RE-ROOTED: SAFETY AND SECURITY FOR REFUGEES & ASYLUM SEEKERS

Overview

Comic Relief recognise that the migration sector is dealing with significant and fast-paced changes with limited resource. The aim of the Re-Rooted funding call is to help organisations address these challenges, and support refugees and asylum seekers to safely and securely rebuild their lives in the UK.

Research has highlighted the strengths in the UK refugee and migrant sector, which include quality frontline services, delivered by a committed and skilled workforce. It also includes key influencing work that has significantly shaped policy and practice. Through this funding, they want to help organisations build on these strengths.

Funding priorities

This funding is for organisations that specialise in supporting refugees and asylum seekers in the UK. Successful applicants to the Re-Rooted funding call will be offered flexible, core funding to continue and reinforce the good work of their organisation.

Proposals should focus on the following:

• Services and support for refugees and asylum seekers.
• Influencing and advocacy focusing on safer routes and improved outcomes for refugees and asylum seekers.
• Or a combination of both.

They also welcome proposals that are tailored to the needs of refugees or asylum seekers, or both.

This funding call will prioritise organisations that involve people with lived experience of forced migration to the UK. This should include current practice in involving lived experience in developing the organisation’s work and priority areas, and/or in the running of the organisation. It could also include plans for reinforcing existing good practice for involving people with lived experience.

Proposals for service delivery should be holistic, to better meet multiple needs of refugees and/or asylum seekers. This can be delivered by the applicant organisation alone, or in partnership with others.

Influencing work could take place at the local or national level, either by the applicant or by working with others to effect change. Influencing work should be based on evidence of real need among refugees and asylum seekers. For example, this could include evidence from service delivery carried out by your organisation or other organisations, or existing or new research. In any case, influencing funded by Re-Rooted must follow government guidance on charity campaigning – see FAQs for more information.

For proposals to use a combination approach, we recognise that some organisations have successfully integrated service delivery and influencing, while others may wish to build on existing strengths to further integrate these two areas of work.

Note about legal systems access and support

Comic Relief recognises the strong need to improve the provision of specialist immigration and asylum legal advice.

Re-Rooted will consider funding applications that include legal advice and support but not as the sole focus. This could be an example of a combination services approach that addresses multiple needs of refugees and asylum seekers, or an influencing approach that includes legal issues along with other key issues affecting refugees and asylum seekers.

Organisations whose work is focused solely on legal system access and improvement are not eligible to apply as a single organisation, but could be eligible in a partnership of two or three organisations.

They are already investing significant funds in this area as part of a 10-year initiative that increases access to justice and legal aid for people in the UK’s immigrant and asylum system. Re-Rooted is designed as a complementary approach.

Who can apply?

• UK based organisations that currently specialise in supporting refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, and meet Comic Relief’s general eligibility criteria.
• Comic Relief predominantly funds charities. (Specific information is included in the eligibility questionnaire(opens in new window).)
• Proposals can be made by single applicants, or by partnerships of two or three organisations that will receive funding (but only one organisation can act as grant holder).
• You are welcome to include collaboration with government organisations, but Comic Relief will not fund government organisations.
• To give as many organisations as fair a chance as possible, organisations can only submit one proposal (though they can be named as partners on any number of applications). Please be aware they will never read more than one proposal per organisation.