Minutes:
TRUSTS FOR AFRICAN SCHOOLS
NOTES OF THE STRATEGY MEETING ON 3 APRIL 2008
Present: Norma Empringham, Tom Marshall-Andrews, Ben Howland, Tim Flower, Heather Flint, Johnnie Morris, Gill Marshall-Andrews
Apologies: Luke Morris, Will Jones
In attendance: John Spiers
1. Project funding
Trustees agreed to send out:
£10,962 to Eburru for teachers, computers, software, microscopes
£37,000 to Asako for staff accommodation subject to 20% contribution from local sources. Partnership funding of 10% would be accepted if the larger amount proved difficult within 2 months or however long the quote remained valid.
Post meeting note The MP has agreed to 20% contribution from the Constituency Development Fund!
2. Expansion
The main business of the meeting was to discuss the question of expansion – whether and how?
The options had been outlined in the paper prepared by GMA and circulated prior to the meeting. Also on the table was a paper on School Champions.
There was broad agreement on the following:
* The 100% commitment is important for TAS and we should address ways of holding on to this whether we expand or not. It was suggested that it might be possible to open another TAS account specifically for (minimum) core costs and raise funds separately and overtly for that.
* The concept of the local school trust is a good one that has been shown to be effective. It is capable of wider application. GMA will begin exploratory discussions with various agencies to see how this might work.
* Possible avenues to explore include: Kalonzo Foundation in Nairobi, Build Africa in UK, HSBC Africa, suitable individuals in Nairobi.
* We should concentrate on Kenya for now.
* Good quality management is the key, whether it is paid for or not.
* We should be open to approaches from new School Champions similar to the Uganda / Buheezi group, and maybe actively seek them out. These volunteers would establish and support a trust for a school they know about. VSO will be approached again about this.
3. Next meeting
6pm 2 June at Portcullis House.
