Trustees’ Annual Report for the period 1[st] April 2024 To 31st March 2025
Charity name: KIDS OF MALAWI UK
Charity registration number: 1183319
The Trustees present their annual report together with the unaudited financial statements of the Charity for the year ended 31 March 2025. The Trustees confirm that the Annual report and financial statements of the Charity comply with the current statutory requirements.
Objectives and Activities
As laid out in our constitution the object of Kids of Malawi UK is the relief of sickness and the protection and preservation of good health among children living in Malawi through assisting and supporting health care services and those who provide them, in particular by making grants, providing information and advice, raising awareness and carrying out research, the useful results of which will be published for the public benefit.
Kids of Malawi aims to improve the health of children in Malawi through staffing, training, supply provision and research at Malawian Health Care Centres.
In this reporting period we continued to support nursing at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH).
The trustees allocate grants from our unrestricted funds on the basis of the receipt of suitable applications from Malawian partners and meet regularly throughout the year to review applications and make grants accordingly. Grants of £5005 were approved during the year. These were to continue support of a paediatric surgery quality improvement nurse at KCH (£4821) and to cover travel costs for one of the consultant paediatric surgeons in KCH to attend a 2 day hypospadias course in Johannesburg, to enable her to provide a better service for these children who require technically challenging surgery (£184).
As trustees we confirm we pay due regard to the Charity Commission public benefit guidance and this has been followed when making decisions on the use of the charities funds and activities undertaken.
Achievements and Performance
Since 2020, the trustees have continued to assess the highest priority need for our support as a charity and have concluded this remains supporting nursing provision in Malawi. Kids Of Malawi UK have supported a paediatric surgery quality improvement nurse (PSQUIN) role from March 2020, via the Moyo Children's Initiative (MCI), a Malawi registered NGO with an MOU with Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH).
Mr. Martin Chingedwe, remained in this role in 2024/25 and his role continues to drive up the quality of nursing across paediatric surgery at KCH and contributes to research activities to improve children’s care. Martin won the best oral presentation prize at the 2024 Kamuzu Central Hospital, Research Dissemination Conference.
Photos: 1 Mr Martin Chindegwe, Paediatric Surgery Quality Improvement Nurse, funded through Kids of Malawi UK
Photos: 2 Mr Chingedwe's award at the 2024 Kamuzu Central Hospital, Research Dissemination Conference
Context Challenges and Future plans
In the final quarter of 2024/25 we met challenges connected with changes in senior management at KCH in Malawi and a dramatically changing global aid and development funding landscape. This led us to conclude, as trustees and partners, it was not feasible to submit a planned high value THET funding bid. Instead we agreed to adopt a watching brief on other opportunities, but refrain from actively seeking to expand KoM UK unless circumstances change.
Therefore, as trustees, with our established UK/NHS and Malawian / KCH partners we have agreed to consolidate our focus to solely supporting the PSQUIN role in 25/26 while we review the shifting context and assess our ability to raise funds, secure grants and implement projects as a partnership
Financial Review
The income for the 2024/25 year was £2960 as compared to the previous year of £3628. All income this year was from unrestricted sources. The expenditure for the year was £5867 as compared to £6666 in 23/24.
£4752.34 was received from THET in previous years as a Global Health partnerships bursary. Final pending payments totalling £862 were made with the remains of this THET grant in 2024/25,thus clearing this liability shown in last years account.
Unrestricted grant spending of £5005 was made in 2024/25, as outlined above for the paediatric surgery quality improvement nurse role and final costs associated with a travel
bursary. We ended the financial year with £11309 in our UK bank account as compared to £14,216 in the previous year.
In the 24/25 reporting period the principal source of funding has been unrestricted donations from private individuals and we thank all our regular donors who enable our work.
Kids of Malawi UK had no documented policy in 24/25 for holding reserves, given it had insignificant liabilities. However, in awarding grants from unrestricted funds the trustees ensure they consider the ability to maintain the charity as a going concern on the basis of forecasted income. Trustees have agreed to formally document a reserves policy in 2025/26 as part of an overall governance review.
The charity does not own and/or lease land or property. The charity does not hold any investments beyond cash deposits held at UK banks. No funds are held as custodian trustees on behalf of others
No trustees receive any remuneration, payments or benefits from the charity. No trustees claimed expenses in this financial year. No admin costs were incurred this year.
After making appropriate enquiries, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future, with a consolidated focus on the PSQUIN role funded from regular donations. For this reason, they continue to adopt the ‘going concern’ basis in preparing the financial statements. The ongoing regular private donations and lack of liabilities support the conclusion that the charity is a going concern. Charity trustees regularly review and assess the risks faced by the charity. As a small charity, with no paid staff, our principal risks remain trustee capacity to manage the charity and volatility of securing restricted and unrestricted funds to plan additional or longer term projects.
Structure, Governance and Management
As a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), our governing document is the Kids of Malawi UK constitution, last amended 30[th] March 2019.
Kids of Malawi UK has policies which cover the following areas:
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Complaints and incident handling
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Conflicting interests
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Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
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Internal risk management policy and procedures
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Safeguarding policy and procedures
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Volunteer management
Reference and Administrative details
| Charity name | KIDS OF MALAWI UK |
|---|---|
| Registered charity number | 1183319 (CIO-FOUNDATION Registered 08 May 2019) |
| Charity’s principal address (In 23/24 reporting period) |
37 PRIOR PARK ROAD BATH BA2 4NG |
| Trustee name | Office (if any) | Dates acted if not for whole year |
Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (if any) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shantha Ganesh Shanmugalingam |
Trustee | Chair until 31st October 2024 when retired from this role |
By resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees. |
| Professor Mark Wilson |
Trustee | ||
| Dr Catherine Bradshaw |
Co-Chair | Appointed co- Chairs 31st October 2024 taking over from prior chair |
|
| Dr Sarah Morgan | Co-Chair | ||
| Dr Jonathan Dean | Trustee | ||
| Dr Michael Tremlett | Trustee |
Declarations
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above and accounts that follow.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
| Signature(s) Full name(s) Position Date |
||
|---|---|---|
| Sarah Morgan | Shantha Shanmugalingam | |
| Co-Chair | Trustee | |
| 26/09/2025 | ||
| 26/09/2025 |
| KI | KI | DS OF MALAWI (UK) | DS OF MALAWI (UK) | 1183319 | CC16a | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receipts and payments accounts | |||||||
| For the period from |
Period start date | To | Period end date | ||||
| 01/04/2024 | 31/03/2025 | ||||||
| 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 | 2,960 | - | - | 2,960 | 2,757 | ||
| Grant income | - | - | 871 | ||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||
| Sub total _(Gross incomefor AR) _ | 2,960 | - | - | 2,960 | 3,628 | ||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
|||||||
| N/A | - | - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||
| Sub total | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| **Total receipts ** | 2,960 | - | - | 2,960 | 3,628 | ||
| A3 Payments | |||||||
| Grant spending | 5,005 | 862 | - | 5,867 | 5,694 | ||
| Admin | - | - | 972 | ||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||
| **Sub total ** | 5,005 | 862 | - | 5,867 | 6,666 | ||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
|||||||
| **N/A ** | - | - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | - | ||||
| **Sub total ** | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| **Totalpayments ** | 5,005 | 862 | - | 5,867 | 6,666 | ||
| **Net of receipts/(payments) ** | - 2,045 | - 862 | - | - 2,907 | - 3,038 | ||
| A5 Transfers between funds | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| A6 Cash funds lastyear end | 13,354 | 862 | - | 14,216 | 17,254.00 | ||
| **Cashfunds thisyear end ** | 11,309 | - | - |
11,309 | 14,216 | ||
| Section B Statement of assets and l | iabilities at the end | of the period | |||||
| Categories | Details | Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Endowment funds |
|||
| to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | |||||
| B1 Cash funds | Cash in bank | 11,309 | - | ||||
| - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | |||||
| Total cash funds | 11,309 | - | - | ||||
| (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) |
OK | OK | OK | ||||
| Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Endowment funds |
|||||
| Details | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | ||||
| B2 Other monetary assets | N/A | - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
||||
| B3 Investment assets | N/A | - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
||||
| B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use |
N/A | - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| Details | Fund to which liability relates |
Amount due (optional) |
When due (optional) |
||||
| B5 Liabilities | |||||||
| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Signature | Name | Date of approval |
||||
| Dr Sarah | Morgan | 26/09/2025 | |||||