Since SURF was founded in 1997, we and our partners have helped tens of thousands of genocide survivors and their families to access services and benefits including work, housing, health and legal representation.
Our achievements include:
- Securing £4.25 million funding for antiretroviral treatment for 2,500 HIV positive women survivors and their dependents. The funds were awarded by the UK Department for International Development (DfID) and also used to set up dedicated health clinics as develop holistic care – such as income-generating activities, counselling and hardship support – for beneficiaries.
- Delivering nine projects including a £1 million house building programme of 362 homes to shelter 1,810 survivors, and the construction of 50 memorial sites across Rwanda to provide a decent burial for over 300,000 victims of the genocide, through funding from Comic Relief since 1997.
- Supporting over 15,000 survivors to start small businesses – ranging from coffee growing to beekeeping – through funding from the Good Gifts Catalogue.
- Setting up the first Education into Entrepreneurship programme for young survivors in Rwanda in 2009, which transitioned into the Youth Entrepreneurship Training Programme which we still run in partnership with AERG.
- Supporting over 500 children born of rape to women survivors to secure an education, through funding from Foundation Rwanda.
- Securing the establishment of a new Gender-Based Violence Law which came into effect in 2009 through a project funded by the Sigrid Rausing Trust.
- Since 2007, we have facilitated Project Umubano, the UK Conservative Party’s annual international social action programme to Rwanda.
- Supporting more than 500 survivors in the UK by securing access to trauma counselling through our relationship with the Medical Foundation.
Read more about how you can get involved in our work.
