Champions Programme
Champions are Peace Direct supporters who want to link with and fund a particular peacebuilding project.
Champions projects currently operate in the D.R.Congo, Kashmir and Colombia. Each of these projects requires seventy people to give ten pounds each a month.
What is my commitment? Champions give anything from £10/month to £200/month by direct debit. You can cancel at any time.
How do I know what my money is being spent on? 100 percent of your gift goes directly to the overseas project, You will receive regular reports about the project's activities. Gift Aid goes towards the costs of identifying projects, maintaining contact with them and money transfer costs.
How are projects selected? We look for projects with a track record, but who could do more with long term secure funding. They must be committed to non-violence, and be enthusiastic about communicating what they are doing.
Dekha Ibrahim Abdi was the project leader of a completed Champions Project in Mandera, Kenya.
"Champions funds enabled the people of Mandera to create local institutions to address conflicts within their communities. They no longer hide and they no longer run away to a neighbouring town. Conflicts are part of life, but when it heats up in Mandera it now no longer results in violence. Thanks to the Champions the community has the necessary power and knowledge to address conflict in a non-violent way. That's made all the difference. People are now getting on with their lives."
Peace Direct
In every conflict, there are local people working for peace. Peace Direct funds their work, promotes it and learns from it.
The charity was set up in 2003, winning the Best New Charity award in 2005.
Peace Direct funds Champions projects in Colombia, Congo and Kashmir, Rapid Response Funds in Nepal and Kenya, and Collaborative Projects in Sudan and the UK. In the past we have given to projects in Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Iraq, Somalia and Aceh. Peace Direct is also responsible for the pioneering web-based project Insight on Conflict.
Peace Direct promotes grassroots peacebuilding by bringing peace into the mainstream media. 7/7 survivor Gill Hicks has become the first Peace Direct Ambassador; her viral film documenting the importance of peace to her has been seen by over 30,000 people around the world. Each month Peace Direct sends out a Practical Peace e-newsletter to all of our supporters offering simple suggestions on things they can do that will help make moves towards a sustainable peace.
Peace activists whose skills have been developed in violent conflict have much to teach the west about resolving conflict, not least through their conviction that things can change. In Autumn 2005 Peace Direct brought Muslim peace activists from Kenya and Palestine to work with young British Muslims to explore how they could fulfil their potential within British society.
