Present
Aster Belay, Siobhan Crawley, Feyisa Demie, Brian Foster, Bekana Edossa, Muluneh Oli,
Apologies
Hirpa Abu, Teferi Degeneh
Minutes
Minutes of previous meeting
Agreed
Situation in Oromia
Discussion
- Hirpa has provided a written update.
- members of the Board met with officials of Tokke Kutaye district education office who said the size of the donated land does not comply with the requirements of the primary schools in Oromia region. They suggested we needed to build G+2 (3 stories) .
- They took the engineer with surveyor to Guder to do pre-assessment for designing and collected necessary data to the principal engineer in Ambo.
- He was not satisfied and made his own visit but concluded the land does not comply with the requirements. He advises us to request additional land from nearby plots of farmers.
- Worknehâs brother visited Guder on February 05, 2022 to discuss with local farmers their attitude to making extra land available.
Action
- Moulneh agreed to contact Hirpa to thank him for his informative report and make clear we support WADA’s approach, specifically, that G+2 is not appropriate for a Primary School but also the importance of gaining the willing consent of local community and land owners to any extension of the plot.
Finance
Discussion
- Application to CAF bank was submitted on 10/1/22 and acknowledged. CAF bank will presumably be undertaking checks on the Trustees financial status.
- Feyisa explained our approach to the Steve Sinnott Foundation which is a similar charity to ours which raises funds in the UK and builds schools in Ethiopia. If we cannot open a bank account Plan B could be to fundraise for them to build the school in Wortkneh’s name in Malkaa-Dhagaa Gudar. Members agreed it would be good to cooperate with SSF but having our own account would be preferable.
- There was a discussion about whether there was a mechanism to transfer funds to WADA from the UK. CityBank has facilities to transfer funds to Ethiopia. Citibank numbers: 0800-005500 or 0207500 1992.
Action
- Feyisa will contact CAF bank to get an update on our application if he has not heard by the 18th-20th February.
- Feyisa is trying to set up a meeting with the SSF CEO Anne Beaty on 23/2/22.
- Feyisa will explore whether there is some option to operate an international Citibank account with a link to WADA’s account.
Fundraising
Discussion
Brian researched funding opportunities and shared a table reviewing Potential Funders.
- 3 things came up:-
- Funders not keen to cover areas that should be provided by the state.
- Applications need to address specific areas that are funded e.g. girls education
- Requires 3 years of accounts before any funding to aid delivery of education.
Feysia suggested other funders as well
Siobhan suggested that if members find information on funders to Brian so that a definitive table is available.
Action
- Brian will add two additional columns for judgements of Complexity and Ranking.
- Members to send details of other potential funders to Brian who will add them to the table and share it with members.
- Brian will share the updated table with members.