International aid and development

Mango  

Providing financial training to overseas NGOs

“I did not realise it was wrong to sign a blank cheque.”  This was the feedback from one of the participants of a financial skills course run by Mango, a charity which provides financial management training for non-government organisations around the world.

“For many NGOs based in developing countries, there is no local financial training,“ says Denise Joseph, Mango’s finance and fundraising director.  “We trained a Somalian man in Ethiopia.  He was working for a disability charity back in Somalia.  When he went back, he was promoted and he helped his colleagues in setting up financial and budgetary controls for his organisation.”

Mango also provides financial management training for British-based NGOs.  The charity was founded nine years ago by Alex Jacobs, a qualified accountant and development worker who identified the need for better financial skills for NGOs operating in the developing world.  He felt the sector was struggling to handle growing budgets and ambitions, and that it needed to adapt to a more professional way of working with greater accountability and more efficient approaches. 

The charity, which has 16 staff, trained 1,600 NGO staff last year. Much of its income of just over £900,000 is from the fees provided by British charities and from financial services and management accounting companies such as HBOS, Ernst and Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Some of these banking and financial companies send their staff to the developing countries, to train employees of the NGOs based overseas.

“Last year, we placed one of the brightest sparks in PwC on a six-month secondment in Rwanda with Save the Children,” says Joseph.  “She loved it and extended her placement from six months to a full year.”

Mrs Denise Joseph
2nd Floor, Chester House, George Street, Oxford
OX1 2AU
01865 423818
www.mango.org.uk
Reg no: 1081406

Build Africa

Constructing schools in Kenya and Uganda

When Aputiput School in Uganda first opened in 2004, the pupils learnt under the shade of a mango tree. There were no toilets, classrooms or teaching facilities and children were sent home when it rained. The few books they did have were ruined as there was nowhere to dry to store them.

Now Aputiput has a different story. It has a proper building with classrooms, a staffroom and sanitation facilities. This is one of transformations brought about by Build Africa, a small charity with a core staff of 16 and an annual income of just under £2m.

Build Africa has been working in rural community schools for over ten years, with its staff living and working alongside communities in Kenya and Uganda. It has helped over 80 schools since 2004 to become safe and secure buildings. Explained the headteacher at Thama primary school in Kenya: “Teachers now sit in a clean and decent staffroom. We don’t mind coming in early and staying on to finish our work after classes.”

The new school buildings have helped to increase enrolment and attract better teaching staff. The charity’s field staff are currently working with 51 schools that the governments find hardest to reach. In addition to overseeing the construction of new buildings, the charity also trains teachers and provides HIV/Aids and gender awareness training.

Build Africa believes that the model it has established is replicable and sustainable. The principles of its working model can easily be adopted by other schools without the help of Build Africa. The judges described the charity’s work as “very soundly planned”.

Ms Susanne Niedrum
Chief executive
Build Africa
27 Church Road
Tunbridge Wells
Kent TN1 1HT
01892 519619
www.build-africa.org
Reg no. 298316

Mary's Meals  

Delivering free school meals in developing countries

Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote of Mary’s Meals: “Mary’s Meals is a shining example of a charity encouraging education in the poorest countries by providing food within the school. Through education, the generation currently going through those schools can be empowered.”

Mary’s Meals was founded after the chief executive, Magnus MacFarlane Barrow, visited Malawi.  He met a boy whose mother was dying from Aids.  The boy told Magnus that what he wanted from life was “to have enough to eat and go to school one day”.  Magnus decided that by providing a school feeding programme, many more children would be able to attend school.

In 2002, the charity started feeding 200 school children in Malawi.  Last year, with a team of 22 staff and an annual income of just under £4m, it fed 302,434 primary school pupils and 5,552 pre-school children in Malawi. The charity’s aim is to feed every school child in Malawi, to ensure increased participation in education. The charity has worked with local communities to ensure that enough local volunteers are available to serve foods in the food kitchens.

At the Ntambanyama Primary School in Thyolo’s tea-growing district, the school kitchen was built thanks to a grant from Tesco.  The superstore also agreed to fund meals for every child at the school for at least the next three years.  The local community volunteered to help build the school and once built, a pool of volunteers took on the task of cooking, serving and maintaining the stores.

The whole school community has been affected by the changes.  “The pupils in my class are more attentive, and absenteeism has decreased.  I like seeing them enjoy their classes,” says Mrs Njaidi, one of the teachers.

Mrs Ruth Black
Communications Director
Craig Lodge, Dalmally, Argyll, Scotland
PA33 1AR
01838 200605
www.marysmeals.org
Reg no: SCO22140