Peace and Security

This programme is accepting applications.

•    The next deadline for applications for the Peace and Security programme will be August 21,  2024
•    The deadline for registering for applications on our website is August 7, 2024
•    Before applying, please read the programme’s policy areas, specific exclusions, and the Trust’s general exclusions, carefully.  If you are unsure if your project fits the programme criteria, please contact the Trust to discuss 
 
A number of current grantees will be offered the opportunity to apply for extensions to their current projects. Staff will be in touch with existing grantees to discuss this.  If grantees or applicants have any queries they should contact the Peace and Security team. 

Programme manager: David Magee, david.magee@jrct.org.uk

Grants officer: Bronny Embleton, bronny.embleton@jrct.org.uk
 

Vision

As a Quaker Trust, we believe that peace and security are built on values of equality, human rights, justice and environmental sustainability. We believe that sustainable peace cannot be achieved through the use of armed violence, which results in countless deaths, long-term physical and mental injury, human rights violations and curtailment of civil liberties, displaced populations, economic damage and impoverishment, and environmental harm.

Following more than a decade of the “War on Terror”, we believe that many aspects of the dominant approaches to defence and security are counter-productive and can serve as drivers of violent conflict both overseas and in the UK. We are also deeply concerned at the extent to which the values that underpin these approaches are embedded at all levels of society in the UK.

We seek a shift in the UK defence and security paradigm away from highly militarised and “securitised” responses towards a new approach based on participatory and accountable governance, human rights, non-violence, diplomacy and mediation, and environmental sustainability.

We wish to support a transition towards:

• the use of 'soft', rather than 'hard' power as a first line of response to conflict within our society and around the world
• the de-legitimisation of violence as a tool for responding to conflict, securing interests or projecting power
• a culture of human rights and non-violent problem-solving, promoted at all levels of society.

JRCT is also keen to support work that responds to the dual harms of the Covid-19 pandemic and systemic racism. We have amended our funding policy below to reflect this.

Funding priorities

JRCT wishes to prioritise support for charitable work on the following issues:

• 1. Challenging militarism

  We are interested in funding work which:

  • highlights and holds the UK government to account for the human, economic, environmental and security costs of militarised responses to conflict
  • scrutinises and challenges the use of new technology for warfare
  • exposes and challenges the economic drivers of war, especially the arms trade
  • highlights and challenges the culture and values of militarism in the UK
  • promotes conscientious objection to military service as a globally recognised and applied human rights.
• 2. Scrutiny of counter-terrorism measures in the context of human rights and peacebuilding

  We are interested in funding work which:

  • promotes greater transparency and accountability in relation to government counter-terrorism policy
  • challenges state abuses of power in relation to counter-terrorism
  • advocates policy responses to the use of terror tactics which address their underlying causes
  • challenges the use of counter-terrorism policies which foment conflict or undermine opportunities to build peace.
• 3. Building support for alternative approaches to defence and security

  We are interested in funding work which:

  • articulates and builds support for models of defence and security which address the root causes of conflict and injustice, and which are based on non-violence, dialogue and mediation, human rights and environmental sustainability
  • addresses the risks of nuclear weapons and articulates options for non-nuclear security
  • offers ideas and action on the re-shaping of violent masculinities which underpin the military system
  • promotes the understanding and effective practice of non-violence in social change.
• 4. Responding to the harms of systemic racism

  JRCT is keen to support work that responds to the harms of systemic racism related to our policy areas. The Trust also recognises that the problems we seek to address are multidimensional and intersecting, linking to colonialism, gender, climate, and access to and control of resources. Specifically, we wish to encourage work that scrutinises and holds to account the defence, security, and counter-terrorism responses and policies of powerful institutions and actors. Our priority will be to support initiatives that work towards transformative social change based on justice, peace, and sustainability. This includes work which:

  • Holds the UK government to account for the short, medium, and long-term harmful consequences of its security and counter-terrorism policies, in particular where they demonstrate disproportionate negative impact on minoritised groups and communities of colour
  • Scrutinises, exposes, and promotes greater transparency of UK government security and counter-terrorism policies, in particular on how they are experienced by minoritised groups and communities of colour
  • Enables full participation in the development of alternatives to current UK security and counter-terrorism approaches. This work would involve envisaging and designing policies framed by peacebuilding and informed by those most affected and harmed by them

  JRCT recognises the full human and economic costs of doing this work, including the emotional labour involved, and encourages organisations to make the welfare of staff and volunteers a central aspect of their strategy.

  In addition, we recognise that some of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic can be long-term and ongoing, and the Trust is still open to applications that look at the effects of COVID-19 where they fall within the guidelines of our Peace and Security concerns.

Other information

We wish to support organisations or individuals who promote values similar to our own when working towards peace and security.  We do not fund those who advocate aggressive military responses to conflicts.

JRCT understands the interconnected, global nature of issues of peace and security. However, as a UK-based Trust with modest resources, it is primarily interested in supporting work which is focused on achieving impact in the UK context. Work which is focused on European or other international institutions (such as the UN and NATO) will only be considered if it is capable of resulting in significant impact in the UK context. 

Specific exclusions

Please read the Trust’s general exclusions.

In addition to this the following types of work will not be funded:

• work focused directly on interpersonal violence, domestic violence, or violence against children
• work focused solely on specific local or regional conflicts in the UK or overseas (with the exception of work funded through our Northern Ireland programme)
• work which focuses directly on the recovery of people affected by violent conflict
• academic research, except as an integral part of policy and campaigning work that is central to our areas of interest
• work focused more exclusively on other governments’ policy than on that of the UK, unless the work is on pacifism or conscientious objection to military service
• work which seems only to ‘preach to the converted’.

Application deadlines

For further information see when to apply.

Case study