Initiatives We Support

In 2000, leaders from around the world made a promise that by 2015 every child, no matter where they live, will have access to an education.

A lot has been achieved since 2000, however, 72 million children still don’t have the opportunity to go to school - and an education is the single most important tool they need to overcome a life of poverty.

Send My Friend to School has brought together hundreds and thousands of teachers and students in the UK to hold our government to the promise they made a decade ago. It has developed some brilliant methods of educating young people about the importance of getting an education and has helped them to get their voices heard and make a difference in the world.

Find out more and see how you can help at www.sendmyfriend.org 

Comic Relief supports small scale farmers and workers in some of the world’s poorest countries to grow and develop Fairtrade produce.  Our support to the African Fairtrade Network has helped to increase the number of producers who are certified as ‘Fairtrade’ across the whole of Africa.

Fairtrade is all about making sure producers receive a fair price for their produce. As a concept, it also focuses on creating better working conditions, local sustainability and fairer terms of business for farmers and workers.

As part of our commitment to Fairtrade, we fund TWIN, an organisation that supports people so they can make a living from Fairtrade. We’re also a big supporter of Liberation Nuts, which helps Fairtrade nut producers across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Plus we developed ‘Dubble’ with Divine, a Fairtrade chocolate bar that went down a treat. And if that wasn’t enough, we also manage the Sainsbury’s Fair Development Fund. It’s an initiative which aims to create a broader and more collaborative way of supporting Fairtrade. Thanks to it, there are now more Fairtrade items on supermarket shelves.

10:10 is an ambitious project with one simple idea: we all commit to reduce our carbon emissions by 10% a year, starting in 2010, then work together to make it happen. Everyone, from celebrities and politicians to individuals, businesses and schools, can take part.

Carbon emissions (more accurately greenhouse gas emissions) are the cause of climate change and are released when fuels are burned in vehicles, homes, power stations and factories.

Although climate change will affect us all, it’s the poorest people around the world who’ll be most affected by rising sea levels and environmental instability. In fact, many poor communities across the globe are already feeling the effects now.

Almost everyone, though, has the ability to cut their carbon emissions - and 10:10 will help us all to make little changes in our lives that can make a huge difference in the fight to stop climate change.

To find out what you can do, just visit www.1010global.org 

Over the past 25 years, Comic Relief has been instrumental in raising awareness of some important issues that many people across Africa face.  This project helps us to continue that work.

Using the global popularity of football as a springboard, we’ve helped to gather together some of Africa and England’s top football stars to produce a series of educational films.

Tackling key issues in Africa ranging from HIV/AIDS to education, each short film uses humour to communicate a serious message and educate people about what they can do to help themselves, their families and their communities.

Our films are screened in over 30 different countries throughout Africa in slots between UK Premiership football matches and reached a weekly audience of around 300 million viewers.

Watch these films above