Friends of JOY Goat Development Programme Uganda
Annual Reports 2025.
Chairman’s Annual Report for 2025
Charitable Purpose of the Friends of JOY Goat Development Programme Uganda
The Friends of JOY Goat Development Programme Uganda (FJGDPU) was established to raise funds for Joy Goats Development Programme Uganda’s (JGDPU) goat breeding programme in Uganda and surrounding areas. Funding will be through donations, fund raising events, from funding charities and other activities.
JGDPU is a department of Deliverance Church Uganda, a Ugandan registered NGO.
The breeding programme places bucks (male goats) into local communities, which through a three year rotation of the bucks produces a stable breeding stock in each participating area. Local, Parish and District government tiers are involved and the local communities receive education and continued support during their involvement in the programme.
Public Benefit
The focus is on sustainability and local involvement in Uganda by:
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Developing a dairy goat breed that combines the resistance to local parasites and disease with the higher milk yield of many European breeds so that individual small scale farmers and local communities can become self-sufficient. To achieve this, communities are given the skills to improve the nutritional feeding of the goats, how to work together to care for and benefit from the loan of the bucks and selective breeding from the stronger goats to increase milk yields and resilience.
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Working with individual communities across Uganda and for the breeding of high quality goats to be recorded and recognised at a national level. This is currently being carried out with local communities in a number of areas in Uganda. The Field Director is also focussing his time on working with other charities, organisations with a similar vision (including commercial groups and co-operatives) and government agencies in Uganda in creating a sustainable breeding stock which produces milk for the wellbeing of families of those owning goats and developing commercial benefit for local communities.
Governance
During 2025 there were four Trustees with equal voting rights, each with 25% of the voting rights. The four Trustees were:
Theodore Clark Chairperson Lydia Clarke Treasurer Luke Argent Secretary
Despina Andreas Liaison with Uxbridge Parish
The Constitution requires a quorate of a minimum of three.
The Field Director in Uganda, David Dowdy, attends the Trustees Meetings, but is not a trustee.
During 2025 there have been five Trustees Meetings. These were on:
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22 January 2025
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1 April 2025
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19 August 2025 (Annual General Meeting)
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29 September 2025
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1 December 2025
All meetings were quorate. The meetings were by Teams. The Field Director joined all the meetings.
In addition, two short-term working groups were set up to deal with specific issues:
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Becoming a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. Meetings took place on Teams to discuss the details of the process of the transition and the new constitution.
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Banking arrangements. The CIO will require new banking arrangements.
Dave Dowdy, the Field Director returned to the United Kingdom for four months in the summer and was able to attend the Quiz Night. These times in the UK have been very useful for the Trustees and the Field Director to catch up on a more personal level.
The trustees of FJGDPU will continue to ensure that its activities are consistent with the Charity’s Constitution and Articles of Association.
Data Protection
FJGDPU’s Trustees are aware of their responsibilities as laid out in the Charity Commission’s guidance on Charity Fundraising: a guide to Trustee duties and the General Data Protection Regulations 2018.
The data protection statements on the publicity information sent out, displayed on MailChimp and on Gift Aid forms are compliant with the GDPR.
No concerns or complaints have been reported to the GDPR Trustee (Lydia Clarke.)
Safeguarding
FJGDPU does not provide services or activities in the United Kingdom, other than to raise funds for the work of JOY Goats Development Programme Uganda. As such, the Charity does not provide activity requiring Safeguarding precautions. However, it is mindful of its duties in relation to children and adults who are at risk and continues to review whether a more detailed Policy is needed.
JOY Goats Development Programme Uganda (the Ugandan registered NGO) complies with the legislative requirements of the Ugandan Government and District policies.
Insurance
FJGDPU has insurance cover for the fundraising activities it undertakes.
Employment
FJGDPU does not employ any staff based in the United Kingdom or Uganda.
Although FJGDPU raises funding for the work in Uganda, it does not employ Dr David Dowdy, the Field Director, or the Field Workers. The terms and conditions under which they work are arranged through JOY Goat Development Programme Uganda, a department of Deliverance Church Uganda, a registered NGO in Uganda. Insurance and tax are administered and paid under Ugandan law.
Assets
FJGDPU does not own any assets in the United Kingdom or Uganda.
Finances
On 1 January 2025 £1,635 was brought forward in the Charity’s accounts. The income during 2025 was £23,712. Expenditure during 2025 was £23,969, leading to a balance at the end of 2025 of £1,378. As the income for this year does not exceed the Small Charity’s threshold for financial examination, an independent person has not been appointed to examine the accounts.
The five strategies listed for the last three years continue:
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To attract new donors.
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To encourage current supporters to raise their individual donations.
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Arranging fund raising events.
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Raising awareness in the churches attended by the Trustees and friends.
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Encouraging those supporters who pay Income Tax to sign up for Gift Aid.
We are thankful for the continued commitment of our regular donors and that many of these have been able to increase their giving through Gift Aid.
Two fund raising events were held. The “Magic Show” raised £437 and the Quiz Night raised £420 (including sale of cakes).
The details of the accounts for 2025 are contained in the Financial Report prepared by Lydia Clarke, Treasurer.
Analysis of the Financial Situation for Future Development
The future work of JGDPU is moving into a new phase as the current work is consolidated while exploring new ways of funding the supply of buck goats. In areas where JGDPU has been successful farmers seek to develop their stock and look at how they can work collaboratively. At the same time there are also new areas seeking to use other funding sources to start. However, the future development of work into new areas of high poverty or new ways of working is dependent on new sources of funding. New ways of funding the development of funding co-operatives are being sought by the Field Director.
The international instability, both economically and politically, has continued to be a concern, particularly in exchange rates and commodities traded, particularly oil. Costs of travel have increased noticeably and now form the second largest expense after the employment of the Field Workers.
Goat Programme Activity
This is covered in detail in the Field Director’s Report.
Future Plans
As reported last year, the trustees have considered changing the legal status of Friends of JOY Goats from being registered as both a charity, under Charity Commission regulations, and a company, under Companies House’s
regulations and company law, to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). This option was not available when Friends of JOY Goats was set up. At the Annual General Meeting in August, the trustees agreed to begin the process of converting to become a CIO. A new constitution was agreed by the trustees and the application was made on 23 October 2025. This was agreed at the beginning of April 2026.
Acknowledgements
The Trustees have continued their commitment to running FJGDPU. I want to thank all the Trustees for their work in supporting the FJGDPU in so many ways, and in particular, Lydia Clarke (Treasurer) for keeping the accounts, dealing with financial matters and claiming Gift Aid. I also want to thank Luke Argent for all he does as Secretary for the Charity.
Over the last year the involvement of St Margaret’s Church Uxbridge has significantly increased. The appointment of Dee Andreas as a Trustee reflects the increasing support from the Church and I want to thank her for her role in taking a lead with them over events. In addition, many others in the Parish have given their time freely. Thank you.
Although they rarely get mentioned, I want to thank the supporters who faithfully donate (whether by standing order or with one-off gifts) and pray for the work of JOY Goats Development Programme Uganda. Without their support the exciting and worthwhile work carried out by David Dowdy and his Field Workers would not be possible.
I also want to say thank you to David Dowdy (Field Director) for his vision and the tremendous amount of work he does and the Field Workers for their commitment to the vision.
Theo Clark
Chairperson
Annual Accounts 2025
Statement of financial activities for year ended 31 December 2025
| Incoming resources (Note 2) Income and endowments from: Donations and legacies Fundraising Total Resources expended (Note 4) Expenditure on: Raising funds Charitable activities Governance Total Net income/(expenditure) before investment gains/(losses) Net gains/(losses) on investments Net income/(expenditure) Extraordinary items Transfers between funds Other recognised gains/(losses): Gains and losses on revaluation of fixed assets for the charity’s own use Other gains/(losses) Net movement in funds |
Unrestricted funds Restricted income funds Total funds 2025 Prior year funds £ £ £ £ 22,536 248 22,784 22,955 928 - 928 450 |
|---|---|
| 23,464 248 23,712 23,404 |
|
| 82 34 116 8 23,397 214 23,611 23,490 242 - 242 282 |
|
| 23,721 24823,969 23,779 |
|
| (257) - (257) (375) - - - (257) - (257) (375) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (257) - (257) (375) |
Reconciliation of funds:
| Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward |
1,635 - 1,635 2,010 |
|---|---|
| 1,378 - 1,378 1,635 |
Balance sheet as at 31 December 2025
| Current assets Debtors Cash at bank and in hand Total current assets Net current assets/(liabilities) Total assets less current liabilities Total net assets or liabilities Funds of the Charity Restricted income funds Unrestricted funds Revaluation reserve Total funds |
Unrestricted funds Restricted income funds Total this year Total last year £ £ £ £ 1,138 - 1,138 1,310 240 - 240 325 1,378 - 1,378 1,635 1,378 - 1,378 1,635 1,378 - 1,378 1,635 1,378 - 1,378 1,635 - - - 1,378 1,378 1,635 - - |
|---|---|
| 1,378 - 1,378 1,635 |
The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.
Signed by Lydia Clarke
Treasurer
Dated 06/04/26
Notes to the accounts for year end 2025
1 Basis of preparation
These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
These accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items recognised at cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant note(s) to these accounts.
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) and with the Charities Act 2011.
For the year ended 31 December 2025 the company was entitled to exemption under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
The members have not required the company to obtain an audit in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.
The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. The Trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Going concern
The accounts have been prepared on the assumption the charity is a going concern. The majority of funds received in 2025 are expected to be received in 2026.
A grant has formed a significant portion of income in the previous few years, but has been decreasing each year. In 2025 it amounted to £4,000. In 2026 this support ends completely and budgets have been planned accordingly. The charity has made an appeal to our individual supporters and is seeking out alternative grants to try and address some of the deficit.
The majority of the remainder of our income comes from individual giving (and associated gift aid). In the previous three years the donations amounted to £15,008, £11,820 and £9,416. This comes from a number of individuals, many of whom have faithfully given since the creation of the charity (over 10 years ago). Consequently we have confidence that this part of our income should not change significantly.
The charity has no policy requiring reserves. FJGDPU has no employees and minimal liabilities. Combined with the low risk of all income ceasing it is felt not to be required. Furthermore to build up any substantial reserve would require withholding funding from beneficiaries and be counterproductive. This policy will be revised annually.
Change in basis of accounting or to previous accounts
There has been no change to the accounting policies (valuation rules and method of accounting) since last year and no changes have been made to accounts for previous years.
Fund accounting
Unrestricted funds: These are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objects of the charity.
Designated funds: These are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular purposes.
Revaluation funds: These are unrestricted funds which include a revaluation reserve representing the restatement of investment assets at their market values.
Restricted funds: These are available for use subject to restrictions imposed by the donor or through terms of an appeal
Income
Recognition of income: These are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when:
Entitlement – control over the rights or other access to the economic benefit has passed to the charity.
Probable – it is more likely than not that the economic benefits associated with the transaction or gift will flow to the charity.
Measurement – the monetary value or amount of the income can be measured reliably
and the costs incurred for the transaction and the costs to complete the transaction can be measured reliably.
Grants and donations: Grants and donations are only included in the SoFA when the general income recognition criteria are met (5.10 to 5.12 FRS102 SORP). In the case of performance related grants, income must only be recognised 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 (5.16 FRS 102 SORP).
Tax reclaims on donations and gifts: 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.
Contractual income and performance related grants: This is only included in the SoFA once the charity has provided the related goods or services or met the performance related conditions.
Support costs: The charity has incurred expenditure on support costs.
Volunteer help: The value of any voluntary help received is not included in the accounts but is described in the trustees’ annual report.
Income from interest, royalties and dividends: This is included in the accounts when receipt is probable and the amount receivable can be measured reliably.
Expenditure and liabilities
Liability recognition: Liabilities are recognised where it is more likely than not that there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to pay out resources and the amount of the obligation can be measured with reasonable certainty.
Governance costs: Governance costs comprise all costs involving public accountability of the charity and its compliance with regulation and good practice.
Company status
The company is a private company limited by guarantee and consequently does not have share capital; thus no single party controls the company.
2 Analysis of income
| Donations and legacies: Donations and gifts Gift Aid General grants provided by government/other charities Other Total Income from investments: Interest income Total Separate material item of income: Fundraising Total TOTAL INCOME |
Unrestricted funds Restricted income funds Total funds Prior year £ £ £ £ 14,824 183 15,007 9,416 3,711 - 3,711 2,522 4,000 - 4,000 8,000 2 65 67 630 20,851 248 22,784 22,955 - - - 0 - - - 0 928 - 928 450 928 - 928 450 |
|---|---|
| 23,464 248 23,712 23,404 |
Most donations come from monthly standing orders from individuals.
‘Other’ includes collections taken after talks on the charity, mainly given at churches by the Field Director, payments from other charities and payment from PayPal giving fund.
Fundraising total in 2025 is from a quiz night, magic show and a talk about the charity. The charity has an easy fundraising account but did not earn enough to receive a payment this year.
3 Analysis of restricted income
| Training sessions Field officer expenses Goats and training on behalf of other organisations Event posters Total |
£ 57 92 65 34 |
|---|---|
| 248 |
4 Analysis of expenditure
| Expenditure on governance: Companies house registration Public liability insurance Accountant fee for bank letter Total Expenditure on raising funds: Fundraising activities Total Expenditure on charitable activities: Charitable work in Uganda Total TOTAL EXPENDITURE |
Unrestricted funds Restricted income funds Total funds Prior year £ £ £ £ 34 - 34 34 208 - 208 198 - - 50 282 - 282 611 82 34 116 8 82 34 116 8 23,397 214 23,611 23,490 23,397 214 23,611 23,490 |
|---|---|
| 23,721 248 23,969 23,779 |
More detailed breakdown of the funds used for charitable work in Uganda can be found in the Field Director’s report. This is done by JOY Goats Development Programme Uganda, a department of Deliverance Church Uganda, a Ugandan registered NGO.
5 Debtors
| Accrued gift aid Other accrued income (stewardship) Total Cash at bank and in hand Short term deposits Cash at bank and on hand Other (PayPal) Total |
This year Prior year £ £ 1,113 1,285 25 25 |
|---|---|
| 1,138 1,310 |
|
| This year Prior year £ £ 0 0 117 40 123 285 |
|
| 240 325 |
6 Cash at bank and in hand
A PayPal account was set up in 2012 to handle donations, particularly for sponsoring a goat. One person has opted to give monthly through PayPal. Some of this is used for purchases via PayPal and some is transferred to the charity’s Barclays account.
7 Further disclosures
None of the trustees have been paid any remuneration or received any other benefits from an employment with the charity or a related entity.
The charity does not have any employees.
The funds raised by Friends of JOY Goat Development Programme Uganda are drawn down by the Field Director in Uganda to fund the activities there, as detailed in the Annual Report. Each transaction incurred bank and currency conversion costs. These fund the work of JOY Goat Development Programme, which is a department of Deliverance Church Uganda, a registered local NGO.
Field Director’s Annual Report 2025
Prepared by David Dowdy
1. Introduction
This report covers activities during the 12-month period from Jan 2025 to Dec 2025 inclusive, and issues that became highlighted during that year.
2. Personnel
Workforce
Our full-time Field Officers are still 5:
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2 based in Masaka
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2 based in Mbale (Mount Elgon)
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1 sponsored through RWEYIDA and based on the Eastern side of the Rwenzori Mountains
In addition, there is one working ¼-time in the North of the Rwenzori Mountains
3. On-Going CrossBreeding Projects
Overview
This is the main activity in most of Uganda, where we train groups to develop breeding stock of approximately 50% dairy genetics by cross-breeding.
The map shown here is based on the actual number of visits during 2025.
Each circle represents a parish. The brightest red denotes parishes visited at least 5 times during 2025. The dimmest dots denote parishes receiving a single half-day visit. The size of the circles reflects the typical sizes of the parishes in the respective districts.
The named areas are discussed in the section below.
Analysis of areas worked in
The Field Officers give monthly reports listing all the villages where they have visited (mostly to conduct training meetings). However, the attendees are normally from more than one village, and so the impact is generally on a larger area than just one village. For the following analysis, we have chosen to start with the next higher administrative level – parish.
During the year, a total of 1,480 visits to farmers’ groups were carried out.
The table below show how many areas are currently receiving regular follow-up or intermittent follow-up, and how many areas are new this year.
Administrative units visited
| Regularly | Intermittent | Total | Total | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level | Reactivated |
Restarted |
New | ||||||
| visited | visits | In 2025 | in 2024 | In 2023 | |||||
| See note | a |
b | b |
b |
b |
b |
c | c |
|
| Parishes | 199 | 62 |
15 |
10 |
65 |
351 |
345 |
279 |
|
| Sub-counties | 116 | 16 |
7 |
6 |
41 |
186 |
166 |
140 |
|
| Districts | 36 | 1 |
3 |
2 |
10 |
52 |
41 |
39 |
Note
a: Uganda is divided into 147 District-level administrative units (Cities and Districts), each roughly equivalent to ½ of a British county by area or about 1/3 by population
Each district is divided into an average of 15 sub-counties (a total of 2,211)
Each sub-county is divided into an average of nearly 5 parishes (a total of 10,746)
Each parish is divided into an average of 6 or 7 villages and has an average population of 4200 people (900 households).
b: For convenience we have defined the following categories -
Regularly visited – The earliest visit of this period is no more than 1 year after the previous one
Intermittent visits – The earliest visit of this period is no more than 2½ years after the previous one Reactivated – The area has been visited/trained before, between 2½ and 5 years previously Restarted – The area has been visited before, but it was more than 5 years previously
New – The area has never been visited before
c: These figures differ from previous reports. We now have better data on the current sub-division of administrative units in Uganda.
Areas that are particularly worthy of note are highlighted in the sections below
Rwenzori Mountains
On the western side of the country, the Rwenzori Mountains continue to be a focus. The programme was initially set up in the northern half of Kasese District. This district has one of the highest populations in Uganda. Much of it is uninhabited – the high-altitude north western corner forms part of the Rwenzori National Park, and the arid rift-valley in the south-eastern side is part of the Queen Elizabeth National Park. But the medium-level hills are very densely populated, and the farmers there have enthusiastically welcomed the Programme.
The programme in Kasese is administered by a local NGO – Rwenzori Youth Initiative for Development (RWEYIDA) with funding for one Field Officer to carry out the goat work. Within Kasese District the programme has now expanded to cover the whole of the inhabited area. There is also preliminary work in the neighbouring district of Bunyangabu, to the north. However, to properly develop into Bunyangabu it would be necessary to employ an additional Field Officer, and at present there are insufficient funds.
We have one part-time Field Officer who works in the area where Ntoroko District meets Kabarole District and Bundibugyo District. The work is mainly on the slopes of the Rwenzori mountains. Little interest is shown towards dairy goats in the rolling hills of the west of Kabarole District. The same Field Officer is coordinating with
various farmers’ groups and local organisations in Bundibugyo District, and there are a number of pilot projects there.
Mount Elgon
In a similar way to the situation in the Rwenzori Mountains, the highest part of Mount Elgon is a National Park. Below that is a densely populated band, and it is here that the greatest interest in dairy goats occurs out of the whole of eastern Uganda. We have continued to work all around Mount Elgon, with particular emphasis on Kween District, on the northern side of the mountain.
Bugwere, Busoga and SE Uganda
This area is included in the map in the Mount Elgon section above. It stretches from Kamuli District on the West to Budaka and Butaleja Districts on the East, and is bounded to the north and south by Lake Kyoga and Lake Victoria respectively.
There continues to be a high level of interest in Butaleja District, and in Namutumba District. This is a long way from where the Field Officers are based, in Mbale City. However, the road is very good and is well served by public transport, so it is not as big a challenge to reach as the groups on the northern side of Mount Elgon.
During 2025 there has been a notable increase in interest from other parts of Busoga, and also extending into the western part of Central Region (Buganda) – Kayunga, Mukono and Buikwe districts on the above map. (See the Mount Elgon map for district locations, and the large scale map at the beginning of section 3 for the subregion/tribal areas)
Teso and Northern Uganda
As reported in 2023 and 2024, we are reducing our involvement in northern Uganda because of the poorer benefit to cost ratio. However, there continues to be serious interest in the south of Kumi District, and some increase in Bukedea District (immedialely East of Kumi District). This enables us to maintain a ‘toehold’ in the northern climatic zone.
Southwest Uganda
For the map, refer to the large-scale map under Overview.
In previous years we had a significant involvement in Rukungiri and other districts within Kiga sub-region. However, continued sale of breeding stock by the farmers has prevented the development of a sustainable breeding population of crossbred dairy goats. Travel there was expensive, and in the light of the poor results so far, we have made the decision to cut our losses, and withdraw from the region.
An exception is the group in Rukungiri Town that are breeding purebred dairy goats, and continue to expand slowly. But the reduced activity in other areas means that we are only making occasional visits to the region, and so even this group is receiving less support.
We had also been providing training for a group in Ntungamo District. These are now very well established, and have not required additional follow-up this year.
4. Strategic Developments
Proposed loan programme
The concept of the loans programme has been outlined in the 2024 report. We have looked for potential sponsors for this programme, but it was not until towards the end of 2025, that we have had any serious response. After a telephone discussion, a scaled-down project proposal has been submitted to the potential donor, and we are waiting for their response.
5. External Challenges
Exchange rate
The low value of sterling against the shilling that was noted in 2024 has continued into 2025 Most of our income comes from the UK, and the lower exchange rate means that we have less Uganda shillings available for the field work.
David Robert Dowdy National Director