Dear friends of Maisha Bora Foundation,
Welcome to the first annual report 2006-2007. All the efforts of the Foundation over the previous year were dedicated to obtaining Registered Charity Status, without this status we could not operate as an Organisation. The application process involved a significant amount of time and effort in order to fulfil the requirements of the Charities Commission.
I am pleased to say that this status was granted in May 2006 and I would like to thank my fellow trustees for all the work they have done in order to achieve this.
Obtaining this status has meant that we can now recruit members and more importantly raise monies to be spent on projects. It also means that we have a democratic base from which to elect trustees and form sub committees.
It has also been necessary to be registered in Kenya as a Non Government Organisation (NGO), again without this registration we cannot operate within Kenya. In order to gain this registration we have recruited three officials to act as local contacts for overseas operations. These officials have no voting or management capacity for the organisation.
The current board of trustees is made up of the following people:
- Bob Thompson CMIOSH - Chair
- Andy Goodall - Vice Chair
- Kim Griffin - Secretary
- Lesley Hart - Treasurer
- Bonface Ndilli - Founder of the organisation (no voting capacity)
The three Kenyan Officials are:
- Bonface Ndilli
- Willy Mwocka Matuku
- David Kisengese Mbebbe
The board of trustees also gratefully acknowledges the contributions made by Paul Warner who retired as treasurer earlier in the year.
Click Here to download the Membership Application Form
Significant achievements for the year:
The Maisha Bora Library
Since obtaining status the organisation has wasted no time in embarking on its first project. I visited Ikutha in November 2005 as part of my family holiday. My aim was to establish links with local communities in order to assess their needs. I visited schools within the area and distributed 45 kilos of pens which were donated as part of a (fill my case with pens campaign). Thanks to all who contributed.
It was established by talking to School teachers and students that a library would be the most useful community resource as this would allow the children to complete their education and provide a sustainable resource for future generations. The proposal was put to the board of trustees and was approved as a project.
Funding for the project came from monies donated by students at West Nottinghamshire College Mr Ndili donated a room at his complex to be used for the purposes of the library. Maisha Bora approved funds for alterations to the building, and the Library is now completed and fully equipped with electricity, shelving and a computer. We now need to fund raise to provide books and a photo copier.
The total cost of these alterations stands at £1208.
Achievement of NGO status
This is necessary to allow us to operate legally in Kenya. There is a significant amount of work involved with gaining this status as we had to recruit 3 Kenyan nationals to act as officials in Kenya. These officials are managed by the board of trustees and have no voting
capacity within the organisation. There role is to act as intermediaries between operations in Kenya and The foundation. There is also a cost to registration £350 has been approved for these purposes. We are awaiting confirmation that this status has been granted.
