The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) has announced a call for applications for Peace and Security Grant Programme to support a transition towards:

• the use of 'soft', rather than 'hard' power as a first line of response to conflict within the society and around the world
• the de-legitimisation of violence as a tool for responding to conflict, securing interests or projecting power
• a culture of human rights and non-violent problem-solving, promoted at all levels of society.

Funding Priorities

JRCT wishes to prioritise support for charitable work on the following issues:

• Challenging militarism: They are interested in funding work which:
  • highlights and holds the UK government to account for the human, economic, environmental and security costs of militarised responses to conflict
  • scrutinises and challenges the use of new technology for warfare
  • exposes and challenges the economic drivers of war, especially the arms trade
  • highlights and challenges the culture and values of militarism in the UK
  • promotes conscientious objection to military service as a globally recognised and applied human right.
• Scrutiny of counter-terrorism measures in the context of human rights and peacebuilding: They are interested in funding work which:
  • promotes greater transparency and accountability in relation to government counter-terrorism policy
  • challenges state abuses of power in relation to counter-terrorism
  • advocates policy responses to the use of terror tactics which address their underlying causes
  • challenges the use of counter-terrorism policies which foment conflict or undermine opportunities to build peace.
• Building support for alternative approaches to defence and security: They are interested in funding work which:
  • articulates and builds support for models of defence and security which address the root causes of conflict and injustice, and which are based on non-violence, dialogue and mediation, human rights and environmental sustainability
  • addresses the risks of nuclear weapons and articulates options for non-nuclear security
  • offers ideas and action on the re-shaping of violent masculinities which underpin the military system
  • promotes the understanding and effective practice of non-violence in social change.
• Responding to the dual harms of Covid-19 and systemic racism: At this time of crisis, JRCT is keen to support work that responds to the dual harms of the Covid-19 pandemic and systemic racism. Specifically, they wish to encourage work that scrutinises the responses and policies of powerful institutions and actors, and which envisions and builds support for transformative social change based on justice, peace and sustainability, including work which:
  • Scrutinises and holds the government to account for the short, medium, and long term consequences of its security and counter-terrorism policies in response to the Covid-19 pandemic
  • Explores the consequences of UK government’s security and counter-terrorism responses to the Covid-19 pandemic on people and communities of colour
  • Enables the development of alternatives to securitised responses to Covid-19 in particular from the perspectives of people and communities of colour and/or through the lens of systemic racism.

Eligibility Criteria

• JRCT is interested in funding work which:
  • is about removing problems through radical solutions, and not simply about making problems easier to live with
  • has a clear sense of objectives, and of how to achieve them
  • is innovative and imaginative
  • and where the grant has a good chance of making a difference.
• Within its areas of interest, the Trust makes grants to a range of organisations and to individuals.
• If you are based outside the UK and you are registered as a charitable organistion in your local jurisdiction, you may apply for general support if all of your work fits within the published programmes, and the following criteria are also met:
  • your organisation is governed by an unpaid board
  • your organisation is not for profit
  • your organisation's formal purposes fall within the list of charitable purposes recognised within English law.

For more information, visit JRCT.