Education Exchange Annual Report, 2021
Trustees:
Margaret Nicholls Paul Nicholls Dave Shorten (Secretary) Sue Shorten Ellie Stewart Maggie Waugh (Chairperson) Rob Waugh
Objectives:
To advance education and training, preserve and protect the health and relieve financial hardship of people living in the area in and around Wundanyi, Taita-Taveta, Kenya. This to be done in particular by supporting the work of schools and training centres, working in partnership with local health clinics and by providing loans and grants
The trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit.
Education Exchange supports several projects in Taita and reports on the activities of each follow.
White Rose, Fen Street Hopton, Diss, Norfolk IP22 2Rf Tel: 01953 661 526
- info@eclucation exchonge.co.uk www. educationexchange.co. uk twitter @EducationEx
Registered Charity Number 1149665
Summary of Activities:
Kenyan Coordinator
In October 2021 we appointed Christine Mlemwa as our Coordinator in Kenya. This was a major part of our long-term strategy to devolve more decision-making responsibility to Kenya. Christine has been known to Education Exchange since 2006 and now that she has retired from her headteacher post she was very happy to take the role. She will work in close co-ordination with George Mwakisha, who is the Chairman of Education Exchange Taita
Grace Mwatate Children's Home
We continued to make a contribution to the salaries of staff. We donated funds to help with the medical needs of one disabled child. We send some of the funds raised by our three runners in the Virtual London Marathon in October to the Home to pay secondary school fees- always a real burden.
Taita Environmental Initiative (TEI)
TEI Coordinator Scaver Isuwirio stepped down after leading the organisation since its inception in 2008. He was replaced by Irine Mkavita, who has been a much respected member since 2012. To help Irine on the five mile journey to and from home to Wundanyi we made a contribution to the purchase of a motor bike. We continued to pay the salaries of Coordinator, Secretary and Nightwatchman. At the start of the year we made a contribution to the two main income generating activities run by TEI- the shop in the market and the production of charcoal briquettes for cooking stoves.
Upper Planet IT Training Centre
This has been a difficult year for Upper Planet, mainly caused by the pandemic: few people have been able to afford IT lessons as many people struggled with issues of family poverty. So plans to transfer the Kitukunyi Centre into Wundanyi town had to be shelved and income from the newly opened Centre in Mwatate dropped considerably. We had to send one tranche of emergency funding to allow both to remain open. Both centres continue to offer printing facilities and Cybercafe usage after teaching hours.
Mvono Medical Centre
Mvono’s principal ongoing task this year has been to combat the effects of the pandemic. Although cases of Covid were relatively rare in Taita, it has
been important to monitor the health of patients, as no vaccination or testing has been available to most people. Selina was however able to access a single vaccination to keep herself as safe as possible. During the year Mvono used a development grant from Education Exchange to computerise its record keeping system and install the internet and Wi-Fi.
Mbauro Primary School
Early in the year the school received a donation from one of our supporters which was used to install improved storage tanks for water and to improve classroom teaching materials. Then in October the three teachers who ran the Virtual Marathon decided to devote their sponsorship to addressing two particular needs at the school. Firstly, funds were sent to help struggling parents provide food and clothing for their families. Then we provided the older girls with reusable sanitary ware through PadMad, a social enterprise company in Nairobi.
Declaration:
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees'
report above. Signed on behalf of the charity's trustees:
Summary of accounts, 2021
a) Income
| Monthly Direct Debits | 6360 | |
|---|---|---|
| Donations | 9919 | |
| HMRC Gift Aid | 2757 | |
| ,Marathon | 5483 | |
| Aloysius Trust | 6000 | |
| Recyclingincome | 1114 |
31633
b) Expenditure
| b) Expenditure | |
|---|---|
| Upper Planet | 5223 |
| TEI | 4009 |
| Mvono Medical Centre | 5599 |
| Grace Mwatate Children's | 3678 |
| Home | |
| Mbauro Primary School | 2898 |
| Coordinator salary & | 242 |
| expenses | |
| Entry fees London Marathon | 84 |
| 21733 |
Approved by trustees 03/10/22
Education Exchange, Charity no 1149665 Audit of Accounts for the period 1 January 2021 – 31 December 2021
The following were provided for checking.
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Monthly bank statements, spreadsheet showing monthly Direct Debits and Standing Orders, and the paying in book plus deposit receipts.
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Transaction documents from HSBC and TorFX, with explanatory emails to and accompanying receipts from the relevant projects in Kenya
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Income and Expenditure summaries - which balanced. Last years figures are in brackets.
Income
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Total income was up at £31,632.70 (£27,303).
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Donations increased to £9,899.31 (£6,633.05) including a significant new one of £7,297 from the Gadsby estate.
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There was a further grant of £6k from the Aloysius Trust (£11k),.
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The monthly Standing Order payments from 27 donors were £6,360 (£5,870).
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HMRC Gift Aid repayment was down at £2,756.99 (£3,655.36).
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Income from sales of scrap metal rose markedly to £1,113.58 (£145.13).
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Sponsorship for runners in the Virtual Marathon was £5,482.72
The income summary reconciled with the bank statements and receipts.
Expenditure
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Total expenditure for the period was £21,733.53 (£27,782.49). This included £273.85 which was lost during a transfer in 2020 and was credited to the EE account once it was found in 2021.
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Payments to the 5 projects in Kenya were as follows :-
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Upper Planet£5,223 (£4,654.47) - TEI £4,008.50 (£9,987.92) - Mvono £5,599.29 (£6,288.75) - Mwatate £3,678.03 (£6,068.78) - Mbauro £2,898.37 (new) -
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In every case there is an email from Dave Shorten explaining the purpose of each payment and where appropriate setting out further payments that will be made during the financial year. Within the email there is also a reminder/request for a receipt for the actual amount received.
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Returning of receipts is much improved this year, apart from Upper Planet which still required several reminders.
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Payments to the newly appointed Co-ordinator (CM) were £242.34 and a further £84 was spent on entry for the virtual marathon.
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There were no re-imbursements of Trustee expenses this year.
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Transfers via TorFX appear to work well although they don’t provide the exchange rate with each transaction - which has fluctuated against sterling at between 146KES and 149KES.
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HSBC have changed their procedures for paying money in, making the audit trail a little less clear – and they are also charging for its charity account - but the figures do balance.
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The bank balance at 31 December 2021 was £18,528.61 (£8,355.59) which is significantly higher than usual.
With every good wish for another good year ahead.