2023-12-31-accounts

Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date Period end date Day Month Year Day Month Year From 01 01 2023 To 31 12 2023

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any) 1156306 Charity's principal address P.O.BOX 1026 Kabale Uganda

Bakiga Community Project UK

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole **year **	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (ifany)
	CraigSmith	Director
	Claudia Smith
	Jeanette Joubert	Treasurer
	HilaryMak
	Hermanus Pieters
	AndyRitter

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Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

Name Dates acted if not for whole year

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)	Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)	Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)
Type of adviser Name Address
Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Constitution

Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution) Charitable Incorporated Organisation (“CIO”) How the charity is constituted

(eg. trust, association, company)

Appointed for a term of 3 years by a resolution passed at a properly Trustee selection methods convened meeting of the charity trustees. (eg. appointed by, elected by)

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

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You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

• policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;

• the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;

The charity supports, raises funds for and helps to monitor the work of Bakiga Community Project, a Ugandan non-governmental organisation (“NGO”) set up by Craig and Claudia Smith to carry out the development work amongst disadvantaged communities in Kabale district, Uganda.

The trustees have a very good understanding of Africa. They know the culture within which the NGO works and many of the issues that can often arise. They have either lived there for a period of time or travelled and visited the work of the charity. This helps us to effectively manage and monitor the work that is being carried out in Uganda.

Annual visits are made to Uganda to check on the work of the NGO.

• relationship with any related parties;

• trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.

Section C Objectives and activities

The objects of the CIO are:

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document

1.To develop the capacity and skills of the beneficiaries of Bakiga Community Project, Uganda, in such a way that they are better able to identify, and help meet, their communities needs and to enable their disadvantaged community to participate more fully in society.

1. The advancement of the Christian religion in Bakiga, Uganda, in particular but not exclusively by: a) missionary, evangelism and outreach work; and b) religious education

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Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)

Bakiga Community Project UK aims to raise funds for and develop the capacity of Bakiga Community Project, a Ugandan NGO which works in Kabale district, South West Uganda, to assist poor communities to access water. This work involves receiving, accounting for and dispersing regular and one off donations to the work of the NGO. The UK trustees have met twice during 2023 to monitor the progress of the work in Uganda and the use of funds that have been transferred to Uganda. Minutes of these meetings are available. The trustees also advise through more informal communication on developments within the NGO, including new projects and ongoing development of Bakiga Lodge. The charity supported Craig to visit Uganda in August 2023. This visit enabled him to monitor the progress of the development work of the project. This entailed visiting springs and tanks and talking to beneficiary communities. The work of the NGO continues to be held in very high regard and greatly appreciated by the communities we visited. The standard of all the water developments seen were excellent. Craig also spent time continuing to mentor and train the Ugandan project managers. He had meetings with the Ugandan Board and monitored the condition of the lodge in Ruhija, including new developments. These new developments included upgrades to the kitchen and some of the rooms, as well as a large new room. Craig put in place plans to employ someone to work to check how the older water developments of the NGO are still functioning. Hilary was given training and will take up this work. The charity works with communities in the UK to educate them about rural African communities and the difficulties of access to water. The Ugandan NGO constructs and repairs protected springs and community water tanks. We work with community leaders to ensure these resources are maintained. During 2023, the Ugandan NGO has constructed 62 Springs and 4 Tanks, serving an estimated 30,000 people. The UK Charity assisted this work with funds that helped to purchase construction materials, especially for the tanks. These resources ensure the mainly women and children who have to fetch water, have less distance to walk and fetch from cleaner sources of water. This reduces the incidence of diarrhoea, infant mortality and sickness amongst villagers in the areas where we work and frees up time for the women and children to take on other tasks, including enabling the children to attend school more frequently. The work of Bakiga Community Project in Uganda creates permanent employment for 17 Ugandans, who otherwise may not find work. This includes employing skilled managers, water engineers and a chef. This helps to alleviate poverty, increase self-esteem and enriches the village community. Craig worked with Emmy during his visit and the NGO has now been renewed in Uganda for a further 5 years. It was decided to employ a full time carpenter for the lodge. Bruno does excellent work and will be employed to carry out all repairs at the lodge as well as supervise all new cabin constructions.

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

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You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

• policy on grantmaking;

• policy programme related investment;

• contribution made by volunteers.

Section D Achievements and performance

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Section D Achievements and erformance p

Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year

The charity seeks to ensure that the work of the Ugandan NGO provides sustainable benefit to its beneficiaries and that all resources are used effectively. The charity supported the monitoring of the work of the Ugandan NGO in several ways:

• Updates on the performance of the NGO were discussed at our regular trustee meetings. Careful monitoring of accounts and progress is undertaken and the trustees’ professional skills are used in advising the NGO.

• Key risks and opportunities are discussed in the trustees’ meetings. The trustees professional experience helps ensure risks are minimised and opportunities are taken, where funds allow. Minutes of these meetings are kept.

• The Ugandan accounts and records are monitored and updated on a weekly basis. Lodge bookings are handled from the UK. Daily communication is made with the Ugandan managers. This monitoring work is supported by the UK charity through support of Craig and employment of an Admin assistant. This work helps the Ugandan NGO to ensure that resources are well deployed and accounted for, to ensure key objectives are met so that there is real benefit for the beneficiaries of the NGO.

• Several key administration tasks for running the Lodge are done from the UK, funded by the UK charity. These tasks aid in accountability and in the smooth running of the lodge.

• • The UK Charity continues to fund subscriptions to necessary monthly services including Quickbooks and the online Lodge Management Software (Innstyle).

• • The charity facilitated the visit to Uganda by Craig in August 2023.

• • The charity raised funds and supported the work of the NGO in Uganda in the form of a grant of £19,933. This assisted the Ugandan NGO with its construction of 62 springs and 4 community water tanks during 2023, serving an estimated population of 30,000 people.

• The charity contributed £16,000 towards the purchase of a pickup for the Ugandan NGO, about half of its cost. The pickup is proving invaluable in enabling the NGO managers to travel more easily to the lodge and to monitor the water projects. It means all food requirements of the lodge can be transported from Kabale once a week, without having to hire private transport, which will save costs in the long run. It also enables Emmy to travel more easily and safely to Kampala to carry out project tasks. The pickup also saves cost when we visit from UK and need to travel around the projects. The Ugandan board is delighted with the purchase and the pickup is being looked after very well, including regular servicing.

• • The UK charity requested the NGO to work on its sustainability performance. Recycling plastic water bottles from the lodge has now began, with all plastic bottles used at the lodge being taken back to Kabale and recycled. We have also begun the process of

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Section D Achievements and erformance p

looking into how we can sustainably plant trees alongside our water construction projects.

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Section E Financial review

Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

The trustees are of the view that no reserves should be retained within the charity as at the current time there are no potential liabilities or employee related costs that will need to be met should the charity decide to stop its activities. Any surplus funds will be distributed by the trustees when there is a requirement. The trustees will monitor the need to have a reserves policy should commitments be made that are dependent upon ongoing support for a period of more than 12 months.

Details of any funds materially in deficit

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

• the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);

• how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;

• investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.

Section F Other optional information

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Full name(s) Craig Smith Position (eg Secretary, Chair, Director etc) Date 10/09/2024

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Incoming resources Received Gift aid Resources expended General Uganda Admin Water Vehicles Transfer between funds Total funds carried forward Balance Sheet As at 31 December Current Assets Debtor Bank account Net Assets Represented by: Unrestricted income funds Restricted income funds	2023 Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Total £ £ £ 20,180 - 20,180 1,909 - 1,909 22,089 - 22,089 (543) - (543) (1,891) - (1,891) (1,500) - (1,500) (16,000) - (16,000) (19,933) - (19,933) - - - 2,155 - 2,155 2023 Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Total £ £ £ 900 - 900 11,232 - 11,232 12,132 - 12,132 12,132 - 12,132 11,932 200 12,132