This fund provides emergency relief to peacebuilders and their communities who are from low-income and vulnerable communities. Sickness, accidents, and natural disasters can create significant financial burdens that reduce their ability to engage in peacebuilding work. Therefore, we created this fund to provide basic necessities and relief in emergencies. Although this fund was originally for the COVID-19 crisis, we decided to continue because of many observed needs in our peacebuilding network.
Even as the threat of COVID-19 has subsided, the communities we work in experience multiple intersecting challenges including chronic hunger, sickness, accidents, and natural disasters. These emergencies can create great financial burdens on families and their communities. Although our primary work is to build a network of local peacebuilders, we've found that it is critical to have a small fund that we can use to respond to provide immediate relief and ultimately support our peacebuilding work.
This project will provide families with a relief kit valued at $25. The kit may include basic food or hygiene staples, baby supplies, and other needed items. Peace Bridges will use its established network of peacebuilders to identify families in need of food relief and distribute it to them.
This project addresses the immediate needs of families impacted by the economic, social, and health disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and other emergencies in Cambodia. While this response is a short-term solution to the needs of these families, Peace Bridges will continue to support and nurture its network of peacebuilders who live throughout the country. This is an example of how the peace builder network can be leveraged to support their communities in a time of acute need.
