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People Affected by Conflict

  1. Why people affected by conflict?

    • According to the World Bank, over the last 20 years nearly all countries in Africa have either experienced a major conflict or been a neighbour to a country that has seen armed conflict.
    • Children and young people are some of the most vulnerable people during and after conflict.
    • Over the last decade more than 2 million children have died as a direct result of armed conflict, and at least 6 million have been maimed or seriously injured.

    Millions more are affected in other ways such as being forced to flee from their homes, living in constant fear and losing family protection, meaning they become vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. They often lose out on their education and the opportunity to develop vital life skills. They also suffer physically, socially, emotionally and psychologically as result of the war.

    Long-term investments need to address the impact of the conflict and its causes in order to prevent resurgences in conflict and support solutions for long-term peace, community reconciliation and development, creating an environment where children and young people can thrive.

  2. Our Goal

    Our goal is to address long-term peace, reconciliation, reintegration and the protection of children and young people who have been severely affected by conflict.

  3. How we can best support change

    Comic Relief believes that children and young people can recover from the effects of conflict and help reduce future conflicts through greater protection, participation and livelihood opportunities. Comic Relief believes this can be achieved by:

    • Investing in communities to strengthen protection mechanisms, psychosocial support, reintegration and reconciliation.
    • Supporting initiatives that ensure children and young people have access to appropriate and good quality services such as education and legal representation.
    • Supporting work that aims to secure livelihoods for young people and vulnerable families.
    • Working directly with children and young people to strengthen their engagement and participation in political and decision making processes and access to their rights, e.g. through civil society engagement and advocacy on issues that affect them.
    • Ensuring that activities address the impact of the conflict and seek to prevent further conflict or harm.

    We believe that it is essential to take a long-term integrated approach to the needs and rights of children and young people affected by conflict (with particular attention to gender specific issues), in order to strengthen their resilience to recover from conflict, and help protect and prevent them from being drawn into any resurgence or escalation in conflict. We also think it’s vital that, wherever possible, initiatives should build on existing forms of social organisation in order to ensure that work is locally driven and owned, and has the greatest likelihood of being sustainable.

  4. Outcomes

    Comic Relief wants to know that the projects we fund are bringing about changes in the lives of poor and disadvantaged people. We call these changes programme level outcomes, and define them as the ‘intended or unintended effects or changes to people’s lives that happen as a result of the project or organisation’s activities’.

    During the period covered by this strategy, we anticipate that the lives of children and young people affected by conflict will be transformed through the following outcomes:

    • Children and young people affected by conflict have improved access to good quality education resulting in skills that improve their life opportunities.
    • An improved environment that provides greater and safer livelihood opportunities that support children and young people affected by conflict.
    • Children and young people affected by conflict are better protected from exploitation and abuse resulting in greater resilience to mitigate the effects of conflict, and/or the ability to prevent themselves from being drawn into conflict.
    • Children and young people affected by conflict have increased opportunities to participate in civil society in order to influence decisions that affect their lives.
    • Improved government policies, legislation and practice resulting in the better protection of conflict affected children and young people’s needs and rights.

  5. Where we will fund

    We will prioritise funding for work in the following conflict-affected countries/regions: West Africa: Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire; East and Horn of Africa: Rwanda, east Democratic Republic of Congo, Northern Uganda, Sudan (north and south), however, we will consider work outside of these countries/regions if they are particularly innovative or represent an opportunity to inform our learning across the grants portfolio.

  6. Who we will fund

    The overall aim is to support children and young people affected by conflict. The primary target group will be children and young people (particularly girls and young women) most vulnerable to and most severely affected by conflict, such as:

    • Children and young people who have missed out on their education.
    • Young people and vulnerable families in need of livelihood support.
    • Marginalised and vulnerable children and young people such as children associated with armed groups/forces; girl mothers and survivors of sexual violence and exploitation.

    This will also include placing an emphasis on the specific needs of girls and young women and ensuring the inclusion of children and young people with disabilities.

  7. Download the full People Affected by Conflict programme strategy document