VIENNA, 23 May 2019

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime launches the Resilience Fund to support community responses to organized crime worldwide

Grassroots efforts have become crucial in mobilizing peaceful community action against organized crime. These actors are first responders by creating community cohesion and calling attention to injustice and exploitation. Yet, they are also increasingly vulnerable.

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime has launched the Resilience Fund to support such actors, providing the resources they urgently need. The Resilience Fund, supported by the Government of Norway, aims to build and incubate community-resilience initiatives. The Fund will equip individuals and initiatives with the financial means, capacity and skills building tools to seek innovative approaches to citizen security and peace-building, and to respond and adapt positively to adversity.

The Resilience Fund was launched in Vienna, Austria at a high-level panel discussion in the margins of the 28th UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) on 21 May, 2019. The high-level panel discussion chaired by Siria Gastelum Felix, Resilience Director at the Global Initiative, focused on the role of civil society in building resilience against organized crime.

Panelists included Griselda Triana, a Mexican journalist, activist and wife of slain journalist, Javier Valdez; Rani Hong, the CEO of the Tronie Foundation and herself a former trafficking victim; and Miguel Syjuco, a Filipino journalist and writer.

The Director of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, Mark Shaw, said “The Global Initiative’s new Resilience Fund will identify and empower key civil society actors, and build their operational capacity, with the aim of creating networks of resilient communities against organized crime and violence.  The Fund puts the weight of the international donor community behind such individual and collective community initiatives, so it is a pleasure to launch it here in Vienna, in the margins of the UN Crime Commission.”

Over the next three years, the Fund will support:Counter-crime advocates: activists speaking out against the injustices perpetrated by organized crime and building peace.Independent investigative journalists: journalists and local media houses reporting on organized crime.Community resilience initiatives: community groups such as youth, women’s and religious groups which support those made vulnerable by organized crime.
The Fund is the next step of the #GIResilience Project that has pioneered programmes to help foster community resilience in the face of criminal governance in Africa, Asia and the Americas. Over time, the Fund will provide long-term financial commitment to help make these initiatives independently sustainable and replicable, so that they are transferable to other communities harmed by organized crime.

Watch this video of initiatives that the GI is supporting: “GI Resilience 2018”

The GI live streamed the event on Facebook and shared ‘Behind the Scenes’ on Instagram.

VIENNA, 29 May 2019

Resilience Fund Against Organized Crime appoints Advisory Council to guide its strategy, operations and growth
The Resilience Fund Advisory Council is chaired by Innocent Chukwuma of Nigeria, Director of the Ford Foundation for West Africa.   The Council also includes:

• Gwen Boniface, Canadian Senator and former senior law-enforcement official
• Geir Michalsen, Norwegian diplomat and organized-crime expert
• Angela Sapina, formerly of the International Committee of the Red Cross (a Portuguese/Swiss national).
• Miguel Syjuco, award-winning Filipino journalist and author

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime launched the Resilience Fund Against Organized Crime in Vienna on 21 May 2019. On 23 May, the Fund convened an Advisory Council to guide its strategy, operations and fundraising activity.  The Council is composed of a gender and geographic balance of eminent personalities in the field of building community responses to organized crime.

The Council will be crucial in guiding the work of the Resilience Fund as it begins making grants to grassroots organizations and individuals countering the impacts of organized crime in their communities. The Fund is managed by the Global Initiative.

Innocent Chukwuma, Chair of the Advisory Council, said:
‘The Resilience Fund is an exciting new development in the field of community responses to organized crime.  I am convinced that it will benefit the people who traditionally cannot be reached by the donor community, and that it will achieve measurable impact on the ground.  I am delighted to be advising the Fund as it begins its operations, alongside a talented and diverse team on the Council.’ 

Geir Michalsen, from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said:
‘Norway is proud to be the founding donor of the Resilience Fund, which will lead the way in delivering innovative and non-state approaches to supporting communities under threat from organized crime. The Advisory Council will help the Fund achieve its aims of delivering change on the ground and increasing the donor base.’

About the Resilience Fund
The Resilience Fund was launched in Vienna, Austria, at a high-level panel discussion in the margins of the 28th session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) on 21 May 2019.  Grassroots efforts have become crucial in mobilizing peaceful community action against organized crime. These actors are first responders by creating community cohesion and calling attention to injustice and exploitation. Yet, they are also increasingly vulnerable.  The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime has launched the Resilience Fund to support such actors, providing the resources they urgently need. The Resilience Fund, supported by the Government of Norway, aims to build and incubate community-resilience initiatives. The Fund will equip individuals and initiatives with the financial means, capacity and skills-building tools to seek innovative approaches to citizen security and peacebuilding, and to respond and adapt positively to adversity.

About the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime is a non-profit international organization that comprises a network of more than 300 independent global and regional experts. The Global Initiative seeks to open new lines of analysis to provide creative solutions to the challenges of organized crime, and to serve as an exchange and collaboration platform among governments, civil society, scholars, the private sector and other actors. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Geneva, the Global Initiative has representation in every continent.

Watch these videos of these Resilience initiatives that the GI is supporting
1:https://youtu.be/v9qtXxBaSss
2: https://youtu.be/Eb8swmAcvws