2021-03-31-accounts - Rural Education Network International

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Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date Period end date Day Month Year Day Month Year From 31 March 2020 To 31 March 2021

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name Rural Education Network International

Other names charity is known by REN Intl

Registered charity number (if any) 1186152

Charity's principal address 12 Abbots Wood

Headington Oxford Postcode OX3 8TR

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

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Name of person (or body)
Dates acted if not for
Trustee name Office (if any) entitled to appoint trustee
whole year
(if any)
1 Moreen Pattison Chairperson
2 Kay Sage Treasurer
3 Peter Hockley Secretary 5 September 2021
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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

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Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser

Name Address

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Moreen Pattison

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document

(eg. trust deed, constitution)

How the charity is constituted

The organization is a charitable incorporated organization governed by a constitution whose voting members are its charity trustees. The charity was founded in June 2016 and registered with Charity Commission in November 5[th] 2019.

CIO Foundation

(eg. trust, association, company)

Trustee selection methods

(eg. appointed by, elected by)

The founding director of the organization is also a charity trustee and there are two other appointed charity trustees for the purposes of charity law and have voting powers.

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

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;
relationship with any related parties;
trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.
New and appointed trustees are offered training to ensure they are adequately equipped to do their job appropriately.
REN Intl has three trustee members who meet quarterly and are responsible for the strategic direction and policy of the charity. At present the trustees are responsible for fundraising, secretarial work and day to day running of the charity in the UK. The trustees are from diverse backgrounds and they bring along rich professional experience. The school manager and accounts manager along with the head teacher are responsible for day to day responsibility of the school in Uganda. The Chief Executive is responsible for ensuring that the charity delivers the services specified and that key performance indicators are met.

The Board of Trustees have conducted a review of the major risks to which the charity is exposed. A risk register has

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been established and is updated at least annually. Where appropriate, systems or procedures have been established to mitigate the risks the charity faces. Significant external risks to funding have led to the development of a strategic plan which will allow for the diversification of funding and activities. Internal control risks are minimized by the implementation of procedures for authorization of all transactions and projects. Procedures are in place to ensure compliance with health and safety of staff, volunteers, children, parents and visitors to the school.

Section C Objectives and activities

For the public benefit to advance the education of children in Uganda, particularly but not exclusively, to support Willow School specifically by constructing more classroom blocks, community library, boys’ and girls’ dormitory, school dining hall, school assembly hall, paying teachers wages and other cocurricular activities.

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

Summary of the main Our main activities and who we try to help are described activities undertaken for below. All our charitable activities focus on fundraising in the public benefit in order to advance the education of the vulnerable children relation to these objects (include within this in rural remote Northern Uganda. section the statutory declaration that trustees In June 2016 the school officially opened with 36 pupils registered. Also in 2016 REN Intl launched their first ever have had regard to the guidance issued by the fundraising drive to raise funds to construct a borehole to Charity Commission on supply clean water for the children and the surrounding public benefit) community of Koch Lii. We were able to drill the borehole in September 2017.

Our main activities and who we try to help are described below. All our charitable activities focus on fundraising in order to advance the education of the vulnerable children in rural remote Northern Uganda.

In 2017, Willow school was able to fund the construction cost to provide temporary classroom space for Primary 5 and overall school attendance was 180 children, half of these were girls.

In 2018 REN Intl invested in a brick making project to enable us to construct permanent classrooms for the children and minimising expenditure at the same time. We produced 40,000 bricks that were used to construct a classroom block for Primary 6, Primary 7 and an office block. The cost of doing so was also supplemented by school fees paid by the parents and by the end of 2018 the number of children registered had risen to 250 pupils.

In 2019 REN Intl again invested in a brick making project which produced 30,000 bricks. These bricks were essential in constructing permanent classroom blocks for Primary 1, 2, 3, 4 and a block of classrooms for the Nursery Children (K1 to K3).

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Willow school also prepared the children to sit their first Primary Leaving Examination (PLE for P7) at the end of the year. There were 19 children who registered and sat for their PLE in 2019. The school had over 350 children registered.

In 2020, Willow School, with support from well-wishers was able to open a Senior 1 for the children who had completed their PLE as there wasn’t a single Secondary School in the whole of Lii Sub County. Unfortunately, Uganda like many other countries went into National Lockdown and the schools were closed. This meant the children were not able to continue with their education.

The Government re-opened schools in phases later in 2020; the candidate’s classes - those who were due to sit national exams at the end of the year- were the priority. Willow School was able to support 18 PLE students to prepare and sit these exams in March 2021.

Of the 18 pupils, our school performed the best in the whole of the sub county. We produced a First Grade from one of our girl pupils; this was a significant achievement from Willow School to meet its aim of eradicating illiteracy in a society where girls’ education is not a priority. In 2021, the Government allowed more year groups to resume their education. Willow School was open from Primary 3 to Primary 6. However, from June 2021 Uganda went back into National lockdown and this meant schools were again closed. To counteract this, the Government advised children to continue learning through television and radio programmes providing teaching and learning materials.

To ensure our children do not miss out on valuable learning time, we have mobilised resources and partnered with other stakeholders (parents, church leaders, local community leaders and clan leaders) in the community and started community outdoor learning programs where children gather in small groups to attend learning. Our teachers are out in the community to supervise those older children who can learn through radios we have provided. Some of our teachers are also reading to and teaching the younger children.

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

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Our volunteers are an integral part of REN Intl; their work is highly appreciated and they are from diverse backgrounds and they bring along rich professional experience.

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 performance

Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year

The project has endeavored to construct a Library but we prioritized a greater need for a Girls’ Dormitory as this ensured the girls stayed in school to complete their primary education and maintained consistency in school attendance.

We recruited another qualified Teacher to reinforce the others previously employed. A lot of improvement in the academics area was visible and reflected in the Final Uganda Primary Leaving Examination of 2020 which was sat by 17 candidates.

Another achievement that unfortunately didn’t last long or take root was the opening up of the Secondary Section. It started very well with 13 Students and 8 Teachers recruited for all the subjects as per the Ministry of Education and Sports standard. But due to Covid-19 and the 1[st] Lockdown, they all had to return home. Due to these challenging circumstances the school management came to a decision that the Secondary Section would be financially draining as the money wasn’t at hand to sustain it and would therefore have to be closed. An unfortunate and painful decision but beyond our control and unforeseen.

In the 1[st] Lockdown of 2020, some staff members took advantage of the Covid-19 situation and invested their time to plant onions, cabbages, green Peppers and tomatoes in the school farm. This fetched some income for the school, gained experience for many involved and also created some good team work opportunities.

In the same year of 2020, the project managed to buy 2 sets of Double Decker (bunk) beds for the pupils and this brought in a lot of excitement as it’s the first of its kind in the School.

The project has constructed a temporary Kitchen and Stand for utensils as seen below.

As a result of recruiting qualified Teachers to replace the non-qualified Teachers, the outcome is seen in the recent Final Uganda Primary Leaving Examination results. We are looking forward to improving on our results in the years to come. This is our target; with the team work we have, nothing is impossible. This was the second sitting since the school opened and our examination results managed to be the best school in Lii Sub – County. These results are seen below; Willow School achieved a very high success rate. The School bought more furniture for sitting and writing purposes for the pupils. Also some chairs for the staff and office furniture as well.

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Section D Achievements and performance

Section E Financial review

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Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

REN Intl does not have any policy financial reserves.

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.

Against the backdrop of limited resources and insecurities over funding, it has continued to be difficult to plan or develop services. Nevertheless the charity, with the aid of sound financial management, the generous supporters through monthly standing order donations and regular fundraising projects have enabled REN Intl to continue its fundamental work in ensuring the vulnerable children of rural Northern Uganda receive an education. Standing orders remain our principle funding source as Covid 19 impact has meant schools have been in lockdown for most of the year 2020.

Our main expenditure has been on meeting the aims and objectives which were to raise funds to drill a bore hole, constructing classroom blocks and girls’ and boys’ dormitory. And most importantly ensuring the overall running cost were met including payment of teachers’ wages each month.

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) Moreen pattison

Full name(s) Moreen Pattison

Position (eg Secretary, Chairperson Chair, etc)

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