Lasting Change

Looking back at what Comic Relief has strived to do over the years, an overriding theme shines through – we’ve given people living in poverty or facing injustice the resources, tools and support they need to improve their own lives.

In order to do this, we’ve often worked with other charities, campaigning bodies and even government agencies. We’ve also managed to help change government policy. And sometimes we’ve used our knowledge and skills to raise the profile of a particular cause or to campaign for change. When you stand back and take stock, what becomes clear is that we’ve been the catalyst for much social change in the years that we’ve been around. So let’s look at how we’ve done it…

We’ve been the first ones in…

When everyone else was turning a blind eye to the increasing number of young people sleeping rough on city streets, we had our eyes wide open. One of the very first grants we ever made in the UK enabled the homelessness charity, Centrepoint, to buy two washing machines – a much needed resource for the young people who had nothing but the clothes on their backs. Aside from the real and practical support we gave, we also funded a piece of research which shone a light on the issue and helped to put youth homelessness firmly on the political agenda.

We’ve given people a leg up, not a hand out…

In the 1980s we were the first major grant maker to recognise that disabled people were prevented from participating fully in society because of the barriers that stood in their way. We supported disabled people to speak up and make decisions for themselves, we influenced other funders to think like us and we helped change attitudes towards disabled people as a whole. The work was a big contributor to a huge change in government policy and a new set of long-overdue rights for disabled people in the UK.

We’ve shouted loudly and then taken action…

Elder abuse tragically goes on behind closed doors, so we worked with the BBC to make a drama called ‘Dad’ which highlighted the terrible nature of this problem.

With no solid data about the number of older people affected, government bodies weren’t making it a priority to tackle the issue. Together with the Department of Health we funded the first ever elder abuse prevalence study which has led to a government commitment to implement new procedures to protect older people from abuse.

We’ve given people the room to grow…

In the mid ‘90s, when we supported four widows in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, we knew we were going in to an area of great need. What we couldn’t foresee was the extent to which that organisation, AVEGA, would grow into a huge force for change – it now has over 25,000 members all receiving vital support from one another. We also brought the plight of these women to the attention of the British public through a film called ‘Hope in Hell’. Over £3m worth of grants and a decade later, AVEGA is stronger than ever and Rwanda is miraculously one of Africa’s success stories. AVEGA continues to support survivors in great need with counselling and practical help so they can earn a living. We believe we played a small but significant part in creating the new Rwanda.

We’ve known when not to go it alone…

When Comic Relief first focused on improving domestic violence services in the early 1990s, the situation looked messy to say the least. There was patchy provision of refuges, underfunded services, and a myriad of helplines with different phone numbers, opening hours and quality of support being offered.

Thankfully much has changed since then and we too have played our part. Rather than go it alone, we used our funds to bring together two key domestic violence agencies and levered government funding to create the first ever 24-hour, free-phone, national helpline. We also developed the first ever online system to show vacancies at refuges for women in desperate need. Both services have helped thousands of women and have vitally saved lives.

We’ve recognised that sometimes it’s all about the Journey…

In 2007, in collaboration with the NSPCC and other charities, and jointly funded with the Home Office, we established the first ever trafficking helpline to give professionals the knowledge and support they need to help young people who have been trafficked into the UK for sexual exploitation. We also co-funded the ‘Journey’ exhibition, organised by Emma Thompson and the Helen Bamber Foundation, which has helped to put the issue firmly on the political agenda. The initiative helped to secure a pledge from the Government to have the legislation in place to ratify the European Convention on Trafficking by the end of 2008. It was a major step forward.

We’ve found winners and then backed them…

When Kenyan activist Wangari Maathai brought local women together to plant trees, she knew exactly what she was doing. She was giving them a chance to improve their environment, generate an income and bring women from the community together to discuss the problems they faced. We supported Wangari to grow her Green Belt Movement into a huge force for change. This movement has given these women a voice in the decisions that affect their lives and, in 2007, Wangari Maathai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her pioneering work.

We’ve recognised that stigma and discrimination can be the biggest problem some people face…

People living with mental health problems in the UK face terrible discrimination – from their family, friends, neighbours and colleagues – which is massively reinforced by negative stereotypes and stigmatising language used across the British media. And so we made our biggest ever single UK grant to co-fund Time to Change - an anti-stigma campaign in partnership with the Big Lottery Fund and key mental health agencies. There has never before been such a huge drive to change public attitudes towards mental ill-health and we hope to see big change as a result.

We’ve looked beyond the now to help the next generation…

Despite thousands and thousands of children losing their parents to AIDS every year in Uganda, there was very little support to help children come to terms with their loss. We made a grant to support NACWOLA and “The Memory Project” which gives parents the confidence and skills to tell their children that they are HIV positive and to plan for their children’s future. The memory books are scrapbooks of photos, poems and family histories that children can carry with them into adult life. They help children to better understand the past and face the future with strength. With our help, the project has spread across five East African countries and reached over 17,000 orphans there.

We know how influential our friends can be.

In the build-up to Red Nose Day 2009, nine celebrities - Alesha Dixon, Ben Shephard, Cheryl Cole, Chris Moyles, Denise Van Outen, Fearne Cotton, Gary Barlow, Kimberley Walsh and Ronan Keating - climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise both funds and awareness to help tackle malaria.

Not only did this challenge raise an amazing £3.4 million, the Prime Minister of the day, Gordon Brown was so impressed by their dedication that he pledged a further £2 million to tackle malaria in Kenya and Tanzania.

Through the amazing support and influence of our friends, we were able to raise both money and awareness, bring malaria to the forefront of public and political attention and take a step closer to eradicating the disease.

We’ve been working with our major corporate partners to bring about bigger change.

Through our incredibly successful partnership with Sainsbury’s, we helped them to move towards stocking more Fairtrade certified products in store. In fact, we were delighted by their decision to stock only fairly traded bananas in all its stores nationwide.

What’s more, the Red Nose Day 2009 T-shirts were designed by Stella McCartney and made from 100% organic, Fairtrade African cotton. The entire T-shirt range flew off the shelves at TK Maxx, great news for everyone involved in producing, manufacturing and selling the merchandise.

We’ve gone full circle…

Live Aid inspired the formation of Comic Relief back in 1985 and, twenty years later, we helped Bob Geldof to bring about Live 8 which took the world by storm. At the same time, we played a central role in the biggest anti-poverty movement ever formed which came in the guise of Make Poverty History. Despite two decades of successfully raising and spending money, we recognised that sometimes it’s people’s voices you need to create long-term change, not just their cash.

As long as there’s a need for us to succeed, we’ll be doing whatever it takes to see our vision - of a just world free from poverty – become a reality.

We’ve worked to ensure fairness for farmers…

Trade is a vital route by which poor countries can work their way out of poverty. Back in the early 90s, we funded TWIN to help ensure that farmers in Ghana received a fairer price for their cocoa. This grant was used to establish a farmer’s cooperative, Kuapa Kokoo, which now has almost 50,000 members. We also supported Kuapa Kokoo to set up Divine Chocolate Limited and later joined forces to launch the first ethically traded product for young people – Dubble.

But our work didn’t stop there. In 2007, we gave the Fairtrade Foundation a grant of £5 million to enable thousands of farmers across Africa to develop long-term routes out of poverty. We believe our support to ethically traded products over the last 20 years has played a part in putting the UK on the map as one of the world’s leading ethical trade markets.