**ServeDirect** 


Trustees’ report and financial statements for the year to 31 March 2022 

Charity No. 1138282 

|**Contents**|**Page**|
|---|---|
|Trustees’ report|2-6|
|Independent examiner’s report|7|
|Statement of fnancial activities|8|
|Balance sheet|9|
|Notes|10-14|



1 



**ServeDirect** 

## _**Trustees’ report**_ 

The Trustees present their report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2022. 

## **Trustees** 

Neil Kirkland Paul Ibbott (Chairman) Sarah Gay (Treasurer) Jerry Dugdale 

The existing trustees appoint new trustees who are fully briefed on their role and responsibilities.  Trustees regularly review the risks to which the charity may be exposed. 

ServeDirect was constituted by a Declaration of Trust on 15[th] September 2010 and was registered as a charity on 6[th] October 2010. 

Serve Direct Uganda Ltd (SDU), a charitable company registered in Uganda, is the current main beneficiary of the funds raised by ServeDirect in the UK. The directors of the company are Jerry Dugdale and Phil Ball (previously a trustee  of  ServeDirect),  who  are  responsible  for  the  management  of  the charitable activities.  SDU has no employees and neither of the directors benefit financially from their work for the charitable company. SDU holds the title to the land and buildings used by the three key projects in Lukomera, as well as a legally binding Memorandum of Understanding for the project in Gulu. 

Jerry & Elspeth Dugdale returned to the UK in March 2020 due to the Covid19 restrictions and all schools being closed in Uganda until the start of 2022. Dan & Jody Unterrheiner of READ for Life continued to help oversee Connect Education Centre Gulu. 

## **Bankers** 

HSBC Plc, 55 Above Bar Street, Southampton, SO14 7DZ 

## **Objectives** 

ServeDirect’s objective is the prevention or relief of poverty and or hardship anywhere in the world by providing or assisting in the provision of education, training,  healthcare  projects  and  all  the  necessary  support  designed  to enable individuals to generate a sustainable income, be self-sufficient and the opportunity to reach their potential. 

In planning our activities for the period, we have been mindful of the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit and prevention and relief of poverty  for  the  public  benefit.   The  trustees  ensure  that  ServeDirect’s activities are in line with our charitable objectives. 

## **How we work** 

2 



## **ServeDirect** 

ServeDirect  is a Christian  charitable  trust.   Our  Christian  values are  the foundation for all our work though the beneficiaries of our activities include children and families of different faiths and those who have no faith. 

ServeDirect looks to support local people who are working hard to change their communities for the better.  As a trust we come alongside individuals to support them in their vision.  In delivering support we ensure that funds are spent with the local community to utilise local skills and materials, thereby creating employment and increasing wealth in the communities we work in as  well  as  ensuring  that  projects  can  be  delivered  economically  and efficiently.  Identifying projects that are sustainable and that can become selffunding in the future is also key. 

## **Activities and achievements** 

ServeDirect  continues  to  support  and  raise  funds  for  four  key  projects, Wobulenzi Town Academy (WTA), Connect Education Centre Lukomera (CEC L), The Rock Health Centre and the Connect Education Centre Gulu (CEC G). 

During the period, the world continued to be hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. This resulted in WTA and the Connect Education Centres closing in March 2020  due  to the  national  lockdown  restrictions.  Schools were  allowed to reopen late 2021 for candidate classes (end of Primary, O & A level) to do their exams but then closed again until January 2022. The lockdown hit many people hard as their sources of income effectively stopped or was reduced drastically – leading to widespread hardship and hunger. ServeDirect and our supporters continued to help support the projects financially as their income dropped to avoid crucial staff being laid off. 

ServeDirect continued to help the communities we work within, with basic food support. This took the form of family food packages that were officially sanctioned by local government – as all unofficial distributions were against the law. 

In the Lukomera area, ServeDirect supported food distributions via the LC1 Chairman’s office which were handed out physically by Maranatha Church and the LC1 staff. We also supported distributions via the Church of Uganda within  the  local  parishes.  These  distributions  were  phased  out  as  the lockdown  was  lifted  ,  but  still  took  place  during  the  financially  hardest months of the year, June & July. Basic food packages to the value of over 18m UGX (approximately £4,000) were funded and handed out, again supporting many hundreds of families and vulnerable people in the area. 

For 2022,  after discussion with our  Uganda  partners,  ServeDirect offered bursaries to all students at WTA to help the students and their families to afford secondary education. The bursaries effectively discounted the normal school fees by 1/3 to allow as many students as possible to return to school. The  bursaries  proved  very  successful  with  student  numbers  immediately returning to and then exceeding previous enrollment. The bursary scheme will be phased out during the 2022 calendar year so that these financial resources can once again be used for facility improvements. 

## **Wobulenzi Town Academy** 

3 



## **ServeDirect** 

ServeDirect  was  initially  set  up  to  support  the  work  of  Wobulenzi  Town Academy Orphanage. WTA is a secondary school providing affordable, quality secondary education in Uganda to vulnerable children of both sexes.  WTA is based in Lukomera, which is north of Kampala, an area that few NGOs are working or investing in. Most of the children are boarders and have travelled some distance to access low cost education.  About 44% (2020 34%) of the children are day scholars from the local area. Just under half of the students at WTA are girls, which is just above the Ugandan average of 47%. 

During the year the school only opened when the official lockdown was lifted. Notably O level and A level candidate classes were able to sit their delayed 2020 exams in April/May 2021, otherwise the rest of the classes were hardly able to attend until the start of the new academic year in January 2022. No 2021 ‘O’ or ‘A’ level exams were set – resulting in an official ‘dead year’. 

Many secondary schools did not reopen in 2022 due to financial problems following  the  Covid-19  pandemic.  In  addition,  many  schools  reported  an almost zero turn up due to the economic situation and a lack of teaching staff. We are pleased to report that WTA had a very different situation as it was immediately over subscribed and had to turn away many new students. This success was the result of both the student bursary scheme and the improved reputation of the school as many families witnessed how the school continued to support its staff and premises during the lockdown. Enrollment rocketed to 816 students in term 1 (598 in 2020) including 361 day students (231 in 2020). The higher day student numbers reflect the high reputation of the school locally – in part helped by the effective work of the Connect Education Centre with the local primary schools over the years. 

A new secondary school curriculum was introduced nationally for the lower secondary classes. ServeDirect has been able to help with teacher training and assessments, as the new curriculum is more interactive and aligned to the current system in the UK & Europe. 

The new curriculum requires the use of technology and multi-media in the classrooms. This brought forward a complete update of the school computer lab as well as an investment in laptops and projectors for the classrooms. The updated computer lab now boasts 54 internet connected workstations for students as well as 4 stations for teacher use. One of the limiting factors is the relatively high cost of data (equivalent to 40p/GB), but it is hoped that this will reduce over time as demand increases nationally. 

During the year, ServeDirect completed the levelling and planting of the new sports area which should provide a huge benefit to the school and local community once established. Lack of normal rainfall has delayed the full opening of these facilities until 2023. 

In addition, once the schools were able to reopen, a long list of delayed maintenance works was undertaken, including improving rainwater drainage across the site. 

ServeDirect continued to fund a nutritious Sunday lunch for the pupils, during the weeks that the school was able to operate. 

## **Connect Education Centres (CEC)** 

4 



## **ServeDirect** 

The first Connect Education Centre (formerly known as The Bridge Primary Resource Centre) opened in February 2013 in Lukomera, after a successful pilot. Although Uganda has been successful at enrolling more than 90% of children in primary school only just over a quarter of young people remain in secondary school (Ugandan Bureau of Statistics 2015). 

At present to register for secondary education, pupils must pass an official Primary Leaving Exam (PLE), but poor primary education prevents students achieving this. To help close this gap the CEC was set up to allow local schools access to additional teaching resources, a library and provide pupils with free booster lessons in English and Maths. Later computer facilities were added due to the demand on such resources locally. These sessions have also been attended by local children outside of school hours, keen to join in the activities. Qualified primary school teachers encourage local children to read and enjoy learning using the library resources, educational toys and planned activities. 

During 2021, CEC Lukomera remained closed to local schools due to the Covid-19 lockdown.  However, after permission was granted, teachers were able  to  hold  small  neighborhood  classes,  concentrating  on  literacy  for number of local children. The Centre was then able to reopen fully in January 2022 when the lockdown was lifted. 

ServeDirect opened the new CEC in Gulu in February 2018. This facility is a much  larger regional  centre  as it is designed to  offer additional  nursery sessions as well as providing a base for READ for Life, a NGO that provides teacher training in approximately 100 Primary and Nursery schools within the Gulu municipality. Normally, the CEC is active 7 days per week as it also provides a base for a weekend Nursery teacher training college. CEC Gulu was effectively closed to schools in 2021, however permission was granted for smaller groups of local children to be able to attend library and literacy sessions during times of school lockdown. In addition, teachers were able to hold local neighborhood classes similar to CEC Lukomera. CEC Gulu reopened fully in January 2022. 

CEC  Gulu  supported  literacy  and  mathematic  radio  lessons  in  2021, broadcast on the local radio by READ for Life. This was an exciting new initiative and it is estimated that up to 500,000 children at a time listened to these highly effective lessons. 

Student attendance data has not been reported this year due to the school closures. 

## **The Rock Health Centre** 

In response to local needs, ServeDirect funded the building and running of a health centre adjacent to the WTA site.  As well as treating students at WTA it also  serves  the  local  community  which  has  a  growing  population  of approximately 18,000.  Previously the nearest similar health facility was 7km away. 

During  the  period  The  Rock  proved  to  be  vital  to  the  local  community, especially during times of severe lockdown and at times when the Covid-19 virus was spreading through the community. 

5 



## **ServeDirect** 

The Rock remained busy even though the WTA school community was vastly reduced due to school closure. In the year a total of 2,757 patients were treated at The Rock (2021 1,915 patients). Only 17% of patients were WTA students (2021 21%) due to the school closure. The dental outpatient service continued during to do well during the year, resulting in 166 patients being treated (2021 265 patients). 1,121 patients (2021 1,399) benefitted from free testing under the initiative to reach out to the most vulnerable people within the local community – ie children under 5 years old and the elderly. Both initiatives have been welcomed by the  local  community and continue  to provide an invaluable service. 

The Rock continued to carry out health talks, health checks and inspections at WTA, when the school was open, in a drive to improve hygiene and general health amongst the students. 

The Rock continues to provide maternity services with 19 births during the year (2021 30 births) in the year and Antenatal visits have continued to increase. It was proposed that the current education room be converted into additional  bed  space,  to  ease  the  pressure  during  busy  periods  –  this conversion work is due to be completed in the next financial year. 

## **Financial Review** 

During the year £76,612 was raised in the UK.  There were no team trips due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic. £80,873 was paid to SDU to support the projects in Uganda during the year.    UK costs remain minimal and the trustees have  agreed  that  reserves  should  be  held  equivalent  to  3  months  of  costs. General reserves at the end of the year are higher than this at £40,764. 

## **Partnerships and volunteer support** 

ServeDirect  has  built  partnerships  with  local  businesses,  churches  and schools in Hampshire, connecting local people with the struggles of those living in Uganda.  More latterly ServeDirect built partnerships with several charities and churches in The Netherlands. These partnerships have been a great  source  of  financial  support  with  many  fundraising  activities  being organised as well as providing people with an insight into the problems of the developing world. 

An important part of ServeDirect’s work is to organise teams to visit and work at  their  projects.   There  are  many  testimonials  of  the  life  changing experiences  that  people  have  had  from  visiting  Uganda  on  our  website www.servedirect.org. Volunteers get involved in building and maintenance projects and also in providing educational, sporting and cultural activities for the  children,  which  they  would  otherwise  not  be  able  to  access.   Often volunteers  bring  skills  in  education,  health  and  business  that  contribute greatly to the planning of projects and in developing the aspirations of the pupils at WTA as well as at the other local projects. Unfortunately, during the year no volunteers were able to visit due to the Covid crisis along with the travel restrictions. We hope to be able to continue with these in the future. 

## **The Future** 

6 



## **ServeDirect** 

The Covid-19 global pandemic continued to temporarily shift the focus of Serve  Direct  Uganda  from  Education  &  Health  to  more  Health  &  basic food/poverty support. SD had to adapt quickly to the changes within the communities we work with. 

In January 2022, ServeDirect was able to refocus activities on Education and Health  as  schools  were  allowed  to  reopen.  The  student  bursary  scheme proved highly effective in helping families to afford sending their children back to school – especially for families based in the more rural areas where finances  were  very  tight.  This  scheme  will  be  phased  out  during  2022 allowing SD to return to invest in improving facilities. 

However, rapidly increasing food and fuel costs during 2022 have brought another difficult challenge for the projects. These price rises hit the poorest in society hardest, which include most families that send their children to WTA. Currently  all  available  areas  for growing  food are  being exploited at the school to help offset these rising costs, but there is real concern that many students may drop out once the 2022 student bursaries are phased out. This situation is being closely monitored, but WTA needs to be financially selfsustainability (covering the basic school running costs) to remain strong & viable for the future. 

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic effectively put on hold discussions to extend the facilities of the current Connect Education Centre Gulu and a new regional CEC in Luwero. We still look forward to pursuing both opportunities in the future. 

This  report  provides  a  summary  of  our  activities  and  achievements  but please review our website at www.servedirect.org to read stories about the children and families that have benefitted from our support. 

7 



**ServeDirect** 

## _**Independent examiner’s report**_ 

I report on the financial statements of the trust for the year ended 31 March 2021, which are set out on pages 8 to 13. 

## **Responsibilities and basis of report** 

As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance 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 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 confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: 

- the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or 

- the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or 

- the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts 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 accounts to be reached. 


Joel Kirkland 

8 



## **ServeDirect** 

## _**Statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 March 2022**_ 

||Note|||**202**|2021|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**2**||
|**Incoming**|1|**Unrestri**|**Restrict**|**Tota**|Total|
|**resources**||**cted**|**ed income**|**l**||
|||**funds**|**funds**|||
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|£|
|Fundraising||||||
|income||||||
|Volunteer|||**-**||0|
|teams|||**0**|**0**|0|
|Other||**0**||||
|||||**0**||
|Donations and||||||
|gifts||||||
|Individuals||**47,**|||61,071|
|||**928**|**742**|**48,6**||
|||||**70**||
|Other|||||36,000|
|entities||**27,9**||**27,9**||
|||**42**||**42**||
|Tax reclaimable|||||0|
||||**-**|||
|||**__________**|**_________**|**________**|_______|
||||||_|
|Total incoming||||||
|resources||**75,8**||**76,612**|91,252|
|||**70**|**742**|||
|||__________|_________|________|______|
|**Resources**||||||
|**expended**||||||
|Fundraising|||-||0|
|costs||0||0||
|Charitable|4|||80,87|86,610|
|activities||78,430|2,443|3||
|Bank charges||28|||306|
|Travel||7||28|0|
|expenses||||7||
|||_________|_________|_________|______|
|Total|||||86,916|
|expenditure||78,717|2,443|81,160||
|||_________|_________|_________|______|
|Net movement||||||
|in funds||||(4,548)|4,336|



9 



## **ServeDirect** 

|**erveDirect**||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||(2,847|(1,70|||
|||)|1)|||
|Total funds||||||
|brought||43,61|1,70|45,31||
|forward||1|1|2|40,976|
|||__________|_________|_________|________|
||||||_|
|**Total funds**||||||
|**carried**|7|40,76||40,76|45,312|
|**forward**||4|0|4||
|||__________|_________|_________|______|



## _**Balance sheet at 31 March 2022**_ 

||Note|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||2|||**2022**|202|
||||||1|
||||**Restricte**|||
|||**Unrestrict**|**d income**|**Total**|Total|
|||**ed**|**funds**|||
|||**funds**||||
|||**£**|**£**|**£**|£|
|**Current**||||||
|**assets**||||||
|Debtors|5|439||439|1,1|
||||||39|
|Cash at bank||40,32||40,325|44,1|
|||5|||73|
|||_______|_______|______|_____|
||||||_|
|**Total**||40,76||40,764|45,3|
|**current**||4|||12|
|**assets**||||||



10 



|**ServeDirect**|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Creditors:**|||||||
|**amounts**|6|||-|**0**||
|**falling due**||0||||0|
|**within one**|||||||
|**year**|||||||
|||_______|_______||______|_____|
|||||||_|
|**Total**|||||||
|**current**|||||40,764|45,3|
|**assets less**||40,764||||12|
|**current**|||||||
|**liabilities**|||||||
|||_______|_______||______|_____|
|||||||_|
|**Funds of**|7||||||
|**the charity**|||||||
|Restricted|||||||
|income funds|||||**0**|1,7|
||||0|||01|
|Unrestricted|||||||
|funds|||||40,764|43,6|
|||40,76||||11|
|||4|||||
|||_______|_______||______|_____|
|||||||_|
|**Total Funds**||40,76||0|40,764|45,3|
|||4||||12|
|||_______|_______||______|_____|
|||||||_|



The financial statements were approved by the trustees on ……………………… and were signed on their behalf by 


_Sarah Gay_ Treasurer 

## _**Notes (forming part of the financial statements)**_ 

11 



**ServeDirect** 

## **1. Accounting policies** 

The accounts presents  a true and fair view and the following accounting policies  have  been  applied  consistently  in  dealing  with  items  that  are considered material in relation to the financial statements of ServeDirect. 

- **Basis of preparation** 

These accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items recognized at cost or transaction value and on a going concern basis.  The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial  Reporting  Standard  applicable  in  the  UK  and  Republic  of Ireland (FRS 102) issued on 16 July 2014, (FRS 102 SORP) and with FRS 102 and with the Charities Act 2011. 

- **Recognition of incoming resources** 

These are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when the  charity  becomes  entitled  to  the  resources;  the  Trustees  are virtually  certain  they  will  receive  the  resources  and  the  monetary value can be measured with sufficient reliability. 

- **Grants and donations** 

Grants and donations are only included in the SoFA when the general income recognition criteria are met. 

In the case of performance related grants, income must only be recognized to the extent that the charity has provided the specified goods or services as entitlement to the grant only occurs when the performance related conditions are met. 

- **Offsetting** 

There has been no offsetting of assets and liabilities, or income and expenses, unless required or permitted by the FRS 102 SORP or FRS 102 

- **Tax reclaimable on gifts and donations** 

Gift  aid  receivable  is  included  in  income  when  there  is  a  valid declaration  from  the  donor.   Any  Gift  Aid  amount  recovered  on  a donation is considered to be part of that gift and is treated as an addition to the same fund as the initial donation unless the donor or the terms of the appeal have specified otherwise. 

- **Donated services and facilities** 

12 



## **ServeDirect** 

These are only included in incoming resources (with an equivalent amount in resources expended) where the benefit to the charity is reasonably quantifiable, measurable and material.  The value placed on these resources is the estimated value to the charity of the service or facility received. 

- **Volunteer help** 

The  value  of  any  voluntary  help  received  is  not  included  in  the financial statements but is described in the trustees’ report. 

- 

## **Governance and support costs** 

ServeDirect incurs no governance nor support costs. 

- **Liability recognition** 

Liabilities are recognised as soon as it is more likely than not that there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to pay out resources. 

## **2. Trustees’ remuneration and expenses** 

There were no payments in the year for trustee flights. 

## **3. Independent examiner’s remuneration** 

The independent examiner has waived his remuneration for the examination of these financial statements. 

||**2022**|2021|
|---|---|---|
|**4. Charitable activities**|||
||**£**|£|
|ServeDirect Uganda Ltd|80,240|86,|
|||000|
|READ for LIFE|||
|||0|



13 



|**ServeDirect**|**ServeDirect**|||
|---|---|---|---|
|Flights/Team trip expenses||||
||Project guardians|0|0|
||DBS Checks|0|0|
||Other|633|0|
||||610|
|||________|_______|
||||_|
|||80,873|53,57|
||||1|
|||________|________|
||||____|
|**5**|**Debtors**|**202**|2021|
|**.**||**2**||
|||**£**|£|
||Tax receivable||1,139|
|||439||
||Other debtors||0|
|||0||
||||_______|
|||________|_|
||||**1,139**|
|||439||
|||________|________|
||||____|
|**6.**|**Creditors**|**2022**|2021|
|||**£**|£|
||Accruals|0|0|
|||________|__________|



## **7. Charity funds** 

**Funds held and movement during the** _**current**_ **reporting period** 

14 



## **ServeDirect** 

|**erveDirect**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Fun**|**Income Expenditure**||**Fund**|
||**d**|||**balances**|
||**balanc**|||**carried**|
||**es**|||**forward**|
||**brough**||||
||**t**||||
||**forwar**||||
||**d**||||
|**Fund names**||£|£||
||£|||£|
|WTA|**0**|||-|
|Connect Education|||||
|Centres (formerly|||||
|The Bridge)||0|(0)|**-**|
||**-**||||
||**-**||||
|Rock Health Centre||0|(0)|**-**|
|Project guardians|0|0|(0)|**-**|
|Restricted funds|**1,701**|742|(2,443)|0|
|Unrestricted funds|**43,611**|75,870|(78,717)|40,764|
||________|________|________|________|
|**Total funds**|45,312|76,612||40,764|
||||(81,160)||
||________|________|________|________|



15 



## **ServeDirect** 

## **Funds held and movement during the** _**previous**_ **reporting period** 

|**Fund balances Income Expenditure brought forward**|**Fund balances Income Expenditure brought forward**|**Fund balances Income Expenditure brought forward**|**Fund balances Income Expenditure brought forward**|**Fund**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**balances**|
|||||**carried**|
|||||**forward**|
|**Fund names**|£|£|£||
|||||£|
|WTA|0|250|||
|(250)||||**0**|
|The Bridge|||||
|||||-|
|Rock Health|||||
|Connect|**1,701**|500||1,7|
|(500)||||01|
|Project Guardians|||||
|Unrestricted funds|**39,275**|90,502||43,61|
|(86,166)||||1|
||________|________|________|________|
|**Total funds**|**40,976**|91,252|(89,916)|45,31|
|||||2|
||________|________|________|________|
||**Unrestricted**||**Restricted**|**Total**|
|Total B/F|5,128||35,848||
|40,976|||||
|Restatement|34,147|(34,147)||0|
|As restated in|39,275||1,701|40,976|
|bold above|||||



The analysis of the restricted and unrestricted funds has been corrected in the year ended 31 March 2022 following the identification of an error in the classification in the prior period. There is no change to the charity’s net assets as a result of this restatement. 

16