Bringing football and art to marginalized communities

Although it has been a significant improvement in the migrant children enrollment in Thailand over the last decade, lack of educational opportunities is still a significant problem for refugees and migrant children. According to a policy briefing report from Save the Children and World Education in 2015, there are around 200.000 migrant children in Thailand without access to education.

Mae Sots proximity to the border and its significant migrant population makes this a serious crisis in the city, with approximately 23% of migrant children out of school

Enrollment to regular schools is of course the best solution to this crisis, but in the meantime, PlayOnside decided to collaborate with Kick-Start Art, another local organization to bring alternative education to these children. We believe that implemented correctly, sports and art can be powerful educational tools. As PlayOnside has grown as an organization, we have the resources to not only work with the schools, but also work in the communities This is a new approach for us, and much more challenging.

Migrants often live unstable life, with a lack of certainty when it comes to future income and place to live. Many of them work as day-workers in the agricultural industries, or as day laborers in factories or in the informal sector Often the children have to help their parents, either at work, or with domestic duties.

Regularity of PlayOnside and our partners, that we show up on regular times to provide our activities is therefore of big importance The project has been a great success so far, and we will continue to provide alternative education through football for out of schoolchildren in the future.

Comments to the Statement of Income

All numbers are in Thai Baht. Over the course of 2017, we six-folded our income, compared to 2016. A couple of significant private donations from Vidar Moe and Trond Mohn, raised our yearly income drastically. We also saw an increase in project-based income and incomes from different events. We expect a lower overall operating revenue in 2018. The long-term support from our main Sponsor BB Bank is of course also of major importance.

Baht

As we expanded the program over 2017, also our operating expenses increased accordingly. By the end of 2017, we are nine paid staff within the organization. We estimate that around one full time position is an administrative position, and this is reflected in the administrative cost of 2017 and the budget for 2018. One major cost in 2017 was the building of the football field at Mae Tao Clinic. We expect to keep the overall expenses at the same level in 2018 as in 2017.

As we get the majority of our income in Euros and Norwegian kroner, while our expenses are in Thai Baht, we are vulnerable for fluctuations in the exchange rate. At the end of the year, it was a small net overall exchange rate appreciation Other financial costs include visa-fees and transferring cost.

The significant increase in revenue in 2017, puts PlayOnside in healthy financial position going into 2018. This is great news for us as it gives is the flexibility to plan ahead, expanding the reach and improving the quality of our program. However, we do recognize that the a significant portion of the income generated in 2017, are not to be expected to be repeated, so we need to still plan carefully about how and where we send our money. For 2018, we budget an overall deficit of approximately 180.000 Thai Baht.

Most of our assets are "Bank Deposit" in our different bank accounts. Other assets of PlayOnside, consist mostly of 60% of the PlayOnside pick-up truck.