## **AFRICAN CHILDREN’S** ## **FUND LTD.** ## **ANNUAL DIRECTORS’ REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR YEAR ENDING MARCH 2023** **REGISTERED CHARITY NO 1114699 COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE NO 05708741** ## **CONTENTS** - i. Administrative Information - ii. Governing Documents - iii. Aims and Objectives iv. Our Programme in Africa - v. Education and Awareness Raising in the UK - vi. Future Plans - vii. Monitoring and Evaluation - viii. Mitigating Risk - ix. Principal Sources of Funding - x. Reserves Policy - xi. Financial Highlights - xii. Statement of Financial Activities - xiii. Balance Sheet xiv. ## **i. ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION** **Charity Name** African Children’s Fund Ltd. **Charity Registration No** 1114699 **Company Registration No 0** 5708741 **Registered and Operational Office** Silver Birch House Cow Lane Longworth Nr Abingdon Oxfordshire OX13 5EJ **Tel** 01865 820570 **Web Site** www.africanchildrensfund.org **Directors** Debra Beazley Caroline Farrington (nee Blacker) **Company Secretary** Dee Tyrer **Chief Executive Officer** Dee Tyrer **Bankers** Lloyds Bank **Solicitor** Crowdy and Rose, Faringdon ## **ii. GOVERNING DOCUMENTS** The African Children’s Fund Ltd. is a company limited by guarantee. The governance of the organisation is laid out in **The Memorandum of Association** and **Articles of Association** for Company number 05708741, incorporated on 14[th] February 2006 The directors of the company are together the trustee of the Charity. They therefore have a duty to comply with the rules of Companies House and the Charity Commission. Being a company limited by guarantee there is no dividend. Policies and Procedures which govern the day to day management of the organisation are set out in the **Policy and Procedures Manual** which is reviewed and updated regularly. ## **iii. OUR AIMS AND OBJECTIVES** - a. The relief of poverty, sickness, hardship and distress in African children particularly orphans, street children, child mothers, widows, those with HIV/AIDS and their families - by providing culturally appropriate care and support services. - b. To advance education and training of the public, both in the UK and overseas, on the issues facing people from Africa, particularly sub-Saharan Africa. ## **iv. OUR PROGRAMME IN AFRICA** We are currently working in four African countries, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. We support local projects run by local people and agree a Memorandum of Understanding with those groups who run the projects we fund. ## **Kenya** In Kenya we work with a local NGO, Watoto Kwanza which is based in Thika, Kiambu County providing support to the poorest children to increase their attendance at primary school. They have identified two main reasons for children dropping out of school: - i. Children from poor families need to scavenge or work during the day to obtain food. ii. Girls can’t afford sanitary protection and miss a week of schooling each month, often causing them to fall so far behind they drop out altogether. Watoto Kwanza addresses these challenges by working closely with schools to provide school meals and sanitary towels to the poorest pupils. Their success rate is outstanding with both attendance and attainment rising steadily. Watoto Kwanza works with primary schools in Kiambu County, including two new schools which were brought into the programme this year. They also work with the Joy Children’s Centre which is home to 90 children and a school to a further 200. Over the year we were pleased to be able to help them build a new toilet block and a new classroom after one of theirs collapsed. Our second partner in Kenya is ACF Kenya which runs HAKI, a legal aid project that offers free legal advice to poor families and runs training and capacity development programmes for a variety of groups on children’s rights in Kenya. Members of HAKI also serve on the Boards of various legal committees and give a voice to children’s rights at these committees. Drought in the Horn of Africa has brought food shortages and hardship, and the Massai group with whom we have maintained contact since their visit here in 2010 were particularly hard hit. We raised extra funds to help the community and schools with food during the worst periods. ## **Tanzania** In Tanzania we work with Mfuku wa Watoto, a registered Tanzanian NGO. In Dar es Salaam, Mfuko wa Watoto supports a nursery school which caters for young children who would otherwise be left alone at home during the day while their parents are at work, or they would accompany their parents to work, sometimes in dangerous places such as the local quarry or going from car to car on busy roads trying to sell drinks or trinkets. This year we were able to help them install electricity at the school, which has improved security, cooking facilities and educational resources. Mfuko Wa Watoto has a legal specialist who runs workshops for schools, churches and community centres, on children’s rights and gives advice on legal issues to vulnerable children and families, supporting them through the legal system as appropriate. We also work with School Girl Essentials who run a programme in Mateves providing sanitary protection for girls at school. The programme includes a social and education awareness element as well as the provision of packs of re-usable sanitary towels, underwear and detergent to the girls. ## **Uganda** We are continuing to work with the Ugandan registered NGO, Strategic Action for the Eradication of Child Abuse (SAFE). SAFE works with abandoned and abused children. They run a rescue home on the outskirts of Kampala for 20 children which provides a temporary sanctuary for rescued children until they can safely go back to a family member or to a new foster family. They also run awareness campaigns on children’s rights aimed at promoting good practices amongst parents, teachers and community leaders. ## **Zimbabwe** Our partner in Zimbabwe is the Mwana Trust, which cares for the basic needs of orphaned children in the Mutare area. They liaise with primary schools to find places for 300 children and support them both practically and emotionally to facilitate the best possible outcomes. They also support the most vulnerable child-headed households with food and practicalities. Thanks to a grant from the EA Foundation a new library and computer hub is being built and fitted out at Rowa Primary School, one of the schools where children supported by Mwana Trust attend. ## **v. EDUCATION AND AWARENESS IN THE UK** We have an active website and we continue to take advantage of the Google Ads in-kind grant to improve our placing on the google search engine, this year, this amounted to $4831’s worth of free google ads. Attracting an average of 287 visitors each week, the website gives information about all aspects of our work, both here and overseas. The news blog allows us to post news items regularly to ensure supporters are kept up to date. We produce a regular monthly e-newsletter for 558 subscribers which also ensures that volunteers, supporters, and those interested in our work are kept informed. Our Social Network continues to grow, and our Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn sites are very active with 5723 Twitter followers, 1339 Facebook followers, 426 LinkedIn followers and 250 Instagram followers. Our social media presence is important in ensuring our message reaches a wider audience and we are pleased that it has resulted in new contacts and supporters. We have three charity shops selling donated items, in Faringdon, Witney and Grove. Each of our shops has displays and leaflets about our work and the issues faced by those with whom we work in Africa. We also have online shops on Ebay and Amazon, which also help to raise awareness of our work. The Juice Networking Group in Witney has once again, extended our charity membership with them for yet another year. Membership of the group allows us to promote what we do to businesses in the area and to build positive relationships with several companies and individuals and we are extremely grateful for their continuing support. We are continuing to campaign about the importance of education for girls. UNESCO estimates that almost 500,000 school-age girls in Kenya do not attend school while only 63% of girls in Sub-Saharan Africa complete their primary education. One reason for this is the simple lack of sanitary protection that means girls miss a week of school each month and often fall so far behind they fall out of education altogether. Our work in this area with Watoto Kwanza in Kenya and School Girl Essentials in Tanzania provides evidence of the startling difference the provision of sanitary protection makes in the areas of school attendance, academic achievement, social awareness, self-esteem, confidence and health. **In Africa** , drought in the Horn of Africa and the dramatic increase in the cost of food and fuel, partly caused by the war in Ukraine has brought additional challenges this year. To counter this we have increased our regular payments to our school based projects so the children continue to receive nutritious food while at school. ## **vi. FUTURE PLANS** We plan to continue to support all our current projects in the four African countries where we work. It is clear from both qualitative and quantitative research that supporting children to attend school regularly has a major effect, giving them increased confidence, skills and qualifications, which significantly improve their life chances. Our partners have plans to expand and improve their work in this area and we will continue to support them in their efforts. Our shops are benefitting from the increased recognition of the importance of re-use and re-cycling, and we plan to build on this as well as continuing to improve our online trading through Ebay and Amazon. We are also prioritising funding from trusts and hope to build on relationships we have with them as well as with our increasing number of regular donors. We recognise that the decrease in the use of cash will continue to have a detrimental effect on static collection boxes and we continue to look for cashless alternatives. ## **vii. MONITORING AND EVALUATION** Monitoring and evaluation is a constant process. Our projects each send a detailed annual report and accounts which have been signed off externally. They also provide quarterly updates on their activities, and we have produced a Monitoring and Evaluation form to facilitate this. Monitoring visits are made approximately every two years by representatives of ACF and on a less formal basis we are in touch with all our partners on WhatsApp. ## **viii. MITIGATING RISK** We keep a Risk Register which identifies potential risks and records how they are mitigated. This register is reviewed and discussed at each Trustees meeting and anything of note reported to trustees between meetings by staff. ## **ix. PRINCIPAL FUNDING SOURCES** Our principal sources of funding are grants from trusts, legacies, donations from individual members of the public (including direct debits and sponsored events), direct mail, income from our three charity shops, including online sales from Ebay and Amazon, proceeds from static collecting boxes and events. We also claim gift aid on eligible donations. ## **x. RESERVES POLICY** We have agreed a policy whereby the unrestricted funds not remitted or invested in tangible fixed assets held by the charity should not be less than three months of salary and basic office costs. We currently have reserves of £31,625. ## **xi. FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS** Voluntary donations from individuals remained high this year and we are extremely grateful to everyone who supports us in this way. We took part in the Big Christmas Give for the first time and are very pleased to have raised our target and unlocked matched funding from both our own pledger and the Big Give champions. Trading was also good reflecting increased income from our charity shops and online sales. We also had an excellent response from our appeals to Charitable Trusts and we are very grateful for the grants awarded by: Doris Field Charitable Foundation, G&E Pollitzer Charitable Settlement, Fulmer Trust, Hudson Charitable Trust, Souter Foundation, Ashworth Trust, De La Rue Foundation, Schroder Charitable Trust, HD Wills Charitable Trust and the EA Foundation, Grace Trust, Rosie Pearson Foundation, Prince of Wales Charitable Fund and Pat Newman Memorial Trust. ￿T￿TE￿lE,'￿T OF Fl.:4￿1.4￿1￿L ￿￿Tp.f￿lE￿ FOR VR E"4DI.'4G IL P,7￿￿ 2=21 2)i2.23 2)21.Z2 YdC(WE COST8 TOT￿ EXPEIUTl*EEK￿sTS 20L174 p1toFfT￿55 AFRICAN CHILDREN'S FUND LTD. ALANCE FYE 3V03123 FYE 31103122 Current Assets Maln Account 81125 83208 Shop Accoums Programme Account5 VAT Re-clalmable 19497 22189 12128 12128 32 -98 Total 112782 117426 Fixed Assets Flxtures and Fittings LeL.SL¥hold and buildings Total Total Awets 117426 Current Liabilities Accounts payable (Provlslon for events ¢0sts1 IncomL, taxe5 payable Total 15000 1103 923 Lontrtem Liabilities Totsl Total Uabllltles 923 TheDtyeCt0r5hrnrntN￿1WedlknB ¢ixknpAnyto Obtathatta￿ [na¢¢¢•dar￿￿1thSCttsQn 476 of Ihe C•A*sAL*2￿)6¥tt￿Ael$no￿ thelr respcrfthlxks lorensurfDethe thmparry comptythith sect 386 DfthèCompaTr*sAtt200&They ackTrN*1gdgotheli re5PDn￿bSlitYtN WepJrir¢￿unts ￿￿ea￿df￿kn0lthe 5tat¢ of aHdtsofthleun￿mYAt the •Trd•f thB11th￿¥ y&ryr. and of Ia&sforthèfhwn￿01)ear, In ar¥rydW*ith ￿ we4uirementsofthBCmpthge5Act rf•ti•¢to 8¢wunSsofarasL*aWkabkntDtl*cc￿p￿iy.Ful￿fina￿wYÉ8r¢ndlnE￿03/23y*C￿￿yT*&lenUUQdtr1wthmknTr fvom Undwseth￿477l2)tslIkn COmpank￿￿et2c1)6 FeMtrrftosmallconwwi* Directors signature Name ￿lL Date +1,1, CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND ANO WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Report to the trustees CAJtsts*¥fyl S fv-yfJ.) On accounts for thé ended 2022-23 Charlty no (if any) 111+69 Set out on pages l ￿pOrt to the tnjstees on my examination of the accounts of the above Charity llhe Trust'l for the year ended 31413-2023. Responsibilities and basis As thè chariws Irustees. you arè responsible for the preparation ofth8 of réport accounts in accordance with th8 requirements of the Charities Act 2011 l.the Acri. I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under seclion 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out ny examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Ct)mmission under sectKin 14515llbl of the Act. Independent examinerfs The charity's gross income exceeded £250,000 and l am qualthed to statement undertake the examin81ion by being a qualified tnember of Chartered Institute of Management Accountsnts I have completed my examination. I confim that no material matters havè ni8 lo my attention in connection with the examination (other than that disclosed below'l whith gives me cause lo belièva that in, any material respeu: the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act,. or the accounts did not a(xord with the accounting records," or thè 8¢wunts did not CoM￿Y with th8 applicable requirements conceming the fom and content of accounts set out in th8 Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the awunts give a 'true and fair, wew which is not a matter considered as part of an irKlependenl examination. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be dr8wn in this report in ordarto enable a proper understanding of th8 a¢¢ounts lo be reached. Pl8as8 delete the words in th& brackets if they do not apply. Signed: Nama: Paul Ian Dunbar Relevant professional quallficatlonlsl or body Irf any1= Chartered Institute of Management Accountants IER Oct 2018 Address: The Heli(x)n, One s￿th Pla￿, London. EC2M 2RB