We’re delighted to share that we’ve officially submitted our application for this year’s Big Give Christmas Challenge 2025. This campaign will once again focus on providing vital mental health support to survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda through our long-standing counselling programme.
Thanks to your incredible support, our 2024 appeal raised over £20,000, enabling 250 more survivors to access life-changing counselling services. Since the programme began in 2017, we’ve reached over 2,000 survivors, helping them to begin healing from unimaginable trauma.
One participant, who lost both parents in the genocide, shared:
After the counsellors listened to me and helped me, I felt relieved of the heavy burden I was carrying… In the group, I found friends, like siblings, who visit me and support me. I feel like I’ve gained a wonderful family because we share so much together.
Her words are a powerful reminder of why this work matters and why your continued support is so essential.
If you’re interested in joining us to make an even greater impact this year, we warmly invite you to get in touch with us – Annabel Harris or Lesley Eaton or visit our pledge form to learn more about how you can help.
2025 – How You Can Get Involved
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Save the Date: Mark your calendar for 2nd to 9th December 2025 and prepare to make your donation during the Big Give online giving week.
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Become a Pledger: If you are able to, consider committing to be a Pledger for our £5,000 target (the pledge deadline is 29 August 2025). Your support will help us unlock matching donations and multiply the impact of every pound.
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Spread the Word: Help us raise awareness by sharing our campaign with your network. Together, we can inspire more people to join this cause and make a real difference.
How the Big Give Winter Challenge works
The Big Give Winter Challenge is an annual match funding campaign that Network for Africa has taken part in since 2012.
The initial match funds come from two sources –
- Network for Africa needs to secure promises of funding (also known as pledges) over the summer (which are then collected in the winter); and
- A Big Give Champion who contributes to the match fund.
This collective pot is used to double donations from online supporters when the campaign goes live.
Progress So Far
Please see what Network for Africa and our partner SURF have been able to achieve in previous years, thanks to our supporters and the donations they made.
From 2017 to 2024
During this period, you have helped Network for Africa to raise over £178,000 for our SURF project in Rwanda. While the 1994 Rwandan genocide is well known, less understood is the conflict’s lingering impact on survivors’ mental health and therefore their ability to lead normal lives and support themselves. Many orphans had to raise their siblings, some are single mothers, and others have been cheated out of their inherited property by distant relatives and strangers. The funds have helped to train Rwandan counsellors and lay counsellors so they can provide counselling to genocide orphans, in fortnightly group therapy sessions and one-to-one counselling.
In the years 2012 – 2016
You helped Network for Africa to raise over £70,000 for our Patongo Counselling Community Outreach (PCCO) programme in northern Uganda, where the recent civil war left many people traumatised. The PCCO transformed people’s lives by alleviating the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and its associated social and economic problems.
Our Big Give Champions
Network for Africa is grateful to our Big Give Champions who have helped us to raise large sums of money over the years through their donations:
The Coles-Medlock Foundation | Friends of the Reed Foundation | Human Rights Fund | Reed Foundation – International | The Step Up Fund