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2021-03-31-accounts

EAST AFRICA CHILDREN’S PROJECT

Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts

for the year ended

31 March 2021

EACP is a Registered Charity in England and Wales (No. 1136340)

Trustees: Pieter Lagaay, Jennie Lawes, Martin Sadofski, Ros Stow 2 Eastfield Crescent, Brighton BN1 8EL www.eacpcharity.com

Registration details and Trustees

Charity name

EAST AFRICA CHILDREN’S PROJECT (“EACP”)

Registered in England and Wales

No. 1136340

Principal address Website

2 Eastfield Crescent Brighton BN1 8EL www.eacpcharity.com

Trustee name Office Date of appointment Pieter Lagaay Chairman 8 March 2010 Jennie Lawes Secretary 20 January 2011 Martin Sadofski Communications 11 December 2012 Ros Stow Treasurer 8 March 2010

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Welcome to EACP’s Annual Report for the year to 31 March 2021

The Trustees of EACP are delighted to present their eleventh annual report for EACP’s year ended 31 March 2021.

This year has clearly brought much difficulty and uncertainty around the world, including to our donors and partners. We have been heartened by the continued support from our regular donors and highly impressed by the extra efforts that our partners in East Africa have had to make to keep the children in their care safe and well. The Trustees wish to pay special thanks to Barry Harper who has volunteered significant amounts of his time to help us develop new sources of grant funding and keeping our administration running smoothly. Thanks in large part to Barry’s work we are delighted to report another record-breaking year of income.

In the remainder of this report we will provide you with details of our:

There then follow EACP’s receipts and payments accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021.

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Structure, governance and management

Constitution

EACP began in August 2009 as an informal organisation under the direction of Pieter Lagaay, providing support to projects in East Africa. It soon became apparent that there was a tremendous public interest in these activities and what Pieter was trying to achieve. The logical next step was to enact a more formal constitution and seek full charitable status.

EACP was constituted as a charitable trust under a Trust Deed dated 8 March 2010 and, following amendments to its objects, a new Trust Deed was enacted on 20 May 2010 (the ‘Trust Deed’). EACP then successfully obtained registration as a charity in England and Wales on 14 June 2010.

Recruitment and appointment of trustees

Under the terms of the Trust Deed, EACP must have a minimum of three trustees who are appointed for a term of one year.

Pieter Lagaay who has a long and distinguished background in children’s education, particularly those with special needs as well as experience with development charities in Africa, was appointed one of the first Trustees and he brought together other friends and associates with relevant professional experience to act with him. Trustees are subject to annual re-election by a majority of their fellow Trustees.

We currently have four Trustees who have each worked with EACP for at least eight years. The current Trustees bring a complementary mix of development, fundraising, communications and finance skills to EACP.

Prior to appointment, trustees are provided with guidance produced by the Charities Commission, for example the publication ‘The Essential Trustee’, and ongoing training needs of trustees are reviewed on an annual basis.

Governance and management

The work of EACP is directed by its Trustees, who provide their services voluntarily and are ably assisted by a group of committed volunteers. The Trustees are in regular contact and hold regular meetings where formal decisions are made and minuted.

We are fully aware of our obligations to our donors and the trust they have placed in us when donating funds. With that in mind, we have developed policies and procedures to minimise the risks to EACP’s assets.

For example, we conduct checks on potential new project partners, formally assess all requests for funding in terms of risks, viability and relevance to our charitable donations, and monitor the

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outcomes of the initiatives we support. We also ensure that our partners have appropriate Child Safeguarding Policies in place.

We aim to conduct a monitoring visit to the projects we support every two to three years to confirm our understanding of the existing work being carried out by our project partners as well as explore new ideas and new organisations which we may consider supporting. Pieter Lagaay and Barry Harper last visited in June 2019 (as reported in our 2020 Annual Report). The date of the next Trustee visit remains subject to careful consideration of health risks in the current climate.

Objects and activities

Objects

The charitable objects of EACP are:

Main activities

The main activity undertaken by EACP in furtherance of these objectives is the support of projects which:

EACP currently supports small, manageable projects in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda that produce tangible outcomes for children in need. We strongly believe that working together with local partners produces the best results and our work could not be undertaken without the dedication and initiative of the people who manage the projects we support. We firmly believe that local solutions to local problems are the most effective means of delivering longer term positive change for children and their communities.

Public benefit

In exercising their duties and, in particular, in making decisions as to how EACP’s resources will be applied, the Trustees have had regard to the guidance on public benefit issued by the Charity

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Commission, as required by Section 4(6) Charities Act 2006 and the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008.

Achievements and performance

EACP’s focus this year continued to be initiatives which support improvements in children’s education, health and welfare. This year we responded to the Covid 19 outbreak by agreeing to provide support for immediate needs prompted by the outbreak, such as food price increases, school closures and children losing their families.

We were also able to support ongoing higher educations costs as well as several highly important infrastructure projects to improve classrooms, dormitory accommodation and sanitary facilities.

Our ability to support this range and extent of initiatives has been made possible by:

While our twinning arrangements remain in place, there was reduced activity this year because of school closures in the UK and East Africa.

The impacts of Covid-19 on our supporters and partners will be felt throughout the coming year ending 31 March 2022. We are pleased to say that, at the date of this report, all our funding streams are performing well.

During the year, we made grants to seven organisations, all of whom we have supported in previous years, as described below.

Joy Children’s Centre, Ruiru, near Thika, Kenya (‘Joy’)

Joy was set up by Sarah Wanjiku in September 2004. Sarah and her husband Jimnah direct and oversee Joy’s activities, assisted by a team of dedicated board members with a big vision to end the

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vicious cycle of poverty. EACP has provided significant support to Joy since 2010 and Joy is now twinned with the Lyceum School in London.

Joy has recently had a stable population of around 70 residential children and 300 day-pupils, the resident children being largely orphans or have families who are unable to care for them, perhaps due to complex special needs. However, the Covid-19 outbreak has increased pressure on Joy to take in more orphans and the resident population is growing.

The Trustees have always been highly impressed with the dedication and resourcefulness of Joy’s management team, and particularly how they have responded to the current crisis, to ensure that as many as possible of the needy children that come their way can be accommodated.

We have also responded to the situation at Joy by, from September 2020, temporarily more than doubling the regular subsistence payments we make each month to some £1,200 per month, to cover additional food and other costs.

Via grant funding, we have enabled Joy to connect to the main sewage system (the final stages of this to be completed in 2021/22), to complete a new dormitory for its girls, and to plan for the construction of a new nursery building for the youngest children and babies (funding for this has been secured and the construction will commence in 2021/22). We are particularly grateful to the Camellia Foundation and the Eifion Trust for supporting the larger projects at Joy.

We also continue to support some of the older students at Joy, both to finish high school and to go onto tertiary education. This year, funded by a legacy, we were able to provide funding for seven young adults have been brought up at Joy and achieved excellent high school results, to start academic and vocational courses in subjects such as business studies and engineering.

Hope Revival Children’s Centre, Musoma, Mara, Tanzania (‘HRCO’)

The Trustees were introduced to HRCO in 2013 and were impressed with the drive and commitment of its founders to improving the lives of children in a remote and poor area of northern Tanzania.

HRCO was set up to provide holistic care for orphans and street children including provision of their basic needs, health care, education and training, advocacy as well as HIV/AIDS prevention. HRCO also seeks to empower disadvantaged and marginalized communities through creation of an ambitious range of opportunities in education and income generating activities.

This year we supported HRCO meet its additional needs at the onset of the Covid-19 outbreak, providing support for additional feeding costs, for example. However, we were pleased to see that the organisation is now benefiting from its income generating activities and is less in need of support. We have therefore ended our relationship with HRCO to focus on organisations which do not have income generating capacity.

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The Popp Education Centre (now part of the Friends of Children community organisation), Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (‘Popp’)

The Popp centre is run by Moses Vincent and now operates a fee-generating nursery facility. This year we assisted Popp replace some essential equipment but as the centre is now operating on a commercial basis, we do not expect to provide further support to Popp in the future.

St Vianney School, Uganda (‘St Vianney’)

The head teacher at St Vianney approached EACP during 2015 after reading about our work on our website. We then visited St Vianney in 2016 and 2019 and have been pleased to continue support the school which serves a large rural area. St Vianney is twinned with Sancton Wood School in Cambridge.

This year, the funding from EACP and Sancton Wood School has enabled St Vianney to purchase educational equipment and dormitory bedding.

We have also, since September 2020, been providing St Vianney with monthly funding towards the costs of feeding the orphans the school supports. Usually, St Vianney would fund these costs from the small charges made to pupils that attend the school. However, as schools have been closed, this source of funding has temporarily ceased.

Faith School, Uganda (‘Faith’)

Faith was introduced to us in 2017 by one of our volunteers who has been supporting the school for some years. Faith is a thriving, well run organisation which has much support from the local community but needs assistance in order to provide educational opportunities to local children.

Faith is twinned with one of the Eaton Square group of schools in London. During the year we have supported the purchase various items of equipment at Faith, including supplies to assist the provision of a Covid-safe environment. We also obtained significant grant funding from the Chalk Cliff Trust to undertake a major renovation of a very basic classroom block (with no doors and only open gaps for windows) at Faith.

Bulogo School, Uganda (‘Bulogo’)

Bulogo became a partner in 2017 after the Headmistress approached us and we began making small grants, having conducted satisfactory due diligence checks.

Bulogo is twinned with one of the Eaton Square group of schools in London. This year, from funding raised by Eaton Square and EACP, we have supported the construction of a new eco-latrine as well as providing supplies to assist the provision of a Covid-safe environment.

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Financial review

Incoming resources

EACP’s total income during the year was £62,505 (2020: £43,615). All our income, except for interest on funds held on deposit, was from voluntary donations as shown in the following table:

Income
Voluntary donations
Fundraising activities
Interest		 Year ended 31 March 2021
Total
£
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
62,503
36,840
25,663
0
0
0
2
2
0
62,505
36,842
25,663		 Year ended 31 March 2020
Total
£
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
42,188
26,845
15,343
1,426
1,426
1
1

43,615
28,272
15,343

A further breakdown of our voluntary donations is shown in the table below:

Grants
Regular donations
Other donations
Twinned schools
Collecting tins
Gift aid		 Year ended 31 March 2021
Total
£
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
36,051
22,650
13,401
9,833
9,833
12,016
1,429
10,587
1,675
1,675
162
162
2,766
2,766
62,503
36,840
25,663		 Year ended 31 March 2020
Total
£
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
21,514
12,214
9,300
11,427
9,865
1,562
649
649
4,481
4,481
843
843
3,274
3,274
42,188
26,845
15,343

Our largest source of voluntary donations (both restricted and unrestricted) was from grant-making bodies. Except for specific funding applications, we seek to raise grant funding on an unrestricted basis, so that it may be applied where most needed. This year both our unrestricted and restricted grant income increased significantly as we increased the number of grant-making bodies we contacted in relation to both general applications for funding and specific appeals. Our successful specific appeals included the installation of a mains sewage system at Joy, the construction of a nursery building at Joy (to commence in 2021/22) and the renovation of classrooms at Faith School.

Donations from individuals by regular standing order continued at a similar level to 2020. These regular donations have in the past provided us with more than sufficient funds to meet our regular funding commitments. Since the Covid-19 outbreak we have increased our regular commitments on a temporary basis with the additional costs being met from unrestricted grants. We benefit from gift aid on most of the regular donations we receive.

This year, we also benefited from a £10,000 legacy which is restricted to the provision of tertiary education for orphans cared for at Joy.

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Resources expended

During the year, EACP expended a total of £47,797 (2020: £42,621):

Charitable activities1
Fundraising costs
Administration costs
Trustee monitoring
visit		 Year ended 31 March 2021
Total
£
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
44,863
28,382
16,481
2,874
2,874
60
60
47,797
31,316
16,481		 Year ended 31 March 2020
Total
£
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
34,636
22,283
12,353
1,671
1,671
-
96
96
-
6,218
6,218
-
42,621
30,268
12,353

£44,863 or 93.9% (2019: £34,636 or 81.2%) of our total expenditure went in grants and donations to the charitable activities and projects we support as follows:

2021 2020
£ £
Joy 24,811 16,741
St Vianney 9,053 2,791
HRCO 5,926 6,544
Faith 3,124 2,816
Bulogo 1,676 3,160
Popp Centre 273 1,973
Right Hearts 610
44,863 34,636

As in most previous years, Joy was the main beneficiary of our grants this year. Our funding for projects at Joy increased compared to last year because of additional contributions towards food and subsistence because of the Covid-19 outbreak, plus the infrastructure projects relating to the sewage system and new buildings, some of which will continue into 2021/22.

As noted above, from September 2020 onwards, we have been providing temporary additional funding to St Vianney and other projects to help them cope with the impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak.

In total we have provided approximately £17,000 this year to our partners to help them with the impacts of Covid-19. While we regard much of this support as temporary, we are expecting to and have budgeted for additional funding at current levels to be required throughout 2021/22.

As a small charity run entirely by volunteers, we strive to minimise our expenditure on items other than direct project costs.

1 Including money transfer costs

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Our fundraising costs comprise commission paid to a fund-raising consultant plus printing and postage costs for our appeal letters. This year we raised over £21,000 (2020: £13,000) from the grant making bodies introduced to us by the consultant. We have also negotiated reduced commission rates in certain circumstances, for example on repeat donations.

Our administration costs were only £60 (2020: £96) for IT subscriptions.

Reserves policy

EACP’s reserves policy is, subject to exceptional circumstances, to maintain a minimum reserve of £2,000 or three months anticipated committed expenditure, whichever is the lower. At 31 March 2021, we had unrestricted reserves of £8,696 (2019: £3,170) which is more than sufficient to cover three months of committed expenditure at current levels (including the additional Covid-19 related funding).

We have a higher surplus of restricted funding at present, all of which is earmarked for specific projects, primarily during 2021/22. Surplus funds are held on deposit and although interest rates are low, the Trustees do not consider it appropriate to invest funds where there is a risk of capital depreciation.

Inspection of accounts

As our income for the year exceeded £25,000 we are required to have our accounts inspected by an independent examiner. This service has been provided on a pro bono basis. The inspector’s report is at page 11.

Declaration

The Trustees declare that they have approved the Trustees’ Report above.

Signed on behalf of EACP’s Trustees by:

Pieter Lagaay, Trustee and Chairman

Date: 2 September 2021

Jennie Lawes, Trustee and Secretary

Date: 2 September 2021

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INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF EAST AFRICA CHILDREN'S PROJECT Registered Charity number 1136340

Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021

The accounts have been prepared on the Receipts and Payments basis.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and independent examiner

The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to:

Basis of Independent Examiner’s Report

My examination was carried out in accordance with General Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent Examiner’s Report

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

  1. Which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the requirements:

  2. to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; and

  3. to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act;

  4. have not been met; or

  5. To which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Clive R Ward FCA

Market Heath House, Brenchley, Tonbridge, Kent TN12 7PA

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Section A Receipts and payments for the year ended 31 March 2021

31 March 2021 31 March 2021 31 March 2020
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£		 31 March 2020
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
Receipts Unrestricted
£		 Restricted
£
Voluntarydonations andgrants 36,840 25,663 26,845 15,343
Fundraisingactivities 0 0 1,426
Interest on deposit accounts 2 0 1
Total receipts
Payments		 36,842 25,663 28,272 15,343
Grants and donations 28,382 16,481 22,283 12,353
Costs of fundraising 2,874 1,671
Administration 60 96
Trustee monitoringvisit 6,218
Total payments
Net of receipts/(payments) during the
period
Accumulated net receipts brought
forward at 31 March 2020 (2019)		 31,316 16,481 30,268 12,353
5,526 9,182 (1,996) 2,990
3,170 5,882 5,166 2,892
Accumulated net receipts (payments)
at 31 March 2021(2020)		 8,696 15,064 3,170 5,882

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at 31 March 2021

31 March 2021
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£		 31 March 2021
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£		 31 March 2021
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£		 31 March 2021
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
Cash at bank 8,696 15,064 3,170 5,882
8,696 15,064 3,170 5,882

Signed on behalf of all of the Trustees of EACP by:

Pieter Lagaay, Trustee and Chairman

Date: 2 September 2021

Ros Stow, Trustee and Treasurer

Date: 2 September 2021

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