If you haven’t already heard the great news, we are matching every donation up to $25,000 for our Come Home for the Holidays campaign. From now until December 23rd, you can double the impact to help us reach our ultimate goal of raising $100,000 to go towards our protection programs. Great news, indeed.
[LEARN MORE] [DONATE HERE]
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For the past nine years, Invisible Children’s mission to bring a permanent end to LRA atrocities has taken on many forms – 10+ films, 15 tours, programs that focus solely on recovery efforts in LRA-affected communities, and protection programs dedicated to protecting civilians and encouraging current members of the LRA to surrender and return home.
This holiday season, 100% of all donations are going toward our protection programs. The “Come Home” messaging that our programs implement have proven effective which translates to us having zero intention of slowing down. But we need your help. Below is a breakdown of the specific programs your donations are funding, and what we hope to achieve with our Come Home for the Holidays campaign.
In 2011, our design team partnered with Acholi leadership in Uganda to create defection fliers. By using photos and quotes from recent escapees, these fliers directly target and reach out to LRA groups and encourage them to peacefully surrender. We work with various groups including the UN to distribute these fliers from the air and on the ground where we know LRA groups operate. Printed on a compostable flier, the message is displayed in 3 local languages, includes pictures of LRA combatants who have successfully escaped, and has detailed instructions on how to safely leave the LRA. Since last year, 470,000 have been mass produced to be distributed throughout DR Congo and the Central African Republic.
The LRA operates in some of the most remote regions of central Africa, terrorizing communities who lack the basic communication infrastructure to report LRA attacks or receive warning when LRA groups are active nearby. The Early Warning Radio Network is composed of high-frequency, two-way, long-range radios that give communities in DR Congo and the Central African Republic the ability to report LRA activity to one another. This network warns nearby communities with twice-daily security calls of LRA movement and also alerts security and humanitarian groups who can provide vital services.
Invisible Children works with, constructs, and supports locally-run FM radio stations in DR Congo, CAR, and South Sudan that operate in areas of high LRA activity. Partner radios broadcast unique messages from former LRA members and respected leaders in the region. Messages target LRA groups directly, encouraging them to escape and giving detailed instructions to do so safely. FM stations also provide isolated communities with a system of communication for news, security and humanitarian broadcasts.
Our goal is to raise $100,000 that will fund 2,500 square kilometers of added FM radio coverage, 100,000 defection fliers, and 2 regional office staff that will focus on our FM and defection flier projects. 100%, every penny, all of it, the entire donated amount will fund these programs. The holidays are for bringing people together, and that is precisely what we’re trying to do. Join us in giving the gift of a family reunion.
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