Helping over

35,000

Children per annum

Completed over

1,800

Separate projects

Supporting

51

Schools

Spent

£3.3m

in Uganda

The Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund

Fighting poverty in Uganda through education.

The Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund is a small non-governmental UK registered charity, which works to fight poverty in Uganda through education.

We aim to improve the quality of education in impoverished rural Ugandan schools by investing in buildings and providing hygienic and educational resources.

What started as a one-off donation of £3,000 to the Ugandan school where Henry was to have taught during his gap year, has grown into a charity which currently supports 51 nursery, primary and secondary schools, where over 1,800 separate projects have been completed.

Patrons

Since January 2009, The Prince of Wales and The Duke of Sussex have been Patrons of The Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund. Their support has been invaluable to the charity, with both Princes supporting the fundraising efforts and profile of the charity.

claire-mbe

Claire van Straubenzee awarded the MBE

We are very pleased to announce that Claire, co-founder and trustee of The Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund, was awarded the MBE in the 2024 New Year’s Honours list for services to children’s education in Uganda.

Covid-19

The effect of the virus in Uganda was significant with schools across the nation being directed to close in mid-March 2020 and not fully re-opening again until 10th January 2022. The very poor rural schools, the ones we target to assist, found it impossible to operate with no access to the internet, no zoom facilities, and thus many pupils missed two years of their education. It has already been noticed, with the results of the Primary Leaving Exams taken in November 2022. where lots of pupils have failed due to a lack of education in the two previous years. Thus they now leave school with nothing. The effect of Covid-19 for all Ugandan schools will be felt for years to come.

February 2023