Comic Relief: Girls in Gangs
Overview
This scheme aims to fund projects which deliver the following outcomes:
- Fewer girls and young women entering harmful and risky gang situations
- Girls and young women, already in gangs, experiencing less harm from violence, abuse and exploitation
- More girls and young women leaving violent, abusive and exploitative gang situations.
Proposals are welcome for up to £150,000 for 18 months of activity, with the potential for a further £150,000 for a subsequent 18 months period. Comic Relief anticipate making seven grants: three in the UK and four internationally. Proposals are invited from anywhere in the UK and from within these four cities:
- Kingston (Jamaica)
- Bogota (Colombia)
- Cape Town (South Africa)
- Lagos (Nigeria)
Comic Relief recognises that the work may not operate at a city-wide level but within specific communities/areas within the city. Through this initiative, Comic Relief will be funding collaborative, multi-partner projects in a number of countries. They aim to fund a range of models and interventions to understand what approaches work in these different contexts. They also want to promote learning between projects or areas of crossover and divergence in their interventions. Due to their proven effectiveness, it is expected that projects incorporate at least one or two of the following types of intervention:
- Taking advantage of specific ‘windows of opportunity’ to access girls and young women at risk of becoming, or already, gang-involved
- Family-focused interventions
- Providing effective mentoring
- Ensuring an effective police response
- Making sure gang-affected schools are open to support
Comic Relief are particularly interested in supporting:
- A coalition of organisations, with a lead agency, working in partnership across different sectors to deliver more holistic approaches. Bidding coalitions should be able to show some evidence of having delivered work that is providing a positive and safe future for girls and young women associated with gangs.
- Initiatives that draw on best practice in the following sectors, women and girls, criminal and juvenile justice, sexual exploitation, social / youth work, government, business and community sectors.
- Work that views the problem and solution as systemic.
- Organisations prepared to test more ‘disruptive’ solutions and learn if they fail.