[WiLT] Young People Experiencing Domestic and Sexual Abuse - Comic Relief - 24th July 2009

[WiL Admin]

Young People Experiencing Domestic and Sexual Abuse

1. BackgroundThe impact of domestic and sexual abuse on young people is
widespread: more than 750,000 children and young people witness violence in the
home.

Young women are almost four times more likely to experience sexual violence than
older women.

Since the early 1990s, Comic Relief has worked to tackle domestic violence at a
local and national level. Over the last four years we have focused our
grant-making on young survivors: young people who have experienced abuse
themselves or have witnessed family violence. This work has given us a clear
insight into the critical and often hidden needs faced by this group, and we
know that services remain patchy and underfunded. So we continue to see a role
for this funding. This year we have widened our focus to include sexual abuse.

2. Aim of the Programme This programme aims to provide support for young people
aged 11-25 who have witnessed or directly experienced domestic and sexual abuse
and meets one or more of the outcomes listed below.

How do we define 'domestic and sexual abuse'?Our criteria includes: young people
who have grown up in homes where they witness violence and harm. It also
includes young people directly affected by abuse caused by a family member, by
an outsider such as a stranger or family friend, or as a result of their own
dating experiences.

Work will be funded to meet both immediate and longer-term needs. There is no
one solution for young people who have grown up in the shadow of abuse; we want
to hear from you about what works.

There are two strands to the open programme:

Crisis Support:

We will fund support services with the aim of helping young survivors to cope
with the physical, emotional and mental harm that they have experienced. This
could include services such as counselling, advocacy and group work.

Applications should demonstrate how your support services will build a safer
future for young survivors. This could include activities that help young people
cope better or increasing their understanding of abuse.

Young Voices:

We will fund work that helps young people to heal through having a voice. This
could include setting up a new survivors group or support for an existing group.

This fund will also cover work which aims to build networks of young survivors
who can speak out to policy makers, planners and the sector, so that their views
and voices are heard directly.

3. Outcomes The organisations we fund will need to show how their work will help
deliver one or more of the following outcomes:

Crisis Support:

Young survivors aged 11-25 feel that support services have helped them to cope
and improve their mental and emotional wellbeing.

Crisis Support:

Young survivors aged 11-25 feel that support services have helped to keep them
safe and increase their resilience against future harm.

Young Voices:

Young survivors aged 11-25 feel that having a voice and hearing from fellow
survivors has helped to progress their healing process.

Young Voices:

Policy makers and planners are more aware of the needs of young survivors.

4. Who will we fund? We welcome applications from a range of agencies who reach
young survivors; we will give priority to applications from groups who can
demonstrate a track record around domestic and sexual abuse, or work with young
survivors.

This is a funding programme focusing on the needs of survivors aged 11-25; we do
not fund work with younger children. We are particularly keen to explore work
with young women aged 16-25 in relation to our 'Young Voices' initiative, and in
order to bridge the gap between adult and children services.

We welcome applications for work with young boys and young men as well as girls
and young women. We recognise the gendered nature of domestic and sexual abuse
and would like ALL work to be grounded in an understanding about the dynamics of
power and control.

We are especially keen to encourage applications for work with young people from
black and minority ethnic communities as well as hard to reach groups of
survivors such as young people excluded from school and young people at risk of
homelessness.

5. Other Important Information Defining domestic and sexual abuse in relation to
young people is often complicated, with agencies working to different criteria
(for example the government only defines domestic abuse survivors from the age
of 16). If you would like to talk to us about whether your work meets our
criteria please ring us for a chat.


Apply for a UK Grant

What we look for in applications We have developed a set of grant making
principles to help guide our decision making. When we come to consider your
application, in detail, we will look at the extent to which you work within
these principles, and so we recommend you download and read these before you
complete an application.

Decision-making timetable The deadlines for the first three grant making cycles
are:

Cycle 1 - 24 July 2009
Cycle 2 - 13 November 2009
Cycle 3 - 5 March 2010

We are usually able to let you know the outcome of your application within four
months of the cycle deadline to which you applied.

The deadlines for subsequent cycles will be posted on our website in the
beginning of 2010.

Monitoring and evaluation Our involvement doesn't end with awarding a grant. We
need regular reports on your work and will want to see evidence that you are
monitoring and evaluating your progress. From the start of your grant, we will
help you set clear targets on how to deliver against your outcomes, and you will
need to send us regular progress reports. We may also visit you during the life
of your grant and may ask you to work with our media and communication teams to
help us show the impact of our funding to other organisations, funders and the
public.

Download
* the Grant Making Principles
* an application form
from http://www.comicrelief.com/apply_for_a_grant/uk/how_to_apply

Further InformationPlease contact us if you have any other queries about the
application process:

UK Grants Team
Comic Relief
5th Floor
89 Albert Embankment
London
SE1 7TP

Phone: 020 7820 5555
E-mail: ukgrants at comicrelief.com