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← East Africa Children's Project

2025-03-31-accounts

EAST AFRICA CHILDREN’S PROJECT

Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts

for the year ended

31 March 2025

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

Trustees: Pieter Lagaay, Barry Harper, Rob Eyre-Brook, Dr Tony Conibear. 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 2 Eastfield Crescent Brighton BN1 8EL Website www.eacpcharity.com

Date of Trustees Office Date of resignation appointment Pieter Lagaay Chair 8 March 2010 Barry Harper Secretary 1 September 2023 Martin Sadofski 11 December 2012 17 March 2025 Ros Stow 8 March 2010 17 March 2025 Robert Eyre-Brook 17 March 2025 Dr Anthony Conibear 17 March 2025 Officers John Haile Treasurer

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Annual Report for the year to 31 March 2025

EACP works with very deprived communities in East Africa to empower children, including abandoned orphans, through education and community support to escape debilitating and persistent poverty.

The Trustees of EACP present their fifteenth annual report for EACP’s year ended 31 March 2025. We are very happy to report another excellent year for donations with total income of £91,375 (2024 £82,043), our second highest income ever. The charity has now raised over £717,000 since its inception in 2010. This achievement reflects the continued generosity of our regular donors, trusts, foundations, and the commitment of our trustees and volunteers. Most importantly, it demonstrates the belief in the difference that EACP and our partners in East Africa have made, and continue to make, in helping to transform so many lives.

In the remainder of this report, we outline our:

The report concludes with EACP’s receipts and payments accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025.

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Structure, governance, and management

Constitution

EACP was formed as a charitable trust under a Trust Deed dated 8 March 2010. Following amendments to its objects, a new Trust Deed was adopted on 20 May 2010. EACP was registered as a charity in England and Wales on 14 June 2010.

Recruitment and Appointment of Trustees

In accordance with the Trust Deed, EACP must have at least three trustees, each appointed for a one-year term. The Trustees bring a broad and complementary set of skills, including education, development, fundraising, communications, administration, and finance.

At the year end, Ros Stow and Martin Sadofski stepped down after many years of devoted service. Their commitment has had an enormous impact on thousands of deprived children in East Africa, and EACP extends sincere gratitude for their hard work and dedication.

The charity appointed two new trustees in 2024, Rob Eyre-Brook and Dr Tony Conibear who bring a wealth of experience, respectively, in primary education and economic analysis/development. Prior to appointment, trustees are provided with guidance produced by the Charities Commission, including ‘The Essential Trustee,’ and ongoing training needs of trustees are reviewed on an annual basis. In March 2025 EACP appointed a new treasurer, John Haile, who has considerable experience in senior roles in banking and finance.

Governance and management

Overview: Founded in 2009, EACP currently supports small, manageable education, training and relevant health projects in Kenya and Uganda. We believe that working together with carefully selected long-term trusted partners produces the best results, drawing on their initiative and participation, and on shared learning. Projects are managed by local leaders, working within their communities to achieve real change. By cultivating a sense of ownership, as well as promoting accountability and responsibility, our projects seek to achieve sustained local development through education, training, work and health awareness. We are confident that this holistic approach produces sustained long-term benefits.

EACP is run by volunteers who maintain professional standards and procedures to ensure effective operation, and 95% of funding goes direct to our projects . We also seek to ensure, where possible, that project spending is on locally produced goods and services, which generates further income multiplier effects in poor communities. We always seek good value for money and ensure that all project spending is fully accounted for with receipts and pictures. We aim to visit all partners every 3-years and seek to maximise the impact of our work through ongoing evidence-based monitoring and long-term evaluation. On our recent monitoring and review visit in summer 2023, Trustees were very impressed with the work of all our partner schools.

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The work of EACP is directed by its Trustees, assisted by committed charity volunteers. Trustees meet regularly, usually monthly, to review partner reports, assess funding requests, monitor progress, and record funding decisions. We are fully aware of our obligations to our donors, and the trust they have placed in us when donating funds. EACP has in-place robust procedures to safeguard donor funds.

We currently work with 7 Trustee approved partner schools and organisations in East Africa (EA). Prior to approval we (i) obtain detailed information on the values, mission, structure, policies and governance of each organisation, including their Child Safeguarding Policies (ii) conduct detailed checks on all potential new project partners, including identify checks on at least three senior responsible persons involved with the organisation.

We formally assess all requests for funding from approved partners in terms of risks, viability, and relevance to our charitable objectives. We carefully monitor the outcomes of projects we support, and partners are required to submit progress and final reports detailing what has been achieved in terms of outcomes, supported by invoices and photographic evidence. We aim to visit our approved EA partners at least every three years to undertake a monitoring and review exercise on the projects we have supported, and on the organisation as a whole. Our last review visit was undertaken in June 2023.

Objects, Values and Activities

Our Objectives

EACP’s charitable objectives are:

Our Values

Our work is guided by the following principles:

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The East Africa Children’s Project (EACP) is committed to working towards a world where all people and communities have their human rights respected, and are treated with respect and dignity. Basic rights include freedom of speech, safety, privacy, health, life, an adequate standard of living, and access to education.

Our Strategy and Main Activities

EACP activity is focussed on the furtherance of our objectives. Current project activity also supports key UN Sustainable Development Goals, focussing, in particular, on areas where there is strong evidence of a high benefit-to-cost ratio. In relation to this, EACP funding currently supports the following Post 2015 Consensus Smart Development Targets:

  1. Achieve universal primary education in sub-Saharan Africa : Our interventions encourage more children to attend primary school each year.

  2. Expand pre-school in sub-Saharan Africa (pre-school instils within children a lifelong desire to learn ): EACP support for pre-school units in Primary Schools.

  3. Increase girls’ education by two years: We work with our partner schools to encourage and support girls’ education, which is key to future regional development. Ensuring girls receive more education will increase their future wages, improve their health, reduce their risk of violence and start a virtuous cycle for the next generations.

  4. Lower chronic child malnutrition : Providing nutritional supplements and improving the balance of diet for 0-2 year olds, and older primary age children.

  5. Reduce malaria infection : Distributing long lasting insecticide-treated bed nets.

  6. Cut indoor air pollution. Providing solar lights, reducing the use of kerosene lamps, improving ventilation in school kitchens, installing cleaner cookstoves to reduce indoor air pollution, and investing in biogas for school kitchens.

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  1. Eliminate violence against women and girls : Working with schools to provide education which supports the rights of women and girls, safety, and empowerment.

Public benefit

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

Achievements and performance

Over the past year we have delivered a substantial number of projects that support our key objectives. These include:

Nutrition and primary school meals – There is good evidence that better nutrition improves educational outcomes for deprived children (World Bank, 2016). Since 2022, East Africa has been hit by the global cost-of-living crisis as food and energy prices soared. This has particularly affected poorer families who spend most of their income on food and energy. Our school meals programmes across 6 primary schools for around 1,700 children provided a daily locally grown nutritious school meal of maize, rice and beans, produced in simple school kitchens. This one meal a day improves child nutrition, encourages school attendance, raises educational attainment, and supports low income families.

Solar lighting – Families in East Africa often spend up to a quarter of their weekly earnings on kerosene. Kerosene lamps, commonly used in East Africa, are dangerous, costly, and have serious adverse health risks (WHO, 2023). Over the past 6 months we have supported 3 partner primary schools (Joy, Joshome, Rosholme) to each install 4 solar panels, with an inverter and battery. Solar lighting enables teaching on dull days (especially in winter); permits evening study, class preparation and community meetings; reduces indoor pollution and makes people feel safer after sunset. Each school solar project cost around £1,700, and will provide lasting value for the schools and wider community.

School attendance – UNESCO (2022) reports that more than 20% of children aged 6-11 in SubSaharan Africa are out of school , with girls particularly affected. Primary school tuition costs are state supported in East Africa, but families still pay for additional school fees, uniforms, stationery and books. It costs around £25 to equip a child for primary school. The lack of a school uniform due to family poverty, leads to child stigmatisation. To support school attendance, we provide funding for simple school uniforms, each costing around £3, which are produced locally, mainly by women, which directly raises income in poor communities.

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Teaching and learning resources – To support student learning we have purchased school books and other learning materials for use in class. This includes providing essential reading books, exercise books, pens and pencils at Bukamba (850 children, rural northern Uganda) and Rossholme Primary School (520 children, Kiambiu slum, Nairobi). These resources support children from lowincome families who struggle with the cost and provision of educational materials, in an underfunded educational sector.

We have also invested in ICT infrastructure as schools in East Africa connect to mains electricity, or get access to cheaper power from solar panels. Web access enables schools to raise the quality of educational provision through online access to government learning materials and explore the wider world. Over the year investment included:

New school classrooms – The new 2 storey science and IT block at Joy Primary School located in a slum district of Nairobi, is now completed. The block replaces two dilapidated primary classrooms. The new facility will enable the school to begin offering access to selective lower secondary education to local children who would otherwise be excluded due to family poverty. Also, working with 2 other charities, we have enabled the purchase of previously rented school land to secure a more permanent future for Rossholme PS. Rossholme’s mission is to provide education to the most deprived children living in the heart of the slum district of the city, including the many children who are not in school (street children).

Student progression and attainment - As our partner schools continue to improve attainment in primary education, they enable an increasing proportion of children to qualify for entry to selective secondary education, conditional on them accessing funding to pay for schoolbooks, fees, equipment etc. Access to secondary education typically costs at least £230 (inc. fees) each year. This discourages many families and children. In Uganda, for example, less than 10% of children attend secondary school in the poorest regions (UNICEF, 2020). To promote educational opportunity, we support a small number of academically able children from our supported schools to attend secondary school. Four abandoned orphans who came to Joy School from age 2 have now completed their final year of university, including David with a degree in Health Science from Kisii University. Life transforming! Nevertheless, evidence continues to show that primary and preschool education deliver the highest return on investment, and this remains our core focus.

Support for abandoned and abused children – Two of our partner primary schools are also home for around 140 abandoned orphans or children in care who have suffered abuse. Faith school cares for around 50 children. Here we have replaced two dilapidated stick and mud dormitories for girls and boys with more permanent brick built accommodation, with doors and windows to keep out wind, rain, snakes and wild animals. Joy School (350 children, Nairobi) home to around 90 orphans, also provides a caring and supportive environment for these vulnerable children. In both schools we help support the cost of feeding these children through a diet of maize, beans and rice, with some additional chicken, fish and fresh green

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vegetables. In deprived areas of East Africa £4.30 provides an orphan with a balanced diet for an entire month.

Training and enterprise : To promote women’s employment, we supported a garment-making training programme, managed by Faith school and the Masafa Foundation in eastern Uganda. Around 50 women, including teenage mothers, gained new skills to support their families. We are gathering data on the programme’s economic and social impact as participants enter local employment.

Further information and photographs of our work can be found at: www.eacpcharity.com

Our Current EA Partner Organisations

We could not do what we do without our partner organisations working on the ground. All our current partner schools are thriving well run organisations, with a mission to enable educational access, and to promote educational attainment and progression among children living in very deprived areas in East Africa. While the schools face significant challenges, they produce excellent educational outcomes, given their very limited resources. Children typically achieve good final grades and a high proportion progress to secondary school, compared to the regional average.

Bukamba Primary School (Kayunga District, northern Uganda)

Bukamba, a large government school, was established in 1931 in a relatively low income rural area. It has been an approved EACP partner organisation since June 2024. The school has a current enrolment of around 850, which has grown since the establishment of the EACP partnership. The school has a relatively high levels of deprivation, including a high proportion of children walking in bare feet, insufficient and dilapidated buildings including latrines/toilets, and it also suffers from relatively high rates of teenage pregnancy.

Baba Gurston Inclusive School (Homabay County, western Kenya)

Baba Gurston was founded in 2017 by Gurston Opar, a person living with disability in a rural area in western Kenya. The school supports inclusion, and is proactive in enabling children with a disability to attend school. Around 20 children with some disability live at the school during term-time, to support their learning and development. Currently the school enrolment is around 590 students aged 4-11. The school has been an approved EACP partner organisation since 2024.

Faith Primary School (Busia, eastern Uganda)

Faith School has been a partner school of EACP since 2017. It is a successful rural community school in Busia which is in the Bukedi region in eastern Uganda, close to the Kenya border, and just north of Lake Victoria. The school was established in 2012 by the local community using 2 rented rooms to provide schooling for local children who were unable to attend the few government aided schools in the area. The school has since expanded and offers full nursery and primary education (P1-P7) to around 290 children aged from 3-13, including around 50 orphaned or abused children who live at the school. With the support of EACP the school has improved its estate and the quality of learning resources and has continued to flourish, evidenced by rising educational attainment and progression rates to secondary school.

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Joshome Excellent Education Centre (Dandora Phase 4, Nairobi, Kenya)

Joshome nursery and primary school is located in the Dandora slum, a main dumpsite area of Nairobi, with approximately 700,000 residents. In this area unemployment is high, and those in work typically have low-pay casual work. As a result, income levels are well below the national average, and there are high levels of deprivation. Joshome’s founding aim was to provide affordable education to the community, and to improve lives of disadvantaged children and their families. Dandora Phase 4 has only three Government schools which are heavily overpopulated, so education provision is very limited and many children do not attend and live on the street. Joshome’s mission is to expand educational access and quality of provision. The staff at Joshome are well qualified, passionate, and energetic, and seek to make the school a beacon of hope within the community. Joshome was founded May 2022 and has strong links with a local Christian church. While the school is relatively young, offering just nursery and primary years 1-2, the current enrolment is around 165 and continues to grow rapidly, as its reputation grows.

Joy Children’s Centre (Ruiru, Thika, Nairobi, Kenya)

EACP have worked with Joy school since 2010. Joy, founded in 2002, is located in a very deprived community in Ruiru, Nairobi. It has a current enrolment of around 350 children, including around 90 orphaned or abused children who live at the school. Joy offers nursery/pre-school prevision, primary and since 2025, lower secondary education to children many of whom would ordinarily be excluded from school due to deprivation. Sarah Wanjiku, who is herself disabled, founded and leads the school and, despite ongoing challenges, remains extraordinarily committed, creative and resilient.

Rossholme School, Kiambiu Slum, Nairobi, Kenya

In January 2023 Trustees agreed to partner with Rossholme School in Kenya, a registered charity (No.1178553), to support Rossholme primary school located within Nairobi’s Kiambiu slum district. Rossholme provides education and pastoral care for around 530 children aged between 3-12 who would otherwise receive little or no formal education. During their visit in June 2023, Trustees were able to witness first-hand the excellent commitment to education by Rossholme’s inspirational school head, senior leadership, the teaching staff, and the pupils.

Let the Children Hear - LTCH (UK charity No.1145080)

LTCH works in Kampala, Uganda to relieve deafness and support hearing impaired deprived children aged 1-16 and their families. Health care professionals and outreach workers support children into education by educating young people and their families in prevention, treatment and management of hearing impairment and deafness.

Financial review

Our ability to invest in our wide range of school projects, aimed ultimately at lifting children out of poverty, has been made possible by:

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larger projects such as the building of classrooms and dormitories. We also extend our thanks to those bodies who have provided grants this year.

Incoming resources

EACP’s total income during the year was £91,375 (2024: £82,043). All our income, except for interest on funds held on deposit, was from voluntary donations as shown in the following table:

Income
Voluntary donations
Interest		 Year ended 31 March 2025
Total
£
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
91,205
71,965
19,239
170
170
91,375
72,135
19,240		 Year ended 31 March 2024
Total
£
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
81,883
56,902
24,981
160
160
82,043
57,062
24,981

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

Grants
Regular donations
Other donations/
interest
Gift aid		 Year ended 31 March 2025
Total
£
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
77,655
58,405
19,240
8,870
8,870
170
170
4,690
4,690
91,375
72,135
19,240		 Year ended 31 March 2024
Total
£
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
66,086
41,105
24,981
11,109
11,109
160
160
4,688
4,688
82,043
57,062
24,981

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. Our successful specific appeals included those for building classrooms and dormitories.

Donations from individuals by regular standing order were lower than 2024. These regular donations have in the past provided us with sufficient funds to meet our regular funding commitments, but are currently insufficient to meet our support for basic food and clothing. Additional costs are therefore met from unrestricted grants. We benefit from gift aid on most of the regular donations we receive.

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Resources expended

During the year, EACP expended a total of £106,011 (2024: £66,410):

Charitable activities1
Trustees visit
Fundraising costs
Administration costs		 Year ended 31 March 2025
Total
£
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
103,493
75,807
27,685
2109
2109
410
410
106,011
78,326
27,685		 Year ended 31 March 2024
Total
£
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
59,136
35,068
24,068
5,224
5,224
1,728
1,728
322
322
66,410
42,342
24,068

£103,492 or 98% (2024: £59,136 or 89%) of our total expenditure went in grants and donations to the charitable activities and projects we support as follows:

2025 2024
£ £
Joy 30,767 30,962
Faith 28,998 21,995
Baba Gurstone 6,524
Joshome 4,138
Bukamba 12,907
Let the Children
Hear		 2,654
Rossholme 17,504 6,179
103,492 59,136

As in most previous years, Joy was the main beneficiary of our grants this year, with Faith also benefiting significantly from building projects and Rossholme from building projects and equipment provision.

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

Our fundraising costs mostly comprise commission paid to a fund-raising consultant. This year we raised nearly £19,900 (2024: £15,500) from the grant making bodies introduced to us by the consultant.

Our administration costs of £410 (2024: £322) were largely for IT and internet subscriptions, and printing and stamps for our appeal letters.

Reserves policy

1 Including money transfer costs

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EACP’s reserves policy is, subject to exceptional circumstances, to maintain a minimum reserve of £9,000 or three months anticipated committed expenditure, whichever is the greater. As of 31 March 2025, we had an unrestricted reserves balance of £23,128 (2024: £26,243). Our unrestricted reserves balance at the year-end was higher than the recommended minimum of 3 months committed expenditure (£9,000). This was due to (i) several significant unrestricted donations received close to the end of the financial year (ii) reserves required to fund staged building projects that take several months to complete (iii) reserves required to fund the support of a limited number of academically able children to undertake 4 years of secondary education. We continue to carefully consider new projects at our existing partners, as well as engaging with new potential partners. The Trustees review all projects and partners carefully before approving any grants.

Surplus funds are held on deposit as 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 Examiner’s report is at page 13.

Declaration

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

Signed on behalf of EACP’s Trustees by:

Pieter Lagaay, Trustee and Chair

Date: 21 January 2026

Barry Harper, Trustee

Date: 21 January 2026

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Independent Examiner's Report to the trustees of The East Africa Children’s Project

I report to the trustees on my examination of the financial statements of The East Africa Children’s Project for the year ended 31 March 2025.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity's trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act').

I report in respect of my examination of the charity's financial statements carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I can confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

• the financial statements do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of financial statements set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the financial statements give a 'true and fair' view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.

Michelle Matthews FCCA Certified Chartered

Accountants MHM Accounting Solutions 13 Mapledrakes Close Ewhurst GU6 7QR

20[th] January 2026

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Section A Receipts and payments for the year ended 31 March 2025

|31 March 2025
31 March 2024
Receipts
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
Voluntarydonations andgrants
71,965
19,240
56,902
24,981
Interest on deposit accounts
170
0
160
0
Total receipts
72,135
19,240
57,062
24,981
Payments
8447Grants and donations
75,807
27,685
35,068
24,068
Trustees monitoringvisit
5,224
~~ee ee~~
~~—|a~~
~~GO~~Gs
~~BO~~
~~ee~~|31 March 2025
31 March 2024
Receipts
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
Voluntarydonations andgrants
71,965
19,240
56,902
24,981
Interest on deposit accounts
170
0
160
0
Total receipts
72,135
19,240
57,062
24,981
Payments
8447Grants and donations
75,807
27,685
35,068
24,068
Trustees monitoringvisit
5,224
~~ee ee~~
~~—|a~~
~~GO~~Gs
~~BO~~
~~ee~~|31 March 2025
31 March 2024
Receipts
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
Voluntarydonations andgrants
71,965
19,240
56,902
24,981
Interest on deposit accounts
170
0
160
0
Total receipts
72,135
19,240
57,062
24,981
Payments
8447Grants and donations
75,807
27,685
35,068
24,068
Trustees monitoringvisit
5,224
~~ee ee~~
~~—|a~~
~~GO~~Gs
~~BO~~
~~ee~~|31 March 2025
31 March 2024
Receipts
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
Unrestricted
£
Restricted
£
Voluntarydonations andgrants
71,965
19,240
56,902
24,981
Interest on deposit accounts
170
0
160
0
Total receipts
72,135
19,240
57,062
24,981
Payments
8447Grants and donations
75,807
27,685
35,068
24,068
Trustees monitoringvisit
5,224
~~ee ee~~
~~—|a~~
~~GO~~Gs
~~BO~~
~~ee~~| |---|---|---|---| |Costs of fundraising
2109
Administration
410
~~ss,~~||1,728
322|| |Total payments
78,326
27,685
~~——~~||42,342|24,068| |Net of receipts/(payments) during the
period
(6,191)
(8,447)
14,720
913
~~ee~~|||| |Accumulated net receipts brought
forward at 31 March 2024 (2023)
29,319
,8447
14,599
7,534
Accumulated net receipts (payments)
at 31 March 2025(2024)
23,128
0
29,319
8,447
~~a~~
|
~~a~~
~~a~~|||| |Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at 31 March 2025|||| |31 March 2025||31 March 2024|| |Unrestricted
Restricted||Unrestricted|Restricted| |£
£||£|£| |Cash at bank
23,128
0||29,319|8,447|

Signed on behalf of all the Trustees of EACP by:

Pieter Lagaay, Trustee and Chair

Date: 21 January 2025

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