2025-12-31-accounts - Zimbabwe Educational Trust

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Zimbabwe Educational Trust

Charity number 327519

Annual Report and Financial Statements

for the year ended 31 December 2025

Zimbabwe Educational Trust

Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025

Contents	Page
Trustees' report	2 to 5
Examiner's report	6
Receipts and payments account	7
Statement of assets and liabilities	8
Notes to the accounts	9 to 12

Prepared by West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO

Zimbabwe Educational Trust

Trustees' report for the year ended 31 December 2025

Reference and administrative details of the charity, its trustees and advisors

The trustees during the financial year and up to and including the date the report was approved were: Name Position Dates

Name Position Dates Derrick Mkandla Chair Chelsea Brown Secretary Tony McCartney Treasurer Stuart Kempfield Vice Chair Maureen Mguni Adam Ranson Hannah O'Riordan Resigned 6 October 2025 Dr Colourgrad Mpoko Charity number 327519 Registered in England and Wales Registered and principal address Bankers Headingley Enterprise & Arts Centre Leeds Building Society The Co-operative Bank plc Bennett Road Mercantile House P.O. Box 101 Leeds Silverlink Business Park 1 Balloon Street LS6 3HN Wallsend Manchester NE28 9NY M60 4EP

Independent examiner

Simon Bostrom FCIE West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO Stringer House 34 Lupton Street Leeds LS10 2QW

Structure, governance and management

The charity is governed by a Trust Deed adopted on 24 July 1987, amended on 7 December 2006 and 24 June 2014.

Method of recruitment and appointment of trustees

A new Trustee may be appointed by a resolution of the Trustees recorded in the minutes and signed by the new Trustee and such record shall be conclusive evidence of this appointment.

Zimbabwe Educational Trust

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 December 2025

Objectives and activities

The charity's objects

To advance the education of students resident in Zimbabwe by the provision of financial assistance, and of accommodation or assistance in the provision of accommodation, to enable such students to further their education in Great Britain.

To provide financial assistance towards charitable educational projects within Zimbabwe particularly but not exclusively the Zimbabwe Educational Trust Resource Centre in Bulawayo.

The charity's main activities

ZET supports grass roots organisations in Zimbabwe to deliver projects for vulnerable and marginalised young people. Projects are education focused and vary to include; life skills, vocational skills and work experience, health, birth registration and access to basic human rights, as well as teaching about conservation agriculture.

Public benefit statement

In setting our objectives and planning our activities our Trustees have given serious consideration to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit and in particular:

l Commitments to working with grassroots partners,
l Child protection and the advancement of education and opportunity in Zimbabwe,
l Tackling the effects of poverty,
l Girls’ and women’s empowerment.

Achievements and performance

ZET UK:

Continued to support our three grassroots partners through fundraising efforts in the UK as well as collaborative capacity building and support in areas such as monitoring and evaluation, policy development, methodology support and narrative development.

Trinity Project:

Project Name: Exist to Exist – Birth Registration

Continued our biggest ever holistic programme of birth registration including bottom-up and top-down approaches to substantively change the operational space between 2024-2026. This work seeks to address Zimbabwe’s birth registration crisis.

Activities include:

1 Direct case support to secure birth and identity documents for vulnerable children and families. Often handling the most challenging cases and at times providing legal assistance.
2 Information raising within communities to ensure that birth registration is understood from the legal and process views. Contributing to a cultural shift in the valuation and take-up of birth registration by communities.
3 Locally owned Community Action Plans developed and delivered out of community dialogues. These provide tailored solutions to the needs of specific areas.
4 Building capacity among stakeholders and duty bearers to ensure a more coherent operational space. This process increases referrals, ensures complimentary services, generates demand and drives up service delivery standards in birth registration.
5 Pressing for improvements in birth registration policy, process and law. This process removes barriers, opens up processing pathways, corrects inconsistencies and ensures access at local, regional and national levels.

Zimbabwe Educational Trust

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 December 2025

Achievements and performance - continued

Project Name: Empowering young people to claim and protect their sexual and reproductive rights through education and engagement, while lobbying for service improvements.

Began our latest programme for 10 kid’s clubs of girls and boys age 5-24yrs. Project targets 850 young people and 200 parents/community members. Activities include.

1 Discussion and edutainment - education through entertainment such as dramas and dance. Issues covered include gender roles, bodily autonomy, family planning, teenage pregnancy, child marriage and a broad spectrum of sexual and reproductive health (including HIV/AIDS) & rights.
2 Making a large number of beneficiary referrals for health and other services.
3 Distribution of sanitary wear to provide dignity, health and increase ability to stay in school for group members during menstruation.
4 Brings parents/carers together with young people for open dialogues on issues related to sexual and reproductive health and rights. Breaking taboos, informing and ensuring conversations can begin positively for the ongoing needs of families.
5 Training in Life Skills with Financial Literacy, to make products such as perfumes and floor polish. This enables the older age groups to generate income in support of their personal lives, reducing vulnerabilities to exploitation including transactional sex.
6 Working with duty bearers to ensure that safe spaces are provided and affordable to young people where they can pursue their needs. Working to ensure that related services are delivered to high standards.

Rafiki Girls Centre:

l Finished the training of three intakes whilst beginning two new intakes of 40 vulnerable young women aged 18-25. In stage one on Life Skills courses included computers, health, reproductive rights, time management, sewing, cooking and entrepreneurship. Stage two saw beneficiaries undertake specialist vocational training receiving one or more highly valued certificates. Specialist courses are hotel and catering, cutting and designing, nurse aid, pre-school teaching, interior décor and cosmetology. The third and final stage of the programme secured work experience in a business related to their specialist course.
l Ran a number of events including HIV workshops, careers days, drug intervention workshop and graduation.
l Delivered counselling in 1:1 and group settings covering a range of life experiences, traumas and responses.
l Recorded the significant majority of those completing from previous years who went on to access further education or employment within six months.

Foundations for Farming:

Project Name: Sustainable Farming in the Climate Crisis - Promoting Climate Smart Agriculture in Primary Schools and Encouraging Community Adoption

l Continued a three-year programme (2023-2026) of climate smart agriculture working with three primary schools, three women’s groups and key community members. Practices taught significantly improve crop yields when compared to traditional methods. This project works to substantively enhance the rate of community adoption of low-tech sustainable farming techniques thereby tackling food insecurity and building climate change resilience. Approximately 1,200 primary school students are benefitting directly with many thousands more in the wider community.

Zimbabwe Educational Trust

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 December 2025

Financial review

The net payments for the year were £84, including net receipts of £4,809 on unrestricted funds and net payments of £4,893 on restricted funds after transfers.

Reserves policy

A minimum level of reserves equating to at least three months of unrestricted expenditure plus 10%, and a maximum level of reserves equating to twelve months is considered sufficient to cover our overheads, including management, administration and support costs, as well as enabling us to respond to emergency needs which may arise in this period.

The charity's free reserves, at the year end were £26,746.

The Trustees have assessed the charity's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from the expected approval date of the financial statements. As with many charities, ZET is heavily reliant on grants from funding organisations to enable us to continue funding the partners we work with in Zimbabwe. The funding environment remains challenging, and our ability to continue to fund our Zimbabwean partners depends on both the identification of, and the successful application to, grant funders that wish to support the areas of work that we focus on.

Having reviewed reserves, cashflow forecasts, anticipated income, expenditure commitments and principal financial risks, the Trustees are satisfied that it remains appropriate to prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis. The Trustees will continue to monitor the charity's financial position throughout the year.

Approved by the board of trustees on 01/08/2026

Derrick Mkandla (Trustee)

Zimbabwe Educational Trust

Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Zimbabwe Educational Trust

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2025, which are set out on pages 7 to 12.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act').

I report in respect of my examination of the charity's accounts as carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act. In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

1 accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Charities Act; 2 the accounts do not accord with those records.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Simon Bostrom FCIE

03/08/2026

West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO

Stringer House 34 Lupton Street Leeds LS10 2QW

Zimbabwe Educational Trust

Receipts and payments account

for the year ended 31 December 2025

Notes 2025 Unrestricted funds £ Receipts Grants (2) 700 Donations 12,643 Gift Aid 3,272 Fundraising 28,324 Bank interest 51 Total receipts 44,990 Payments Staffing costs 35,204 Insurance 397 Bank charges 342 Office costs 1,590 Accountancy and independent examination 696 Membership fees 92 Payments to partner organisations: Foundations for Farming - Trinity project - Rafiki girls centre - Rent and office services 126 Fundraising costs 5,292 Site visit - Total payments 43,739 Net receipts / (payments) 1,251 Transfers between funds (3) 3,558 Net movement in funds 4,809 Fund balances brought forward 21,937 Fund balances carried forward (3) 26,746	2025 Restricted funds £ 100,885 404 - 43 - 101,332 - - - - - - 4,498 97,167 1,002 - - - 102,667 (1,335) (3,558) (4,893) 4,906 13	2025 Total funds £ 101,585 13,047 3,272 28,367 51 146,322 35,204 397 342 1,590 696 92 4,498 97,167 1,002 126 5,292 - 146,406 (84) - (84) 26,843 26,759	2024 Total funds £ 111,214 14,830 1,095 480 135 127,754 30,141 380 403 1,134 540 119 68,968 44,866 24,965 120 - 2,211 173,847 (46,093) - (46,093) 72,936 26,843

Zimbabwe Educational Trust

Statement of assets and liabilities

as at 31 December 2025 2025 Unrestricted £ Cash funds Cash at bank 26,716 Cash in hand 30 Total cash funds 26,746 Debtors and prepayments Prepayments Liabilities Accruals	2025 Restricted £ 13 - 13	2025 Total £ 26,729 30 26,759 2025 £ 132 132 2025 £ 696 696	2024 Total £ 26,813 30 26,843

The financial statements were approved by the board of trustees on 01/08/2026

Derrick Mkandla (Trustee)

Zimbabwe Educational Trust

Notes to the accounts

for the year ended 31 December 2025

1 Accounting policies

Basis of accounting

The trustees have taken advantage of section 133 of the Charities Act 2011 and have prepared the accounts on a receipts and payments basis.

There has been no change to the accounting policies since last year.

No changes have been made to the accounts for previous years.

Taxation

As a charity the organisation benefits from rates relief and is generally exempt from income tax and capital gains tax but not from VAT. Irrecoverable VAT is included in the cost of those items to which it relates.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity.

Restricted funds are subjected to restrictions on their expenditure imposed by the donor or through the terms of an appeal.

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the accounts.

Zimbabwe Educational Trust

Notes to the accounts continued

for the year ended 31 December 2025

2 Grants AJ Green Trust EA Foundation Evan Cornish Foundation Mercury Phoenix Trust Sir Halley Stewart Trust Soroptimist International Foundation The Archer Trust The Lewin Trust Baillie Gifford - Foundation Scotland Charities Trust The Christadelphian Samaritan Fund The Coles-Medlock Foundation The De La Rue Charitable Trust The Fulmer Trust The Lauderdale Trust The Marsh Charitable Trust The Waterloo Foundation The William Leech Charity Unity Earth 3 Restricted funds Balance b/f £ Trinity Project Lewin Trust 3,700 The Evan Cornish Foundation - Soroptimists - EA Foundation - The Archer Trust - BBC Radio 4 appeal funds - Mercury Phoenix Trust - Donations - Rafiki Donations 1,206 Foundations for farming Sir Halley Stewart - Donations - 4,906	2025 Unrestricted funds £ 700 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 700 Incoming £ 32,131 10,000 4,200 27,381 2,000 - 18,173 361 47 7,000 39 101,332	2025 Restricted funds £ - 27,381 10,000 18,173 7,000 4,200 2,000 32,131 - - - - - - - - - - - 100,885 Outgoing £ 27,439 7,388 3,108 20,262 1,600 22,500 14,573 297 1,002 4,472 26 102,667	2025 Total funds £ 700 27,381 10,000 18,173 7,000 4,200 2,000 32,131 - - - - - - - - - - - 101,585 Transfers £ (8,392) (2,612) (1,092) (7,119) (400) 22,500 (3,600) (64) (251) (2,528) - (3,558)	2024 Total funds £ 700 - - - 17,000 - - 36,804 5,000 78 500 5,000 3,000 1,500 25,000 600 7,000 1,500 7,532 111,214 Balance c/f £ - - - - - - - - - - 13 13

Zimbabwe Educational Trust

Notes to the accounts continued for the year ended 31 December 2025

3 Restricted funds continued Fund name Purpose of restriction Trinity Project - Exist to Delivered with ZET’s grassroots partner, Trinity Project. Extensive and Exist: Birth Registration holistic approach to Zimbabwe’s birth registration crisis - delivered over three years. Activities include: Direct case support for children and families. Information raising within communities. Locally owned Community Action Plans. Building capacity among stakeholders and duty bearers. Pressing for improvements in birth registration policy, process and law. Funding is provided from a variety of sources as shown below: Lewin Trust The Evan Cornish Foundation Soroptimists EA Foundation The Archer Trust BBC Radio 4 appeal - unrestricted funds transferred to the project. Trinity Project - Sexual and Delivered with ZET’s grassroots partner, Trinity Project. Programme of kid’s Reproductive Health Rights clubs for girls and boys age 5-24yrs. Covering issues such as gender roles, bodily autonomy, family planning, teenage pregnancy, child marriage and a broad spectrum of sexual and reproductive health (including HIV/AIDS) & rights. Activities include: Brings parents/carers together with young people for open dialogues on Includes Life Skills with income generation for the older age groups. Lobbies for service improvements from duty bearers. Funding is provided by Mercury Phoenix Trust. Donations Towards the general purposes of the Trinity Project. Rafiki The purpose of the Rafiki Project is to empower women in Zimbabwe through education, vocational training and holistic support at the Rafiki Girls' Centre in Harare. Donations Towards the general purposes of the Rafiki Girls Centre project. Foundations for farming Sir Halley Stewart Delivered with ZET’s grassroots partner, Foundations for Farming. A programme of three primary schools and three women’s groups undertaking a three-year climate smart agriculture training and practice. Aimed at improving food security, income generation and building climate change resilience. Donations Towards the general purposes of the Foundations for Farming project.

The transfers out of restricted funds relate to a contribution to the charity's overheads.

Notes to the accounts continued

Zimbabwe Educational Trust

for the year ended 31 December 2025

4 Related party transactions

Donations from trustees and related parties

The total aggregate value of unconditional donations to the charity from the trustees or related parties was £1,260 (2024: £1,560).

Trustee expenses

During the year one trustees were paid a total of £166 in respect of travel (previous year: £nil).

Trustee remuneration and benefits

No trustee received any remuneration or benefit during this or the previous year.