## Trustees’ Annual Report _01 September 2024 to 31 August 2025_ **----- Start of picture text -----**
Thomas Edwards
17 June 2026
**----- End of picture text -----**
Trustees’ Annual Report 2024/25 Cameroon Catalyst ## **Version History** |**_Date_**|**_Version_**|**_Comments_**|**_Author(s)_**| |---|---|---|---| |17/06/2026|#01|For Submission|TE| 1 Trustees’ Annual Report 2024/25 Cameroon Catalyst ## **Page of Contents** |**Version History**|**1**| |---|---| |**Page of Contents**|**2**| |**1. Administrative Details**|**3**| |**2. Structure, Governance and Management**|**3**| |**3. The Report**|**3**| |**4. Objectives and Activities**|**4**| |4.1. Objectives|4| |4.2. Activities|5| |**5. Achievements and Performance**|**6**| |5.1. Project Delivery|6| |5.2. Community Engagement|7| |5.3. Student Development|8| |5.4. Collaboration & Knowledge Sharing|9| |**6. Financial Review**|**11**| |**7. Declarations**|**11**| 2 Trustees’ Annual Report 2024/25 Cameroon Catalyst ## **1. Administrative Details** _**Charity Name**_ Cameroon Catalyst _**Registered Charity Number**_ 1155758 Oxwich House Hythe Road _**Charity Principal Address**_ Marchwood Southampton SO40 4WU _**Trustee Name Dates Acted Thomas Edwards**_ Trustee and Chairperson _**Claire Gott**_ Trustee and Co-Founder _**Pat Mballa**_ Trustee and Co-Founder _**Sebastian Denner**_ Trustee _**James Cox**_ Trustee _**Martha Day**_ Trustee (resigned 31 August 2025) ## **2. Structure, Governance and** ## **Management** _**Governing Document**_ Constitution, latest version enacted March 2016 _**Charity Constitution**_ Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) _**Trustee Selection**_ Elected by charity members at AGM ## **3. The Report** This Trustee’s Annual Report accompanies the accounts submitted by Cameroon Catalyst to the Charity Commission, covering the 12-month accounting period from 01 September 2024 to 31 August 2025. It highlights the objectives of the charity, the activities undertaken and the achievements made in the period reported. 3 Trustees’ Annual Report 2024/25 Cameroon Catalyst ## **4. Objectives and Activities** ## _**4.1. Objectives**_ The object of Cameroon Catalyst is to empower village communities across east Cameroon, West Africa and improve living conditions and wellbeing, especially through the provision of water, education, health care, affordable housing, renewable energy, and microbusinesses. Cameroon Catalyst is a student driven international development charity promoting sustainable development in rural Cameroon. We bring together students and specialists to deliver essential infrastructure projects in some of the least developed communities in the country. We were co-founded in 2009 by a team of civil engineering students at the University of Southampton in partnership with a native Cameroonian living in the UK. Our vision is for rural communities in Cameroon to possess the autonomy and opportunity to achieve their own sustainable development towards a fulfilling, healthy and prosperous future. Our mission is to act as a catalyst for sustainable change in rural Cameroon by delivering needs-assessed infrastructure which removes development barriers and empowers local people to engage with their own sustainable development. We are driven by teams of dedicated students at the University of Southampton and Imperial College London. Our student volunteers hold a vital role in our work and are responsible for the design and fundraising for our projects. Our student teams combine a diverse range of technical and non-technical degree programmes, drawing from engineering, natural and social sciences and languages. We are governed by a Board of Trustees who inform the charity’s direction and managed day-to-day by a senior committee of industry professionals. We are supported by an advisory board of individuals and organisations who specialise in each of our focus areas and priorities. We are grateful to have received corporate patronage from engineering professional services firm WSP who contribute to our project funding. Our work is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The goals and their targets help to define our priorities and provide us with the confidence that our solutions act towards the sustainable change we hope to catalyse. 4 Trustees’ Annual Report 2024/25 Cameroon Catalyst ## _**4.2. Activities**_ To ensure we are most effective in achieving our purpose, we conduct our work through four focus areas. Within each focus area we define what we hope to achieve, what we do to achieve this, and the impact we have. Our focus areas were chosen to reflect what is most important to us as a charity and structure our approach irrespective of our current priority. - Project Delivery: We deliver essential needs-assessed infrastructure projects to some of the least developed communities in Eastern Cameroon. - Community Engagement: We involve local communities throughout the project delivery lifecycle to ensure our solutions consider the cultural, religious, economic and political setting. - Student Development: We support our students to become future civil society leaders and sustainability thinkers. - Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing: We aspire to partner and share our best practice and lessons learned with the wider industry. Our first programme of works between 2009 and 2014 prioritised the village of Bambouti. Over five years we delivered five independent projects addressing five interconnected development needs, including a Medical Centre, Mechanical Workshop, School Classrooms, a Solar Electrification Hub and Improved Housing. In 2013, following the successful delivery of our programme of works in Bambouti, we conducted a full assessment of the development needs in the wider Eastern Region of Cameroon. Our assessment identified that a lack of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) Infrastructure was the biggest barrier to sustainable development. Since 2014 we have been developing our response to the presented WaSH needs across the Eastern Region. Our WaSH programme combines infrastructure for water provision and sanitation. To date we have delivered seven hand dug water wells, a ventilated improved pit latrine and a rainwater harvesting and storage system. Rising temperatures and less frequent rainfall in Sub-Saharan Africa are lengthening the dry season exacerbating stress on groundwater levels and consequently shallow aquifers are becoming less reliable as a water source. This is rendering many older shallow, hand-dug wells less effective, especially towards the beginning of the rainy season, when groundwater levels are low after a long dry season. This was highlighted by UNICEF in their Climate Change Impacts, Trends and Vulnerabilities of Children in Sub Saharan Africa report in 2020. Consequently we have adapted their response to clean water provision to focus on the delivery of solar pumped borehole wells which tap deeper into the surface aquifer, or even into unconfined aquifers deeper below ground. 5 Trustees’ Annual Report 2024/25 Cameroon Catalyst ## _**4.3. Public Benefit**_ The trustees confirm that they have had due regard to the guidance published by the Charity Commission on public benefit in accordance with the requirements set out in the Charity SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice) 2015, paragraph 1.18. The trustees have ensured that the activities undertaken reflect the charity’s aims and objectives, and provide identifiable public benefit by addressing fundamental needs in the communities we aim to benefit. 6 Trustees’ Annual Report 2024/25 Cameroon Catalyst ## **5. Achievements and Performance** ## _**5.1. Project Delivery**_ The most tangible impact we have is through the delivery of essential infrastructure projects. Project Delivery encompasses the full project lifecycle, from needs assessment to post-handover monitoring and evaluation. Our student volunteers respond to assessed needs with sustainable design proposals which are checked by our in-house chartered engineers and by external experts. We work closely with our advisors at Article 25 and WSP to ensure our project designs are technically excellent and best meet the needs of the community. Construction in Cameroon is undertaken by appointed local contractors and completed projects are handed over to selected operational committees within the beneficiary community. The success of each project is not only defined by the handover of the project to the community, but by the continued performance of the facility following completion. We conduct monitoring and evaluation activities on an ongoing basis, ensuring our projects continue to meet target outcomes; this process also provides valuable lessons for future projects. ## **Clean Water Provision** In 2025 Cameroon Catalyst returned to several of our previous projects to strengthen the impact they have on the communities we serve. In Mbangue, we deepened the existing hand-dug well to improve resilience during the dry season, before installing a solar-powered pumping system, elevated storage tank and water distribution network. In Petit Ngaoundéré, we brought a disused borehole back into service by fitting a solar-powered pump with elevated storage and a distribution system, restoring a reliable supply of clean water to the community. In Bambouti, we reinstated the health centre's water tower, supplying it from a nearby well to increase the available water yield. The system now provides running water throughout the health centre, while also supplying conveniently located collection points for villagers, improving access to safe water for both healthcare and everyday use. By consolidating and enhancing existing infrastructure, we are able to extend the benefits of earlier projects and ensure they continue to deliver reliable, sustainable improvements for years to come. 7 Trustees’ Annual Report 2024/25 Cameroon Catalyst ## _**5.2. Community Engagement**_ Community engagement encompasses all of the charity’s interactions with our beneficiary communities, local governance and representation in Cameroon. We involve these stakeholders throughout the lifecycle of each project; from thorough initial field visit surveys to ongoing monitoring and evaluation post-handover. Consistent and effective communication with the communities ensures that each project responds to the essential needs and aligns with community aspirations. As a result our projects are well received and maintained, and empower local communities to continue to achieve their own development sustainably. ## **Malaria Prevention** In 2024, Cameroon Catalyst's medical team completed its first needs assessment study in East Cameroon. A number of key focus areas were identified, but due to the physical, psychological and financial burden that malaria poses to the communities of East Cameroon, the team decided that malaria is a crisis that cannot not be ignored. In 2025, 100 Insecticide-Treated Mosquito Nets were distributed with the help of local volunteers to families in the village of Bambouti, prioritising pregnant mothers and children under 5. **Distribution of Malaria Nets to Households in Bambouti** The team also hosted interactive and informative workshops with the local population of Bambouti. The team hopes this distribution will kickstart the long term goal to improve knowledge, attitudes and practices towards malaria, thus helping to reduce the burden of this deadly disease in East Cameroon. 8 Trustees’ Annual Report 2024/25 Cameroon Catalyst **Malaria net erection workshops in Bambouti** 9 Trustees’ Annual Report 2024/25 Cameroon Catalyst ## _**5.3. Student Development**_ Student volunteers are the core drivers of our impact, responsible for the design of, and fundraising for, each project. This level of student involvement in an international development charity is unique to Cameroon Catalyst and is important because it provides those at the beginning of their careers with the opportunity to develop their knowledge, skills and experience across a range of technical and non-technical areas. Our student volunteers develop both passively through their direct experiences with project involvement and charity operations, and actively through opportunities tailored towards improving specific skills or knowledge sets. Cameroon Catalyst alumni represent a cohort of sustainability thinkers which contributes to preparing the next generation of civil society leaders. ## **Annual Charity Workshop** In March 2025 the charity hosted the Annual Charity Workshop at Imperial College London South Kensington Campus. The workshop brought together Trustees, Senior Committee Members and Student Volunteers to share achievements and lessons learnt from the previous year and partake in design and fundraising workshops. This year the workshop focused on how to run effective and collaborative workshops with local people and beneficiaries to support them in using the projects we deliver. ## _**5.4. Collaboration & Knowledge Sharing**_ Collaboration & Knowledge Sharing includes all of our interactions with NGOs, companies, institutions and wider industry outside of our beneficiary communities. We aspire to partner with organisations to deliver the most effective projects and share our research findings, best practice and lessons learned. Through this we can significantly increase our influence in the international development sector rather than existing as an isolated entity. 10 Trustees’ Annual Report 2024/25 Cameroon Catalyst ## **6. Financial Review** _**Reserves Policy**_ Cameroon Catalyst endeavours to hold reserves to help cover the next year of charitable activity and provide contingency. At the end of the 2023/24 financial year the reserve stood at £4,629 in the Main UK Bank Account and £7,335 including all Student Chapter accounts. ## **7. Declarations** Signed on behalf of the Trustees of Cameroon Catalyst. |**_Name_**|Thomas Edwards|**_Position_**|Chairperson| |---|---|---|---| |**_Date_**|28/06/2025|**_Signed_**|| 11 www.camerooncatalyst.org info@camerooncatalyst.org Registered Charity Number: 1155758 |||**Cameroon Catalyst**|**Cameroon Catalyst**|**Cameroon Catalyst**|||||||||**1155758**|**1155758**|**1155758**|**1155758**|||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||||**Receipts and payments accounts**|||||||||||||||||**CC16a**|| ||||**For the period**
**from**|||||01/09/2024||||**To**|||31/08/2025||||||| |**Section A Receipts and payments**|||||||||||||||||||||| ||||**Unrestricted**
**funds**||||**Restricted funds**|||||**Endowment**
**funds**||||**Total funds**||||**Last year**|| ||||**to the nearest £**|||||**to the nearest £**||||**to the nearest £**|||**to the nearest £**|||||**to the nearest £**|| |**A1 Receipts**|||||||||||||||||||||| |Donations - Corporate Sponsorship||**-**|**7,500-**||||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**7,500-**|||**-**|**--**|| |Donations - Project Fundraising Activities||**-**|**--**||||**-**|**5,376-**|||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**5,376-**|||**-**|**3,776-**|| |Donations - Trip Fundraising Activities||**-**|**--**||||**-**|**5,750-**|||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**5,750-**|||**-**|**9,796-**|| |Donations - Other||**-**|**2,072-**||||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**2,072-**|||**-**|**780-**|| |Other trading activities||**-**|**583-**||||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**583-**|||**-**|**--**|| |Other - refund of unspent project costs||**-**|**--**||||**-**|**660-**|||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**660-**|||**-**|**7,770-**|| |Donations - Grants||**-**|**--**||||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**--**|| |||**-**|**--**||||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**--**|| |||**-**|**--**||||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**--**|| |||**-**|**10,155-**||||**-**|**11,786-**|||**-**|**--**|||**-**|**21,941-**|||**-**|**22,122-**|| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_|||||||||||||||||||||| ||**Cameroon Catalyst**
|**Cameroon Catalyst**
|**Cameroon Catalyst**
|**Cameroon Catalyst**
|**CC16a**| |---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**For the period**
**from**|01/09/2024|**To**||| ||||||| |**Section A Receipts and payments**|||||| |**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Restricted funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**| |Donations - Corporate Sponsorship|**-**
**7,500-**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**2,072-**
**-**
**583-**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**|**-**
**--**
**-**
**5,376-**
**-**
**5,750-**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**660-**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**|**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**|**-**
**7,500-**
**-**
**5,376-**
**-**
**5,750-**
**-**
**2,072-**
**-**
**583-**
**-**
**660-**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**|**-**
**--**| |Donations - Project Fundraising Activities|||||**-**
**3,776-**| |Donations - Trip Fundraising Activities|||||**-**
**9,796-**| |Donations - Other|||||**-**
**780-**| |Other trading activities|||||**-**
**--**| |Other - refund of unspent project costs|||||**-**
**7,770-**| |Donations - Grants|||||**-**
**--**| ||||||**-**
**--**| ||||||**-**
**--**| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_|**-**
**10,155-**|**-**
**11,786-**|**-**
**--**|**-**
**21,941-**|**-**
**22,122-**| |**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**|||||| |**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**|||||| ||**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**|**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**|**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**|**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**|| ||||||**-**
**--**| |**_Sub total_-**
**--**
**_Total receipts_ -**
**10,155-**
**A3 Payments**|**-**
**--**|**-**
**--**|**-**
**--**|**-**
**--**|**-**
**--**| ||||||| ||**-**
**10,155-**|**-**
**11,786-**|**-**
**--**|**-**
**21,941-**|**-**
**22,122-**| ||||||| |Charitable Activities (Cameroon) - Projects
(Main UK)|**-**
**8,942-**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**544-**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**178-**
**-**
**167-**
**-**
**2,514-**
**-**
**60-**
**-**
**795-**
**-**
**240-**|**-**
**--**
**-**
**687-**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**11,100-**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**|**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**|**-**
**8,942-**
**-**
**687-**
**-**
**544-**
**-**
**11,100-**
**-**
**178-**
**-**
**167-**
**-**
**2,514-**
**-**
**60-**|**-**
**16,800-**| |Charitable Activities (Cameroon) - Projects
(Southampton)|||||**-**
**--**| |Charitable Activities (Cameroon) - Spring Trip
Expenses|||||**-**
**--**| |Charitable Activities (Cameroon) - Summer
Trip Costs (Main UK)|||||**-**
**17,750-**| |Charitable Activities (Cameroon) - Summer
Trip Costs (Southampton)|||||**-**
**--**| |Charitable Activities (UK) - Annual Chairty
Workshop Expenses (Southampton)|||||**-**
**205-**| |Insurance|||||**-**
**2,514-**| |Other Expenses - Tax Return|||||**-**
**39-**| |Cost of Fundraising (UK Main)||||**-**
**795-**
**-**
**240-**|**-**
**318-**| |Cost of Fundraising (Southampton)|||||**-**
**374-**| |**_Sub total_ -**
**13,440-**
**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**|**-**
**13,440-**|**-**
**11,787-**|**-**
**--**|**-**
**25,227-**|**-**
**38,000-**| ||||||| |**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**|||||| ||**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**|**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**|**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**|**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**|| ||||||| |**_Sub total_ -**
**--**
**_Total payments_ -**
**13,440-**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_ -**
**3,285-**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**-**
**--**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**-**
**8,970-**
**_Cash funds this year end_ -**
**5,685-**|**-**
**--**|**-**
**--**|**-**
**--**|**-**
**--**|| ||||||| ||**-**
**13,440-**|**-**
**11,787-**|**-**
**--**|**-**
**25,227-**|**-**
**38,000-**| ||||||| ||**-**
**3,285-**|**-**
**1-**|**-**
**--**|**-**
**3,286-**|**-**
**15,878-**| ||**-**
**--**
**-**
**8,970-**
**-**
**5,685-**|**-**
**--**
**-**
**1,651-**
**-**
**1,650-**|**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**|**-**
**--**
**-**
**10,621-**
**-**
**7,335-**|**-**
**--**| ||||||**-**
**--**| ||||||**-**
**15,878-**| ||||||| |**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**|||||| |**Categories**
**B1 Cash funds**|**Details**
Current Account: Main UK Account
Current Account: Southampton
Current Account: Birmingham
Current Account: Imperial||**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**4,546-**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**1,079-**|**Restricted funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**83-**
**-**
**22-**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**1,545-**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| ||||||**-**
**--**| ||||||**-**
**--**| ||||||**-**
**--**| ||||||**-**
**--**| ## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period** |||||||**Unrestricted**||**Restricted funds**|**Restricted funds**|||**Endowment**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |||**Categories**|**Details**|||**funds**||||||**funds**| |||||||**to nearest £**|||**to nearest £**|||**to nearest £**| |**B1**|**Cash**|**funds**|Current Account: Main UK Account||**-**|**4,546-**||**-**|**83-**||**-**|**--**| ||||Current Account: Southampton||**-**|**--**||**-**|**22-**||**-**|**--**| ||||Current Account: Birmingham||**-**|**1,079-**||**-**|**--**||**-**|**--**| ||||Current Account: Imperial|||||**-**|**1,545-**||**-**|**--**| CCXX R1 accounts (SS) 30/06/2026 1 ||Cash held in hand|||**-**
**60-**||**-**
**--**||**-**
**--**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B5 Liabilities**
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of
all the trustees|**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments account
(s))
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**

Signature|||**-**
**5,685-**||**-**
**1,650-**||**-**
**--**| |||||||||OK| |||||**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**Fund to which asset**
**belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**--**
**Fund to which asset**
**belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**--**
**-**
**--**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**
**-**
**--**
Print Name
Thomas Henderson Edwards||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| |||||||||**-**
**--**| |||||||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| |||||||||**-**
**--**| |||||||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| |||||||||**-**
**--**| |||||||||**-**
**--**| |||||||||**When due**
**(optional)**| |||||||||| |||||||||Date of approval| |||||Thomas Henderson Edwards||||28/06/2026| |||||||||| CCXX R2 accounts (SS) 30/06/2026 2