Annual Report and Financial Accounts April 2020 to March 2021
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Kite Oxford-Nairobi is a UK registered charity (no. 1181075) that aims to maximise the agency and impact of students in international development. The organisation is led by two committees formed of students from Oxford University and from universities in Nairobi respectively. By drawing upon the people, research, and resources of these universities, we deliver innovative projects that address development challenges identified by communities in Kenya.
Contents
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Our Year in Brief, p. 3
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Introduction from the Chair of Trustees, p. 4
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Our Projects, pp. 5-7
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Financial Overview, p. 7
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Annual Accounts, pp. 8-10
Mentors and mentees at a Kite Mentorship Scheme session.
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kite Our Year in BrieF April 2020: Launched Covid-19 Support scheme At che onset of Covid-19 with schools closing in KeJ)ya. we launched support scheme providing key Supplies to the fami]ie8 of 42 vulnerable ment May 2020: Kite Kilimanjaro Challenge Kiie Oxford commillee members climbed ihe heighi of Kiliman9ro their sLairs leolleetively eiimbing over 81JOO fiigbts of stairs in 24 hours), whilsi Kite Nairobi metnberg Llimbed iji the Ngong Hills. on September 2020: Kite Oxford Committee Recruitment Kiie ()xford recruited a new director. 8am MLQuillen, wilh 2019-20 LO-direLtorg Camille Gosset and Pia-marie Kaden graduating Irom Oxford. December 2021Tr. Ended Covld-19 Support Scheme We provided our last Covid-19 supply b8skets io lamilies in December, ahead of the reopening of Kenyan sL.h(K)Is in January. 'I'hrough Ihe scheme, we supplied 4.7 tonnes of food to vulnernble farnilits. January 2021: Kite Nairobi Committee Recruitment We successfully recrnited S new members for the Kite Nairobi cornmittee coveriiig meniorship and menstrual healili project roles, publicity and secretary roles. March 2021: Baseline survey conducted For MHM project 'I'he Nairobi committee conducied a baseline survey ai Silver Springs SLhoDI, Kiberd, to understand existing access to produLls for girls at ihe SLliool and the steps required to begin our project. March 2021: Relaunch recruitment for our mentorship scheme reopening of Kenyan sehools in January enabled us to begin recruitment for che resutnplion of our tnentorship SLheme at the beginning of the 2nd terni of (he year.
Chair’s Introduction
Covid-19 has created challenges for organisations across the world and Kite OxfordNairobi (Kite ON) is no exception. The closure of university campuses in both the UK and Kenya in 2020 prevented in-person activities, forcing us to adapt our fundraising and recruitment strategies. The closure of Kenyan schools from March 2020 through to January 2021 also prevented us from delivering our in-school mentorship programme and slowed progress with our Menstrual Health Management Scheme. The pandemic has also prevented members of the Oxford Committee from visiting Kenya this year.
However, Kite ON’s two committees have shown remarkable resilience and innovation in the face of these difficulties.
In just over a week in April 2020, the committee set up a support scheme for the families of vulnerable students from our mentorship scheme that was both Covid-secure and deeply valued by the recipient families. Through liaising with staff at Uhuru Kenyatta school and using their community links, the committee quickly identified families whose incomes were most at risk from Covid-19. They identified a supportive food wholesaler and providers of reusable sanitary pads and hand sanitizer. They arranged slots via text message for families to pick up supply packages from the school, allowing social distancing to be maintained. The rapid transition from mentorship to an effective Covid19 support scheme is a testament to the adaptability of the student volunteers leading our committees.
Another highlight showcasing the committee’s innovative capability was the ‘Kite KIli Challenge’ which saw Oxford committee members climb the height of Mount Kilimanjaro on their stairs and Kite Nairobi members climb the seven Ngong hills. The endeavours were successfully captured on social media, with the associated fundraising campaign raising more than £3000. The funds from the campaign enabled us to sustain the Covid19 support scheme through to the reopening of Kenyan schools.
Looking ahead, the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions has allowed us to restart our mentorship scheme and has enabled us to take further steps towards implementing our menstrual health project. Kite has retained a core of very talented student volunteers through the pandemic and I look forward to seeing their progress in taking our projects further.
Joe MacConnell Chair of Trustees
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Our Projects
Over the course of the 20-21 financial year, Kite ON’s two main projects in mentorship and menstrual health management (MHM) had to be put on pause in the face of Covid19. Kite ON’s activities were therefore focused on responding to Covid-19, by delivering support to the families of vulnerable students enrolled in our mentorship scheme. The relaxation of restrictions in Kenya in early 2021 allowed us to begin preparation for resuming the mentorship and MHM projects in late Spring 2021.
Covid-19 Response
As documented in our previous annual report, the closure of schools in Kenya in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic forced us to pause our mentorship scheme. The restrictions introduced by the Kenyan Government to curb the spread of the virus in Kenya had harsh economic consequences, which were particularly severe for those working in the informal sector of the economy. Restrictions on public transport, trading hours and curfews, led to reduced opportunities to work. Covid-19 also exacerbated an already precarious food security situation with locust infestations having resulted in large loss of harvest in many counties in Kenya in 2020.
As an organisation, we were concerned about the impact the current situation would have on the mentees participating in our mentorship scheme and their families. Ordinarily, these students would receive free lunches at Uhuru Kenyatta School, and a large number of their parents earn a living from precarious jobs in the informal sector. With schools closed, students weren’t receiving government funded school meals, adding to the current financial difficulties faced by their families. Constrained budgets also made it more difficult for families to purchase key items such as soap, facemask, and hand sanitiser, which are vital for preventing the spread of the virus.
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Kite Nairobi Co-Directors Patricia and George preparing boxes of key supplies for the mentees’ families.
As such, with the mentorship scheme on hold, we decided to divert funds from this project to support families of mentees with basic supplies whilst coronavirus restrictions remained in place and schools remained closed. In late March 2020, working closely with Uhuru Kenyatta Secondary School’s leadership, we worked to identify mentees whose families were in particularly vulnerable positions. We subsequently committed to supporting 42 families whilst schools remained closed.
From April 2020, Kite ON provided monthly support packages of key food staples, soap, and sanitary products to these 42 families, continuing through to December 2020, ahead of the reopening of Kenyan schools in January. We also provided supplies to additional families on a short-term basis after receiving requests from families in need. Over the course of the scheme, Kite distributed 4.7 tonnes of food (the caloric equivalent of 37,000 meals); 365 kg of soap alongside leaflets with information on Covid-19 prevention which emphasized the need for good hand hygiene, social distancing, and mask wearing; and 240 reusable sanitary pads to families with girls.
Throughout the scheme, the Nairobi committee worked hard to ensure that the supply packages could be picked up in a Covid-secure fashion. We used Uhuru Kenyatta school as a distribution centre with an outdoor collection point and packaging taking place in a well-ventilated classroom. Families were texted collection slots to avoid a crowd gathering and hand sanitisation facilities were provided.
A Look Ahead – Mentorship and Menstrual Health Management Projects
The reopening of Kenyan schools in January 2021 allowed us to begin planning for the restart of our mentorship scheme at Uhuru Kenyatta Secondary School in Nairobi. After discussions with the school, we agreed that the scheme would recommence in Spring
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term, allowing the first term of the year for the school to develop and refine their plans for teaching under Covid measures. Beginning in March, the Nairobi committee led a recruitment campaign to supplement our cohort of mentors and put in place plans to train the cohort in May. At the time of writing, this groundwork is paying dividends, with the mentorship currently being provided to 78 students.
Preparations for implementing our menstrual health management scheme progressed in early 2021 too. We identified Silver Springs High School in Kibera, Nairobi as a partner school for introducing our pilot project and conducted an initial survey to understand existing knowledge of and access to sanitary products among students at the school. The school also currently lacks access to running water, a key barrier to using reusable sanitary products. Kite ON has therefore begun devising plans to supply water access to the school and are in the process of fundraising to connect the school to the mains water supply.
Financial Overview
Income
The Statement of Financial Activities table below provides a breakdown of Kite ON’s income sources over the course of the year. The pandemic forced us to adapt our fundraising strategy, moving away from in-person fundraisers towards a greater focus on online fundraising. We raised £3921 from our ‘Kite Kilimanjaro Challenge’ with Oxford committee members providing live updates throughout the day on social media of their progress climbing the height of Kilimanjaro on their stairs, whilst Nairobi members took to Ngong hills. The stair-climbing feat took committee members between 11 and 15 hours – safe to say there were some sore legs the week after!
We also managed to secure several smaller one-off and recurring donations throughout the year, with our website now having the facility to create a recurring donation. We hope to capitalise on this, along with our increased knowledge of running online fundraising campaigns, in 2021-22.
Expenditure
A significant majority of Kite ON spending in 2020-21 was on our Covid-19 response scheme, with £4964 spent on the scheme. £4709 was spent directly on purchasing food, soap, and sanitary products as part of the support baskets delivered to families, whilst £255 was spent on supporting logistics, such as arranging transportation of food from the wholesaler and purchasing PPE and hand sanitiser to ensure volunteers could distribute supply baskets safely.
Administration and support costs amounted to £402 and are broken down in note 4 to the accounts in the following section.
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Annual Accounts
The tables below summarise the financial activities for Kite ON’s second financial accounting period from 1[st] April 2020 to 31[st] March 2021, comparing against our first accounting period from registration on 10[th] December 2018 to 31[st] March 2020. See ‘Notes to Accounts’ for Kite ON’s accounting policies and for a further breakdown of the tables below. All of the reported values below have been rounded to the nearest pound[1] .
Statement of Financial Activities for the Period from 1[st] April 2020 to 31[st] March 2021
| 2020-21 | 2019-20 (beginning Dec 2018 upon Kite ON's registration) |
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|---|---|---|
| Note Unrestricted funds(£) Restricted Funds(£) Total fund s(£) |
Unrestricted funds(£) Restricte d Funds (£) Total fund s(£) |
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| Income from: | 1060 0 1060 3921 3921 0 0 0 0 0 756 756 2 47 47 |
2909 2909 670 670 2050 2050 476 476 483 483 187 187 |
| Donations | ||
| Online Fundraising campaigns |
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| Restricted Grants | ||
| Fundraising Events | ||
| GiftAid | ||
| Gifts in kind | ||
| Totals | 5785 0 5785 |
4724 2050 6774 |
| Expenditure on: | 3 4594 500 5094 22 22 4 402 402 |
3863 1550 5413 235 235 626 626 |
| Charitable Activities | ||
| Raising Funds | ||
| Administration and Support Costs |
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| Totals | 5018 500 5518 |
4724 1550 6274 |
| Net Income/Expenditure | 767 -500 267 |
0 500 500 |
| Transfers between funds | 0 0 0 |
0 0 0 |
| Net Movement in funds | 767 -500 5094 |
0 500 500 |
| Reconciliation of funds: | 0 500 500 767 0 767 |
0 0 0 0 500 500 |
| Total funds brought forward |
||
| Total funds carried forward |
1 Figures presented may not sum to the presented totals due to rounding.
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Balance Sheet – 31[st] March 2021
| Note | Value(£) | |
|---|---|---|
| Assets | ||
| Cash at UK Bank | 767 | |
| Liabilities | ||
| Creditors | 0 | |
| Taxation | 0 | |
| Net Assets | 767 |
Notes to the Financial Statements
1 Accounting Policies
1. Basis of Preparation: The accounts are prepared on a receipts and payments basis informed by guidance in Charity Commission document CC16b.
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Income: Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds and any performance conditions have been met. Income received in advance of the provision of a specific service or initiative is only recognised after the performance of the service or the carrying out of the initiative. Gift Aid is recognised when received from HMRC.
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Expenditure and Irrecoverable VAT: Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party. Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.
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Calculating the Sterling value of transactions undertaking in other currencies: The majority of our charitable activities, and varying proportions of expenditure in other cost categories, take place in Kenya in Kenyan Shillings (KES). This requires transferring money to Kenya from our UK bank account and converting it from GBP to KES. To convert expenditure undertaken in Kenyan Shillings falling under each category in the statement of financial activities from KES to GBP values, we used the average exchange rate we received over the course of the financial year, equal to the total Kenyan Shillings sent to Kenya (714584KES) in this period divided by the Sterling value converted (£5238.33) to purchase this KES value, giving an exchange rate of 136KES per pound.
2 Gifts in Kind
- We received two donations in kind over the course of the financial year with donors directly transferring money to the Nairobi committee to carry out mentorship project expenditure. We have records of the exact monetary value of purchases and as such the amounts presented for gifts in kind in the statement of financial activities are equal to the cash equivalent value of the donations.
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3 Charitable Activities
| Value(£) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Covid-19 Support Scheme | ||
| Support basket goods | 4709 | |
| Support costs for Covid-19 support | ||
| scheme, including food transport and | ||
| hand sanitisation points | 255 | |
| Menstrual Health Project | ||
| Situation survey | 23 | |
| Miscellaneous | ||
| Cost of Kiambu County NGO License | ||
| for Kite Nairobi | 106 | |
| Total | 5094 |
4 Administration and Support Costs
| Value(£) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Publicity, Outreach, and Recruitment | 232 | |
| Transaction Charges2 | 76 | |
| Airtime | 14 | |
| Purchase of Nairobi Committee | ||
| Phone | 0 | |
| Nairobi Committee Expenses3 | 56 | |
| Balance held by Kite Nairobi | ||
| Committee | 24 | |
| Total | 402 |
2 Transaction charges are incurred when transferring funds to Kenya from our UK bank account and when making transactions via the MPesa mobile money account we used to undertake expenditure in Kenya.
3 Kite Oxford-Nairobi members are entitled to be reimbursed by the Charity for expenses actually, necessarily, reasonably, and incidentally incurred by them in carrying out their duties, when proper documentation is provided. The large majority of committee expenses incurred related to transport to and from meetings, to attend projects, or to purchase materials on Kite’s behalf.
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