2023-04-04-accounts

Kijura Education Project (KEP) – Annual Report 2022

Introduction

It is 4 years since Kijura Education Project went live and 2020/21 were very difficult years.

Life has remained difficult for Ugandans but it is good to report that our students have been through a full year’s education during 2022 NB the Ugandan academic year runs fro January to December.

Wycliffe Wamara (our Ugandan Agent) has performed his duties diligently and provided all the information we have requested. We are very grateful to him for his hard work.

It is with great sadness that we report that one of our students Kaahwa Usina died suddenly in the autumn. Details are sparse but we know she had significant medical problems and Wycliffe told me that he surmised that she had experienced a deterioration in her existing illness. He was in contact with the family.

Progress in administration

During 2022 we achieved a major goal, which was to be granted charitable status by the Charities Commission. This was a fairly drawn out process - see Appendix 3 for information about type of organisation we have become. This status has opened up the chance to open a dedicated business account for KEP and this was finally agreed in the first week of January 2023 after a process lasting 4 months. It might be that they did not believe that people could be as generous as we are being without ulterior motives so were concerned about money laundering. We live in an age of cynicism and often this is justified. As I write online banking is being set up and soon all KEP funds will be transferred over and future payments to Uganda will be from this account via established channels.

This means we can finally re-apply for Gift Aid status with HMRC - this will be actioned shortly.

Payments for tuition fees and student expenses in 2021 for Allen

Allen is the student Julia Modern has been supporting for some time prior to KEP’s commencement and was the only student to commence a course in early 2020. Julia liaises with her direct and financial support historically has been shared 50:50 with Nigel and Gill Modern. This arrangement does not impact on other donors’ contributions and only the above mentioned donors contribute to Allen’s education. Funds for Allen have (from Feb 2019) channelled through KEP and included in overall analysis. Covid-19 closures have delayed Allen completing her vocational course but she has been able to complete it by December 2022.

Documentation provided by Wycliffe

This had been an issue during 2019 (see annual report 2019) and it is good to report the process has worked well in 2022, building on the systems introduced in 2021. He produces a breakdown of fees and expenses each term for each student in addition to the itemised information on his time and expenses. The documentation is clear and has been collected in a structured form.

Wycliffe enrolled on a Business Management course, which he completed during 2020-21. KEP was not involved in this, though there have been signs of his deepening knowledge and understanding.

Wycliffe’s remuneration

At the outset we agreed to pay all of Wycliffe’s expenses in administering the project and an hourly rate for his time spent and this has not changed ie 10,000UGX (about £2.10 – a good but not overly generous rate)

Wycliffe’s role

Discussions have taken place as to how much Wycliffe should behave like a parent to these students. Whether he should go to parents’ meeting, should he accompany them to school etc.

Early on some of the students needed him to accompany them to school (and students who board will always need this support) but this has not continued.

Wycliffe is aware that funds not directly paying school costs need to be under careful review. I have also discussed with him the need to encourage and not discourage parents to take an active role in their child’s education. It is clear from communicating with Wycliffe that the parents of these highly vulnerable children are very poor and have few personal resources. To keep these children in education appears to need Wycliffe to step in when necessary.

This will continue to be held under review.

Wycliffe’s time and expenses

During 2020 Wycliffe was paid the equivalent of about £200. Approximate because of currency fluctuations. This is 12.5% of the resources sent to Uganda in 2020.

In 2021 the proportion of all administrative costs (this time including money transfer charges as well as Wycliffe’s time and expenses) to total expenditure was 23%. This is the same as 2019.

This figure in 2022 is 16.1%, which reflects mainly the increases in school fees and requirements.

Feedback from Wycliffe on Student attendance and progress

It is important to keep to our stated in aims in looking at student progress. We have taken on disadvantaged children and we should not normally expect high attainment, though in one case we have taken on a high attaining student who people locally felt had great potential which wasn’t going to be realised because of a lack of resources. We have previously agreed that attendance was a pre-requisite and that information on this and some sort of report on progress from Wycliffe was appropriate. Up to the beginning of 2022 this has always been verbal, however in 2022 Wycliffe forwarded school reports on two of the students - see Appendix 4

During 2021 Wycliffe highlighted that two of our students’ attendance at school had been highlighted (by the school) as of concern. This was put under review, particularly as Wycliffe questioned whether the school was being entirely straightforward in its motives - staff were suggesting extra tuition which would have needed to be paid for. Nevertheless Wycliffe discussed the situation with the students and monitored their attendance. This review indicated that attendance was satisfactory and follow up review with Wycliffe in April 2022 confirmed that there were no persistent concerns.

Proposed changes to feedback

I suggest that we build on the type of feedback which Wycliffe is providing i. Ask for a copy of school reports on all students ii. Ask for a brief report written from Wycliffe based on his own assessment of each students’ situation. This does

not need to be detailed but should comment on his own assessment of consistency of attendance for each student. My understanding was that these were in production but only the (included) school reports were sent. Looking back at our messaging this was at the time when Usina suddenly became ill, so this may have been a factor as I know Wycliffe was deeply affected by this and was involved with supporting the family. ACTION POINT - NM discuss reports with Wycliffe

Payment process

This is complicated by Uganda’s exclusion from the international banking system. It is not possible to send money directly to a standard Ugandan bank account. Wycliffe uses a system called Mobile Money and he has an account in his name, through which the KEP money is passed. This works well but is responsible for some extra costs compared to sending money to a country within the international banking system. Historically we have used WorldRemit (WR) to transfer funds but during 2021 Western Union (WU) was used while WR was experiencing problems. Costs were very similar and when they came back online, at Wycliffe’s request, we returned to using WR.

A significant change in 2021 has been that we now send money to Wycliffe before he pays fees and requirements. This has helped him considerably as they are significant amounts of money and previously he was using his own funds and claiming back money on the basis of ‘receipts’. As previously discussed these items, despite their appearance, are not receipts for actual money paid but ‘bills’ to be paid at a local bank.

The process now is that we send money on the basis of expected expenditure and we use the ‘bills’/‘receipts’ in a review of money sent vs expenditure. This process is working well, though we are working with Wycliffe on improving it further and avoiding some issues, which to be fair were mostly likely caused by the disruption to schooling caused by Covid-19 during 2021.

During 2021 we discussed Wycliffe running a separate KEP Mobile Money account. This was discussed with Wycliffe and he very much saw the sense of it and stated it would be straightforward to set up. Since spring 2022 he has been using a separate KEP Mobile Money account.

Proposed changes to payments system

As has been previously stated a reconciliation between amounts sent to Wycliffe in Uganda and the paperwork provided as evidence of activity provided by him during 2021 produced a satisfactory result and we have confidence that all the money we are sending to Uganda is used to support students in education, either by paying for school fees or ‘requirements’ or Wycliffe’s time and expenses.

Since January 2022 it has been noted that the amounts needing to be sent to Wycliffe have been much larger than expected.

Discussions with Wycliffe have highlighted where most of the added expenses are arising:

• i. Uganda has experienced very high inflation during the pandemic (perhaps as much as 100%) and this shows most obviously in School ‘requirements’. These are items like books, uniforms, toiletries and a myriad of ‘extras’ which the schools have always charged for. There may be an element of schools trying to recoup losses in income occurring during periods of lockdown.

• ii. The exchange rate offered for cash transfers has deteriorated by approaching 10%, though this has improved it has not returned to pre-Pandemic rates.

iii. Wycliffe is legitimately spending more time on KEP tasks. We have discussed how much of a ‘parental’ role he should undertake (for example attending parents’ evenings) and it seems that it is important that he does this to a degree.

As mentioned in 2021 we began advancing money to Wycliffe in advance of expenditure and this has been very helpful to him, however it has made keeping track of the money more difficult this end. This was nevertheless pursued in 2022 at the end of the Ugandan Academic year (Dec 2021) with a satisfactory result. In future however it makes more sense to move to financial year accounting, especially as we are now a registered charity and will be applying for Gift Aid status. April falls between academic terms, which means there shouldn’t be payments around that time (they tend to go Dec/Jan, May/June and Sept/Oct) and I can encourage Wycliffe to make sure claims for his time are up to date by the end of March each year. This will give us a consistent point to review financial and money transfer matters and I hope make things easier. ACTION POINT - NM make move to financial years

Income and expenditure

Below is Table 1 - This shows donations and transfers out to Uganda. It shows how much the costs have risen in Uganda ie in the region of 80%. This has been willingly carried (mainly) by N and GM Modern with a significant increase in contributions from J Healey. S and C Edmunds increased their contributions in 2021.

In 2022 it was always anticipated that two students would complete their education and this of course will ease the financial situation in 2023, especially as one of these students was undertaking an expensive course in electrical engineering. As discussed previously this was an arrangement pre-dating KEP, with an agreement that funds could be channelled through the charity. The arrangement became more extended owing to changes in plans and then the Pandemic but it has now come to an end.

The other big factor which would ease the financial situation is achieving Gift Aid status and an application is being made.

There have from time to time been questions raised about taking on more students by seeking more funding external to the small group of current donors. This has never been ruled out and Charitable status, with Gift Aid and a more stablished governance system should prompt further discussion.

Kijura Education Project - January 2023

Appendix l - School fees and money transfers 2022 Agn08 Enock Susan Al Arty•l tol•l 900.O)0 T•rm i ￿2.321.600 1.1)94.tKM) 1.543.CQO 883.0￿) 2.634.￿ 10,176,5rKI Temi 11 830,￿0 1,505.(iKI 1.613.LXX) 1.267.LK)O 805.LKK) 1.450,(K)O 1,704.C .174.000 Te￿ 111 2.150.(M)O 1.4￿.(1]0 1.198.2CKI 1.078.(M)o 1.037.(M)0 1.340.￿0 1.552.( 9.845,200 1880.000 S316.￿ U0521MI U88.IMI 1724000 3￿1)0 SmO.9W 2•,194rn U8kna r4y¢15ff¢* tlm¢ Tem) I 430,000 W expen58s Te￿1 314.O)0 Totsl Fe85 etc Te￿1 10,176.5fyJ Final total IIV24500 T￿11 T8m11 T8m11 1.610.(XX) 607,000 9.1741 Temi 111 , 1.WJ).(XX) Terrn 111 770.000" Terrn 111 ,' 9NS2ty1 3.930.CMXI 1,691,000 04x11 - I￿8￿ frc 2021 Mobilo IAow Balancing 1 Ilobile 8•￿ncl[￿j 2 IAolMle Monoy Totals 6.551.702 13.285.196 6.630.977 10,381,301 2.389.760 11.505.830 Total UGX W251 547,029 Inrtial 6.733.494 3,750,324 6.(￿9,109 Term I Terrn 11 Tem 111 3.016.￿l- £ Total 'w>￿￿￿lLy Iiffl our f3¥¢xYl

Appendix 2 - Examples of student documentation provided by Wycliffe from 2021 onwards

Appendix 3 - CIO Charitable Status - some detail

During 2021 a decision was taken to seek support and advice from a 3rd party organisation called Third Sector Experts (TSE), specifically with regard to re-applying for Gift Aid status, which had been declined on first application about 2 years ago.

TSE advised that we apply for Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) status with the Charities Commission. This is a link to a video explaining this relatively new charitable structure (the video may appear on a separate page):

Appendix 4 - Student reports - anonymised

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