We believe education is the most powerful engine for progress. It can enable young people to flourish as they discover and develop their talents, resulting in a healthier, happier and more successful life. It has the power to change societies from within and to support sustainable, inclusive and safe communities. Edukans is committed to unleashing the power of education. To realise its full potential for improving the well-being of individuals and communities, especially those who are marginalised and displaced. We work towards education that equips children and young people with the skills they need to participate in a rapidly changing world, ranging from reading and writing to social and digital skills.

The need for future-proof quality basic education

Globally, literacy rates have gone up, school enrolment rates have risen, and dropout rates have fallen over the past decades. But despite this many children cannot read, write or count sufficiently, whether they have attended school or not. This is primarily due to large classes, a lack of learning resources, and often insufficient teacher training and support. Poorly educated children are more likely to face a future of unemployment and therefore to remain trapped in a cycle of poverty. This ‘global learning crisis’ is a very real missed opportunity, leading to a lack of trained talented young people in the Global South.

Closing the skills gap

When children do manage to complete their primary education, they are faced with the next challenge. In the Global South, there are simply fewer secondary schools per capita which means they are often harder to reach. In addition to logistical issues, attendance does not always lead to improved future perspectives. Vocational schools and the training provided often have little connection with available jobs in the labour market. This contributes to the high unemployment rates amongst young people. Each year about 12 million young people enter an African labour market which during the same period creates only 3 million formal jobs, yet at the same time the global labour shortage is expected to reach 85 million workers by 2030 (sources: Randstad, AFDB).

Education in emergency situations

Worldwide, about 43.3 million children had been displaced as a consequence of conflict and violence by the end of 2022. For many of them, this was the case for their entire childhood (source: UNICEF). Only half of refugee children attend primary school, and less than a quarter are in secondary school. Without an education, childhoods may be lost to child labour, child marriage, recruitment by armed groups or other life-threatening activities. In refugee situations psychosocial problems among children and young people are common. They have to deal with situations of adversity, violence and loss, and they need to gain skills to build peaceful societies. Our method, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), is so important to increase their resilience.

Exchange programme

In 2023 the Exchange programme was revised in order to ensure that it continues to align with our strategic agenda and meets the criteria of sustainability, equity, and inclusiveness and that it contributes to quality education in our focus countries. This has resulted in the hard decision to no longer offer the Going Global Programme. We are grateful for all the support we received from the Going Global Volunteers and participants and all supporters who contributed to Going Global over the past 24 years. We are really proud to have contributed to this life-changing event for all participants.

In a lot of countries in which we work, there is a lack of consistent opportunities for the professional development of teachers and school leaders after they have finished their training. The motivation of teachers is a challenge due to large classes, lack of materials, and insufficient support within the schools. In addition, a lack of the right soft skills among pupils is common and can make it harder for them to shape their futures with confidence, the goal which Edukans strives for. Over the past few years, we have gradually made a shift towards equipping teachers in our focus countries with skills and the equal exchange of knowledge. To embed World Teacher in our education programmes and ensure it responds to the needs of our focus countries, from now on the country office will take the lead in the World Teacher programmes. The exchange programme will be transformed into an international Teacher Platform focusing on the exchange between teachers of mutual learning experiences with regards to pedagogical skills.

1.3 Our approach

To address the challenges mentioned in the previous paragraph this is our approach.

Ambition

In 2023, we further rolled out our strategic agenda. To shape sustainable futures the education system needs to be redefined and an upscaling of our interventions is necessary, while maintaining the professional, personal, and solid method of working that is so characteristic for Edukans. Our approach aims to ensure the best possible education for children and young people and has been based on four pillars: Basic Education, Skills for Work and Life, Education in Emergencies, and Exchange.

Edukans Theory of Change 

With over 20 years of experience, we have developed a solid Theory of Change that is guiding our work for quality education.

Approach: Skills for Work and Life

Skills for Work and Life is an Edukans programme for young people which helps them to develop their skills in preparation for work and for meaningful participation in society. The programme uses several different methods making it highly effective.

Labour market relevance and quality of skills training

• Edukans ensures that its skills programmes are labour market relevant and future proof by connecting with private sector demands. Training is given in life skills, entrepreneurship skills and climate change related skills on water, waste, and energy to make sectors more resilient towards climate change.
• We offer a continuous improvement cycle for skills training through the implementation of Edukans’ 7-Steps to WORK approach. We adapt each training to local labour market demands and continuously strive to improve relevance and quality.

Work Based Learning
We facilitate meaningful quality Work Based Learning opportunities for young people, providing them with relevant, practical real-life working skills for the labour market.

Entrepreneurship
We support the development of entrepreneurship and financial literacy skills for self-employment. Business mentorship is set up and young people receive business start-up kits to ensure a successful start to self-employment endeavours.

21st century (Life) Skills
We promote life skills, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights education (SRHR), ICT skills, social-emotional learning, and life skills for lobbying to close the 21st century skills gap.

Digitalisation
The marginalised areas where Edukans often works are lagging behind in an increasingly digitalised world. They face multiple challenges to being able to respond efficiently to the external demand for new digital skills and engage in their own digital transformation.

• In this context, Edukans has developed a digital pedagogy course for TVET/Skills trainers to provide them with the support they need to engage in their digital transition, to leverage technologies for digital inclusion, and to bridge the digital divide for marginalised populations. The training provides trainers with digital skills and the capacity to design, implement and evaluate learning in blended training courses.
• Furthermore, Edukans is digitalising its own training courses to make them available to even more beneficiaries and further roll out the trainings and methodologies. The training courses are available on the SkillEd digital platform.

Lobby
We lobby for certification of the practical skills of young people, gender equality in all TVET and skills education programmes and on the work floor. We also lobby for the integration of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) education in Ethiopia’s TVET curriculum.

Approach: Exchange 

We work together with local governments, educational institutes, and teachers for the best possible education. We strive to create an optimal learning environment by empowering teachers to enhance their pedagogical skills. We also assist school management, involving parents and the wider community. We love to see teachers becoming stable factors and role models for children and young people. Edukans facilitates active learning by connecting teachers in the Netherlands with teachers in our focus countries. Through an exchange between peers (teachers, pupils, and school leaders from different continents) on learning, teaching, and management skills, our participants learn from each other and improve as (future) professionals in education. In 2023 Edukans drafted a new strategy aligning our exchange activities with respect for equality, sustainability and inclusiveness. The exchange programme will be transformed into an international Teacher Platform aiming at the exchange between teachers of mutual learning experiences on pedagogical skills.

In 2023 we worked on 31 projects in 8 countries. We have offices in Kenya, Ethiopia, Malawi, Uganda and the Netherlands. Edukans was also active with projects in Ghana, India, Lebanon and Rwanda. We have reached 701,787 children and young people and 19,504 teachers. Through our comprehensive education approaches we ensured that these children and young people could embrace their right to learn. Through our scaling-up approach we expect to accelerate our impact and reach more children and young people in the coming year.

We did, however, face several challenges, such as:

• Widespread political instability continues to affect education programme delivery and prevent school attendance.
• Security risks in operational regions impede safe access to education.
• Challenges in achieving SDG 4 and SDG 8 due to insufficiently urgent action being taken. If we continue at this pace, SDG ‘Quality education’ and ‘Decent work’ will only be achieved in half a century (and not in 2030).
• Due to a limited availability of financial resources available for education, our ambition to start new projects and reaching children and young people through our education programmes has not been fully realised in 2023.
• It continues to prove difficult to involve an even number of men and women in our programmes, with more men participating than women. Unfortunately, women must deal with prejudices or socio-cultural norms that make it difficult for them to participate. Giving more attention to achieving gender balance and reaching more women with our programmes is high on Edukans’ agenda.

Edukans believes in turning challenges into opportunities and has achieved sustainable impact on quality education through our programmes. We are building programmes around opportunities such as:

• Global recognition of education as a driver for youth development and potential.
• Continued global prioritisation of skills development and Education in Emergencies.
• Meaningful youth participation is critical to successfully work on skills development and inclusive job creation.
• Edukans’ reputation and acknowledged expertise in education.

Despite the challenges we faced we were able to create opportunities, enabling over 700,000 children and young people to shape their futures with confidence.

2.1 Impact Basic education

To ensure the best possible inclusive education for children, our work within the pillar Basic Education is important. We have been running projects in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Ghana and Rwanda. In this paragraph we sum up the results, take you through one of our projects and elaborate on our approach with the EDU Q-card assessment tool.

2.2 Impact Skills for Work and Life

In many different countries young people are facing a skills gap after finalising their studies. The skills that they were taught in school do not match the needs of the current, nor the future, labour market and are often too theoretical. At Edukans we are committed to supporting young people, TVET institutes and their staff, governments and other partners to bridge this gap and equip young people with the skills and competences they need for meaningful participation in society. This includes developing soft skills such as communication, time management, teamwork, and digital skills which have become increasingly important over the past few years.

Building self-esteem and involving young people in their own learning journey is of utmost importance when they are preparing for the future. Together with numerous partners we have been running projects in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. In this paragraph we sum up the results, take you through one of our projects and elaborate on the ‘Connection Works!’ conference we organised in April 2023.

2.3 Impact Education in Emergencies

We have been running projects in Ethiopia, Lebanon and Kenya with the aim of restoring access to safe and quality education for out of school children and young people, as well as to promote the well-being of teachers and pupils by providing life-saving, psychosocial and emotional support. In this paragraph we sum up the results and take you through several project highlights.

Project highlight Education in Emergencies

Supporting teacher well-being in Ethiopia

It is important to include MHPSS (Mental Health and Psychosocial Support) in humanitarian programmes, not only during a crisis but also during the reconstruction phase. This helps restore the resilience of individuals and communities, so that they can get back on their feet after the crisis.

One study conducted in Ethiopia found that 80% of teachers living in conflict affected areas suffer from “severe” stress. In addition, teachers were found to suffer from a number of other crises induced consequences, such as family separation, economic difficulties, nightmares, violent behaviour, feelings of hopelessness, feeling inferior, and loss of self-confidence.

Edukans has developed a Mental Health and Psychosocial Support manual aimed at supporting teacher well-being. The MHPSS training uses the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) model as a backbone, addressing key areas such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.

Achieved major outcomes:

• In cooperation with the Teacher Training Colleges in Amhara and Afar region 828 teachers were trained in Mental Health, offering practical skills and strategies for personal well-being and resilience. The trained teachers reached around 27,400 pupils.
• By investing in capacity building, a direct contribution is made to the enhancement of teacher well-being, leading to improved education quality and better future prospects for children and young people in the communities reached.
• MHPSS-training for conflict-affected teachers is crucial for themselves and their pupils, whose trauma manifests in bullying, discrimination, and other types of social pressures, particularly in areas where IDP children are integrated in host community schools.
• By ensuring the wellbeing of both teachers and pupils, schools experience better results, including better mental health.
• We believe MHPSS should become an integral part of the CTE curriculum, for now at least mental health is on making its way onto the government’s agenda.

2.4 Impact Exchange 

Our projects within the pillar Exchange bring together teachers and pupils from across the world. In 2023 the Exchange programme was revised in order to ensure that it continues to align with our strategic agenda and meets the criteria of sustainability, equity, and inclusiveness and that it contributes to quality education in our focus countries. This has resulted in the hard decision to no longer offer the Going Global Programme. In this paragraph we sum up the results and take you through a project highlight: World Teacher in Kenya.

In 2023, we received a total of €6,459,662 from our supporters and partners. Thanks to the generous donations of our partners and donors we made it possible for 701,787 children and young people to embrace their right to learn.

As a result of ongoing violence worldwide and the consequences of the climate crisis, many households worldwide as well as in the Netherlands faced an increase in their cost of living. Both households and companies are facing high inflation rates. Unless these challenges they continued to support Edukans. This being the case, the continuing support from private individuals, companies, schools, foundations and institutional donors was heart-warming. Funding is crucial to achieve the desired impact on inclusive education. The continuously changing donor landscape and the role of Civil Society and INGOs require thorough reflection and the ability to adapt to these developments, without losing focus on our mission and realisation of our strategic agenda.

In 2023, we further elaborated on the design of new funding strategies introduced in 2022. We diversified the ways we acquire new monthly private donors, continued experimenting with crowdfunding, and orientated towards a new ‘always on’ strategy. There is still a lot of work to be done to ensure every child and young person can fully realise their right to education. Edukans will continue to explore (alternative) funding pathways.

Last year we took a step back to look at our strategy for funding from funds and institutional donors. We were partly guided in this by an external fundraising expert. This resulted in an advisory report which will be actively implemented in 2024. We see opportunities in the market and internal processes can be improved. More effort will be put into maintaining good relationships and we will focus on certain target groups.

Private donors

In 2023, we received €2,883,432 from our private donors, a slight increase of €39,116 as compared to 2022. Edukans has been able to welcome 3,861 new structural donors, mostly due to a successful year of recruiting new donors via door to door, on the streets and a successful pilot at an event. We have seen an increase of 11.5% in income from monthly donors who started supporting us after face-to-face acquisition after Edukans made a few changes to better monitor this channel.

On the other hand we have received a smaller amount of donations from legacies as compared to 2022. We have also seen a decrease in income from incidental, one-off gifts via direct mailings. Specifically, from elderly donors after the Dutch banks stopped processing direct debit cards called Acceptgiro.

Trust funds

In 2023 a total of about 65 foundations provided Edukans with gifts of €680,060 in total. We are happy and grateful for the support of all donors, some of whom have been with us for a long time and some of whom are new partners. This year we were once again able to involve new funds as partners in our work. In 2023, we also focused on finding support for addressing the impact of climate change through quality education. Education can play a role in combating the consequences of climate change. For example, we further expanded the school gardens concept in Malawi with Wilde Ganzen and in Ethiopia with another foundation, new to Edukans.

Our digital SkillEd platform needed support for further development. The CCHO Foundation financed, among other things, the adjustments needed to make the entrepreneurship module suitable for an online environment. For this, we are very grateful.

The collaboration with AFAS Foundation, which came into effect in 2022, was positively assessed, so that the rest of the project can be carried out according to plan. Their support enables us to train 9,000 young people in Kenya. They develop professional and personal skills, matched to needs in the labour market and find work or start their own businesses.

The programmes among refugees in northern Ethiopia are largely funded by international donors. However, Edukans always makes its own contribution, which we raise from many different funds in the Netherlands. One of them, Dioraphte, has been essential in supporting our work here. With their gift of €100,000 we were able to run a programme strengthening education provision in three refugee areas. A separate foundation which has asked to remain anonymous annually contributes €95,000 to the construction of school facilities in this area. For Malawi we received a contribution of €75,000 for our mentoring project with UNICEF, donated by another foundation that prefers not to be mentioned.

The collaboration with Tony’s Chocolonely for a project in the cocoa growing community in Ghana was extended for two years at the beginning of 2023 with €130,000, this time with a new local partner. We will continue to evaluate whether an expansion of the project is possible.

There is a lot of talk in the funding market about foundations giving ‘unlabeled’ money to NGOs. Many funds remain hesitant about donating in this way. However, for several years now we have received an annual contribution from a fund that does not label their gifts. In 2023 we received €25,000. A delegation of the board of this fund visits Edukans annually for an evaluation and a discussion about Edukans’ annual report. We are grateful for their commitment and support.

Companies

Support from the Dutch private sector is essential for Edukans to effectively do our work. In 2023 Edukans could once again count on the support and engagement of Dutch companies. Our work was supported by 158 companies in the Netherlands contributing €85,007 to Edukans. The support of these Dutch companies is key for our work, both for the financial support as well as their expertise and our partnership. Their motivation and commitment to create opportunities for children and young people through supporting Edukans, maximises our impact.

In addition to financial support, companies also provide Edukans with knowledge and services or support our work by mobilising their network to unleash the power of education. Companies indicate that investing in education and in the futures of children and young people remains pivotal. In the coming years Edukans will further build relationships and engage with companies to achieve more impact for children and young people. A few examples of inspiring collaborations:

Noordhoff
Noordhoff and Edukans have been partners since 2007. Through this partnership, Noordhoff helps to create opportunities for teachers, children and young people. In 2023 Noordhoff supported our exchange programme, World Teacher, and one of Noordhoff’s own staff participated in the programme and travelled to Kenya. Besides their support of World Teacher, Noordhoff supported our crowdfunding campaign for urgent safe education and emergency support for refugee children in Ethiopia. At the end of 2023 Noordhoff also supported the autumn campaign addressing the learning crisis in Malawi, Ethiopia and Kenya. We are very grateful for this longstanding partnership that is committed to unleashing the power of education.

SucceedIT
Since 2017, SucceedIT has supported Edukans, and from 2023 onwards, they have been sponsor of the SBEMpro mentorship programme in Malawi. This initiative aims to boost education access and reduce dropouts by empowering teachers, school administrators, and pupils. We are very grateful for their continued support and commitment to help ensure quality education for children and young people.

Schools

Edukans is grateful for the contribution of €181,553 from schools. The connection with the Dutch educational community is highly valued. Several schools have actively organised impactful fundraising events and activities, particularly for the emergency response in Ethiopia and later to address the learning crisis in Kenya, Malawi and Ethiopia. We deeply appreciate these efforts and are committed to fostering relationships and engaging with young people to emphasise the importance of quality education.

3.3 Lobby: education on the political agenda

In 2023 Edukans actively participated in the Global Campaign for Education in the Netherlands (GCE), both as a member and, this year, as chair. GCE-NL celebrated its 20th anniversary in which progress towards achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4 – education) was acknowledged and we looked forward to a future in which education will support the achievement of all the SDGs. GCE reaffirmed its mission: for as long as the quality of education throughout the world is not sufficient, with 250 million children not attending school and there is a shortage of 44 million teachers. If we continue at this page SDG Quality Education (4) and inclusive and Descent Work and Economic Growth (8) will only be achieved in half a century (and not in 2030). To thrive in this new era Education plays a key role.

Edukans, together with GCE will step up and stay active! Our position as chair will be continued in 2024 and we will focus on building collaboration in positioning education in the political arena and all the Netherlands government to action to support educational development.

In April 2023 Edukans, together with VSO and Randstad, organised the conference ‘Connection Works!’. The focus of the conference was establishing social connections that work and strengthen our partnerships to ensure education, skills training, and decent work for young people. Together we want to create impact at scale and close the gap between the potential and aspirations of young people and the decent jobs and skills training that are needed for success on the labour market in African countries.

There is an urgent need for education systems to impact higher skills aligned with the needs of growing economies, where job skill sets are fast changing, many being automated. Edukans is also member of the PerspActive Network, in a joint effort to advocate for the importance of skills development and descent job creation for young people.

Before summer started the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and International Cooperation (BHOS) presented the first Africa Strategy until 2032 to support the relation and cooperation with Africa. Through the networks Global Campaign for Education Netherlands (GCE-NL), Partos and PerspActive, Edukans responded to the lack of educational support in the strategy. Our response covered a strong call on basic skills such as reading and writing, teacher training and education financing. Resulting in a political party requesting attention for including the development of education and workforce programs within the Africa Strategy short-term priorities. This suggestion was approved by the members of parliament and the points on education will be adopted into the strategy.

The political landscape in the Netherlands has changed and is not in support of international cooperation. This leads to some reflective questions and repositioning of our role, in consultation of and collaboration with other INGOs. Edukans will continue to advocate at the Dutch government as well as in our focus countries for the critical role of primary education, qualified teachers and skills development for young people in achieving sustainable development.

Fundraising 

Funding for programmes and projects is essential to generate the desired impact on education. The constantly changing donor landscape and the role of civil society and INGOs require deep reflection and the ability to adapt to these developments, without losing focus on our mission and realisation of our strategic agenda.

The number of donors providing funds for Education in Emergencies and Skills for Work and Life shows an upward trend, while Basic Education is not high on the agenda of several donors, e.g. the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This may lead to a shift in the balance of funding available for projects. Basic Education remains a high priority for Edukans, making it important for us to explore (alternative) funding pathways for both foundations and institutional fundraising. It also stresses the importance for Edukans to continue to advocate for quality education both with institutional donors as well as with governments.

We continue to pursue a better understanding of donor trends and thereby create detailed donor strategies in collaboration with the fundraising team. Edukans aims to transfer short term funding for Education in Emergencies into long term sustainable programming.

Exchange

Quality, inclusion and sustainability are core values of our new strategy. As a result, the Exchange programme was adapted according to criteria of inclusiveness, equality and sustainability. This resulted in the termination of the Going Global programme and restructuring of the World Teacher programme into a Global World teacher Platform to facilitate the exchange of pedagogical skills and active learning skills of teachers. This programme and platform will be further developed in 2024.

Safety and security

Edukans’ safety and security policy, together with the crisis management protocol, has proven to be effective and offers support in handling safety situations. In doing so, Edukans struck a good balance between acting in accordance with protocol and policy and paying attention to the impact on the organisation and employees.

Edukans was founded in 2002 and is pursuing a worldwide mission to create opportunities, enabling children and young people to shape their futures with confidence. Edukans’ work could not succeed without our professional and dedicated staff across the world, our dedicated volunteers and our ambassadors.

5.1 Organisational chart

Cornerstones approach

Obviously, quality education is at the heart of the organisation which is built on 4 cornerstones:

1. Edukans DNA is reflected in our core values: Trust & Self-confidence, Hope & Perspective, Commitment & Connection to each other. Core values reflecting our way of working are sustainability, inclusiveness, and quality and form an integral part of our Edukans DNA.
   
   
2. Edukans is committed to strategic partnerships. We are building long-term relationships with our partners in the countries where we operate and with those partners who support the work of Edukans. We are seen as a reliable partner who delivers as promised; partnership goes beyond project relationships.
   
   
3. People to Value: Our staff and the people we work with are of great importance. They are not just resources to manage, but people to value. To make employees feel valued it is important to give them the recognition they deserve. Creating a culture of mutual trust is key. Edukans aims to create a safe environment for all our staff, this includes creating a safe learning environment, high integrity standards, and continuing to make safety and security a priority. We recognise that you learn most from your mistakes and failures. It is okay to make mistakes.
   
   
4. Environmental Social Governance: In 2023 Edukans developed an ESG policy that will support Edukans in sustainable development and decision making, in demonstrating the mission, and in stakeholder engagement on environmental, social, and governance issues. The ESG policy reflects the position of Edukans, the issues identified and how these will be addressed. Furthermore, respect for gender equality, diversity and inclusion is a priority for Edukans at both a national and global level. This is reflected in our recruitment and HR policy however the effect may only become visible in the longer term.

5.5 New supervisory Board

In May 2023, 3 new members were appointed to the Supervisory Board. Members of the Supervisory Board of Edukans are appointed for a period of five years and may be reappointed twice. As at 31 December 2023 the Supervisory Board consisted of the following members:

• J. Mesman, chairman, as a member responsible for integrity, Professor (Youth & Society) at Leiden University. Field of expertise: education, pedagogical skills, diversity and inclusion (appointed in 2023).
  
  
• Mr. D.M.J. Haaksma, chairman audit committee, Director Finance, Control & Analytics at Stichting Hogeschool in Utrecht. Field of expertise: accountancy (appointed in 2022).
  
  
• K.R. Rosalina, as a member responsible for integrity, educationalist and consultant at Drakenfruit. Field of expertise: education (appointed in 2023).
  
  
• R.N. Zomer, member audit committee, Manager International Business at Evofenedex. Field of expertise: Fundraising, small medium enterprises, (appointed in 2023).

None of the members of the Supervisory Board have declared additional positions which may conflict with their membership of the Supervisory Board of Edukans. Each year, the members of the Supervisory Board receive attendance fees in line with the guidelines of Goede Doelen Nederland and CBF.

The Supervisory Board acts in accordance with the provided framework and the ‘Regulations of the Supervisory Board’. The audit committee consists of two members of the Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board monitors continuity, supervises the realisation of strategic objectives, reviews the quality of management, and advises the management board about relevant social developments. The Supervisory Board approves the strategic plan, the annual plan and budget, the annual accounts and the annual report, including auditors report, as part of the financial planning and control cycle, and focuses on the assessment of financial management and the quality of controls. In 2023, The Supervisory Board held 5 meetings.

The current Strategic Agenda 2021-2025 was approved by the Supervisory Board in November 2020. In December 2022 the Supervisory Board approved a revision of the strategic plan supporting sustainable investment in the development of Edukans as one global organisation as part of the annual plan for 2023.

6.1 Statement of responsibility

Edukans holds a quality mark issued by the Dutch Central Fundraising Bureau (CBF). It includes the Code of Good Governance of the Wijffels Committee. In the statement of responsibility, Edukans indicates how it implements the three main principles of the CBF quality mark:

1. Distinguishing supervision, management and performance
2. Optimisation of effectiveness and efficiency of spending
3. Optimisation of dealings with stakeholders

1. Distinguishing supervision, management and performance

Edukans has a board with a two-tier structure with an emphasis on dialogue with stakeholders and focus on achieving consensus. This governance model follows the subsidiary principle to ensure decisions are made as closely as possible to the deepest levels in the organisation with checks and balances between local and international decision-making in place.

The International Management Board of Edukans consists of four Country Directors, the Programme Manager, The Fundraising and Communication Manager and the statutory CEO.

To guarantee a separation of functions and to prevent conflicts of interest, no close relationships are permitted between members of the Supervisory Board and the International Management Team. In addition, no connections are permitted between any of these members and an organisation with which Edukans, in the normal course of its work, conducts transactions that can be valued in monetary terms. In case of a potential conflict of interest, this will be resolved through discussion.

2. Optimisation of effectiveness and efficiency of spending

Edukans is always seeking to improve quality. For the implementation of its educational programmes Edukans has an extensive knowledge system that monitors the quantitative and qualitative results that were targeted for each programme. This shows both the increase in the number of children and young people going to school or enjoying better quality schooling as well as the extent to which learning outcomes have improved and whether young people experience increase of employment opportunities as a result of the interventions by Edukans. For each programme, several qualitative results are also monitored, for example the available educational resources or the level of training of the teachers. Both the availability and quality of education are key indicators for Edukans. Through the strategic plan and the budget, Edukans will determine the guiding objectives.

Following the CBF guidelines on ratios for effective and efficient spending, the management board has set standards for objectives and the costs that may be incurred to achieve the objectives. A multi-annual forecast and annual budget is prepared, discussed in the audit committee and approved by the Supervisory Board. In case of a deviation of the spending of resources in relation to the budget this is reported to the International Management Board, addressed in the audit committee and stated in the management report to the Supervisory Board.

3. Optimisation of dealings with stakeholders

The direct stakeholders of Edukans are children and young adults, teachers and public and private partner organisations in the focus countries, donors, subsidy providers, employees and volunteers. Expectations and means of collaboration are made explicit in Memoranda of Understanding and other legal agreements. Due diligence is performed to mitigate financial, capacity and integrity risks. Contact with these stakeholders is maintained through various means of communication. Regularly, stakeholders are asked for their feedback which is then used to improve our services. Guidelines and procedures are laid down in the ISO procedure. In addition to personal contacts, collaboration with partner organisations is given substance through partner consultations, closely connected as they are with future policy development.

6.3 Compliance, quality and transparency 

Edukans, as a recipient of public funds, and receiving gifts and donations from private donors, foundations and companies, churches and schools, needs and wants to be transparent, accountable and efficient. This is why continuous learning, improvement of quality, progress and efficiency are laid down in the strategic plan, the management report and the quality system (in accordance with ISO standard 9001: 2015 and the Partos Declaration 9001-2015, version 2018).  

ISO 9001:2015 & Partos Declaration (version 2018)

Edukans has been ISO-certified since 2006. Edukans is certified under the ISO 9001:2015 standard and holds a valid Partos declaration (version 2018). The ISO-standard provides a quality management framework and ensures a philosophy of continual improvement, good governance, integrity and transparency. The Partos Declaration is a sector-specific application to implement ISO 9001:2015 (version 2018) which takes into consideration specific circumstances of our work and kind of activities with specific attention to integrity. Operations are audited internally and externally by KIWA, and findings are discussed with management and the Supervisory Board. At the beginning of 2023 Edukans was again assessed as having no shortcomings. The recommendations of the audit in 2022 were addressed successfully. Edukans received the recommendation to further improve the policy on corporate social responsibility. In response to this, Edukans developed an Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) policy in 2023.

Central Bureau on Fundraising (CBF)

The Central Bureau on Fundraising (CBF) monitors all philanthropic bodies in the Netherlands and evaluates their management and policy in order to increase the transparency of the charitable sector. Edukans holds the CBF Seal of Approval and complies with its requirements. At the beginning of 2023, the CBF visited Edukans for a re-evaluation. This resulted in a positive assessment.

Tax Authorities

Edukans is recognised by the Dutch Taxation Department as a charitable institution (ANBI), which means that donations and bequests to Edukans are not taxed. Donors can obtain income tax deductions for their contributions to Edukans.

Dutch Association of Fundraising Organisations (GDN)

The Dutch Association of Fundraising Organisations (GDN – Goede Doelen Nederland) is the umbrella organisation for philanthropic organisations that raise private funds in the Netherlands. Edukans upholds the principles of GDN in relation to respect, reliability, openness and quality.

Dutch Accounting Standards Board (DASB)

Our annual accounts are drawn up in accordance with the Guidelines (650) for Financial Reporting by Fundraising Institutions of the Dutch Accounting Standards Board (DASB). External reporting includes an annual report and accounts, which are verified by an auditor and accompanied by an auditor’s statement. Edukans has appointed Crowe Foederer as its external auditor. The external audit covers the audit of the annual accounts as well as those for various projects. The auditor does not provide any non-auditing (e.g., advisory) services.

OPTA

In its telemarketing activities, Edukans complies with the laws and regulations of the Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority of the Netherlands (abbreviated in Dutch as: OPTA). For donations via text messaging through ‘Geef SMS (4333)’, Edukans complies with the SMS Service Provision Code of Conduct and the Advertising Code that applies for this. 

Complaint procedure 

If anyone would like to make a complaint, Edukans has a complaint policy and multiple channels for reporting published on the websites of Edukans. This includes one facilitating anonymity on integrity complaints.

Education programmes

Throughout our more than 20 years of experience, we have learned which models can be used effectively and how to apply our interventions successfully. Our work focuses on upscaling these interventions through trickle down models, and also through working at various levels to ensure as many schools, teachers and pupils as possible can be reached. To shape sustainable futures, education systems often need to be redefined, and the scaling up of our interventions is necessary, while maintaining the professional, personal, and solid method of working that is so characteristic for Edukans.

Thematic focus

Edukans is committed to improving the quality of education through four programmes: Basic Education, Skills for Work and Life, Education in Emergency and Exchange programmes. We have decided to treat Education in Emergency as a separate programme pillar, since the context and target group require a different approach, and it is broadly recognised as a different programme.

These programme pillars are complemented with themes which recur in each of the programmes, forming an integral part of our global strategy.

Climate change

Climate can no longer simply be considered one theme amongst many that need to be addressed. It is time to realise that a paradigm shift has occurred, and the climate crisis is THE core crisis that demands a multi-disciplinary approach. For Edukans, this requires a rethinking of how education can be part of the solution to the climate crisis.

Digitalization

The digital divide is of growing concern. Some two thirds of the world’s school-aged children do not have internet connection in their homes, restricting their opportunities for further learning and skills development. Digitalisation is a high priority in all countries we work in. Consequently, digital skills development needs to be an integral part of our education modules and be integrated in pedagogical skills. An excellent way to achieve this is through our educational modules as we make e-learning and blended learning an integral part of education systems.

Gender and Inclusion

In joint collaboration with the country offices, Gender & Inclusion champions a transformative Gender & Inclusion policy which will be finalised and deployed in 2024.

Strategic partnerships

We are fostering educational opportunities through strategic partnerships with a limited number of strategic partners with whom Edukans has a long-term relationship. Strategic Partnerships will be built both at global and national level. Edukans values its partners and strives to be perceived as a reliable partner who delivers as promised. Partnership goes beyond project relationships.

Introduction

Edukans saw an increase of 9.2% in revenue in 2023, the total amount being €6,459,662 (up from €5,913,950 in 2022). Edukans is gradually working towards a balanced budget, which is reflected in the results for 2023 as compared to 2022. In 2023, the deficit on the continuity reserve was €246,551 (compared to €708,309 in 2022). The deficit in 2023 was in line with the budget. In addition, an amount of €238,108 has been charged to the one-time gift received from UnieNzv in 2021. This gift was used to form an earmarked reserve, which will be used in the period up to and including 2026. Finally, an amount of €27,831 was used from various restricted funds.

The tables below provide an overview of the budget realisation of Edukans in 2023, and a comparison (of key figures) with the previous 3 years.

Income and expenses

In 2023 an amount of €6,459,662 in revenues was generated, an increase of €545,712 compared to 2022 (9.2%). Below are some notes on the development of Edukans’ income.

1. Individual giving increased by 1.4% on 2022 but was less than had been budgeted. Some of Edukans’ campaigns overlapped with national campaigns appealing for emergency aid for humanitarian crises following disasters and international conflicts.
   Since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic Edukans has re-started the recruitment of individual donor. As a result, we expect income from individual giving to increase slightly over the coming years.
2. Income from private profit organisations remains stable (around €100,000/year).
3. Income from lottery organisations is a stable source of income due to the annual contribution of €500,000 from the Dutch Postcode Lottery. In 2023 a new contract has been signed with the Dutch Postcode Lottery, extending their commitment for a further 5-year period.
4. The revenue from international grants is up by 4.5% on 2022 but fell significantly behind budget. Edukans is targeting a number of leads with our strategic partners, but the process of transforming those leads into actual revenue takes significantly more time than originally anticipated, meaning that the growth ambition for institutional grants has not yet been realised.
5. Building on consistent and loyal support from foundations and following a renewed fundraising strategy to engage with new partners, revenue from non-profit organisations was up by 82.4% compared to 2022, resulting in €1,154,387 income.

Total spending in 2023 was €7,087,527, an increase of 8% as compared to 2022.

Programme – spending ratio

Edukans spent €5,432,708 on its core objectives in 2023, 4.0% up on 2022.

Income-to-spending ratio

Spending on objectives relative to expenditure dropped to 76.7% (down from 79.6% in 2022). Spending on objectives relative to income has decreased to 84.1% (down from 88.3% in 2022). This decrease is largely driven by the fact that in 2023 all four focus countries are consolidated into the annual report. Previously, costs for management and administration for the non-consolidated countries were captured under the Capacity Building objective, whereas this year most of these costs are reported under “management and administration” (see below).

Fundraising costs ratio

In 2023, the percentage of the fundraising costs in relation to the income (excluding grants) was 26.0% (up from 23.4% in 2022).

Management and administration ratio

Management and administration costs in 2023 increased to 6.4%, up from 5.5% in 2022. This is mostly due to the changing management and governance model incorporating cross-border decentralisation of responsibilities, adopted in 2022. As mentioned above, a further reason for the increase lies in the fact that in 2023 the costs of operations of the organisations in the four focus countries are now consolidated into this annual report. With further professionalisation in the four organisations, expectations are that this ratio will reduce again in the coming years. In 2023 the overhead costs allocation key of 12.0% across all objectives was allocated to Management and Administration, in 2022 this was 12.7%. In 2025, at the end of the strategic framework 2021-2025, Edukans will redefine the standard to match the organisation management and governance model.

In May 2024, Edukans faced an integrity issue in one of our offices, where fraudulent actions by a staff member resulted in an amount missing from the accounts. A thorough investigation was conducted, and swift actions were taken to uncover the extent and methods of the fraud. Edukans has covered the missing funds from our financial reserves to ensure that our target groups and beneficiaries are not affected. Our cross-border operations, integrity, and finance teams are now updating procedures to prevent similar issues in the future. If there are any questions, please reach out to us by email via communications@edukans.org.

Continuity reserves

In 2023 an amount of €246,551 was withdrawn from the continuity reserves, after which the reserve stands at €2,620,660. In 2021, 50% of the one-time gift was added to the continuity reserves in anticipation of higher operational costs. This increase is partly due to the expected costs involved in the transition into the decentralised management and governance of the organisation, and partly in anticipation of the increased costs to mitigate the risks to security and safety, and of inflation, considering the volatile environment INGOs are currently operating in. In 2023 some of these are visible in the higher costs for management and administration.

Earmarked reserve “Sustainable Borderless Organisation”

An earmarked reserve of €1,100,000 was established in 2022 as part of the Sustainable International Edukans one-time gift from UnieNzv of €2,200,000. This earmarked reserve, referred to as “Sustainable Borderless Organisation”, enables Edukans to invest in developing further as a financially sustainable, innovative and professional civil society organisation.
Sustainability, a diversified donor portfolio, and long-term partnership building, innovation in education, and one cross-border Edukans with a decentralised management and governance structure are key in creating impact and unleashing the power of education.

In 2023 an amount of €238,108 was withdrawn from this reserve. €146,232 in costs were for the annual investments in the further professionalisation of the organisations in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda. The remaining costs were for one-time activities in support of this process.

Restricted funds

An amount of €27,381 was withdrawn from to the various restricted funds that have been built over the previous years. In 2023 €823,076 was received in new funding, and €850,457 was spent on the project activities related to these funds.
The total amount in the restricted funds per 31 December 2023 was €740,010.

In 2024 the total anticipated budget is €6,712,000, an increase of 3.9% compared to 2023.

An amount of €170,000 from the continuity reserve will be used to fund part of the operational costs, and a budget of €300,000 will be made available from the earmarked reserve to invest in “Sustainable Borderless Organisation”. Furthermore, € 150,000 will be available from the restricted funds to be spent in 2024.

The budget for 2024 is felt to be more realistic given the results for 2023 and taking into account the longer periods (and higher efforts) needed to generate the expected growth in institutional grants.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2023, EDUKANS FOUNDATION 

General explanatory notes and accounting principles

General

Activities
The Edukans Foundation, which was founded in 2002, has its registered office in Amersfoort and is registered at the Chamber of Commerce of the Netherlands (no. 32092131).
The foundation has two objectives:
a.      Access to education and the quality of education in developing countries
b.      Involving the Dutch public and in particular the educational sector in the Netherlands with this mission
and beyond this, everything that directly or indirectly relates to this or can be conducive to this, in the broadest sense of the word.

Consolidation
For 2023 the Edukans Foundation Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda financial statements are included in the consolidated financial statements. In 2022 only the activities for Ethiopia were consolidated.

Continuity
The annual accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis.

Accounting principles for valuation of assets and liabilities and revenue recognition

The financial statements have been drawn up in conformity with the guidelines for financial reporting by fundraising organisations (RJ 650) provided by the Dutch Council for Accounting Standards (Raad voor de Jaarverslaggeving). In general, assets and liabilities have been valued at acquisition price. If no specific accounting principle is mentioned, valuation has been made at acquisition price. The actual rate differences on stocks (bonds and shares) and foreign currencies have been processed directly in the statement of income and expenditure. Income and expenditures are allocated to the year to which they relate and/or have been granted to third parties.

Estimates
In order to be able to apply the principles and rules for preparing the annual accounts, it is necessary for the management of Edukans to evaluate various matters and make estimates that can affect the amounts recorded in the financial statements. If it proves necessary, to provide the insight described in Art. 2:362 paragraph 1 of the Dutch Civil Code, the nature of these opinions and estimates, including the underlying assumptions, is described in the related notes to the financial statements.

Functional and presentation currency
The entries in the financial statements have been valued in accordance with the currency of the economic environment in which Edukans mainly operates (functional currency). The annual accounts have been prepared in euros; the euro is both the functional and the presentation currency of Edukans.

Amounts in foreign currencies are converted into euros at the rates of exchange applicable at the balance sheet date. Transactions denominated in foreign currencies are converted at the rates of exchange applicable at the time of the transaction. The average rate for the current financial year is applied.

Any resulting exchange differences are taken into account in the statement of income and expenditure.

Financial instruments
‘Financial instruments’ is understood to mean both primary financial instruments such as receivables and debts, and financial derivatives. For the principles underlying the primary financial instruments, reference is made to the treatment of each balance sheet item.

VALUATION PRINCIPLES FOR THE BALANCE SHEET

Intangible and tangible fixed assets
Software and other inventory and operating assets are valued at historical cost or manufacturing price including directly attributable expenditure, less straight-line depreciation over their estimated useful lives and impairment losses.

Financial fixed assets
A historical cost-based accounting system has been used. In general, assets and liabilities have been valued at acquisition price.

Participations (associates), over which significant influence can be exercised, are valued according to the net asset value method. The net asset value is calculated in accordance with the accounting principles that apply for these financial statements; regarding participations in which insufficient data is available for adopting these principles, the valuation principles of the respective participation are applied. If the valuation of an associate based on the net asset value is negative, it will be stated at nil. If and insofar as the Edukans Foundation can be held fully or partially liable for the debts of the associate or has the firm intention of enabling the participation to settle its debts, a provision is recognised for this.

Receivables
Receivables have been recorded at fair value and thereafter at amortised cost, after deduction of the necessary provisions for the risk of non-payment.

Investments
Investments (bond and share funds) are measured at fair value. Changes in value and transaction costs are noted in income and expenditure.

Provisions
Provisions are made for legally enforceable or actual liabilities existing on the accounting date, which are likely to entail an outflow of resources, the size of which can be estimated in a reliable manner.

Debts
In the initial accounting, debts have been valued at fair value. Transaction costs that are directly attributable to the acquisition of debts have been included in the valuation in the initial accounting. After the initial accounting, debts have been valued at the amortised cost, being the amount received taking into account the premium or discount and after deduction of the transaction costs.

ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES FOR REVENUE RECOGNITION

General
The balance (result) is defined as the difference between total income and total expenditure. The revenues are accounted for in the year in which they are realised; expenses are accounted for as soon as they are foreseeable. Income that is received in the form of goods or services is valued at fair value, to the extent that this can be determined. In such cases, this income is included in the statement of income and expenditure.

Revenues that are designated for a particular purpose have been incorporated into the statement of income and expenditure; if these revenues are not spent in full in the year under review, the unspent funds are included in the relevant earmarked reserve or earmarked fund, respectively. A withdrawal from an earmarked reserve or restricted fund, respectively, is recorded as an expense in the statement of income and expenditure.

Expenses are determined on a historical basis and assigned to the year under review to which they relate.

Gifts
Gifts are accounted for in the year in which a specific campaign was held, or – if no specific campaign took place – in the year in which the gift was received.

Legacies
Revenues from legacies are accounted for in the financial year if a deed of partition is available per balance date. Payments in the form of advances are accounted for in the financial year of receipt.

Government subsidies and other grants
Subsidies from governments, municipalities, etc., that are received to carry out projects or programmes, whereby the subsidy-provider acts as a financer or co-financer, have been accounted for separately in the income statement. Operating grants are accounted for as income in the statement of income and expenditure in the year in which the subsidised costs are incurred or revenues foregone, or when a subsidised operating deficit occurs. The income is accounted for if it is likely to be received and if the foundation can demonstrate the conditions for receipt.

Fundraising expenses
The costs of Edukans’ own fundraising are allocated per cost item and personnel costs on the basis of the estimated number of hours spent. Other expenses – including housing costs – are likewise attributed to the objectives based on the actual time spent by staff.

Implementation costs of own organisation
The implementation costs of the organisation are allocated per cost item and personnel costs based on estimated hours spent. The implementation costs of the organisation are divided on the basis of the amount of time spent by staff members.

Management and administration expenses
According to Guideline 650 of the Dutch Council for Accounting Standards, the statement of income and expenditure should include a separate line about management and administration costs. The management chose the model attribution method provided by Goede Doelen Nederland. The management and administration expenses are expressed as a percentage of total expenditure. The management set a target of 5% as the maximum norm for management and administration expenses.

Pensions

The Edukans Foundation has placed all employee pension schemes with the PFZW pension fund, based on the standard PFZW pension scheme (average pay scheme). Guideline 271 offers the possibility of treating this scheme as a defined contribution scheme, because:

a) the foundation is affiliated with a sectoral pension fund (PFZW) and uses the same pension scheme as other legal entities.
b) the foundation is under no obligation to make supplementary contributions, there being no rise in future premiums in the event of a deficit at PFZW.

The PFZW (pre-) pension scheme satisfies both conditions. The scheme may therefore be treated as a defined contribution scheme under RJ 271. This means that the premium invoices from PFZW have been accounted for under pension expenses and the outstanding part of the premiums under short-term liabilities.

Staff remuneration
Periodic payable remuneration such as salaries and social security expenses has been included in the statement of income and expenditure on the basis of the terms of employment, to the extent that this is owed to employees. Edukans foundation adheres to the collective labour terms and conditions of PKN.

ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES FOR THE CASHFLOW STATEMENT

The funds in the cashflow statement consist of cash and floating stocks. The stocks can be seen as highly liquid assets. Cashflow in foreign currency has been valued at the transaction rate.

NOTES ON THE BALANCE SHEET AT DECEMBER 31, 2023

For ‘Accounts receivables’, a provision for doubtful debts is not necessary. Prepaid expenses programmes mainly contains expenses for programmes which will be implemented in 2024.

Edukans selected Insinger Gillisen as their asset manager. The asset manager is instructed to invest following a defensive green sustainable profile. The investment mix in fixed income (bonds) and shares is 70% fixed income and 30% shares, with a bandwidth of 10%.

Cash and bank comprise the cash and bank balances of the Edukans office in Amerfsoort as well of the Country Offices in the four focus countries.</