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2022-12-31-accounts

HELPING UGANDA SCHOOLS

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS JANUARY TO DECEMBER 2022

Registered Charity No. 1098176 Charity Unique Code QAQ87ZG

Chair: Richard Bircher

Trustees: Joanna Bircher, Chris Bishop, Bob Blundell, Carmel Dowling, Emma Stapleton, Helen Taylor -O’Brien, Jessica Williams, Josie Muwonge

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INTRODUCTION

It gives us great pleasure to publish the 19th Annual Report for the charity Helping Uganda Schools. The charitable work of HUGS started in 1995 and formal Charity registration obtained in 2003. Our three guiding principles remain the same.

This year major achievements have been:

  1. The finalization of plans for a new school for children who live in the Kosovo slum in Kampala

  2. The continued support of Good Shepherd School on its journey to financial sustainability

  3. The opening of our second special needs school, St Francis de Sales, in Jinja

  4. Joint pupil sponsorship with Bury Africa Outreach and Jamie's Legacy

  5. The development and purchase of computers for the IT department at the Asili Girls School

  6. Development of new working relationship with the Dokolo Girls Secondary School (managed by the same religious order as at Lira Girls School)

HUGS has no paid employees. Our work in Uganda is carried out in partnership with trusted representatives, who are honest, hardworking, trustworthy individuals who manage projects and administer the use of our funds. They work through registered Ugandan NGOs or Religious Orders. We are grateful for their continued tenacious work and personal commitment to helping the most impoverished in their communities.

CHANGES TO CHARITY ADMINISTRATION

In December 2022 the HUGS Trustees unanimously agreed to welcome our 8[th] trustee, Mrs Josie Muwonge. Josie is born in Uganda and has a long history of working with Ugandan NGOs, and has family who work in education. All other trustees remain unaltered.

Joanna Bircher and Helen Taylor O’Brien were given full access to HUGS bank accounts.

Mr Alec Perkins, from the organization Jamie's legacy (who administer a large sponsorship programme for children in the Kosovo Slum) was given viewing rights to a subsidiary HUGS bank account, which his organisation uses to deposit donations which are aligned with the work of HUGS.

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CHARITY INCOME

During 2022 HUGS raised its largest annual income at £172,916. This is testimony to the hard work of Trustees and the partnerships they have created for the benefit of the charity and its recipients.

The grand total raised by HUGS up to December 31[st ] 2022 is just over £1.8 million.

We endeavor to keep our administrative overheads as low as possible and guarantee every donation from our supporters is spent on supporting schools and students. As in previous years all our administrative costs were covered in full by personal Trustee donations.

Our regular standing orders have increased and provide £2,300 a month. We have worked in partnership with multiple organisations:

CHARITY EXPENDITURE

At the beginning of 2022 HUGS Trustees agreed a prospectus (a list of funding items agreed with our projects). This formed the basis of our annual spending plans with the flexibility of adding further items as they arose during the year. We are pleased to report only two items were not completed during 2022: the leveling of a football pitch for Little Shepherd School and the construction of new buildings at the Asli Girls School. These items have been brought forward into the 2023 prospectus.

St Francis de Sales

Complete first Teachers accommodation house Second Teachers accommodation house Build Kitchen Purchase 8 acres of land for cultivation Support staff costs Sports equipment Disability aids for children Stock Treatment room and emergency fund Help very poor families income generate for school fees Football pitch Provide smoke free, fuel efficient stove Planting of farmland

Kosovo Education project

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Design new school Site survey Architects plans Purchase 10 acres of land Income generation for families to pay school fees Land preparation (levelling) Mattresses for families

Asili School

Computer lab equipment New dormitory /classroom Solar power lighting/power

Good Shephard School

3 acre of land for Vegetables Market Garden development Take over Improving Chances charity

Dokolo School

Kitchen completion Rocket Stove Kitchen Solar Power

Sponsorship programme

Maintain 73 students 10 students from Kosovo

Little Shepherd

Sports Field development 2 acres of Land to grow food Staff Latrine

Humanitarian projects

Student L (education and Prosthesis) Student K (eye treatment) Case D Gynaecology surgery

OVERVIEW OF SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMME

All our schools have to participate in State examinations. This chart summarises the results at end of Primary and end of secondary school, compared to national averages.

Div1 Div2 Div3 Div4 Fail
Uganda Average PLE 10% 52% 17% 10% 7%
Good shepherd 33%(5) 66%(10) 0 0 0

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St Zoe’sprimary 42%(10) 58%(14) 0 0 0
Little Shepherd 27%(5) 63%(12) 0 0 0
St Francis de Sale 1(100%) 0
Uganda Average UCE 13% 21% 25% 37% 7%
Asili Girls School 17%(5) 34%(10) 45%(13) 3%(1) 0
St. Zoe’s secondary 19%(5) 19%(5) 30%(7) 26%(6) 0
Dokolo Girls 0% 11%(3) 64%(18) 25%(7) 0

HUGS Trustees visited the majority of our schools in November 2022, so are able to provide firsthand accounts of their progress and quality.

LITTLE SHEPHERD PRIMARY SCHOOL, RUTUNGURU

Little Shepherd school grows in reputation and enrolment numbers. It is now the largest primary school in the area, educating just under 500 pupils. The Dormitory is well used and helping many students (who had to travel long distances) to obtain a better education. The school is well run, tidy, and the children were noted to be confident and lively.

During our 2022 visit we became aware that facilities for the health of the children were not adequate, diets poor and there was no sick bay facility. HUGS trustees raised this issue and set a programme of change, including extra land for food, planning of fruit trees, improving the sports pitch and constructing a sick bay and immunisation centre.

ST ZOE’S PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS, MUBENDE

St Zoe’s Primary School opened in 2001 and Secondary school in 2006. It offers education up to the end of “O” level. The school results are consistently good and in the top 10% of all of Uganda. The school now encourages its best pupils to attend A level and then University. The school is financially self-sufficient and generates its own funds to continue development. It has 40 acres of land, which generates a sizable income as well as food and water for all the pupils. There have been few requests for HUGS support, other than the sponsorship of some of the most impoverished children. The school enrols equal numbers of boys and girls and has well kept dormitory facilities. HUGS Trustees planned to visit in 2022 but were persuaded not to because of an Ebola outbreak. The head of the Primary Section has changed to Sr Agnes (and this has helped communication and dialogue)

GOOD SHEPHERD SPECIAL NEEDS SCHOOL, FORT PORTAL

HUGS helped finance the development of Good Shepherd School for children with

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learning disabilities, supporting its inspirational founder (and current School principal) Sr Theresa Abigaba. It opened in 2009.

The school cares for 170 children who are not able to be supported in mainstream education. It has a well developed vocational section (tailoring, woodwork, hair dressing) and an outreach programme, where education is taken to the homes of children with severe disabilities. The school provides a high quality education not usually seen in Uganda.

Because of small class sizes and low income from school fees, the school struggles to be financially sustainable. During 2022 a difficult decision was taken to reduce the size of the outreach programme as the regular funds from ‘Improving Chances’ charity were reduced following the closure of this charity. HUGS manage to take over 25% of the previous regular donations.

The school’s cattle farm was not a financial success. Due to COVID the price of feeds increased, and the sale value of cattle fell. During the 2022 HUGS Trustee visit, all but two milk cows were sold and the land was under-utilised. HUGS agreed to invest in further land and employed the services of a professional market gardener to increase the productivity and profit from this land. The land change started in January 2023. We agreed to explore income generation through tourism, and looked at ways to reduce overheads (replacing solar battery and using a fuel efficient stove)

We continue to support children who are orphaned or from extremely poor families. We are helping to have all teachers receive a diploma in Special Needs Education (this year funding two extra places).

ST. THERESA’S PRIMARY SCHOOL, RUKIRA, RWANDA

HUGS provided funds to help to rebuild this school in 2007, which was left in a dilapidated condition following years of civil unrest. The school currently enrolls 500 primary children plus a further 200 in a pre-school nursery. State provision of Education in Rwanda has improved since 2007 and there is no mandate for HUGS to offer considerable support. We support three pupils studying in Rwanda.

ASILI GIRLS SECONDARY AND VOCATIONAL SCHOOL, LIRA UGANDA

HUGS responded to a request in 2011 to help build a secondary school for girls in Lira, northern Uganda. The school has a clear focus to provide emancipation and opportunity to girls in Lira and recent ‘rebranded’ itself as a Secondary and Vocational school. An important development in 2022 was the provision of facilities and purchase of computers to create of first HUGS Information Technology teaching facility. This is seen as an essential skill for any girl wanting to access work in international companies or retain high pay. The facilities are also used to help educate young mothers and ‘school drop outs’ during night school classes.

The school faces a new challenge with the announcement that all access to nursing and Teaching had to be with a university degree. The school intends to expand to

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provide A level studies in order to help students into these roles.

In 2022 we helped build a power supply for the school, which is blighted by power cuts. They have their own generator and potentially 24/7 electricity.

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES NURSERY SCHOOL FOR DEAF CHILDREN, JINJA,

UGANDA

St Francis de Sales opened in February 2022 with an initial intake of 45 children. The children enrolled have more profound disabilities than our other schools. HUGS helped purchase beds, furniture, teaching equipment and helped develop the kitchen and teachers accommodation.

HUGS trustees visited the school in December 2022 and found it lively, full of fun and safe. The kitchen, and specifically the fuel efficient volcanic rock stove were working well and reducing school overheads

HUGS also, mindful of future sustainability helped purchase 8 acres of farmland, specifically to grow vegetables, fruit and cereal crops. This was cleared and has already been harvested once in 2022.

HUGS continues to sponsor the education of many pupils attending St Francis de Sales favouring children with physical disabilities.

The school continues to have challenges, and is a long way from being financially sustainable. The school was originally designed to educate children to the end of year 4, then feed them into mainstream schools. Unfortunately, no local primary school has agreed to accept any child with disability. We agreed to help expand the school to cover all years to Primary 7.

KOSOVO SLUM EDUCATION

The new relationship with CEFOVID (NGO working in the Kosovo slum) has been a major focus of our work in 2022. We have continued to plan for a new school to be built north of Kampala in an area called Busunjju to educate 300 primary aged children from the Slum. We have worked in partnership with the Mulchand Foundation and secured an agreement for £300,000 for the school construction. We have agreed architects designs and building work should commence in 2023.

The needs of the families living in the Kosovo area are immense and improving their opportunities requires multiple initiatives. HUGS had helped raised funds for a tailoring, micro-industry course for 30 single mothers (who generally use improved incomes to pay for education) and we continue to broker an agreement with Rotary to pay for clean water standpipes which will benefit 10,000 residents (grant bid is for $37,000). Children miss approximately a month of school through illness, most of which is attributed to water born infections. We also contributed to a fund to provide new mattresses to the extremely poor families, a project which had ripple effects, as Ugandan companies became involved in offering reduced fees and charitable donations.

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HUGS funds bought 8.5 acres of land which Trustees visited in November 2022. The land is in a fertile area and is flanked by woodland and beautiful rolling hills. The difference this school will make to the health, education and ambition of children who normally would never leave the 2 square kilometer of the slum is likely to be immeasurable.

DOKOLO GIRLS SECONDARY SCHOOL

This is the first year HUGS has formed a relationship with Dokolo school. It is a remote Secondary School for girls administrated by the same religious order as the Asili Girls School. Facilities are very poor, with only two small classrooms, which double up as dormitories. Once the main priority of a new kitchen was identified HUGS raised funds to complete this project. The school has a great future potential as it already received state support for teachers and owns 50 acres of land which could make its future sustainable.

SCHOLARSHIPS

In 2022

We accepted 4 new students onto our sponsorship scheme, making a total of 83 beneficiaries (including 10 children from the Kosovo slum).

LIRA BABIES HOME

We continued to support the Babies home with single annual donation to help running costs and health expenditure.

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HUMANITARIAN SUPPORT

Through constant dialogue we have with our Trusted Advisors in Uganda, we are made aware of individuals who have desperate needs. In 2021 much of this need came from the economic and social stresses of the COVID Pandemic. In 2022 we paid for the medical treatment of two children and one young adult. Student L is a bright teenaged student who lost limbs after developing septicemia. HUGS has paid for limb prostheses and sponsored her education (£1300). Student K was facing sure blindness and we paid £300 for surgery. A young woman, D. had her extensive birth trauma and fistula corrected in two operations, from the proceeds of the Dr Goldthorpe memorial fund which HUGS managed.

Dr Richard Bircher Chair HUGS May 2023

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STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENDITURE FOR HELPING UGANDA SCHOOLS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022

The charity spends all donor money on schools, students, or family support to enable education. No donor money is used for administrative or overhead purposes.

SUMMARY OF INCOME AND EXPENDITURE FOR 2022

Code Income item Notes £
7900 Bank Interest 5.19
1000
0		 Standing Order. Gift Aid 25,125.67
1000
1		 Standing Order. No Gift Aid 2,187.30
1000
2		 Single Donation. Gift Aid * Including Jamie’s Legacy 29,640.71
1000
3		 Single Donation 6808.93
1000
4		 Donation from
charity/trust/business		 75,711.50
1000
7		 HMRC Gift Aid 18,622.50
1000
8		 PayPal 8,379.96
1000
9		 Online donation provider 5,197.40
1001
0		 Improving Chances, SO Gift Aid 810
Total Income 172489.16
Code Expenditure item Notes £
7400 Travelling ** Covered by Trustees
donations		 7,583.00
7900 Bank Charges 515
1010
3		 Good Shepherd Capital 13,900.44
1010
4		 Little Shepherd Capital 7,400.00
1010
5		 Asili Girls School Capital 18,350.00
1010
6		 Capital SFDS 43,455.00
1010
8		 CEFOVID Capital 32,960.00
1010
9		 Dokolo Capital 3,850.00
1020
3		 Good Shepherd Project Support *** including Improving Chances 2,500.00
1020
4		 Little Shepherd Project Support 0
1020
5		 Asili Girls School Project Support 0
1020 St Frances de Sales Project 350

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6 Support
1020
7		 Lira Baby's Home Project
Support		 2,000.00
1020
8		 CEFOVID Support 2,300.00
1030
0		 Student Sponsorship Direct Expenses 35,140.00
1040
0		 Humanitarian Aid Direct Expenses 3,022.00
Total Expenditure 173,325.4
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BALANCE SHEET 01/01//2022 – 31/12/2022

£ Cash and reserves carried forward at 31/12/2021 50710.33 Total Income 172489.16 Total Expenditure 173325.44

___ INCOME PLUS OPENING BALANCE LESS EXPENDITURE 49874.05

BANK BALANCES 31.12.22

Barclays Helping Uganda Schools I 30315.11 Barclays Helping Uganda Schools II (Jamie’s legacy) 5983.78 Coop Helping Uganda Schools 13534.99 Coop Helping Rwanda Schools 40.17 ___ TOTAL 49874.05

NOTES ON ACCOUNT

The Charity has no non-cash assets and has no debtors or creditors or other liabilities. The charity holds no cash or other assets in Uganda or Rwanda.

1 Gift Aid claims made on donations upto 4/11/22
2 Go fund me donations will include some gift aid that Go Fund me claim on our
behalf
3 Main overheads were incurred as bank changes for international transfers
and travel expenses which were covered by trustee donations
4 Funds used for school student and undergraduate support in Uganda and
Rwanda

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5 These funds supported individuals to access education for example for eye treatments and walking aids

In conformity with Charity Commission and Inland Revenue requirement we declare that this report and accounts is an accurate statement of the affairs of the charity during the year.

Signed on behalf of Trustees

Richard Bircher Chair of Trustees 31/07/2023

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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on tho accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to tho tiu$tees1 members of Helping Uganda Schools (HUGS) On a¢Gounts for the year endgd 31 Decernber 2022 Charity no Irf any) 1098176 Set out on pages I report to ts trustees on my examination of the accounts ol the abovo charity Ilhe Trust'l for the year ended 3111212022. Re8ponslbilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basi8 of report of the accounts in accordance wrth the requirements of the Charitres Act 2011 1.thè Act'l. I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's account$ Carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed th8 applica￿e Directions given by the Charity Comrnission under section 1451Sllbl of the Act. I have coM￿eted my exarnination. I confirni that no material matters have eorne to my attention in conn8Ction wth the examination which give5 me ¢ause to believe that in, any materi81 respect.. ac¢ounting records werè not kept In accordance with Section 130 01 the Act or the accounts do not accord wrth the accountiry records Indapèndent examinarfs statsmènt I have no concèms and have come across no other matters in connection th the examin8tion to which atten*on should be drawn in order lo enable proper understanding of the accounts to te reachad. Signed: Date.. 2610712023 Name: Mrs Susan Sppnce Relevant professional qualificatlonlsl or body lif any).. Addre89.' Mortin House Compstall stockport SK6 5JX Section B Disclosure Only complete rf the examiner needs to highlight matters of con¢ern (see CC32, Independent exarnination of charity accounts. direGtiOn5 and guidance for examiners). IER October 2018 13