Comic Relief: Across Borders - Routes to Safety for Refugees

Overview

Their overall aim is to support refugees and people seeking asylum to safe, legal and dignified routes to fulfilling and happy settlement, whether that be in the country of destination, transition country or country of origin

Whilst all the work Comic Relief fund should be rooted in and informed by service delivery with effective participation of people with lived experience at the heart, they are looking for a mixed portfolio which aims to achieve holistic social change through a combination of:

• Direct service delivery at grassroots level
• Shifting public attitudes and countering negative narrative through campaigns, the arts, media, popular culture both in the UK, Europe and further afield
• Changes to policy, practice and legislation

Funding is available for a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 5 years.

Priorities

Comic Relief are looking for innovative and solution focused approaches, but successful applications must demonstrate:

• That they are working in collaboration with other organisations, or through funded partnerships to achieve greatest impact

and:

• That the work is informed by people with lived experience, aiming to shift the dial so that more people with lived experience can genuinely and tangibly shape the sector and systems impacting on their lives

Whilst applications must evidence the above, they welcome innovative approaches to social change for example; using the arts, working with the media, using technology, sport for change or different funding models for reaching fragile and conflict-affected areas.

Comic Relief are deliberately not being prescriptive in any specific issues the work should be tackling as we want that to come from the grassroots, people living and working with this experience. But some of the challenges they have identified during the scoping of this call which you may want to address include, but are not limited to:

• Lack of access to services (including psychosocial) and basic human rights
• Lack of data and information flows
• Hostile environments
• Negative public attitudes and media coverage
• Barriers to integration
• Ongoing risk of violence, trafficking, detention, state enforced brutality
• Increased risks for vulnerable groups including women, unaccompanied or separated children and stateless refugees
• Increased risks for people working or volunteering on the ground, including risk of criminalisation
• Inefficient and ineffective implementation of legislation and policy leading to broken and chaotic systems

PLEASE NOTE: Comic Relief recognises the need to improve the provision of specialist immigration and asylum advice in the UK. They are taking a collective approach to addressing that and collaborating with other funders to develop a pooled fund, separate but aligned to this programme, which will aim to increase access to justice for people in the immigration and asylum system in the UK. More information on that pooled fund will be available soon.

They will therefore NOT prioritise applications that aim to increase access to and improve UK legal systems through this Across Borders funding programme.

Country Focus

This call is focused on organisations working along the key migration routes from Middle East and North Africa into Europe, including settlement in the UK. Comic Relief know that routes into and through Europe change due to border closures and shifting socio-political contexts, and that many people are ‘stuck’ or forced to take increasingly dangerous and informal routes to reach their destination country.

They therefore want to hear from you about why your work and collaboration with partners will help achieve positive social change for those making or having made that journey into Europe and the UK.

Their funding is split between the UK and International work:

• For organisations applying for UK based work, it should be clear from your proposal that you are committed to working with and informed by people who have made that journey
• For organisations working along a route into Europe, we are not identifying one specific route, but your proposal should outline the context of the specific route (or routes) you’re referencing and why it’s important

UK Based Work

They have two options for funding in the UK:

• One investment of up to £800,000 for a funded partnership. They want to see true partnership working across the sector in the UK with a commitment to working together, involving those with lived experience to shift the dial and make positive change for refugees and asylum seekers. Whilst there will be one lead organisation, the proposal should evidence a true partnership approach with at least three partners working together
• Investments of £150k - £250k for a smaller funded partnership or for a single organisation, but evidence of embedding a collaborative approach is essential

International Work along the Route into Europe

They have two options for investing along the route:

• Limited number of investments of up to £700k for intermediary funders comicrelief.com/funding/funding-strategy. Organisations must evidence that they are reaching grassroots organisations along the route and can be flexible, agile, and responsive to the ever-changing needs on the ground
• Investments of £80,000 - £400,000 for small funded partnership or for a single organisation, but evidence of embedding a collaborative approach is essential

For further information visit the website