Comic Relief support for Y Care International capacity building

21 November 2003

Sport Relief has awarded Y Care International, the international relief and development agency of the YMCA in the UK and Ireland, a series of capacity building grants to develop its work over the next five years. The grant has been awarded with funds generated through Comic Relief’s 2002 Sport Relief campaign.

The money will allow six of Y Care International’s project partners – YMCAs in Central America and Africa – to develop their work with vulnerable and disadvantaged young people.

An average of £16,000 a year will be set aside for each of the YMCAs in Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Zambia. As a first step, locally-based consultants will be assessing the individual needs of each YMCA to decide how the money can best be used.

These YMCAs have been specifically chosen for their ground-breaking work with marginalised young people including refugees, ex-offenders, former child soldiers and those living with HIV/AIDS.

“This is a new way of working for us, and a move away from traditional grant-giving for specific projects,” said Programme Development Manager Helen Kirkland. “It will allow us to work more strategically to develop the capacity of some of the partners we support.

“We are particularly pleased because it is often hard to attract this kind of funding, but we know the benefits are huge in allowing us to take our work forward for the future, and in getting away from a hand-to-mouth approach.

“Most importantly, this will allow us to increase young people’s participation in development work, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. We want them to be more involved in the programmes designed to help them, and for their voices to be more widely heard.”