 8 countries. Title: 205 personnel trained. Infographic: Shows that 35% of trained personnel were men and 65% were women. Title: Reaching more people in rural areas. Infographic: Shows that 73% rural and 24% urban (+3% not recorded). Title: We need your help to reach more children, donate online. Infographic: Shows that 59% of service users were older adults, 23% were adults and 16% were children. Title: Where did our funds come from? Infographic: Shows that 83% grants, 11% non-monetary donations, 4% commercial activities, 2% monetary donations. Title: How were our funds spent? Infographic: Shows that 81% Development programmes, support and education. 10% Accountability and administration, 4% non-monetary expenditure, 2% fundraising. Text: 12 local service partners in 8 countries.

Donate to Motivation Australia and be part of changing peoples lives!

 

Vanuatu: A woman using a wheelchair smiles for the camera. Two men and a woman stand behind her, also smiling   Samoa: Two female service providers in bright dresses watch as another woman with a prosthesis and crutches walks across the floor unassisted.   Kiribati: Two male clinicians/technicians are knelt down to assist an elderly woman using a wheelchair. We can see a stretch of beach in the background.

The right service at the right time – we build the capacity of local organisations and their personnel to meet the needs of people with disabilities in their communities

We understand that health, rehabilitation and assistive technology services are vital in enabling people to learn, work and be a part of community life.

However, access to these services is very limited in many parts of the world and this is holding people back.

Motivation Australia plans and delivers our work alongside local service providers and Governments, service users and disabled people’s organisations. We aim to ensure local strengths, priorities and perspectives drive practical and cost-effective solutions for stronger disability inclusive health, rehabilitation and assistive technology services, which will benefit local communities.

Watch Change in Motion, our short-form documentary about the new Samoa Mobility Device Service! A fabulous achievement, and some great stories from people who have accessed the service!

This year, we:

  • Helped build rehabilitation and assistive technology services by working alongside twelve local service providers across Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu and the Federated States of Micronesia
  • Carried out 32 in-country support visits, providing training, mentoring, technical advice and just plain listening to better understand and respond to local needs and priorities
  • Trained more than 200 Pacific Island personnel in wheelchair service delivery, diabetic foot wound care and service systems
  • Supported 5 people to study prosthetics and orthotics in India and Cambodia
  • Assisted in finalising Fiji’s Disability Inclusive Health and Rehabilitation Action Plan with the Ministry of Health and Medical Services
  • Developed concept plans for a new rehabilitation facility with the Tongan Ministry of Health and the Solomon Islands Ministry of Health and Medical Services
  • Advocated to increase Government and donor commitments in support of better services for people with disabilities, those with health conditions and the elderly
  • Worked with the WHO GATE (Global Cooperation on Assistive Technology) team to initiate Training in Assistive Products (TAP), a WHO managed, open access training resource to build local skills in providing assistive products
  • Image is split in half. On the left shows a picture of two men from Fiji reading instructions on a table as they assemble a wheelchair. On the right the text reads "$143,940 Tools and equipment procured and donated to our partners."Collaborated with the Latter-day Saint Charities (LDSC) to see one container of appropriate wheelchairs donated by the LDSC to service partners in Vanuatu; and containers confirmed to arrive in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Kiribati in coming months
  • Procured and donated $143,186 worth of tools, equipment and materials for our partners, enabling them to assemble, modify and repair wheelchairs; and provide much needed diabetic foot wound care

 

 

Vanuatu: A group of 7 women of different ages proudly hold their certificates and smile at the camera.  Ellen is sitting in her wheelchair smiling at the camera with her hands clasped on her lap. She is wearing a black and brown dress. Behind her are steps leading up to a garden of green shrubs and trees. To her right is a bright blue wall.  A male participant of the training adjusts a wheelchair, while a female participant checks off a list of changes that need to be made.

Girls and women – women are key to development

The Sustainable Development Goals highlight the importance of gender equity because it is fair; and because women are catalysts for change in their communities.

Many girls and women with a disability face barriers in accessing health, rehabilitation and assistive technology services; so, we were really pleased to see that this year the percentage of girls and women accessing our partners’ services rose by 2% from 43% to 45% across six countries.

Learn how the right device can enable women to be their best!

We have worked particularly hard to address one known barrier for girls and women accessing services, which is a lack of a female service providers. We make sure we train at least as many women as we do men. This year, 65% of those trained were women.

We also made sure we hear the voices of girls and women when we evaluate our work. This includes ensuring our evaluation teams include men and women, and accessing feedback from as many female as male service users.

 

A Solomon Islands boy sits in his new wheelchair for kids wheelchair. He is laughing and his head is tilted back as he looks at his family (who are out of the shot). he is in a clinical setting.  Fiji: A female child using a wheelchair looks at the camera. We can see the arm of his caregiver resting on his tray.  A child in her wheelchair, sitting in front of her Kiribati home - a traditional built house on stilts, on the beach.

Children – reaching more children

Only a small percentage of children with disabilities living in the Pacific Region have the assistive devices and other supports they need.

We need to work together to support families and build local services with the right specialist knowledge, skills and resources to reach more children.

Our partners in the Pacific Region are working hard to improve children’s services. They have asked for our support to equip them to provide wheelchairs and supportive seating, a key step towards inclusion.

This year, we:

  • Trained 20 staff from Fiji, Kiribati and Vanuatu to provide wheelchairs for children
  • Ran children’s wheelchair clinics in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, mentoring 13 staff and provided wheelchairs for 12 children
  • Supported the launch of a new children’s wheelchair service with our partners the Frank Hilton Organisation to launch their children’s wheelchair service
  • Developed a child friendly feedback tool with our partners in Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu
  • Collaborated with Australian charity Wheelchairs for Kids to see 20 children’s wheelchairs donated to our partners in the Solomon Islands; and 5 donated to our partners in Vanuatu
  • Assisted Frank Hilton Organisation to secure funding to purchase 106 children’s wheelchairs and set up a dedicated wheelchair workshop

We also want to help make sure that all children accessing rehabilitation and assistive technology services are safe. This year, we reviewed and strengthened our child protection policy; and in collaboration with our partners, we ran child safe workshops for 64 of their service personnel.

 

Kiribati: A female nurse performs a diabetic foot check up on a female patient in a clinical setting.  A photo of diabetic foot care in action! A Kiribati man is sitting on a clinic bed, while a female nurse, wearing a blue nurses uniform and disposable gloves treats his foot.  DFC nurse Tai is debriding the foot wound of a client whose face we can’t see. To her right is a dressings trolley. She is being observed by five nurses and Podiatrist Nalini.

Preventing amputation – every 30 seconds someone in the world with diabetes has a leg amputated

Health services in the Pacific Region are struggling to meet the rising tide of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases.

A common complication with diabetes is the development of foot wounds. Foot wounds can be very hard to manage and all too often lead to amputation. The impact on individuals, their families and communities is truly devastating.

However, there is much that can be done. With better diabetic foot care, the rate of amputations could be reduced by an estimated 85%. This means much better outcomes for people and also reduces the cost to already over-burdened health services.

This is why Motivation Australia has continued this year to actively advocate for diabetic foot care in every country in which we work; and have delivered training for personnel and resources for diabetic foot clinics in Samoa and Kiribati.

We also continued building on our Keep Moving training resources, designed to support training of health personnel across different aspects of the amputation prevention cycle.

 

A male wheelchair user is visited at home, and has taken a photo with the team of training participants and trainers that have visited him at home for a follow up appointment. MA's and Kiribati staff looking at training materials.

Working together to create change – “Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean” Ryunosuke Satoro

Our work doesn’t happen without our local partners, who are on the front line, delivering and advocating for services. This year we are proud to have worked with:

  • Solomon Islands: The Rehabilitation Division, Ministry of Health and Medical Services
  • Vanuatu: The Vanuatu Society for People with Disability, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Justice and Community Services
  • Kiribati: The Tungaru Rehabilitation Service, Ministry of Health and Medical Services
  • Fiji: The Spinal Injuries Association, Frank Hilton Organisation, and the Ministry of Health and Medical Services
  • Samoa: The Samoa National Health Service, Samoan Ministry of Women and Community Development, and Nuanua O Le Alofa (NOLA), the peak body Disabled Persons Organisation
  • Federated States of Micronesia:The Department of Health and Social Affairs, Federated States of Micronesia National Government, Department of Health, Pohnpei State Government, the Pohnpei Consumer Organisation and Pohnpei Women with Disability
  • Tonga: The Ministry of Health, Naunau ‘o e ‘Alamaite Tonga Association
  • Papua New Guinea: The National Orthotics and Prosthetics Service, Department of Health and the Papua New Guinea Assembly of Persons with Disabilities

 

Read Elsie Taloafiri’s story – she is a true leader in her country and the region!

 

Fiji: A group of 23 people smile for the camera. One man at the front is a wheelchair user. Another man in the back gives a thumbs up. All are wearing bright, colourful shirts.  Solomon Islands: A group of four adults collaborate to maintain a wheelchair intended for a child during a home visit.  Fiji: A group of five adults watch and assist a male child with his physical therapy. The child is lying on a bed with a teddy bear next to him. All are smiling.

We have also teamed up with some amazing organisations to achieve better outcomes for everyone, and look forward to continued collaboration in 2018-19:

  • We partnered with Cerebral Palsy Alliance to run our children’s wheelchair training in Fiji
  • We ran a clinic for children in the Solomon Islands with Seating to Go; and were welcomed to Seating to Go’s home base in New Zealand for learning and exchange between our teams
  • Our staff co-trained basic ‘wheelchair refresher’ training with a technical trainer from the Latter-day Saint Charities in Vanuatu
  • We have liaised closely with the Pacific Disability Forum (PDF) to advocate for a regional solution for procurement of assistive products
  • Our CEO was elected onto the Executive Committee of the Australian Disability and Development Consortium,which draws together Australian and overseas organisations to focus attention, expertise and action on disability issues in developing countries

Image is split in half. The left shows a picture of a group of 13 women smiling for the camera. Two women are sitting down. On the right the text reads "We value people and communities, partnerships and collaboration."Because partnership and collaboration are so important to us, this year two members of our team completed the Partnership Brokerage Training course in Melbourne. We also carried out a review of our partnership documents, updated our templates to more strongly represent the two-way partnership principles we firmly believe in. 

 

 

Measuring progress – it is important to us to plan from the outset how we will measure our progress; as well as learn from our successes and failures

Working closely with our partners, we use a range of strategies to help us measure our progress.

This year, we have continued working with our partners on strengthening their service data systems. This includes understanding our partners’ data needs, providing the right tools and training personnel in collecting, entering and using data.

Our combined efforts are paying off. This year our service partners were able to report more accurately than ever before on how many people they provided services to, who these people were and where they live. This information is vital in helping to measure progress and to assess how equitable services are.

This information also provides evidence of the demand and gaps in services; which better enables service providers, national governments and development partners plan for future service development and priorities.

We also want to understand the changes in people’s lives, resulting from our activities. This is a key measure in how effective we are. We take the time to talk with those for whom our project activities matter the most – children and adults accessing services.

For example, this year in Samoa we worked with NOLA to interview people who received prosthetic and orthotic devices to hear their thoughts on the impact on their lives. Here is some of what they said….

 An illustration of a man from Samoa, he has an orthotic shoe. Hi speech bubble "I believe the staff of this clinic have saved my foot from being amputated"  An illustration of a woman from Samoa. She has a prosthetic leg. Her speech bubble, "I can do little chores like lifting a bucket of water, and other light chores, and now have a voluntary job with this church"  An illustration of a man from Samoa, using a walking frame and a prosthetic leg. Hi speech bubble: "I feel that my body is whole again, because I have an artificial leg. i can do anything I want"

A 3x4 grid displaying the profile pictures of the 11 women and 1 man who made up the Motivation Australia staff in the 2017-18 year.
Motivation Australia’s 2017-18 team!

Our team – working together towards a common vision

Our team is our biggest asset. We are proud to have a group of people working with us who bring to our organisation complementary skills and a great deal of dedication. 

In 2017-18 we welcomed some new faces including Claire Ibell and Krystal Panakera-Thorpe. We also said a fond farewell to Jolene McCool, finance officer, who has left us to study teaching. 

 

Image is split in half. The left shows a picture of two women sitting at a table having a conversation. Both are smiling. There are open books in front of them. On the right the text reads "We value taking a fresh and innovative approach, best practice and professionalism."

A grid of 2 x 5 photos of MA's board members
Motivation Australia’s 2017-2018 board members!

Meet our board – strategic direction, accountability and trust

Our organisation is ably supported by a professional board which meets quarterly and often in-between. Made up of men and women with diverse experiences and expertise, our Board members contribute voluntarily their time, expertise and guidance to support Motivation Australia’s strategic direction and governance.

Our Board this year has been particularly involved in working with the CEO and our team in helping to shape our strategic plan for 2018-2021.

We were delighted to welcome three new Board members Nas Campanella, Mona Girgis and Evelyn O-Louglin, each of whom bring their outstanding and complimentary skills to support the overall governance of Motivation Australia.

 

 

 

ACFID logo with the text: Motivation Australia is a member of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), and a signatory to the ACFID Code of Conduct. This is a voluntary, self-regulatory sector code of good practice. We are committed to fully adhering to high standards of governance, public accountability and financial management outlined in the code.

 

 

 

 

Thank you to our donors and supporters – “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller

Thank you to every individual and organisation for contributions of time, in-kind support and funding including:

Our grant funders:

  • Australian Government – Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
  • Cerebral Palsy Alliance
  • Scope Global
  • Universal Charitable Fund
  • The Latter-day Saint Charities
  • Western Pacific Regional Office of the World Health Organisation
  • Government of Tonga, Ministry of Health

133 private donors, 96 members including 33 life members. This year the following people donated over $400 towards our work: Theresa Chapman, Lauren Flaherty, Sharon Holmes, Chris Horwood, Natasha Layton, Kylie Mines, Ray Mines, Timothy Muecke, David Simpson, Belinda Smith, Daryl and Wendy Teague.

NetSuite who continue their support through the donation of our accounting software.

Ossur and Orthopaedic Appliances Pty Ltd for generous donations of much needed orthotic supplies for our overseas projects.

Local businesses Betta Home Living, the Southern Vales Wellbeing group, SA Police employees, Home Grain Bakery, Willunga Quality Meats, Discount City Carpets and Flash Electrical.

Our sports wheelchair customers – through buying sports wheelchairs through Motivation Australia you are supporting our work in the Pacific: Basketball Victoria, Disability and Recreation & Sports South Australia, Parafed Taranaki, Badminton New South Wales, Central Coast Council.

Volunteers who have contributed over 275 hours (valued at $9.8 thousand) to our projects and fundraising: Debbie Wilson, Ainsley Stuchenberry, Holly Hogarth, Michael Wilson; our Clinical Technical Reference Group; and members of our team.

 

Summary financial report – find out where our funds came from, and how they were spent

We are pleased to report a record high for Motivation Australia expenditure of $1.509 million in the 2017-18 year. This symbolises considerable progress in our development activities, with 81% of the funds spent directly on our international programmes, programme support and education. We also report a record high for our gross income in 2017-18 of $1.680 million.

Summary of closing balances

At the end of June 2018, we realised an operating surplus (excess of income over expenditure) of $171 thousand. This was expected, after our deficit in 2016-17, as we received a large component of a grant from overseas up front which will be spent over the next three years.

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the financial year were a total of $949 thousand, of which 68% is held in reserve and restricted to funding our international programmes in 2018-19. The balance of total equity (excess of assets over liabilities) as at 30 June 2018 was $870 thousand.

Where did our funds come from?

Title: Where did our funds come from? Infographic: Shows that 83% grants, 11% non-monetary donations, 4% commercial activities, 2% monetary donations.
Income categories as a proportion of the total. Categories are from our summary financial statement and are based on ACFID Code of Conduct definitions.

We continue to strive for diversification in our funding sources. Achievement of this goal, through the maintenance of our previous year’s grantors and supporters, was strengthened this year through increased support from overseas funders. We believe this growing support base outside Australia reflects the recognition of Motivation Australia’s high calibre of work.

In 2017-18 Motivation Australia generated income of $1.680 million. We received $348 thousand (20%) from Australian Government grants, $31 thousand (2%) from other Australian grantors (Cerebral Palsy Alliance, Scope Global and the Universal Charitable Fund) and $1.054 million (61%) was received from overseas grants (The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints, World Health Organisation, and the Government of Tonga Ministry of Health).

The balance of the 2017-18 income was received from our valued suppliers of donated goods and volunteer time worth $180 thousand (11%), $74 thousand (4%) worth of sales of mobility devices in Australia and New Zealand, $34 thousand (2%) from the continued support from our members and supporters and $1 thousand in interest earned on cash at bank.

How were our funds spent?

Title: How were our funds spent? Infographic: Shows that 81% Development programmes, support and education. 10% Accountability and administration, 4% non-monetary expenditure, 2% fundraising.
Expense categories as a proportion of the total. Categories are from our summary financial statement and are based on ACFID Code of Conduct definitions.

Motivation Australia spent in excess of $1.508 million.  This is the greatest amount we have spent in one financial year and represents an investment of over $1.2 million (78%) directly into our international programmes.

The remainder of our aid and development expenditure was invested in programme support and education activities (3%), administration (10%) fundraising (2%), commercial activities (3%) and non-monetary expenditure not directly attributable to programmes (4%).

Full financial statements

This report includes a summarised version of the audited full financial statements. For a better understanding of the entity’s financial performance and position, the summarised financial report should be read in conjunction with the unabridged financial report. You can download a copy of the full financial statements, or request them by emailing info@motivation.org.au.

The summary financial statements and the full financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the presentation and disclosure requirements set out in the ACFID Code of Conduct. The code requires members to meet high standards of corporate governance, public accountability and financial management. More information on the code, including how to make a complaint, can be obtained by contacting ACFID at www.acfid.asn.au or by emailing code@acfid.asn.au

Summary financial statements

 

Statement of income and expenditure: contact admin@motivation.org.au for a screen reader friendly version.

Statement of financial position: contact admin@motivation.org.au for a screen reader friendly version.

Auditors report

 

Page one of Audit letter confirming that the financial statements "represent fairly, in all material respects the financial position of Motivation Australia".

Page two of the audit letter, signed by SP Graetz and Messenger Zerner.

 

 

You can view our previous annual reports here.

You are here: Home > Blog > Resources > MA documents > Annual reports > Motivation Australia Annual Report 2017-18
Back to top ^