Smart Aid

PEAS is a UK charity with no religious or political agenda. It is built on the following SmartAid principles, which aim to eliminate the problems experienced by many development organisations around the world:

The PEAS SmartAid model means we fund start-up costs of each school, building the school from the ground up. The school is able to open debt-free because it merely needs to cover its running costs. This approach means that the funds raised by PEAS are free to create more and more school places. Many charities continuously fund the running costs of their schools, but this is an unsustainable method. An dependency on UK fundraising leads to economic vulnerability and dependency, and it is not uncommon for schools built by NGOs that fundraise for continuous running costs to have to close because of a failure to raise enough money.
 

Sustainability

 Every PEAS school will cover its own running costs through low fees, government subsidies and Income Generating Activities. Even the costs of the PEAS Uganda audit and educational inspection teams in Uganda are funded from excess revenues from our schools. Too many charities create dependency on donor funding and we want to show how much further money can go when it multiplies rather than undermines the energies of local communities.

Local Ownership

 Every PEAS school will be run by Ugandans for Ugandans with support from UK partners. Each PEAS school will have a local Board of Governors.

Avoiding Market Distortions

 PEAS schools will only be built in areas where there is high demand for extra secondary school provision. We market our schools to those in greatest need and we are working to help improve existing affordable schools at the same time as launching more and more within our network.

Collaboration with government

 PEAS works closely with the Ugandan Ministry of Education and the wider Ugandan government. We believe that the success of our schools depends on working within the educational framework laid out by the Ugandan government.

Transparency

 PEAS never gives or receives bribes. Sometimes this policy demands great patience in achieving our objectives but we believe our approach is essential in countries where development has been so undermined by corruption.