Over the last few months, JRCT has made a series of new grants with a total of over £2.9 million being distributed to support organisations working to address the root causes of conflict and injustice.
The grants will support a range of activities; from community development and resource creation in Northern Ireland, to running community spaces in Scotland, to strengthening a food distribution and community hub in London. We’re sharing an update on some of the recent grants made, you can also view more details about recent grants on our grants database.
In May the Grassroots Movements Fund agreed on grants totalling £600,000 in their second funding round. The pilot programme was allocated £1.5m and all funds have now been distributed to 22 groups.
The fund uses a participatory grant-making model where decisions are made by the Movement Assembly; a group of people with first-hand experience of working within movements and the issues they seek to solve. For the second round of funding, there were ten members of the Movement Assembly. Four of them were involved in the first round and provided some consistency and experience, and two of the new assembly members were recruited from the fund’s grantees. Decision-making discussions were thoughtful and rigorous, reflecting the deep well of experience in the Movement Assembly from across grassroots social movements.
After the first round, a review process was carried out using surveys, focus groups and 1-2-1s with applicants, grantees and Movement Assembly members. This informed changes that were made to the second funding round, including doing more targeted outreach to groups who might otherwise not hear about the fund, and offering more support during the application process through webinars and one-to-one phone calls. The Grassroots Movements Fund team are now reviewing the second round and the pilot as a whole before making a proposal to the trustees on the future vision of the fund.
Grantees for round two are: Building Trust, English Collective of Prostitutes, Manchester Migrant Solidarity, NEJMA Collective, Pan African Workers Association, Scottish Community & Activist Legal Project (SCALP), Sistren Legal Collective, This is Rigged, Trans Action for Housing Justice and Na'amod. Further information on these groups will be shared in due course.
The Northern Ireland programme has recently made three new grants, totalling over £290k. This programme supports those whose work to promote peace, human rights and participatory politics contributes to the ongoing transformation of the Northern Ireland conflict.
Action for Community Transformation Initiative (ACT) received funding to support their work within marginalised Loyalist communities, providing training and capacity building for former combatants and young people at risk of being drawn into paramilitary activity.
The second grant was awarded to Creggan Enterprises, to support their work within marginalised Republican communities, brokering constructive dialogue and supporting individual and group transition to peaceful and democratic methods of political engagement.
Participation and the Practice of Rights Project (PPR) also received funding for their work to support racially minoritised communities in Belfast to progress their human rights. This unrestricted grant will contribute to the charity’s ability to hold duty bearers to account while developing new ideas to combat systemic issues within fields such as housing, employment and policing.
The Peace and Security programme recently made six new grants totalling over £430k. This programme supports approaches to defence and security which prioritise peace, non-violence and human rights.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition received funding to campaign for greater transparency and accountability concerning the UK’s involvement in extraordinary rendition. The group is pursuing policy reform to prevent abuses of state power, guarantee human rights, and bolster non-violent problem-solving.
The Centre for Military Justice received core funding for their work to provide free, independent, expert legal services to serving or former members of the Armed Forces or their bereaved families. In addition to their casework to bring justice for victims of racist and misogynist abuse in the armed forces, they will bring specific legal challenges to support vulnerable people who have been abused and victimised by the military system.
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) received funding that will support their shift to tailor their campaign advocacy materials to reach larger and new audiences through collaborating with other movements and sharing resources and expertise. They hope these changes will lead to a shift in public attitudes towards the threat of nuclear weapons, and that they can use this to pressure governments to act.
United Nations Association Scotland: Secure Scotland received funding to support the maintenance of their resource centre in Edinburgh, Words and Actions, which is an important space for key events within the local peace community. This grant will support Secure Scotland to continue collaborating with the Scottish Parliament, government, and other influential voices to raise security measures that provide non-violent alternatives.
British American Security Information Council (BASIC) received funding to support the development of a new nuclear weapon harm reduction framework, which they plan to use to map and investigate British nuclear weapons harms. This grant will allow them to carry out the necessary research and publish three reports to contribute to holding the UK government to account for the harms associated with nuclear weapons.
We Are Not Numbers are working to train a new generation of journalists in Gaza in English-speaking journalism. They have received funding to support their plans to develop their work in the UK, which includes events, educational initiatives, and media outreach efforts, to educate the UK public about the urgency of peace in Palestine.
The Sustainable Future programme has recently made six new grants totalling over £1.5m. This programme funds imaginative and inclusive approaches to tackling the climate crisis and building a just and equitable economy to protect the planet for future generations.
Decolonising Economics was created to challenge the new economics work which ignored the UK's colonial history and its lasting impacts on the financial system. They have received funding to support their work to create spaces for alternative economic thinkers, particularly from Black and other racialised communities, to share and develop ideas that reflect decolonial perspectives.
Drive2Survive is a community interest company that campaigns against policies, laws, and attitudes that threaten the existence and rights of Gypsy, Roma, Traveller (GRT) and other nomadic communities in the UK. They have received funding to develop their work on environmental racism against the communities they work with. They do this using arts, community engagement and storytelling.
RadHR is a collaborative space where groups and organisations working towards a more sustainable and just society come together to share effective organisational policies, practices and stories which reflect their values. They have received funding to support the RadHR community, develop new resources, carry out participatory research, improve website tools and further develop RadHR as an organisation.
DeSmog UK is dedicated to investigating and exposing the influence of climate change denial and misinformation. They have received funding to continue their investigative journalism work which holds powerful actors to account in their role in the climate crisis. This is a five-year grant which will provide some stability to the organisation.
The Restart Project aims to tackle the climate emergency and resource wastage by promoting a culture of repair over consumerism. They have been granted funding to support core staff and project costs, to bolster their policy advocacy, increase public engagement and expand their repair initiatives, including events like Repair Day and Fixfest.
Cooperation Town is a network of community-led food cooperatives operating across the UK. They have recently received funding to support the expansion of their network and the establishment of new food cooperatives in local areas. This funding will be used to train local organisers, develop educational materials and provide the necessary infrastructure for new co-ops.