During these challenging and uncertain times, the Freedom Fund remains committed to supporting the world’s most vulnerable communities. As lockdowns are being imposed around the world, the impact of the covid-19 pandemic has put an enormous strain on vulnerable groups, especially migrants, women and children. In the countries where we operate, children and adults in forced or bonded labour are facing hunger, disease, abuse and an inability to move to safe places. Vulnerable groups are facing acute and existential threats now, while in the best of scenarios any government assistance will take weeks to come through.

Many of our frontline partners have obtained government passes allowing them to travel and provide emergency assistance to the most vulnerable communities. These organisations are in urgent need of additional financial support. The Freedom Fund has therefore set up an Emergency Response Fund to offer partners small-scale funding with short turnaround times and minimal bureaucracy.

Separate from our regular grant agreements, this emergency funding will support the following three interventions to bring immediate lifesaving support to those in greatest need:

1. Emergency relief to affected groups, including food, shelter, sanitation needs, protective equipment for shelter staff, transportation, healthcare-related costs. Distributed as emergency grants of up to $4,000 per frontline NGO.
2. Surge capacity for NGO advocacy, to monitor needs of vulnerable groups, ensure government response is appropriate and reaching those who need assistance. Up to $5,000 per NGO for staff and related costs.
3. Microgrants to savings & loans groups, self-help groups, and other existing community structures to provide credit and help absorb financial shocks. Up to $1,000 per community group.

We are now raising funds to support this initiative.  The priority is to get vital funds to those in need as quickly and flexibly as possible. We want to enable our partners to bridge the assistance gap and ensure that relevant authorities are aware of where help is needed and pushed to take action.

You can get more information about the Fund by clicking here.