## **TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT**
**For the period beginning: 1 January 2024 Ending: 31 December 2024**
## Ref: TRTP - TAP - 5
**Charity name** The Road to Parity
## **Registered charity number** 1187425
**Charity's principal address** Office 4, Westminster Chambers
106 Lord St Southport PR8 1LF Email: steps@theroadtoparity.org Website: www.theroadtoparity.org
## **TRUSTEES**
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Dates acted if not for whole Name of person (or body) entitled
No. Trustee name Office (if any)
year to appoint trustee (if any)
1 Jonathan Hill Founder & Chair
2 Richard Owens Secretary
3 Margaret Evison
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## **ADVISORS**
|**ADVISORS**|||
|---|---|---|
|**Type of adviser**|**Name**|**Address**|
|Uganda partner
representative|Lilian Nayiga|Canaan Children's Development Initiative (CACDI)
Katikamu subcounty, P.O Box 53, Luweero, Uganda|
|Uganda partner
representative|Mwesigwa Julius|Canaan Children's Development Initiative (CACDI)
Katikamu subcounty, P.O Box 53, Luweero, Uganda|
## **Structure, governance and management**
## **Trusts**
Type of governing document[The charity is governed by a constitution document, dated 27 November ] 2019.
How the charity is constituted[Initially set up as a community organisation, The Road to Parity (TRTP) ] was granted charity status in January 2020 as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). Trustee selection methods[Trustees to date have been appointed. However, the charity welcomes ] approaches from people not connected to existing Trustees.
**2024**
**TAR**
1
**Additional governance**
The Road to Parity has been working with an overseas partner in Uganda called Canaan Children's Development Initiative (CACDI). CACDI is a non-governmental organisation (DNMC/848) registered in Luweero District, Uganda. CACDI provides on the ground support and has been engaged through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU specifies the nature of the partnership, responsibilities, expected outcomes and monies involved.
## **Objectives and activities**
||**Objectives and activities**|
|---|---|
|**Summary of the objects of the**
**charity set out in governing**
**document**
**Summary of main activities**
**undertaken for the public**
**benefit in relation to objects**
|To relieve poverty in developing countries through the provision of micro
grants to enable beneficiaries to participate in the local economy and
sustain themselves and their families in a manner that would otherwise
be beyond their reach.|
||The Road to Parity (TRTP) has been running a poverty alleviation
initiative in Uganda called Project Twekembe. It has been managed in
conjunction with partner, Canaan Children's Development Initiative
(CACDI).
Under Project Twekembe (which broadly translates to ‘let’s fight against
poverty’), people in extreme poverty are given the opportunity to start a
business with the help of a micro grant.
Using a strict screening and monitoring process, entrepreneurs are
provided with the equipment and supplies necessary to begin trading.
Unlike many similar initiatives in developing nations, the small grant
available through Project Twekembe is not a loan and does not need to
be repaid. TRTP believes people in extreme poverty have suffered
enough.
The partnership with CACDI was announced in April 2024 following an
international search for a new partner. This was due to the end of the
partnership with Learning Links Foundation (LLF) in India. Project Unnati
- using the same poverty alleviation model - ran in the slums of Delhi
from 2019 to 2023. After successfully working together to set up 90
businesses, LLF declared other priorities.|
**2024**
**TAR**
2
|**Additional details of**
**objectives and activities**|**Background: how Project Twekembe works**
Project Twekembe takes a three-pronged approach:
**1 - Identifying and selecting beneficiaries:**
The potential beneficiaries come through two main routes; either by
information provided by local council leaders or through independent
outreach work in villages in and around the Luweero district, north of the
Ugandan capital, Kampala.
Details of prospective beneficiaries are captured in a pre-defined format.
Once the details are captured, a screening process starts.
Beneficiaries are screened using a strict points system. At its core is
identifying people in extreme poverty – households who have been
scraping an existence on around £10 or less, per person, per month.
Other factors considered include helping widows, victims of domestic
violence, the poorly educated, sole breadwinners supporting large
families, and the physically and mentally challenged.
Many of those approved for support are ready with their own business
ideas, often based on past work experience. Those who don’t have their
own ideas are helped to devise a suitable venture.
**2 - Finalise business needs and secure required equipment/stock:**
Once a beneficiary has been approved for grant support, discussions
progress about the equipment, supplies and stock required to get the
business off the ground. With the agreement of the entrepreneur, the
necessary items are sourced and procured. This supervised process is
eased for recurrent business ideas, such as grocery stalls. Normally, the
grant awarded is around £60.
**3 - Three months ‘hand holding’ support:**
Each beneficiary receives support to ensure their fledgling enterprise
succeeds, such as guidance on record keeping, negotiation skills, dealing
with customers and basic marketing techniques. This three-month period
of support helps overcome initial challenges and provides a path for
success.
It is made clear to participants from the start that the grant is one-off
assistance and there is no coming back for more money.|
|---|---|
## **Achievements and performance**
The Road to Parity conducted an entrepreneurship trial in Uganda to see **Summary of the main** if the same micro-grant-based model that was used in India could be **achievements during the year** applied in Uganda. Early discussions indicated small modifications would be required for the Ugandan market. For example, new clothes were considered too expensive to sell quickly and may cause problems with cash flow, something a tiny enterprise could not withstand. Fast turnover goods, such as groceries, were even more important because the beneficiaries were in rural areas, which did not generate the
**2024**
**TAR**
3
## **Achievements and performance**
same high footfall as the slums of Delhi.
The trial would also test the compatibility of the two organisations, working together for the first time. Entrepreneurship was not something CACDI had been involved with before, so guidance and training materials were provided to help inform discussions with potential beneficiaries.
## **Summary of the main achievements during the year cont’d**
In all, 13 enterprises were supported in the trial, which began in May 2024. All but one showed a significant improvement in household income, while one of the entrepreneurs initially made encouraging progress before income dropped.
After a review in December 2024, eleven businesses continued to perform well, representing a success rate of 84%. As a result of the enterprises, household income increased, in some cases by six-fold.
All the entrepreneurs were women, eight of whom were the sole breadwinners. The average business grant was £59.
The enterprises were selling a variety of goods, including shoes, snacks, charcoal, fruit and vegetables, soft drinks, fish and stationery. Two mini restaurants were established.
One of the most successful businesses belongs to 37-year-old Robinah, whose stall sells chapatis and other snacks. The divorced mother of five was previously surviving on an allowance from her ex-husband of just 5,000 Ugandan Shillings a day, or £1. She could not even able to afford clothes for her children.
Robinah and one of the first businesses to be supported under Project Twekembe in Uganda.
Robinah says the support she’s received has been transformational. “I started up this business, which has really changed our life with my family, I make 30,000 a day, restock with working capital for the next day, look after my family and also save something with my village bank group.”
Once again, some of the poorest people on the planet have shown what they can do if they are given a chance. The businesses instil pride and give the severely disadvantaged much needed hope. Most importantly, the businesses have provided financial independence and created opportunities that extreme poverty would otherwise deny.
**2024**
**TAR**
4
## **Achievements and performance**
TRTP has continued to communicate some of the deep and complex challenges that beneficiaries face on a personal level. Compounding the extreme poverty, many of the entrepreneurs are illiterate, while others have been victims of domestic violence or are physically challenged.
The World Bank has stated there are three different types of pain caused by poverty.
1. Physical pain that comes with too little food and long hours of work
2. Emotional pain stemming from the daily humiliations of dependency and lack of power
3. Moral pain from being forced to make choices such as whether to pay to save the life of an ill family member or use the money to feed their children.
The charity will continue to communicate and highlight these struggles where appropriate, while celebrating the efforts, extraordinary resilience and success of beneficiaries.
## **Financial review**
|**Brief statement of the**
**charity’s policy on reserves**
**Details of any funds materially**
**in deficit**
**Further financial review**
**details**|As the charity provides only one-off grants, there are no ongoing
programme costs in the field. Once the businesses have been set up,
they operate on a commercial basis and are self-sustaining. This
minimises the necessity for reserves.|
|---|---|
||There has not been a financial deficit since TRTP was set up in
November 2018.|
||The charity was able to use existing funds for the trial of 13 businesses in
Uganda, relieving pressure on fundraising during the year.
TRTP had been attempting to change banks for some time after monthly
charges were imposed on an account that was free at the time of
opening some years earlier. Many charities have faced the same
problem and the number of banks offering free basic banking is
dwindling.
After much research, the charity identified a bank that would host an
account without imposing monthly charges and the account was
eventually switched in February 2024. In all, the transition took more than
a year.
In another small win, the website provider finally conceded in February
2024 that the charity had been overcharged for several years when it
should have been granted non-profit rates for theroadtoparity.org
website. In a gesture of goodwill, the provider will not charge for the
website again until 2028, representing a significant cost saving, although
to date these website charges had been Trustee-funded.
From its inception, the charity has taken an uncompromising approach to
costs. It will continue to do everything possible to reduce or eliminate
overheads. Further significant savings were enjoyed because all
communications and marketing work, including website updates and
content management, were handled among Trustees. The charity
remains grateful for free access to Microsoft 365 software through|
**2024**
**TAR**
5
Microsoft’s Tech for Social Impact programme.
Proactive fund-raising was paused in 2024 as the trial in Uganda was carried out with existing funds. Donations continued to trickle in from members of the public, alongside affiliate marketing activity through ebay and easyfundraising.
Historically, donations have been encouraged by content produced for the charity’s communication platforms; theroadtoparity.org website, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. All communications activity is organic rather than paid.
Staff involved with the charity continue to work on a voluntary basis. Minimal expenses are accommodated, where necessary, for in-market field workers, which are incorporated into programme costs.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy the charity’s financial position. Trustees ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charity Commission's SORP 2005.
|As of 31 December 2024, there was a balance of
bank account.|As of 31 December 2024, there was a balance of
bank account.|£945 in the charity||
|---|---|---|---|
||**Total income**|£112||
||**Total expenditure**(no grant provision)|£822||
||**Bank balance**as of 31 December 2024|£945||
## **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)** Jonathan Hill **Position (eg Secretary, Chair,** Chair **etc) Date** 27 October 2025
**2024**
**TAR**
6
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THE ROAD TO PARITY No (if any)
Receipts and payments accounts CC16a
For the period 01/01/2024 31/12/2024
To
from
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds Last year
funds funds funds
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
DONATIONS 112 - - 112 676
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total (Gross income for
AR) [ 112 ] - - 112 676
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - -
- - - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total receipts 112 - - 112 676
A3 Payments
DONATIONS 822 - - 822 61
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total [ 822 ] - - 822 61
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total [ - ] - - - -
Total payments 822 - - 822 61
Net of receipts/(payments) 945 - - 945 1,595
A5 Transfers between funds - - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end - - - -
Cash funds this year end 945 - - 945 1,595
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CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
28/10/2025
1
|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at**|**the end of the period**||
|---|---|---|---|
|**Categories**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B3 Investment assets**
accounts (SS)|Signature
**Details**
**Details**
BANK
**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**
2|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**945**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**945**
**-**
OK
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
JONATHAN HILL|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**|
||||**-**|
||||OK|
||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Current value**
**(optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Current value**
**(optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**When due**
**(optional)**
Date of
approval
27/10/2025
28/10/2025|
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
CCXX R3 accounts ISSI
2811012025