Comrades of Children Overseas Monitoring and Evaluation Report 2013/14

COCO is an international children’s charity that works with communities in remote regions of the developing world to alleviate the poverty preventing children’s education. We believe that investing in communities and meeting their needs will ensure that children can access the education they deserve and by giving a mother a loan to run her own business, drilling a well or building a classroom we can ensure that both the children and the community as a whole can benefit.

Since COCO was founded in 2000, by Steve Cram MBE and Army Corp Major Jim Paton, over £2.8 million has been raised to fund small, sustainable, community led initiatives that enable children living in poverty stricken regions of the developing world to access education and the opportunities it provides. This year COCO worked with 11 project partners in East Africa. This report aims to show how the work we are doing is benefitting these communities around the world to build long lasting solutions to poverty. It focuses on Monitoring and Evaluation, something which we consider to be important at COCO, to ensure that the work we are doing is benefitting who it is supposed to be, and so that we can constantly learn and grow in the future. It also looks at how the projects relate to our new Schools for Life programme, which you can read more about on the next page! For more detailed information on our projects you can look at our website, or contact and us. We are always happy to hear from supporters and listen to you feedback.

Our contact details can be found on the back cover.

Comrades of Children Overseas (COCO), is a Scottish registered charity no: SC030428, Company 2 registration no: SC209819. Registered office address: 21 Ravelrig Park, Balerno, Midlothian, EH14 7DL.

CONTENTS 1. About COCO 4

2. Overview of the Year 6 3. What is Monitoring and Evaluation 7 4. Schools for Life 8 5. Monitoring and Evaluation Costs 10

6. Projects

 Hoja Secondary School - Tanzania 12

 Hoja Tanzania 23

 Nkwawangya—Tanzania 37

 Londoto - Tanzania 39

 Olomayani Nursery School -Tanzania 40

 Kindimba Secondary School –Tanzania 43

 Orlorte Acadmey- Kenya 45

 Kenya Acorn Project 48

 Mercy Primary School –Kenya 50

 Nyamura Special School– Kenya 54

 Mo Farah Foundation 55

6. Fundraising 56 7. Keep in touch! 58

5 Overview of the year:

This year £177,337.88 was spent overseas ,

invested in projects in rural Africa, predominantly in Tanzania and Kenya. 13.5% of our money was invested in Monitoring and Evaluation and Project Coordination, to ensure that Projects run smoothly and effectively. The rest of our money was spent

directly on the projects. The graph below shows where the money was spent

Of the money spent directly on projects,

 £100,246.96 (65%) was spent in Tanzania

 £38,123.82 (25%) was spent in Kenya

 £15,000 (10%) went to the Mo Farah Foundation for their work in the Horn of Africa.

6 What is Monitoring and Evaluation? Monitoring and Evaluation is an important part of COCO’s work, used so that we know for certain whether our projects make a difference, how they make a difference, how much of a difference they make, which aspects of what we do are working, and how we could improve our projects to make even more of a difference. This means that we are always improving on what we do and changing the way that we work to better impact on those living in rural Africa. At COCO we believe that everyone involved should feel able to tell COCO if they have ideas for project improvement. Only if everyone is honest about what went well and what did not will we continue to improve what we do and how we do it. Not every project is a complete success, and sometimes projects can not be carried out exactly as planned. Each project is a learning process in itself and is part of a greater learning experience for COCO to continue to improve our work. How it works: MONITORING: an ongoing process carried out regularly throughout a project to explain what is happening, carried out by COCO staff. EVALUATION: tries to explain WHY things happen and to identify lessons to be learnt for the future. This is done at the end of the project or at significant point during the project. This may be carried out by COCO staff or an independent evaluator. The data can be collected in a number of different ways, which must be decided in the planning stage, and must be unbiased, and be able to identify any negatives of a project as well as positives. Ways that COCO collects data are: observation, recorded analysis, interviews, focus groups, community meetings, questionnaires, case studies and diaries.

Schools for Life Listen Learn Sustain

This year, COCO was proud to launch our new programme ‘Schools for Life.’ After the success of Hoja Secondary School in Tanzania, COCO looked at replicating this model and after a site visit with partners, we came up with this new programme. Through Schools for Life we can pass on all that we have learnt in the past 10 years to benefit more children living in Africa. The Schools for Life programme consists of 6 key elements, which all of our Schools for Life will have: In order for children to be able to work and focus effectively, they must be provided with good quality classrooms. Many children walk for up to two hours in order to get to school, not only using up energy and time needed for studying, but also being put at great risk, especially girls: building safe and secure dormitories reduces this risk and increases Shelter performance. Teachers’ accommodation allows teachers to spend more time with the children, and gives the opportunity for starting up extra classes out of school hours. community housing education will teach the importance of good shelter and how to make the most of homes to make them a safer environment to live in. Only a quarter of Africans have access to electricity, this drops to 10% in rural areas. In rural Tanzania the number is even lower, where only 2% of people have access to electricity. Lighting in rural Africa usually comes from kerosene lamps which are dangerous to health, expensive to fuel, and harmful to the environment. In Africa the sun is free and in abundance. By using solar panels, we can power lights and computers that children need Power to be able to study at night, improving education, learning opportunities and productivity.

Safe drinking water is essential for good academic performance and attendance at school. Clean water means less illness caused by unsafe

drinking water amongst students and teachers; it saves time previously used walking long distances to collect water; and can be used to water plants for food. Sanitation is also essential for health reasons, building Water and toilet blocks specifically allows girls to attend school who would sanitation 8 otherwise have dropped out of school at puberty.

Schools for Life Listen Learn Sustain

Through Schools for Life we will listen to the needs of each individual community we work with. Understanding that they do not want hand outs or to rely on aid to live, but to be independent and free to choose how they live and raise the aspirations of their children. We will learn from each community we work with giving them the opportunity to sustain their own futures.

Growing food in a food forest and providing training in sustainable agriculture (permaculture) allows children to eat nutritious healthy food, whilst learning about the importance of a healthy diet. Malnutrition is not only detrimental to health, but also means that many children cannot reach their full potential at school due to deprivation of Food essential nutrients needed for brain development.

Recreation cultivates great friendship and encourages social interaction. Team sports and competition promote motivation and enthusiasm whilst also creating a healthy lifestyle. Schools for Life offer children the opportunity to enjoy sport and recreational activities, producing healthy and happy well-rounded children with confidence and skills both inside and outside the classroom. The UN promotes sport in Recreation schools to improve health, teach important life lessons about respect, leadership and cooperation, and promote equality for all by bridging divides between people.

Many young people have insufficient Entrepreneurship skills relevant to helping them to find employment. This not only results in high unemployment for young people, but also means that the economy cannot grow as fast without the talent of young people. Schools for life promotes group

debate and participation, as well as training in vocational skills, nurturing curiosity, equality and an entrepreneurial spirit; helping children to reach their full potential; and giving them the best possible preparation for the future. Income Generation Programmes and business management training for parents and carers of children also help to ensure project sustainability. 9

Monitoring and Evaluation and Project Support Costs

As Monitoring and Evaluation is so important, a percentage of our overseas budget goes towards costs relating to the implementation of the projects, from sourcing new potential projects, to planning projects, ensuring they go to plan, and collecting data for Monitoring and Evaluation. This year COCO spent £23,967.10 on Monitoring and Evaluation, Project Support Costs, and Project Coordination in the following ways:

Project Coordination Project Coordination is essential for the success of all of our work overseas. COCO pays a facilitation fee to an IGP coordinator in Mbita, Kenya, and three Project Coordinators. The project coordinators communicate with us here at COCO, ensuring that everything is going to plan and projects are keeping to budget and schedule, they help us to sort out any potential problems and to gather local knowledge to ensure that the project is benefitting the community in the best possible way, and to ensure that everyone has the chance to be involved and give their opinion and ideas on how projects should be implemented. Without our dedicated Project Coordinators, successful projects would not be possible! COCO spent £1,365.95 towards a facilitation fee for a Project Coordinator in Northern Tanzania, £1,002.33 on a Project Coordinator and an IGP Coordinator at Mbita, Kenya, a further £1952.11 was spent facilitating our Project Coordinator at Hoja Project, Oswin Mahundi, which is included in the Hoja Tanzania budget. based at Hoja Tanzania.

Project Support and Monitoring and Evaluation

£10,277.70 was spent on Project Support for in country Project Coordinators, Support Costs for our Overseas Operations Coordinator, and costs relating to Monitoring and Evaluation

undertaken by COCO staff and volunteers. This includes flights to and from the country, insurance, travel within the country, and vaccinations for COCO staff. 10

Monitoring and Evaluation and Project Support Costs

Overseas Operations Coordinator

This year COCO spent £11,321.12 on wages of our Overseas Operations Coordinator - Brad - who has spent much of the year in Kenya and Tanzania. Brad is responsible for working alongside existing projects in order to ensure that they are working effectively and to help them to become self-sustainable. His role also involves evaluating potential new project

partners and opportunities for COCO as well as overseeing overseas fundraising events, such as Kilimanjaro treks and the Kenya Cycle Challenge. Brad is invaluable to COCO and is key to the growing success and expansion of COCO’s overseas projects.

Hoja Project—Tanzania

COCO has been working with Hoja Project in Tanga Ward, Northern Tanzania since 2005, and Hoja Project has since become COCO’s proudest project and is the project on which COCO is basing the new Schools for Life programme. Since 2005, COCO has transformed a disused tobacco factory into Hoja Secondary School, which in 2013 achieved the highest exam results for school leavers of 173 schools in Ruvuma region, and set up Hoja Tanzania: a not-for-profit organisation aimed at spreading the success of the Hoja Project to other areas of Tanzania. The benefits have reached not only the school students and their families, but the whole community, and members of surrounding communities. This year COCO is extremely proud that Hoja Project has grown so much and become so successful that is now self-sustainable.

Hoja Project is made up of the Hoja Secondary School, and the Hoja Tanzania office which oversees all of the programmes and community outreach programmes.

This year COCO invested at total of £52,604.52 in Hoja Project, impacting on a total of 7231 people.

Hoja Secondary School

There are currently 293 children attending Hoja Secondary School and Vocational Training Centre, which last year became the top school in the region, and continues to improve. In the past COCO has funded the building of classrooms, a girls’ dormitory, a well, and compost toilets, teaching about permaculture, providing a grinding mill to grind maize, buying a photocopier for the teachers and providing microfinance loans. All of these things are continuing to help Hoja Secondary School, with income being generated through sales of ground maize, IGPs, and from renting the use of the photocopier to other community members.

This year COCO invested £29,306.63 in Hoja Secondary School and Hoja’s partner schools, in the following ways: 12 Food Forest

At Hoja Secondary COCO funded the start up of a Food Forest in November, costing £1003.39. It is used by the students at Hoja Secondary to grow a wide range of produce including papaya, oranges and bananas. This will: give the students a more nutritious and varied diet, improving health and therefore school attendance and grades; provide an income for the school, through selling excess produce. There will be an estimated income of 100,000 Tsh/month profit (around £35); and enable students to learn new methods of agriculture which they can then pass on to their families to use at home.

Impact

The project will have a direct income on all 293 students at Hoja Secondary School, as well as approximately 300 community members who will be able to buy food grown in the food forest, and the families of the students who will learn permaculture techniques from the students, an estimated 600 people.

Monitoring and Evaluation

It was decided for the food forest to be near the river to ensure that there is enough water for the plants. Staff at Hoja Project are closely monitoring the food forest, recording what is grown, what is harvested, and how much profit is being made, as well Hoja Secondary School as ensuring that the crops are being properly looked after. The staff doing this have been trained in permaculture themselves, and are now teaching courses on permaculture to other community members and students at Hoja Secondary School.

Schools for Life

The Food Forest at Hoja Secondary will be the base for the food forests in our other Schools for Life schools. It not only provides the students with healthy and nutritious fresh FOOD, it also helps to teach them the importance of a healthy diet, and through looking after the crops themselves, teaches them permaculture methods. 13 Solar Classroom

Cititec donated £5,000 to install an IT facility at Hoja Secondary School. COCO researched various ways in which to do this and combined the idea of a solar classroom and peer learning in our model. The solar classroom consists of six laptops and a projector screen, powered by solar panels. The solar power system was also adapted to allow for the installation of lights in each of the 7 classrooms, 6 teachers’ offices and in both the boys’ and girls’ dormitories. The installation was completed by SAIN (Scientific Advisory and Information Network), a reputable and experienced organisation from Nairobi, Kenya. SAIN also ran workshops explaining to the teachers and students how they could harness the full benefits of the IT system, as well as sharing their scientific expertise with teacher by teaching cheaper and more efficient methods of conducting scientific experiments.

Impact:

The new solar classroom has allowed all 293 children at Hoja Secondary school to learn in a new and exciting way with the help of IT, allowing them to access resources previously unavailable to them. The computers are also allowing the teachers to keep better records of attendance and exam results, which will also allow COCO to easily access such information for monitoring and evaluation. The lights in the school allow teachers and children to work after dark. 100 students now work after dark, allowing them up to 3.5 hours extra work time. Students have also sent the individual solar lamps which they were using before the power installation home, allowing their families to work after dark, and providing more of a profit at home than at school. Money will be saved through not having to buy fuel to power a generator, and knowledge of IT will be a valuable skill for the students, which will make them more employable.

Monitoring and Evaluation:

The work was monitored by our Project Coordinator while it was being done,

ensuring the highest quality work was done and equipment used. The students informed him that the lights were not very bright, and so the bulbs were replaced with some of a higher quality. Upon evaluation it was decided that in the future a local electrician should be used to decrease travelling costs, and to ensure adequate knowledge of the site before work begins, as problems were encountered in each of these areas, with many journeys to 14the nearest town necessary, and unsuitable equipment for Hoja being bought.

Monitoring and Evaluation:

The work was monitored by our Project Coordinator while it was being done, ensuring the highest quality work was done and equipment used. The students informed him that the lights were not very bright, and so the bulbs were replaced with some of a higher quality. Upon evaluation it was decided that in the future a local electrician should be used to decrease travelling costs, and to ensure adequate knowledge of the site before work begins, as problems were encountered in each of these areas, with many journeys to the nearest town necessary, and unsuitable equipment for Hoja being bought.

Schools for Life! As part of Hoja secondary School, our model for the Schools for Life programme, the Solar Classroom and lighting have played a big part. This programme has contributed to:

POWER: allowing the students at Hoja Secondary to access electricity, not only lights allowing them to work and making them feel safer in the dark, but also computers allowing new ways of learning.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP: through group work, students will learn to discuss and debate issues, nurturing curiosity. Learning IT skills will give the students more possibilities for their futures.

Conclusion

COCO is excited to have been able to install our first ever solar classroom at Hoja Secondary. We are very thankful to Cititec for their support in helping us to install this system and are delighted that students will be able to benefit even further from our first ‘School for Life’ at Hoja Secondary. We look forward to monitoring the peer to peer learning model and hope to replicate this project in other areas very soon. 15 Solar Lamps

Solar lamps can be used to provide light to be able to study and cook in the evenings, to provide security when sleeping in the dormitory, and to charge small electrical items. In 2012 COCO first sent Solar Lamps to Hoja Secondary School, and after that success expanded, providing 70 lamps to students at Hoja Secondary, nearby Lupunga Secondary School and to two community libraries in Litisha and Mpandangindo in October, and then a further 131 lamps to community members in 4 different villages in August. This was all made possible with the help of Gentoo and Nuru Energy. Once the lamps are distributed, the recipients have to repay the cost of the lamp through weekly instalments of 2,936 Tanzanian shillings (£1.19) for 25 weeks. They raise this money by charging others for the use of the lamp. COCO spent £4562.68 (£1752.67 on the 70 schools’ lamps, and £2810.01 on the final 130) on the initial purchase of these lamps, however this will all be paid back, providing profits for Hoja Tanzania.

Impact All of the students who received lamps at Lupunga Secondary School are boarders, so their lamps have allowed them and the other students in the dormitory to study later and feel safer in their dormitories, a total of 50 students. Those who received lamps at Hoja Secondary School all live off site, so the whole families of each of the 40 children are benefitting from light to be able to work in the evening. Providing the solar lamps has not

only produced profits, but also saves money buying fuel for dangerous kerosene lamp (an average of 10,000Tsh/month). The two libraries that received the lamps are also providing light to many community members, and to those working in the libraries to allow them to work later. The final 131 lamps will benefit the recipients and their families. 16 Monitoring and Evaluation It was identified during the repayment period that at Lupunga the students were having difficulty with their repayments. Students are not allowed to have phones at school, leaving the teachers as their only market for phone charging. COCO took this into account, and allowed for late payments during the school holidays. The distribution of the lamps was successful, and repayments for all of the lamps were received. Some weeks more was repaid than necessary and others payments were under-budget, but COCO allowed this and by the end of the 25 weeks all payments had been made. Not only this, but all of the recipient students made themselves a profit throughout the 25 weeks, of between £25 and £35, and will be continuing to create profits after the repayment period. The final 130 lamps have just been distributed, so their use will and repayments will be monitored from now.

Schools for Life!

The Solar Lamps have helped with two aspect of our schools for life programme:

POWER: providing light and power to charge phones, using the cheap, sustainable, and abundant power of the sun!

ENTREPRENEURSHIP: through asking the students to repay the costs of the lamp and the opportunity to create profit, COCO is nurturing an entrepreneurial spirit. Zamaradi is the 49 year-old mother of Mariam. Zamaradi Issa Mariam’s lamp has been kept at home since the end of last year and is used by her 6 family members living there. During a week with good sun, the lamp can make around 30,000Tsh, more than Mariam could make from the lamp at school.

Income from the lamp is shared between the family living at home for food and soap and Miriam living at school for exercise books. Before she had access to the lamp, Zamaradi was struggling to cultivate due to injury. Now that she has the lamp, she can use her income to pay for people to cultivate her land. 17 Boys Dormitory COCO funded the building of a boys’ dormitory at Hoja Secondary this year, providing

safe on-site accommodation for 50 boys who used to spend hours walking to school and back every day. This year COCO invested £10,030.92 in building and furnishing the boys’ dormitory, equipped with compost toilets and hand washing facilities.

Impact:

The 50 boys who are staying in the dormitory now benefit from a safe and secure place to sleep at night, with solar powered lights to allow for studying in the evenings. They would previously spend hours walking, and would be tired and not able to concentrate in lessons. Boarding will also greatly reduce absences due to adverse weather conditions. The dormitory has mosquito nets, and so instances of malaria will decrease as a result of proper and regular usage. After school hours, as well as doing homework, the students are encouraged to help in the school garden, growing food for their own consumption and to provide income for the school. The average grades for the boys have gone up from 39% in April to 54% in July. The dormitories will also indirectly benefit other children, as with a rise in pass rates, there will be a reduction in the amount of students who have to repeat years, so places at the school will be freed up more quickly. The dormitory will potentially house up to 500 students in the next 40 years.

Mustapha Ally is an 18 year old form four student now boarding in the boys’ dormitory. Before the dormitory was built he walked a total of 2 hours to school and

back each day. He now has an extra 5 hours to study each day, using solar lamps to work after dark. His grades have gone up from 48% in April to 62% in July since moving into the dormitory.

“When I lived at Home, I was facing many difficulties including: being tired and not able to concentrate in lessons; being unable to attend school during rain; having no

time to study at home as my parents were giving me too much work to do; having no time to have discussion with my friends; having difficulties studying during nights as there is no electricity at home. All these difficulties are now solved by having a dormitory here at school, I am enjoying my lessons”.

Monitoring and Evaluation:

The building of the dormitory was very successful, and everything ran smoothly and according to plan. This is due to having already successfully built the girls’ dormitory on site, so knowing what we needed to do and what problems we might encounter. The boys staying in the dormitory are progressing faster than those living at home, so the boarders are helping those having difficulties. COCO and Hoja staff will continue to monitor that it is the most deserving students who are allocated a dormitory place. Currently priorities are given to those living farthest from school, students with physical difficulties, and those in years groups sitting exams.

Schools for Life

The building of this dormitory mainly helped with the SHELTER aspect of our schools for life project: providing the boys with a safe and secure place to sleep, reducing risks of walking to school and improving performance through allowing more time for studying, more access to resources, and less tiredness from walking long distances. As the boys are encouraged to help out in Hoja’s Food Forest, this is working alongside the FOOD aspect, giving the boys healthy food to eat, and teaching them about the importance of a healthy diet; as well as the ENTREPRENEUR aspect, through learning that good cultivation and sale of produce can provide an income. Having compost toilets and good hand-washing facilities works towards theWATER and SANITATION element. 19

Teacher Training

COCO spent £491.91 on teacher training this year, £384.64 in July on a of how to

examine pupils in accordance with national guidelines, and £107.27 in August for a course on how to plan lessons to ensure the whole curriculum is taught. Both courses were for 20 teachers, 9 from Hoja Secondary and 11 from Mshango Secondary School. Mshango Secondary School has been a partner of Hoja Secondary’s for 2 years, the average pass rate is a D, but with the help of teacher training we hope that this can be brought up to a C. Impact

The training directly benefitted the 20 teachers at the two schools, who will use their new skills to help a total of 586 students directly through improved teaching and so improved grades. In the next 5 years, 1,386 students will benefit from the courses.

Monitoring and Evaluation: Key indicators such as student performance levels and syllabus compliances are evaluated. Frequent tests will measure knowledge and teaching methods will be monitored to assess and track the overall impact of our work, and make any necessary changes to our approach. Sports Pitch Sports pitches are currently being built at Hoja Secondary, which are designed to cover a variety of sports to give the students choices and to keep them stimulated and excited about playing sports and exercising. Currently at Hoja there is no clear, open space outside available for sports lessons, and so students have to travel to a nearby primary school to use their pitch. So far COCO has spent £334.83 on the construction of the pitches, and on completion COCO will then help Hoja Secondary to purchase the necessary kits and equipment to be able to play volleyball, football and netball.

Monitoring and Evaluation: Our Project Coordinator at Hoja will monitor the projects completion to a high standard.

Student involvement, attendance records and health checks will be used to assess the impact of the sports pitches.

Schools for Life

The Sports Pitches will help Hoja Secondary to School to work towards the RECREATION aspect of our Schools for Life project, allowing the children to adopt a healthy lifestyle, to build friendships and to boost confidence.

VTC Theory Classroom COCO spent £4199.97 building a new classroom for Muungano Vocational Training Centre (VTC), which is attached to Hoja Secondary School. Currently the VTC has only one classroom for the tailoring students, meaning that the carpentry and building students have to have both practical and theory lessons outside. The new theory classroom will provide the students with a sheltered and secure space to learn course theories, valuable life-skills, entrepreneurial skills, and basic Maths and English. The classroom will be built by the VTC students and other community members.

Impact

The new classroom will benefit the 15 students at Muungano VTC, over 100 students in the next 5 years.

Monitoring and Evaluation:

The building work will be monitored by Hoja and COCO staff, and the impact on the students will be monitored through case studies, attendance rates, and teaching methods.

Schools for Life

The new classroom will help with the ENTREPRENEUR aspect of the Schools for Life programme, giving students more skills and a more rounded education that will make them more employable in the future. 21

Dispensary

One of the biggest problems facing students at Hoja Secondary is poor attendance due to illness, predominantly malaria. To address the chronic malaria issue in the area, and to help increase school attendance, COCO spent £815.91 to turn a teacher’s office into a small dispensary by buying furniture and medical supplies. The matron from one of the dormitories will be in charge of dispensing medicines. All students at Hoja Secondary will be able to access the facilities for free but any other community members will have to pay a small fee for accessing the services. Monitoring and Evaluation:

Students’ health, attendance, grades and cases of malaria will be monitored to measure the impact of the dispensary. Security Fence

COCO invested £1,981.02 in buying a security fence to go around the perimeter of the Secondary School. This will help to make the school a safer place for all of the students and teachers, preventing trespassing and theft. It will also increase the success of the school garden, preventing animals from eating the seeds and plants. Monitoring and Evaluation The success of the fence will be measured by using theft indicators and monitoring the yield of the school garden. The fence has also helped to improve the aesthetics of the school, showing a clear boundary of the perimeter.

Schools for Life

Through providing safety, the fence works alongside the SHELTER branch of our Schools for Life programme.; and through helping to protect the garden, it works towards the FOOD branch.

School Books

COCO spent £886 on 200 reference books for Hoja Secondary. These will be used by the students for research, and also by teachers when planning lessons. Previously teachers would not be able to find the necessary information, or would have to travel to 22 other schools to borrow books. Books for 10 different subjects were bought.

Hoja Tanzania

Hoja Tanzania is a registered charity in Tanzania, supported by COCO. Their mission is to help deprived people in Tanzania to escape poverty through education and income generation projects. Hoja Tanzania seek to ensure that every child can fulfil their right to a quality education, regardless of circumstance or gender. Hoja works with local communities in remote regions of Tanzania to alleviate the poverty preventing children’s education. Hoja focuses on working with communities in regions that often go unnoticed by others and where our assistance will make the biggest difference possible. This commitment to small, sustainable, life changing projects is fundamental to our values and enables Hoja to deliver projects that are specific to the needs of the communities. This year COCO invested £23,297.89 in Hoja Tanzania, impacting on the lives of 7231 people living in rural Tanzania, through a variety of different programmes.

23 Hoja Project Operations

This year COCO invested £540.08 in Hoja Project Operations. From September—

December 2013, COCO continued to pay for programme costs, which included: office rent, wages of the accountant/secretary, internet bill, wages of two librarians, library equipment, wage of a performance coordinator, and money to buy food for the performance group. However, from 2014, Hoja’s sustainability has meant that COCO no longer has to fund these costs.

From November 2013, COCO began instead to fund the facilitation fee to several members of staff at Hoja Tanzania,, without whom the whole of COCO’s operations in Tanga Ward and all over Tanzania would not be possible. These staff members do admin and monitoring and evaluation for Hoja Tanzania’s programmes. They are essential to the smooth running and growth of Hoja Tanzania, and of COCO’s overseas work. This year COCO spent £1,854.05 on wages for: an Operations Manager, Sponsorship Coordinator, Nurse/Matron, Entrepreneurship Coordinator, and an Accountant/Secretary. And a further £1,160.21 on one year’s salary for a matron in the boys’ dormitory who will also be the IT teacher at the school and £1952.11 on our Project Coordinator Oswin’s facilitation fee. COCO and Hoja Project are investing in more coordinators’ education to allow for ongoing assessment in country. Solar Power for Hoja Office

COCO installed Solar Power to Hoja’s Office, which will ensure that the office hasa constant supply of electricity, eliminate the cost of mains electricity, and will generate income through charging other community members for photocopying or using the power supply. An average of over 2 working days each week are lost through power cuts, having solar panels will put an end to this loss. The installation cost £2011.98, which covered the costs of all of the equipment and labour for it’s installation.

Printer for Hoja Office

£114.93 was spent buying a printer for Hoja Tanzania’s office, allowing 13 members of COCO staff and teachers to be able to print on site, saving time travel long distances and money spent on printing elsewhere. The printer will also be available for use by other 24 community members for a small fee, generating an income for Hoja Tanzania. COCO Car

In March this year, COCO bought a car for Hoja Project, branded with the COCO logo, totalling £2761.36. The car enables Oswin, the director of Hoja Tanzania, to easily drive to other projects to enable better monitoring and evaluation, to drive students to hospital and on school trips as a reward for good exam results, and for use by other COCO and Hoja staff, and performance group members in Tanzania to reach other projects.

Impact

It has been estimated that around 180 students at Hoja Secondary School will benefit from the use of the car through being able to go on various trips. All COCO and Hoja staff, and the 27 performance group members will also directly benefit from being able to quickly and easily get around the country.

Monitoring and Evaluation Oswin is continuing to monitor the use of the car, so far it has been highly beneficial with only one challenge: in March the car was involved in a small accident which damaged the CITITEC logo, however the other party involved paid for the car to be rebranded, and this issue was resolved. The car has made it much easier for COCO staff to coordinate and organise the projects, and has made all of the work more time effective. It has also enabled staff to hold more seminars and workshops and to be able to visit the other projects more often.

Schools for Life Through enabling the students to go on trips outside of school as a reward for hard-work, the COCO car has helped students in the RECREATION element of the schools for life programme, allowing them to cultivate friendship and experience fun out-of-school activities.

25 Hoja School Sponsorship Many children who wish to go to Secondary School cannot afford the fees, so in 2006

COCO started to support those students who are most in need and most worthy of sponsorship. The number of students that COCO is sponsoring is going down each year due to increased income at Hoja Project and through implementing sustainable alternatives, this year COCO has sponsored 61 students through secondary school, costing £4,059.22

Monitoring and Evaluation: COCO is continuously monitoring that the fees are going to the most deserving students. With the sponsorship programme having been run for over 3 years now, we are certain of it’s effectiveness.

Schools for Life

Providing secondary school sponsorship allows these children to attend school, who would not otherwise have had the opportunity to progress past primary education. They can then access all of the aspects of the schools for life programme as a result.

Health Education Performance COCO spent £485.34 funding a health event at Mbamba Bay, in South West Tanzania, to raise awareness of Malaria and HIV/AIDS in the area. The Hoja performance group is made up of 10 talented members of the community. They effectively distribute information to communities on important topics such as health, education, and family planning. The groups are unpaid: COCO’s money has gone towards transport, accommodation and food for the group, and the materials that they needed for the performance and for posters to advertise the event and reinforce the information gives. HIV/AIDS and malaria posebig problems in Ruvuma Region, with HIV/AIDS prevalence of 7% and a malaria prevalence of 12% amongst children.

Impact

An estimated 500 people will take part in the event, both adults and children, and it is hoped that those that watch the performance will pass on what they learn to other community members.

Monitoring and Evaluation Questionnaires will be given out before and after the performance to members of the audience to measure the effectiveness of the performance in spreading knowledge on HIV/ 27 AIDS and malaria.

IGP

In August 2013, COCO invested £3263 in an IGP programme, providing micro-loans to entrepreneurial groups allowing them to set up small businesses which will increase the income levels of the community as a whole, helping them to become more sustainable and to move out of poverty. COCO has been funding successful IGPs since 2007, and Hoja Project managed to fund 200 applicants of this years’ programme themselves, however a further 300 applicants (205 of which are female, and 95 are male) needed funding which COCO stepped in to help.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Our entrepreneurial coordinator Matilda oversees the IGP. She ensures that candidates are selected accordingly, that repayments are met, and as she is knowledgeable on entrepreneurial skills, she helps the applicants to maximise on profits and improve their business plans. The average income of a person who has received a micro-loan is now 500,000Tsh p/a, as opposed to 150,000Tsh before loan-receipt. Many of the businesses provide a more regular and reliable income, as opposed to the seasonal income of small scale farming.

Schools for Life

Although this programme does not directly impact students; seeing their parents creating their own businesses, and having the opportunity to receive loans in the future, will help the children to begin to think of their own business ideas, nurturing their entrepreneurial spirit. As well as this, increased income will mean that more families will be able to afford to send their children to school, buy better quality and bigger quantities of food,

and pay for medical bills.

29 Litisha Cows

Litisha was one of the first villages to benefit from training in permaculture. At the end of the last financial year COCO funded the purchase of 5 cows for Litisha village to provide manure to fertilise crops used in the permaculture programme. These cows have gone on to have 6 calves, and are also producing milk for consumption by the farmers and for sale to other community members. Most importantly they produce manure which is used for fertiliser for use in permaculture farming. After the success of this, COCO this year bought 5 more cows for the community for £2,261.74. Impact

The 10 cows that Litisha now have benefit all 3790 residents of Litisha village, farmers and their families (over 250 people benefit directly from produce, the remainder benefitting from having the opportunity to purchase the produce) . All of these people benefit from an improved diet, as they are able to grow a wider range of vegetables with the help of the manure from the cows. They also benefit from any profits gained from selling excess produce. Providing the further 5 cows has allowed twice as many farmers to use the manure produced by the cows.

30 Permaculture Training

After listening to the community’s requests for a refresher course for some of those who have already had training, a desire learn how to grow other crops (specifically soya beans which create a good profit and add nutrients back into the soil ready for the following year’s crops), and a request by those who had not yet received training, COCO provided permaculture training for 40 people living in Litisha village for £410.84. The course lasted five days and taught on how to create a food forest, allowing them to produce a variety of food crops in one farm. In August COCO invested a further £1900 in permaculture training for 10 people from 5 different Community Based Organisations (CBO) in 5 villages in Ruvumba Region. Impact Permaculture increases the crop yields, and so increases income for families in the village, allowing them to send their children to school, buy more food, and purchase the health care that they need. Last year profits made in Litisha village allowed the community to open their own nursery school, which is still successfully running, continuing to benefit their 43 pupils this year. At each of the CBOs, a further 20 people will be trained by the two members that attended the course. It is thought that each person who has undergone training will pass on knowledge to a further 5 people. Increasing food security to over 500 people in total. 31

Monitoring and Evaluation of Litisha Cows and Permaculture training Since the start of the permaculture training in Litisha, COCO has regularly undertaken

interviews and case studies with the farmers to hear what they have to say about the programme, to see the impact that it is having on income, and whether the farmers think that it is helping them. In October 2013, those farmers with permaculture training had increased their income by more than 6 times since the start of the programme. However, those without training had noticed a 2% drop in income, so are still unable to afford all of the necessities for their families. Therefore, there is still scope formore investment to help the spread of permaculture techniques throughout the community to help these people to also benefit from profits. In evaluating the training, our Project Coordinator pointed out that there were only 40 places on the training course, however there are still many more people who would have liked to have taken part in the training. He also told COCO that the amount of money budgeted for food during the training course was not enough, and so on the last two days participants did not have enough to eat. At any further events such as this COCO will ensure that there is enough money budgeted for food.

Schools for Life Providing training in permaculture and cows to the community, help to make crop growing as effective as possible and to provide milk, works alongside the FOOD aspect of Schools for Life, providing healthy and nutritious food for the communities, which will allow children to be able to study and concentrate better.

Conclusion

The Litisha permaculture programme has been highly successful, and the addition of more cows and extra training has greatly helped the community. What we have learnt at Litisha will be transferred to further permaculture programmes that we will definitely undertake in the future.

Teachers at Elimkaa Elimkaa is an education centre run by NGO “Paradiso”, which is located right beside Hoja Tanzania’s office. Paradiso do many things including educating on climate change, running a nursery, and running an education centre. Hoja Project, with the help of COCO is currently helping Elimkaa to become more sustainable, as a after a government grant ran out, the NGO ran into funding difficulties. The Hoja Tanzania office is rented from Elimkaa, and Hoja Project is supporting them in their invaluable work in education. This year COCO invested £323.98 paying the salaries of 3 teachers at Elimkaa’s education centre, to teach in their “Pre-Form One” evening course: aimed at students about to start Secondary School, to supplement their often lacking primary school education and to make the transition to Secondary School easier.

Impact The teachers could benefit up to 125 children each year, who will attend the course and so improve their grades. Monitoring and Evaluation Hoja Tanzania will monitor the teaching and the attendance. They will compare the grades of students who have attended the course to those who have not. After the trial 3 months, Hoja Project will then take over supplementing the wages. Advertising Elimkaa

COCO spent £258.33 on advertising for Elimkaa education centre. Elimkaa are doing such great work helping students to improve their school grades through evening classes, however they are not helping as many children as they have the capacity to. This is due to lack of awareness of the centre. COCO has paid for 4 months worth of advertising on the local radio station “Radio Jigoo”, a facilitation fee for 4 people to talk in churches, and for the printing and distribution of 500 posters about the project. It is hoped that 125 children will soon be bettering their education at Elimkaa, compared to the 54 currently attending. 33 Food for Fees at Mpandangindo

At Mpandangindo, thanks to the tutoring programme that COCO supported in the past,

there are many students with a lot of potential to do well at Secondary School, however unfortunately many are unable to pay the necessary school fees. Hoja Project Tanzania has decided to set up a “Food for Fees” project at the school, to create profits which will be used to sponsor students through secondary school. Phase 1 of the start-up has already been funded, with 20 acres of land being cleared and cultivated ready for the crops to be planted. COCO spent £2,310.18 on this.

Impact

It is hoped that in the first year 108 students will receive sponsorship, 120 in the second, and 125 from then on. The students will all benefit from picking up permaculture techniques from the site managers, which they can then pass on to their families. The community as a whole will benefit from being able to buy the crops grown.

Monitoring and Evaluation The project will be continuously monitored throughout by COCO staff, not only that the crops are being grown and the amount of profit being made, but also to ensure that it is the most needy students who receive the sponsorship. In May, our Project Coordinator reported that 25 people were involved in clearing and cultivating land, and in June there had been no challenges. The only concerns that have been raised are to do with the varying crop yield, due to weather. However, permaculture methods reduce this risk, and COCO believe it is a risk worth taking, as some years more profit could be made to make up for years with a smaller yield.

It will be a year before crops can be cultivated and sold, and which point the project will be properly evaluated to find out whether the aim of sponsoring 108 students can be met. Costs have been kept to a minimum through using donated land, and using COCO staff to oversee the project and teach the permaculture methods.

Schools for Life

This project is allowing students who would otherwise not have afforded to go to school, to do so. It is specifically working within the FOOD aspect of the Schools for Life programme, teaching students and other community members to effectively grow crops.

35 Setting up a Stationary Shop

COCO has helped Hoja Project in setting up a stationary shop in Mpandangindo, which will act as an IGP for the Primary School, providing profits that will go towards buying educational resources and to subsidise teachers’ wages. The shop will also be used by neighbouring schools, so they do not have to travel so far to buy stationary supplies. The setting up of the shop has cost £605.82, which will pay for 3 months salary for the workers, 6 month’s rent, furniture for the shop, and start-up capital for the business.

Monitoring and Evaluation Income from the shop will be monitored by Hoja Project staff, and will be fed back to COCO. Primary Tutoring

Hoja Project, with the help of COCO has been able to hold tutoring programmes for students at 6 primary schools in Litisha and Mpandangindo wards. The programme allows students to properly prepare for their exams taken at the end of Primary School, and to prepare them for Secondary School. The tutoring programme lasts for 5 weeks in June/July, and the £1307.02 given goes towards paying teachers wages, buying equipment and paying for food. The success of the programme is especially thanks to children and their families at Seaton Sluice First School. Impact

The tutoring programme benefitted 339 children. The programme is now in it’s 8th year, and has brought up the pass rate at Litisha up from 29% to 71%, and in Mpandangindo from 16% to 74%.

Monitoring and Evaluation

The impact of the programme will continue to be monitored through looking at students’ pass rates, and through interviewing children and monitoring how the programme is run.

Books for Mpandangindo

COCO spent £684.07 buying 210 books for Mpandangindo Primary School, which match up with the national curriculum in Tanzania for 7 different subjects. Previously the school did not have sufficient books for the students, and they were not specifically written for preparation for exams. 36

Nkwawangya—Tanzania

Nkwawangya is a remote village with approximately 300 families located on the lower slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro (Tanzania). COCO started working with the community in 2010 providing salaries for an in country project coordinator and a nurse and has since improved facilities at the school, nursery, and vocational training centre (VTC) by providing funding to build a new kitchen, permanent toilet blocks consisting of a total of 20 separate cubicles, and installing two rainwater harvesting tanks.

This year COCO invested £4452.73 in Nkwawangya this year in the following ways: Dining Hall

£1,046.72 was spent on the final phases of building a dining hall at Nkwawangya Primary School with the help of Madventurer funds and volunteers.

Impact

The dining hall will provide a safe and sheltered place for the 230 pupils to eat their nutritious meals, and will benefit an estimated 635 students over the next 10 years.

Monitoring and Evaluation Baseline data has been collected in the form of a nutritional survey, and once the dining room has been in use for a sufficient amount of time, this survey will be repeated to see whether it has had an impact on the children. During the building of the hall, many obstacles were encountered and the work could not be completed as quickly as hoped, due to the fact that it is a government school, and so many regulations had to be adhered to. In our Schools for Life programme we have decided that our schools should be community owned, to better match the needs of the community, to allow the community to have the school that they want, and to prevent further delays due to government restrictions.

Schools for Life Through providing a dining room, COCO is working with both the FOOD and SHELTER areas of the programme, providing a safe shelter under which children can eat.

Sweater Machine

COCO spent £695.42 buying a sweater machine for the tailoring students at the VTC, along with all the materials that will be needed to make the garments, and the wages of a teacher for 8 months. It is hoped that after this trial period, the garments made by the students will have been sold to make enough of an income for the VTC to be able to pay the teacher’s wages themselves, and buy materials to make further sweaters.

Judith Happiness is a 17 year old student at Nkwawangya VTC. Judith has recently learnt how to use the sweater Londoto—Tanzania machine and tailoring skills. She has been turning these new found skills into products which she sells at a local market. In one month she made 45,000Tsh (£16). This money has gone towards her school fees, and towards materials to make more garments. After finishing her studies Judith would like to continue to make clothes using her new skills. 38 Carpentry Tools

COCO has spent £2,368.93, providing a monthly budget for 6 months to buy carpentry materials for students at the VTC. These materials will be stored in a secure building on site, and will be used by the students to make products that they will be able to sell to make profit for the school. After these 6 months it is hoped that the VTC will be able to buy their own materials in the future, moving towards self-sustainability.

Impact It is hoped that any tailoring garments and carpentry products made by the students will be sold to make a profit for the school, so it can become self-sustainable in the future and COCO will no longer have to pay for the materials.

Monitoring and Evaluation The impact that the sweater machine and carpentry materials are having on the students of the VTC will be closely monitored by our Project Coordinator in Northern Tanzania. After the trial period, the project will be evaluated, especially focussing on the dedication of staff and students to make their own project self-sustainable.

Schools for Life The sweater machine and carpentry tools will teach students an employable skill, and there will be the opportunity to sell garments, helping to grow an ENTREPRENEURIAL spirit. Londoto—Tanzania

COCO worked to help refurbish Londoto Primary School in rural Tanzania, and since 2009 has helped to build 4 classrooms, a store room, a toilet and a kitchen on the once desolate site. As a result of COCO’s involvement with the school, the world food programme have started to supply Londoto with maize and beans to ensure that all of the children can receive at least one hot meal a day, improving their concentration. Furthermore, children can now learn in a more comfortable classroom environment, rather than having lessons outside. This has significantly increased student’s attendance and health.

This year Madventurer, one of COCO’s partners in Tanzania, kindly renovated the four classrooms built by COCO. 39

Olomayani—Tanzania

Olomayani is a nursery situated in the remote village of Eluwai in Northern Tanazania. The nursery was set up through the hard work of the community who were worried about their children having to study in Swahili when reaching Primary School, and the nearest nursery school was an hour’s walk away. Classes were originally held under a tree by volunteers, before they raised enough money themselves to buy a building to house the nursery school. In 2007, COCO helped to make the building into a proper classroom, installing doors and windows, and buying furniture and teaching equipment. This year COCO invested a total of £4701.86 in Olomayani Nursery School. Permaculture £2110.56 went towards the setting up a food forest at Olomayani Nursery School. This aims to provide regular, nutritious meals to the pupils at the nursery school, as well as training the whole community in permaculture methods to increase food security in the whole area. Situated on mountain slopes, growing any crops is very difficult, so permaculture methods of irrigation, adding nutrients to the soil using manure and certain plant types, and avoiding erosion through digging ditches and contours are extremely important and valuable at Olomayani. It is hoped that once the garden gets going, that excess crops can be grown to be sold for profit for the Nursery School, and to eventually pay the wages of the teachers.

Impact

The food forest will directly impact on all of the 40children and teachers in the school, it will also indirectly impact other community members who will learn permaculture methods of crop growing, and who will be able to buy excess crops from the nursery school to improve their own diets.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Our in country staff will regularly check that the project is going smoothly, as well as our project partners in Olomayani Food Water Shelter.

Schools for Life Creating a food farm directly fits in to our FOOD element, providing healthy nutritious 40 food and teaching on the importance of a healthy diet. Teachers Olomayani—Tanzania This year COCO spent £1407.19 paying for a facilitation fee for the two teachers at

Olomayani Nursery—one of which was a volunteer teacher when the school was being set up. Without these teachers the children would not be able to attend nursery school.

Impact

Providing money for the teachers will directly impact on all of the 40 children at the school. Allowing them to attend school, and receive an all important nursery education.

41 Water Harvesting

In November, COCO invested £5,533.98 in water Harvesting at Olomayani Nursery School. The work here included repairing two buildings, and applying simple guttering systems to collect water in the rainy season. The two teachers at the school were educated in water management, so that the water will last them the whole year, with no wastage.

Impact

The water harvesting will allow all 40 children attending Olomayani Nursery School to access drinking water all year round, as well as a for cleaning and cooking.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Food Water Shelter (FWS), COCO’s implementing partner at Olomayani will regularly check the tanks to check that there are no breakages and that water is not being wasted. It was found that the water ran out last year, as the teacher in charge of the key at the nursery was allowing other community members to access their water supply. However, due to the sharing nature of Maasai people, we cannot tell the teachers to not allow the community to access the water. FSW are now looking into ways of increasing the volume of water that can be harvested to allow for more people to use the water collected and to ensure that there is always water available for the children at the nursery.

Schools for Life

Water harvesting works within the WATER AND SANITAION area of Schools for Life: providing a safe and lasting supply of water for drinking, cooking, and washing. 42

Kindimba Secondary School—Tanzania

Kindimba is COCO’s newest project, and is soon to become of one of COCO’s first Schools for Life schools. The secondary school will allow at least 320 children each year to access secondary education, which is currently extremely difficult to secure. In Namswea region, in which Kindimba is situated, it is estimated that 80.9% of children who finish primary education do not continue on into secondary school, mostly due to there only being one secondary school in the region, which is not only vastly oversubscribed but also provides poor quality education with a pass rate of only 28%. Many families cannot afford to send their children to school, and other students live too far away to walk every day. Kindimba Secondary school will eventually work with all of the elements of Schools for Life.

43 Preparation Before any work could be done at the school, £459.53 was spent surveying the land and Olorte Academy—Kenya

transferring ownership from the community, to Hoja Tanzania. £1,744.26 was spent installing water at the site, which will not only be used once the school is opened for drinking, washing and watering plants, but also is used in the building process for making bricks.

Building Work

Building work stared at Kindimba in June, and already an administration block has been completed, costing £4,787.19. In August COCO invested a total of £17,811.02 on building a laboratory, toilet block, library, and double classroom block. £1,126.71 has bought furniture for the classrooms, and £2,940.17 bought equipment for the Vocational Training Centre.

Impact

The school will directly benefit at least 320 children, who will be able to attend the school on completion. It will also benefit 8 teachers, and other members of staff who will receive employment. It will indirectly benefit the whole community, as increased education will mean increased employability and higher-paid jobs. The food forest will also teach the whole community better ways of growing crops.

Monitoring and Evaluation

The school’s progress will be monitored closely by COCO staff. Hoja Project Tanzania will be involved in every phase of the school’s building, and will remain closely involved once the school is open, checking the quality of education, and ensuring that all of the Schools for Life aims are being met.

Schools for Life

On completion Kindimba will meet all of the Schools for Life goals. This first phase of

building is working to create safe and sustainable SHELTER for the children and teachers of Kindimba Secondary School.

Olorte Academy—Kenya

Prior to the Maasai Academy, Olorte and surrounding villages were only served by one government school. The government school lacked facilities and teachers, meaning that there was a very high student to teacher ratio. The inadequate government school encouraged parents from the local community to start a primary school. In 2008, six parents began a small primary school operating from the local church. Since 2008, the school has taken an additional intake of students each year. This year COCO invested £16971.26 in Olorte Academy, building a classroom, kitchen and toilet block. Kitchen

The kitchen, furniture and equipment cost £1,742.26 and was completed earlier this year. It caters for the 120 children and 9 staff at the school. Before COCO funded the kitchen, it was situated under a tree, making it difficult to cook in the rainy season, and attracting baboons who would steal the food. The new kitchen is a safe and secure building, and fuel efficient rocket stoves are used for cooking food.

The kitchen was made using a very effective method developed by the University of Nottingham.Bags used to carry maize and other produce are sewn into three chambers, the two outer chambers are filled with soil or sand (both found in abundance in the local area) and the bags are stacked together. The bags are unbelievably strong. The walls are then plastered to provide a very structurally sound building.

The kitchen was built to a high standard and was under-budget, so excess funds have been used to create water harvesting on the kitchen roof and to build concrete blocks for water tanks.

45 Classrooms £9,500 was sent to Olorte Academy at the end of the last financial year to build 3 new classrooms for the school. One classroom was completed in January of this year and is now being used by the eldest class in the school. The other two are currently under construction.

Compost Toilets £650 was provided for the building of the compost toilet blocks at Olorte, however problems were encountered when digging the latrines and finding that there was a high water table, so latrines would contaminate the water supply. Alternative latrines are now being considered. Sports Field

£5,079 has built a sports field at Olorte Academy. Up until now, all outdoor activities including sports have to be played on the steep gradient surrounding the school, causing injuries and meaning that proper sports cannot be played. The sports field now provides the children with sports facilities that are otherwise only accessible in major towns, however the steep gradient means that specialist equipment, including a bulldozer, were needed. Through hiring the bulldozer when it was already nearby building 46 roads, around £1,000 was saved in transport costs.

Monitoring and Evaluation

COCO and Hoja Staff will continue to monitor the progress of the school, ensuring that all of the work is being done on time. A solution to the problem with the compost toilets is being investigated. The school has already been able to admit a whole new year group of students thanks to the new classroom, and hopefully each year a new class will be built ready for the new intake of students. The building method for the kitchen has proven to be successful, so this method of building will be considered again for future projects.

Schools for Life

Eventually, Mercy Primary will involve all aspects of the Schools for Life programme. The current funding has allowed for work in the SHELTER, WATER AND SANITATION, and ENTREPENEURSHIP elements: building safe classrooms, providing a safe and reliable water supply, building compost toilets, and providing micro-loans to family members of students at the school.

Kenya Acorn Project—Kenya

The Kenya Acorn Project (KAP) is trying to provide accessible heath-care for people living in the western area of Kenya, in the Ndhiwa region. They run a community hospital, many outreach clinics in rural areas, a nursery, and they also work with other schools in the region to provide health-education and access to safe drinking water.

c KAP Nursery

This year COCO spent £9655 to KAP Nursery, to pay for the costs of running the nursery for a whole year—paying a facilitation fee to teachers, teacher training, health costs, maintaining the building equipping the kitchen and feeding the 85 children attending.

Impact

Keeping the nursery open, which would not have been possible without the help of COCO, will impact on the lives of the 85 children at the nursery. They will receive an education, and valuable social interaction that they would not have otherwise been able to receive. Going to nursery also ensures that they get at least one proper meal during the day.

Schools for Life Monitoring and Evaluation

Starting education at nursery is important, making sure that the children are ready for COCO has contacts in Kenya who are monitoring the project for us. COCO staff also primary school and already have the necessary skills for learning. KAP Nursery also make regular site visits to the project. provides FOOD, SHELTER, WATER, and RECREATION opportunities to the children. 48

Kenya Acorn Project—Kenya

Samuel and Lavender Medical School Fees

COCO donated £4,301.58 to KAP to provide medical school fees for 2 students - Samuel and Lavender -who are dedicated to helping to improve the health situation in their region.

Health in Kenya is a serious issue, and these students have shown great promise in their studies, and want to work in their own home town to help address issues of HIV/AIDS, malnutrition and infant mortality – all of which are extremely high in this area. Infant mortality alone is twice the national average in the Ndhiwa region.

Impact

Other than directly benefitting the 2 students themselves, whilst they are studying they also volunteer in the community hospital in which they will work once qualified. These 3 students impact on the lives of countless patients, and will continue to do so in the future!

Schools for Life Monitoring and Evaluation

Mercy Primary School—Kenya

Mercy Primary School is in the village of Mbita, on the shore of Lake Victoria. The community is very proud of their school, and many community members have been volunteer teachers in the school. However, the infrastructure of the school is severely lacking, and COCO have decide d to help to make Mercy Primary School into one of our Schools for Life schools, working with the community to improve the school that is already there. COCO invested £11,309.20 in Mercy Primary, for the following programmes:

Baseline Data

£200 was spent on collecting baseline data for Monitoring and Evaluation purposes. This will allow COCO to be able to measure the difference that upgrading the school has made, in terms of attendance, number of students, changes in health etc.

Mercy Primary School—Kenya

Water Harvesting and Compost Toilets

Water Harvesting equipment will be built onto every classroom, which will collect rain water and store it in tanks. There will be separate tanks for hand washing and for drinking. Compost toilets are going to built on site, with separate male, female, and staff blocks. Waste from compost toilets can be used as fertiliser for growing crops and to make biogas to be used for cooking. COCO invested £3,180 in essential water harvesting equipment and for phase one of the building of the compost toilets.

IGP

Members of the community told COCO that they would like their school to become sustainable, and in order to do this, they would like an IGP, to enable them to start up their own businesses. Earlier this year COCO provided funds of £161.42 for a workshop, to teach community members about IGP and to give them business ideas. The meeting was successful, and applications have been made by many community members. These applications are now being sorted to select the right candidates, and the logistics of the repayment schedule being finalised. 51 Building Classrooms

COCO spent £9,810.89 building a block of two classrooms and an ECD (Early Childhood Development) Classroom. This budget paid for all of the building materials needed, including secure doors and windows, and the cost of labour to build the structure. In January, the first block of two classroom was completed and COCO staff were at an event celebrating the opening of these classrooms. The ECD classroom willbe completed by the end of October 2014. The buildings are all built with good quality materials, with longevity and sustainability in mind so that Mercy can become self- sustainable in the future.

Sports Pitches

COCO spent £629.63 building a new sports field for Mercy Primary School. On completion the pitches will be suitable for playing a variety of sports including football, volleyball and netball. The community have helped with clearing the area ready for labourers to build the pitches. Once they are finished COCO will also buy the necessary sports equipment. Dedicated sports facilities will help the children to enjoy playing sports, and to build relationships and friendships between children. 52 Food Forest COCO invested a total of £2,837.99 in setting up a Food Forest at Mercy Primary School.

This included £1,453.40 to train a caretaker in permaculture methods, and to subsidise his salary for 6 months to ensure that the food forest is properly maintained. After this time it is hoped that income generated from selling crops can cover the caretaker’s wage. £322.03 paid for the labour of clearing the area and seeds and plants, including banana, sweet potato, mango and avocado. A security fence costing £857.08 will be constructed around Mercy Primary School to increase security and to prevent livestock from being able to enter and eat crops grown in the Food Forest. A final £205.48 paid for tools that will be used in the construction Food Forest, and for subsequent crop maintenance.

Monitoring and Evaluation

COCO and Hoja staff will continue to monitor the progress of Mercy Primary School. Baseline data will be used to measure the difference that the new programmes are making to the students’ attendance and grades. The income of those involved in the IGP will also be monitored.

Schools for Life

Mo Farah Foundation

A Wheelchair for Davis

COCO spent £50.44 buying a wheelchair for 10 year old Davis Okinyi. Davis attends Nyamuga Special School, not far from Mercy Primary School, in Mbita, Kenya. He suffered from Cerebral Malaria when he was young, and as a result now cannot walk. He also suffers from epilepsy and mild autism. Davis used to rely on his father to carry him places, making it hard for him to find a job. When his father was not around, Davis had to have to crawl around using his arms. COCO staff came across Nyamuga Special School whilst in Kenya, and came across Davis, and has now donated a wheelchair to him. Now Davis can be much more independent, and can retain his dignity, joining in playing with his friends at school. 54

Mo Farah Foundation

After our highly successful collaboration event with the Mo Farah Foundation “An Audience with Mo” in April, £15.000 was donated to the Mo Farah Foundation.

Setup by Mo Farah and his wife Tania in September 2011, the Mo Farah Foundation is a charity focussed on health improvement, education and the alleviation of poverty in the horn of Africa and the UK.

The Mo Farah Foundation works with similar aims to COCO, in working in Africa and focussing on aims including promoting education, supporting livelihood and generation income, and helping to provide access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

Fundraising Events!

None of the work that COCO has done would be possible without the continued backing of our supporters, who attend our events, hold their own fundraising events, run marathons, climb Kilimanjaro and cycle across Kenya. COCO would like to thank everyone who has helped us to fundraise money for our amazing projects this year. If any of these sound like your cup of tea, be check out our website to see how you can get involved next year! Here is a snapshot of some of the thing that have been happening this year:

Team COCO

Team COCO have done us proud once again this year, running marathons around the country, including the Great North Run, Kielder Marathon and Bristol 10K, and the Sunderland 10K. Thank you to you all for your efforts and sponsorships!

Annual Ball Over £15,600 was raised at COCO’s annual charity ball held at the Gosforth Park Marriott last December. The event was attended by over 200 guests, who enjoyed entertainment from Hip Operation, tried their hand at a fun casino provided by Grosvenor Casinos in Newcastle, and had the pleasure of meeting our special guest from Tanzania Oswin Mahundi, who informed the guests on the difference that their money is making in rural Africa.

Kenya Cycle Challenge In January, 12 brave cyclists including COCO’s founder Steve Cram, CEO Lucy Philipson and TV presenter Philippa Tomson completed the 4 day Pedalsafe Kenya Cycle Challenge. They covered 150km and climbed 4000 metres through remote Kenyan terrain, experiencing amazing views across the Rift Valley, meeting members of the Maasai community. All of the cyclists had an amazing and unforgettable time in Kenya, and they raised £15,000 for COCO at the same time!

56 An Audience with Mo

Tuesday 15th April saw the staging of An Audience with Mo, a star-studded dinner held at the exclusive Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, London. The evening, held in aid of COCO

and the Mo Farah Foundation saw the likes of Paula Radcliffe, Jonathan Edwards, Eddie Izzard, and Duncan Bannatyne join over 300 guests for a very special evening. Helen Skelton-Myler hosted the evening and Paul Young provided the entertainment at the start of the evening whilst DJ Miss Mavrik concluded the night’s entertainment. The evening’s highlight was an exclusive 45 minute chat between World Champion athlete, BBC commentator and COCO Co-Founder Steve Cram and British athletics’ man of the moment Mo Farah. The event raised over £55,000 for COCO! Corporate Kilimanjaro Climb

On February, all 15 of our Corporate Kilimanjaro trekkers made it to the top of the world’s highest freestanding mountain, the third corporate group to summit the mountain, and the first to achieve a 100% success rate! Despite a very demanding week and battling through wet weather conditions the team were in high spirits and walked together the whole time, demonstrating that team spirit really helped to pull everyone through!

The Steve Cram Celebrity Golf Day

Our celebrity Golf Day It was another fantastic day at De Vere Slaley Hall as 36 teams took to the Hunting and Priestman courses for a day of golf in the sun followed by a celebration dinner in the evening. Throughout the day teams got involved with a variety of fundraising activities including the sale of mulligans, pieces of string, nearest the pin challenges and of course the prize draw and auction in the evening.

Student Kilimanjaro Climb

In June all of our student Kilimanjaro climbers got to the top of the mountain, reaching Africa’s highest point. After the physical challenge of reaching the top they also got a chance to visit some of our projects in Tanzania and meet some of the children that their fundraising will be helping.

57 Comrades of Children Overseas (COCO), is a Scottish registered charity no: SC030428, Company registration no: SC209819. Registered office address: 21 Ravelrig Park, Balerno, Midlothian, EH14 7DL.

Keep in touch!

COCO Call us on: 0191 261 7427 3rd Floor, 14 Blandford Squre Email us at: [email protected] Newcastle Upon Tyne Follow us: twitter.com/COCO_Charity NE1 4HZ Like us: facebook.com/coco.charity www.coco.org.uk Watch us: youtube.com/CocoCharity