## **Durham Palestine Educational Trust Reg. Charity No. 1085097** ## **Registered address:** Redhills: Durham Miners Hall Flass Street Durham DH1 4BD ## **Annual Report 2022-23** Trustees (All Trustees act in an honorary capacity) Kamal Badreshany ( **Assistant Secretary** ), Fadia Faqir, Nathan Griffin, Neil Griffin, Dave Harrop, Elaine Malcolm, Vin McIntyre, Roger Reeve, Bill Williamson ( **Student Welfare Officer** ), Diane Williamson ( **Student Welfare Officer** ), Eileen Williamson ( **Treasurer),** Justin Willis ( **Chair),** Penny Wilson **(Secretary)** Aims of the Trust The Durham Palestine Educational Trust aims to: - Contribute to the social, economic and political development of Palestine through scholarships for Palestinians to study in the UK at Durham University - Increase awareness in Durham of events in Palestine, especially as they affect education - Help students of Durham University to study at Palestinian universities - Promote academic developments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and to promote links with, and academic exchanges between, them and Durham University This report gives details of the activities undertaken by the Trust in pursuit of these aims. The Trust takes all appropriate measures to assess, mitigate and manage the risks associated with its activities. ## **Introduction** I write this report at a very difficult time. Current events are having a terrible and destructive effect on Palestine, and especially in Gaza. The future course of those events is very unclear, but it will surely be the case that there will be a huge task of reconstruction ahead. The work of DPET in building human capacity through education will be even more important in that context. In October 2023 we welcomed the largest cohort of DPET students yet to Durham - six Palestinians arrived to begin their studies. That growth has been possible thanks to a combination of circumstances: the generosity of donors; the continued support offered by Durham University; and – last but by means least – the enthusiasm of DPET’s volunteers, who give freely and extensively of their time and energy. Bringing students to Durham in such numbers involves much more than securing studentships – crucial though those are. The application and selection process itself involves much paperwork and careful scrutiny to maintain the high standards that past students have set. Then the successful applicants must be contacted and helped through the ever-more complex and demanding processes involved in leaving Gaza or the West Bank and travelling to and entering the UK. Accommodation must be found, and transport from airport to Durham – and then someone has to help the students settle in and find their feet in an unfamiliar environment, and to provide continuing pastoral support through the year. DPET relies on the volunteers who do all of this work – and I would like to thank all of those involved, in every role, for their commitment. In the course of the year, and following advice from the University, DPET moved its registered address to Redhills. This in no way signals a weakening of DPET’s relationship with the University, which remains central to the Trust’s work; it is rather that the University itself was advised that since DPET is a separate charity which formally gifts funds to the University, it may not operate from University premises. We have also been advised that trustees who are members of University staff – myself included – should not be involved in the selection of students, aa this might create a conflict of interest. Happily, other trustees have been more than ready to take on this task. I should also thank the Durham Alumni Relations Office (and especially Anna Abbott) and Margret Bidnell-Rowe for their consistent help support in arranging studentships., which makes DPET’s work very much easier. ## **Public benefit** We have referred to the commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aims and objectives and in planning future activities. The trustees consider that the charity’s activities reflect our aims and objectives, and that they are designed to provide accessible services and activities that benefit the appropriate sector of the public in accordance with our charitable activities. ## **Achievements and performance** DPET has now supported the postgraduate education of more than sixty Palestinians at Durham. Former students have gone on to make a range of contributions to the development of Palestine, as noted below. ## **Scholarship Competition 2023-24** The funds in the Pauline Bequest are held in perpetuity. The income from the Bequest is to be used to support Palestinian students to study for masters degrees at Durham, at the discretion of the Pauline Bequest Committee. Following the decision of that Committee, and thanks to a further gift agreement with the University, DPET has been able to use the income from the Pauline Bequest together with funds from other donations to award the increased number of studentships mentioned above. Once again, the Trust received a significant number of strong applications for scholarships: 15 applications met the criteria for entry: 4 from men and 11 from women. 6 applicants were from Gaza and 9 from the West Bank. Many thanks to Bill Williamson and Elaine Malcolm for producing a shortlist of applicants, to Diane Williamson for providing administrative support by chasing references and processing applications. We are delighted to welcome |Samar Saleh (Gaza),|MA Socio-Cultural Anthropology;| |---|---| |Ahmed Ashqar (West Bank)|MSc Sustainability, Energy and Development| |Buthayna Qutaina (West Bank)|MSc Energy Engineering Management| |Dalya Saleh (Gaza)|MA Intercultural Communication & Education ;| |Zein Hamayel (West Bank)|LLM Master of Laws;| |Diana Hindya (West Bank)|MSc Civil Engineering| All arrived in Durham on 20 September for Induction Week. With the help of the British Council, DPET also supported other students in taking the IELTS English language qualification (which is required for admission to UK universities) and a preparation course for this at the Oxford English Centre in Gaza, as we have found this an effective way to encourage studentship applications. 11 individuals applied for this support; 5 were awarded it. ## **DPET Alumni 2022-23** The four students supported by DPET in 2022-23 - Hassan Awashra, Abrar Eqilan, Miral Makhlouf and Mohammed Salha - have all completed their courses, and await their results. ## **Previous Students** Former DPET students continue to distinguish themselves. Mahmoud Shalabi and Tarneem Hammad are both working for Medical Aid for Palestininans in Gaza (Mahmoud is now director of MAP for Gaza); Mahmoud Shatat has recently been selected to attend an EU-funded conference in Amman as an an expert on water, energy and food. Bahaa Atalah has been awarded a PhD in Clinical Psychology at Oxford and is working as a medic in London. Sarah Ali and Eman Alasah are in the final year of doctoral study at Cambridge and Northumbria, respectively; Raneem Hussein, Anas Almasri and Arwa Alzraiy are also pursuing doctorates. ## **Fundraising Activities** While DPET has been fortunate enough to benefit from some significant legacies in recent years, the Trust’s regular income still relies on the generosity of our many supporters both in and beyond Durham. I would like to thank all of those who give so willingly each year in order to make DPET’s work possible. This continued income is all the more important because it has not been possible to continue with the physical and online book sales that sustained DPET for a number of years, particularly thanks to the energy and commitment of Vin McIntyre. Justin Willis, Chair, Durham Palestine Education Trust, October 2023 ## **Durham Palestine Education Trust** ## registered charity no. 1085097 ## **Receipts and Payments Account for the year ended 30th September 2023** ||**Receipts**|**Receipts**|**2022-2023**||**2021-2022**| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |**Donations:**|||||| |**From individuals:**|||||| |||Standingorders|13,081.00
£||13,372.00
£| |||Other donations|2,411.13
£||3,590.00
£| |||Abbot Bequest|76,000.00
£||50,080.00
£| |||Rhodes Donation|||11,332.92
£| |||Zaid Kurdi Donation|||14,990.00
£| |**From organisations:**|||||| |||Forte Securities|5,000.00
£||3,250.00
£| |||CAF|||350.00
£| |||CharityTrust|300.00
£||| |||Amazon Associate fees|51.44
£||41.96
£| |||Give asyou live/Paypal|81.14
£||73.25
£| ||||||| |**Fundraising activities:**|||||| |||Book sales|3,971.04
£||10,700.45
£| ||||||| |**Other income:**|||||| |||Tax recovered through Gift Aid|6,736.78
£||4,613.77
£| |||Interest|10,120.87
£||1,419.54
£| |||Transfer from Pauline Bequest|73,718.96
£||53,044.95
£| |||Transfer from Pauline Cash A/c|163.84
£||| ||||||| |**TOTAL RECEIPTS**|||**191,636.20**
**£**||**166,858.84**
**£**| ||||||| ||**Payments**||||| |**Scholarships**|||||| |||Maintenance Grants|80,046.00
£||28,854.68
£| |||Travel,visa, police registration etc|13,290.80
£||12,254.47
£| |||British Council IELTS Scholarships|||780.00
£| ||||||| |**TOTAL SCHOLARSHIP**|**COSTS**||**93,336.80**
**£**||**41,889.15**
**£**| ||||||| |**TOTAL ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES**|||||| |**Administrative expenses:**|||||| |||Public Liabilityinsurance etc|||262.08
£| |||Admin(Bank Charges)etc|738.04
£||555.12
£| ||||||| |**TOTAL PAYMENTS**|||**94,074.84**
**£**||**42,706.35**
**£**| ||||||| |**Surplus/(deficit) of receipts overpayments**|||**97,561.36**
**£**||**124,152.49**
**£**| ## **Statement of Assets and Liabilities as at 30th September 2023** |||**2022-2023**||**2021-2022**| |---|---|---|---|---| |||||| |Accumulated fund brought forward 1st October 2022||294,097.22
£||169,944.73
£| |Surplus/(Deficit)2022-2023||97,561.36
£||124,152.49
£| |Accumulated fund carried forward 30 Sept 2023||**391,658.58**
**£**||**294,097.22**
**£**| |**represented by**||||| ||HSBC Current Account|744.12
£||396.45
£| ||CAF Cash Account|2,094.09
£||1,170.27
£| ||CAF Gold Account|53,776.24
£||89,088.17
£| ||CAF - Pauline Bequest Gold A/c|||1,001.75
£| ||Paypal|172.37
£||1,339.07
£| ||Flagstone Account|334,871.76
£||467.36
£| ||Shawbrook Bank|||44,272.13
£| ||Monmouthshire BS|||75,696.14
£| ||Cambridge & CountyBank 1/30%|||35,310.39
£| ||Cambridge & CountyBank 2/25%|||45,355.49
£| |||||| |**TOTAL ASSETS**||**391,658.58**
**£**||**294,097.22**
**£**| |||||| |**Designated Funds**||for 2023-24||for 2022-23| ||Six scholarships(prev.year four)|132,440.00
£||88,000.00
£| ||Travel and Visa costs etc.|6,000.00
£||10,000.00
£| ||Contingencyfund|5,000.00
£||5,000.00
£| ||**Total**|**143,440.00**
**£**||**103,000.00**
**£**| |||||| Statement approved by the Trustees on and by the Trust's AGM on and signed on its behalf by: Eileen Williamson Treasurer Date: ## Penny Wilson Secretary Date: This report has been independently examined by Mr David Atkinson Signature Date CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the truste881 m8mb•rs of The Durham Palestine Educational Trusl On accounts for the year ended 30 September 2023 Charity no (if any) 1085097 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above chanty ('the Trust'l for the year ended Responsibilities and As the Charity trustees of th8 Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basls of report of the accounts in a¢cordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act.). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under sertion 145151{b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. l confimi that no material matters have come lo my attention in connedion with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect.. accounting records were not kept in aGcordance with section 130 of the Ad or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records Independent examinerfs Statement I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination lo which attention should be drawn in order to enable proper understanding of the accounts to ￿ reached. Signed: Date: 202 Name: DavKI Atkinson Relevant professional qualificatlonls) or body (If any): Fellow of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants Address: 3 Sturton Grange Mill, War￿￿orth, Northumbedand NE65 OEZ Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concem {see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts.. d1￿ctionS and guidance for examiners). IER October 2018