Survivors Fund (SURF) is proud to publish here our Annual Report 2012/13.

The report provides a summary of our work over the past year, as well as preview of our plans for our work ahead. We celebrate our successes and achievements, as well as highlight some of the challenges and risks we are planning to address this year.

As our Chair, Nick Joseph, and Outgoing Co-Chair, Liliane Umubyeyi, write in their introduction, an excerpt which reads:

This past year, 2012, has been a landmark for Survivors Fund (SURF). In partnership with AVEGA Agahozo, the national association of widows of the genocide, we have proven the impact of our holistic model of sustainable livelihood development for survivors of the genocide and have secured the funding to scale that up nationally across Rwanda.

 

However, as many widows are now ageing, without the families that traditionally would support them, the need for AVEGA’s help, and SURF’s support, is ever more critical.

 

It is for that reason that our work ahead will focus on advocating for reparation for survivors of the genocide in Rwanda.

 

Reparation will not solve all the problems of survivors, but it will at least deliver a degree of restorative justice for them. The survivors will be able to rebuild their own lives, with a home, an education, healthcare, and security. If reconciliation is truly possible, it can only be built on this foundation of justice. It is towards this end, that the work of SURF will be focused over the year ahead.

We are fortunate at Survivors Fund (SURF) to have an incredible and committed team of staff in Rwanda, and remarkably dedicated partner organisations and funders, that make our work possible. As I write in our call for applications for our new director: “The work is hard, the politics can be complex, and the hours often long, though the contribution that can be made is pretty much unparalleled – as Survivors Fund (SURF) is the only international organisation that is holistically addressing at scale the needs of all survivors of the genocide in Rwanda.”

I hope you will agree, that this report does attest to the unparalleled contribution that Survivors Fund (SURF) is continuing to make in the lives of survivors of the genocide in Rwanda. We thank you for your support in making that possible.