WHAT WE DO
Transforming economic wellbeing through investments
The Aegis Peace Fund works as a partner to Aegis Trust, enabling sustainable livelihoods in areas where Aegis Trust delivers peace and education programmes. This programme has been fundamental to healing and reconciliation across communities in Rwanda. It has also been adopted by other countries experiencing division and atrocities such as the Central African Republic. However, to create conditions for sustainable peace, there needs to be a blended approach where peace education is underpinned by two further components: trauma healing and sustainable livelihoods.
The Aegis Peace Fund together with Aegis Trust, will apply this model to contribute to building community resiliency to shocks by establishing a fund of $20m over the next 3 years to invest in social enterprises.
Building Resilient Communities is Urgent
We recognise that in coming years, climate change will be a main driver of instability, exposing hundreds of millions of people to conditions that can lead to forced displacement and violence. Enterprises play a vital role in mitigating these risks and strengthening the resilience of communities.
We are raising capital to partner with organisations that are aligned with our mission and have the appropriate technical expertise to provide solutions that support social enterprises at village level, and transform industry sectors. We are also directly investing in social entrepreneurs who are creating employment opportunities, fostering social cohesion, or addressing the challenges of climate change in areas where Aegis Trust is working. We also provide flexible finance options and through partnerships, deliver skills development and business advisory to entrepreneurs so they can kickstart and scale their initiatives.
Priority investments are made in:
- Post-conflict communities
- Regions where there is rising conflict
- Refugees and host communities
Iinvestments focus on enterprises:
- Led by women
- Increasing employment and wages among young people
- Fostering social cohesion
- Promoting inclusion of marginalized groups
- Contributing to climate adaptation
Where We Work
Initially, we are building on Aegis Trust’s footprint in Rwanda investing in the Eastern Province principally in the food supply chain, value-added agriculture, hospitality, and artisan projects. Through the lens of peace-building, we will gradually broaden the geography of the fund's portfolio across the whole of the country. As the fund builds, we will take the tried and tested model built in Rwanda to Sub-Saharan Africa to strengthen the resilience of communities.
We aim for the Aegis Peace Fund to have global reach over the next 10 years in areas at risk or recovering from atrocities and conflict, particularly where memorials and memory inspire reconciliation.
Our Enterprises
The Aegis Peace Fund operates its own social enterprises. Since 2009, enterprises have been developed to support Aegis Trust's mission. Whilst the Kigali Genocide Memorial was established with sponsorship from the British, Belgium and the Swedish Government who also continue to provide significant funding, further funds were neeeded for its operations.
To provide unrestricted funds, White Rose, a chain of recycled fashion boutiques was launched in UK. There are now 18 stores across the Midlands which recycle 400K tons of textiles per year and provide an alternative to fast fashion on the high street.
In Rwanda, the Kigali Genocide Memorial is sustained through Champion Humanity Enterprises (CHE). The enterprises generate revenue through services provided to visitors at the reception, as well as through the gift shop and café. Merchandise is also sold online. CHE has also been instrumental in the development of the fund's own coffee enterprise, Good Human Coffee, acting as the coordinator with the farmers and UK partners.
Champion Humanity Enterprises is now a trading subsidiary of the Aegis Peace Fund and it is from the combined profits of these enterprises and the fund’s overall financial return, that the Aegis Peace Fund will build a finacial reserve for Aegis Trust's work. .
