A board that never disagrees with its executive is not providing oversight.
We name people only with their written consent
Every trustee and member of staff is listed here with their name, role and photograph once they have agreed in writing to be named publicly. The same consent rule applies to the households we photograph in the field, and it would be inconsistent to apply it to them and not to ourselves.
Roles and responsibilities
| Role | Responsible for | Accountable to |
|---|---|---|
| Board of trustees | Strategy, budget approval, safeguarding oversight, appointing the executive | Members at the annual general meeting |
| Chair | Chairing the board, annual review of the executive | The board |
| Treasurer | Financial oversight, audit liaison, approving expenditure above threshold | The board |
| Safeguarding lead | Receiving and acting on safeguarding concerns, independent of staff | The board directly |
| Executive Director | Day-to-day management, programme delivery, staff | The board |
| Programme lead | Field programmes, site selection, monitoring | Executive Director |
| Field officers | Site work, surveys, community liaison, data collection | Programme lead |
How oversight works in practice
The board meets quarterly and reviews programme delivery, the budget against actuals, and any safeguarding matters. Minutes are kept and are available to members on request.
Safeguarding concerns go to the safeguarding lead, who is a trustee rather than a member of staff. This matters: a complaint about a staff member should never have to pass through that staff member's line manager.
Trustees are unpaid. Reasonable travel expenses are reimbursed and are disclosed in the annual accounts.
What a quarterly board meeting covers
- 1
Delivery against the plan
Sites surveyed, sites planted, monitoring visits completed, set against what was said would happen. Shortfalls are minuted with the reason, because a shortfall nobody wrote down becomes a shortfall nobody explains.
- 2
Budget against actuals
Line by line, with the variance. The treasurer presents this rather than the Executive Director, so the person spending the money is not also the person reporting on it.
- 3
Monitoring results
Survival by site and the readings from the six monitoring points, including the control. The board sees the same figures this website publishes, at the same time.
- 4
Safeguarding
A standing item whether or not there is anything to report. An item that only appears when something has gone wrong teaches everybody to dread it.
- 5
Risk
What could stop the work: a funding gap, a district relationship, a season that does not break. Reviewed even in the quarters when nothing has changed.
What we are looking for in a trustee
The board's job is to ask the questions staff are too close to ask, and that only works when trustees bring something the executive does not already have.
- Hydrology, catchment science or environmental engineering, at a level that can challenge a technical claim rather than accept it.
- Audit, accountancy or financial control, particularly anyone who has sat on the other side of an audit.
- Ugandan charity and NGO law, including Bureau compliance and annual returns.
- Safeguarding practice, ideally including having received a disclosure rather than only having written a policy.
- Direct experience of farming or living in the catchment districts. This is a qualification, not a gesture.
Questions people ask about the board
Are trustees paid?
No. Trustees are unpaid. Reasonable travel expenses are reimbursed and are itemised in the annual accounts rather than folded into a single administration line.
Why is no individual trustee named on this page yet?
Because each person is named only once they have agreed in writing to be named publicly. We apply that rule to the households we photograph in the field, and applying a weaker one to ourselves would be indefensible. Names and photographs go in as consent is given.
Can I see the minutes?
Members can ask for board minutes. Items concerning an individual member of staff or a live safeguarding matter are withheld, and the fact that something was withheld is recorded rather than hidden.
What happens when the board and the executive disagree?
The board decides. It appoints the Executive Director and reviews that post annually. A board that has never overruled its executive is not providing oversight, whatever its minutes say.
Who holds the board to account?
Members, at the annual general meeting, where trustees stand for election. Externally, the National Bureau for Non-Governmental Organisations, to which annual returns are filed.
We are recruiting trustees
Particularly anyone with hydrology, audit or Ugandan charity law experience. This is an unpaid role and a real one.