• Charities Aid Foundation, Greggs and Global’s Make Some Noise charity campaigns among those that will benefit
• Part of unprecedented £750 million Government package to help frontline charities and those they support

Nineteen philanthropists, charitable funders and foundations – whose campaigns have raised millions for the most vulnerable since the coronavirus pandemic struck – have received a share of £85 million to double their donations to good causes, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden announced today.

Household names including Comic Relief, The Greggs Foundation and Global’s Make Some Noise have committed millions of additional pounds of support for vulnerable people, with the Government’s Community Match Challenge scheme matching their generosity pound for pound.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, said:

I’m delighted to be working alongside some of the country’s specialist funders and philanthropists to double the money reaching incredibly worthy causes, benefiting as many people as possible.

Whether that’s helping families to provide nutritious meals, using innovative tech solutions to reach the most vulnerable or supporting the mental health of our young people, it is vital we continue to do all we can to support our communities in the months ahead.

This important match fund is part of the £750 million government investment to back charities during the pandemic so they can continue to do their vital work and help those most in need.

The funding will support ongoing work helping communities impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. With a £10 million government investment, the Steve Morgan Foundation will support front-line charities to deliver projects that tackle the issue of domestic violence, mental health services, food parcels and activities for young people – such as grassroots football training or days out for those with disabilities – in the North West of England.

Working through their established relationships with 508 primary schools where they currently deliver Breakfast Clubs, The Greggs Foundation are able to identify families in need and provide grants to help them buy supermarket vouchers, cookers and fridges. This means families are able to provide nutritious meals and have access to small grants to buy new school uniforms. Funding also helps schools to run activities and offer free meals for children in need during the school holidays.

Founders Pledge – where entrepreneurs make a commitment to donate at least 2% of their personal proceeds to charity when they sell their business – will see £1.5 million turned into £3 million through the scheme. This will enable them to fund remote parenting groups, deliver meals with local councils in England and educate families on nutrition.

A full list of the 19 Community Match Challenge recipients can be found below.

Tracy Lynch, The Greggs Foundation Manager said:

The Foundation has now been supporting the communities that Greggs serves for over 30 years and today we have more than 500 clubs in primary schools across the country, providing over 35,000 children with free breakfasts every morning. The Government’s £750 million support package for charities has provided us with the opportunity to boost this with £1 million from the community match challenge fund, which will enable us to support many more families across the country.

We are delighted to be part of this initiative and we’ll use the funding to continue making a huge difference to families who find themselves struggling – especially given the additional challenges many households are now facing as they deal with the wider impact of COVID- 19.

Steve Morgan, Founder and Chairman of Steve Morgan Foundation:

We are delighted to have been selected by DCMS and feel that this is recognition and a vindication of our work to date. There is a lot of hard work ahead but we relish the challenge. We know that there’s a huge amount of need in our region and thanks to this funding we can help make a difference to thousands of lives.

Tom Jackson, CEO of Love Your Neighbour said:

As needs for food and supplies increase nationwide, and more people are unfortunately entering into debt, we are so grateful to be one of the charities selected by DCMS to have our fundraising matched. This support will help us in reaching the most vulnerable – whether that’s with meals, debt advice or employment training. Thank you for helping make this possible.

Paul Streets, Chief Executive of Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales:

We have supported small and local charities across England and Wales that help people to overcome a range of complex social issues like homelessness, domestic abuse and mental ill health for 35 years. The match funding from DCMS will enable us to add to our core investment from Lloyds Banking Group and give more money to small but vital charities this year so they can help more people for longer at a time when their services have been never more needed.

OnSide Youth Zones Chief Executive, Kathryn Morley said:

This funding is vital for young people at a critical time when they desperately need to be supported and prioritised. It will enable tens of thousands of young people in challenging circumstances to benefit from life-changing support from their local Youth Zone.

We believe the best way to leverage investment for young people is through collaboration. That’s why bringing together the third sector, private sector and public sector in partnership with local communities is part of the DNA of our growing network of Youth Zones. Today’s funding shows that there is willingness and appetite from the private sector to support young people in partnership with the Government. We are hugely grateful to the Government and our supporters for this incredible boost to support young people’s future.

Emma Bradley, Managing Director of Global Charities, said:

The pandemic has impacted so many lives and unfortunately many people are struggling to cope. At Global’s Make Some Noise we are working alongside tireless local charities that provide essential support for those in vulnerable situations struggling with complex issues including domestic abuse, bereavement, poverty, poor physical and mental health. As the pandemic continues to challenge us on a global scale, local charities are needed more than ever to provide support in our communities. The match funding scheme from DCMS will make a huge difference to the small charities we work with and we are delighted to be part of this important initiative.

David Goldberg, Founder & CEO of Founders Pledge:

Founders Pledge is thrilled to be participating in the Community Match Challenge! We’re delighted that DCMS have chosen to work with Founders Pledge and other experts in the field of grantmaking. This coming together will ensure a strategic approach that allows funds to be used in the most effective way possible, maximising the impact of the programme for those it is designed to support.

Ruth Davison, Chief Executive of Comic Relief said:

Vulnerable communities continue to need our help and support more than ever throughout the pandemic. Our new UnLtd partnership will reach thousands of people in need, including people living with disabilities and Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, thanks to such strong Government support.

This funding is part of the £750 million package of support announced by the Chancellor for frontline charities across the UK during the coronavirus outbreak.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has led the allocation of funding to support charities providing key services to help vulnerable people during the crisis. Funding awarded includes £200 million for hospices and £76 million to charities that support vulnerable children and people who have suffered from domestic abuse, sexual abuse and modern slavery.

The Government has also matched public donations to the BBC’s “The Big Night In” charity appeal, with over £74 million being distributed by Comic Relief, Children In Need and the National Emergencies Trust to charities on the frontline. This is on top of the £150 million released from dormant accounts to help social enterprises get affordable credit to people who are financially vulnerable and support charities tackling youth unemployment.

Charities have also had access to wider measures to support the economy, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

In line with government guidance, charity shops have been able to open from 15 June in England, and will benefit from the new enhanced retail rate relief at 100 per cent.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

List of the 19 Community Match Challenge recipients:

ARK – £4,750,000

• Ark charity will fund a range of educational and social interventions to support disadvantaged children and families across the country whose lives have been particularly affected by COVID-19.
• Funding will provide increased access to digital home learning for school children, targeted mental health support, training and guidance to ensure vulnerable and at risk young people have future educational and employment opportunities, and provision of basic necessities to families, such as children’s clothes and equipment.
• More than 33,000 young people and their families will be supported, as a result. Ark will be working with a range of partner charities and organisations – including Ark Schools, Ark Curriculum Plus, Little Village, Whatever it Takes and Get Further – to deliver this work.

Charities Aid Foundation with the Covid-19 Support Fund from the Association of British Insurers – £20,000,000

• This fund will support those that have been hardest hit by Covid-19 such as those living in deprived regions, or organisations supporting BAME communities and people with disabilities through hundreds of unrestricted grants.
• The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) will invite organisations across England to apply for funds that can be spent on everyday expenses to keep their doors open or can go towards specific programmes that they plan to deliver in the coming months.
• Following this initial stage, the fund will then shift its focus to helping smaller charitable organisations to build back better and ensure they have the resources they need to be best able to adapt and withstand any future economic shocks, recover from the pandemic and strengthen their leadership position in their respective communities.

Church Revitalisation Trust / Love Your Neighbour – £4,000,000

• Starting with an emergency pop-up food bank in London in late March 2020, Love Your Neighbour has grown in a few months to become a nationwide alliance of 1,250 churches and other organisations.
• Community Match Challenge funding will be distributed to 52 Love Your Neighbour Hubs, in cities and towns across England, each offering crisis food provision, money and debt advice, and employment training and support. These services are targeted towards those who slip through the cracks in existing provision, and who are most in need in our communities.
• Love Your Neighbour is expecting to support the provision of over 5 million meals during this funding period, and we estimate that 27,000 people will be supported through debt and employment services.

Comic Relief – £5,000,000

• Comic Relief will partner with UnLtd to fund and support social enterprises across England with the aim of increasing local jobs and skills development.
• Unltd acts as an agent for social change, promoting enterprises that find business solutions to social problems.
• This partnership will support social enterprises that work with thousands of people across Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities and people living with disabilities across the UK.
• Unltd has a clear understanding of the disproportionate disadvantages experienced by individuals across BAME and disability communities, and the support needed to address systemic discrimination and challenges.

Founders Pledge – £1,560,000

• Founders Pledge will use this funding to deliver vital interventions to help vulnerable communities across England. Their programme will fund organisations who support families in lower-income households, those at risk of increased anxiety and social isolation, and those trying to return to work in a safe manner.
• The programme will entail various early interventions, such as remote parenting groups, delivering meals with local councils and providing nutritional education, as well as working to increase wellbeing through a tech-enabled, community-centred approach.
• They also plan to build a UK-specific COVID-19 community vulnerability index to identify vulnerable communities and target support.

Global’s ‘Make Some Noise’ – £1,500,000

• Global’s Make Some Noise is the official charity of Global, the Media and Entertainment group
• Global’s ‘Make Some Noise’ invest in the sustainability and capacity of small charities across the UK.
• Grants will be made to organisations helping people with a diverse range of complex needs, which have been exacerbated by COVID-19, including those impacted by domestic abuse, bereavement, poverty, poor physical and mental health, and caring responsibilities.
• Funds will be assigned to designated projects helping community recovery including grief counselling, food bank operations, refuge for victims of domestic violence or virtual activity groups for young carers.
• Global’s Make Some Noise will invite small charities across England to apply through an online application process, initially prioritising those which have a proven track record in delivering positive outcomes through Global’s Make Some Noise programmes within the past 5 years.

Greggs Foundation – £1,000,000

• Greggs Foundation has been supporting the communities where Greggs serves for over 30 years.
• Their Breakfast Club programme is their largest single initiative and today they have more than 500 clubs in primary schools across the country, providing over 35,000 children with free breakfasts every morning.
• This Breakfast Club programme has grown and expanded over the last few years and they now support those schools with a health programme, grants to schools to run holiday activities with free meals and over the past two years they have offered hardship grants to families to help make life easier with the provision of white goods, school uniforms and also shopping vouchers.
• The Community Match Challenge funding will enable the Greggs Foundation to support many more families across the country. Current Breakfast Club schools will be eligible for funding. The Breakfast Club scheme itself has a waiting list where schools can apply.

Henry Smith Charity – £2,000,000

• The Henry Smith Charity will use the Community Match Challenge funding to provide grants between £50,000 – £100,000 to around 55 small and medium sized charities, providing targeted support for vulnerable people who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 in England.
• In particular, work will support domestic and sexual abuse survivors, the elderly, people with disabilities, and people from BAME communities. Charities providing financial advice and support and mental health support services will also benefit.
• This funding will last for one year and allow charities to continue to provide vital services and also deliver new services in response to challenges related to the current crisis.
• Funding will be targeted at charities in high financial need due to COVID-19 and will help them to continue to operate.

Lloyds Bank Foundation – £5,000,000

• Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales is an independent charitable trust funded by the profits of Lloyds Banking Group. They partner with small and local charities helping people to overcome complex social issues such as mental health, homelessness and domestic abuse.
• This funding will support charities with an income between £25,000 – £1 million across England. A minimum of 25% of the grants will go to charities that are led by and for people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.
• The Foundation will award £50,000 in core cost funding for two years alongside the dedicated support of a Development Partner to help them navigate and respond to future challenges.
• With the one off Community Match Challenge funding, the Foundation will be able to double this investment and offer an additional £50,000 in the first year for up to 138 small but vital charities to help them meet their most pressing needs and provide critical services for their communities.

Localgiving Foundation – £1,000,000

• The Localgiving Foundation will be awarding grants to 400+ grassroots charitable organisations across England who are delivering frontline services to communities most impacted by COVID-19. Funding will ensure that vulnerable people are still able to access essential services
• Successful organisations will use the Localgiving online fundraising platform during October to secure donations towards their project that will be matched by the grant funding.
• Grants will be paid out in November to ensure grassroots charitable organisations have extra funding to deliver essential services during the winter months.

National Emergencies Trust – £2,500,000

• National Emergencies Trust (NET) has been focusing on providing financial aid to vital frontline services across the UK in light of COVID-19. Funding allocation prioritises groups that are the most vulnerable to ensure that key services such as food and medicine provision are still available.
• Time has been spent undertaking gap analysis to understand the impacts on different cohorts of the population, which will inform NET’s strategy. Match funding will be used to connect service providers with local provision of support as well as build third sector capability. NET is also now focusing on longer-term emergencies that have arisen due to COVID-19, continuing to support those individuals who are still amongst the most vulnerable.

The OnSide Foundation – £6,000,000

• The Community Match Challenge funding will be distributed to OnSide’s national network of “Youth Zones”, in some of England’s most disadvantaged communities, to help 8,000 young people deal with the impact of Covid-19 over the next six months.
• Funding will focus on a range of areas including, mental and physical health and wellbeing support, transitioning back to school, and helping young people engage in dialogue on the issues that affect them most. Pears Foundation – £5,500,000
• The Pears Foundation has partnered with the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and will use Community Match Challenge funding to increase investment across existing areas of work in three areas: social care, young people and mental health.
• Social care support will be directed through small charities to increase digital skills and access, prevent closure of vital services and provide carers with respite care.
• Funding for young people will be implemented through small, volunteer-led youth clubs to prevent closures and to upskill staff members.
• Mental health funding will be provided to local organisations to ensure that mental health services are continued and volunteer recruitment is enhanced.

Rank Foundation – £5,000,000

• This funding will expand the Rank Foundation’s Time to Shine COVID-19 Resilience Programme, supporting small and medium sized charities and social enterprises across England.
• It will support 200 organisations facing both unprecedented demand from their local communities and instability in income due to the pandemic.
• The Programme’s purpose is to provide urgent funding of core grants up to £25,000 per organisation to help to retain vital community services; and to provide work opportunities to 200 people, bringing fresh skills and talent into the social sector, to help future-proof its role throughout and beyond the pandemic.
• The Programme is primarily targeted at organisations within the RankNet community, those actively engaged with improving connectivity, learning and good practice across the social sector in England.

Smallwood Trust – £2,100,000

• Smallwood’s Women’s Sector Resilience Fund will use the Community Match Challenge funding to provide grants to women’s sector organisations and services to improve outcomes for 15,000 women on low incomes across England.
• The grants will enable funded organisations to safeguard vital frontline jobs and support services, so women who are most at risk of poverty and financial hardship due to COVID-19 can continue to access these services.
• The application process will be open to women’s sector organisations with an income of less than £1 million that meet Smallwood’s mission of enabling women to be financially resilient.
• National or regional women’s organisations that provide capacity building, networking and support to frontline organisations will also be eligible to apply.

Stefanou Foundation – £2,500,000

• The Stefanou Foundation will grant the funds to the For Baby’s Sake Trust to build the capacity required for sustaining, scaling up and further developing the For Baby’s Sake programme, which is the first programme to work with both parents, starting in pregnancy, to break cycles of domestic abuse and childhood trauma and to give babies the best start in life.
• Plans include creating For Baby’s Sake CONNECT which will use technology to provide remote access to the programme for families in areas that do not yet have the benefit of a dedicated local team.

Steve Morgan Foundation – £10,000,000

• The Steve Morgan Foundation supports front-line organisations in the North West of England and national organisations.
• They will use funding through the Community Match Challenge to support regional front-line charities to provide mental health services, food parcels, young people’s activities and domestic violence projects.
• They will also support medium-sized charities, who have experienced significant income losses as a result of COVID-19, in their work addressing national issues of cancer, Type 1 Diabetes and disadvantaged young people.

The Coalfields Regeneration Trust – £1,000,000

• The Coalfields Regeneration Trust (CRT) will use the grant to deliver a Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience Fund, a Coalfields Food Insecurity Fund and a Regional Impact Fund designed to enable over 200 small-to-medium voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations respond to emerging needs caused by COVID-19.
• These organisations deliver projects that address mental health issues, tackle food poverty, support children, young people and the vulnerable including those with disabilities and victims of domestic abuse.
• The funds will also be used to help strengthen these organisations by purchasing essential equipment and improve their delivery capacity to meet growing demand for their services.
• The CRT’s programme targets the top 30% most deprived former coal mining communities in England and over 10,000 people who are adversely affected by COVID-19 will benefit. The funds will be distributed through an application process that will open in October.

The Vardy Foundation – £2,000,000

• The Vardy Foundation supports the homeless, those at risk of homelessness and ex-offenders; three groups particularly affected by the impact of Covid-19.
• The Community Match Challenge funding will help with their physical and mental health issues, with substance misuse, housing, finance and employment in the North of England.
• The Foundation will work in partnership with charities and social enterprises all of whom they have previously worked with over a number of years and deliver real outcomes to help some of the most vulnerable in our society.

Update: local authority watchlist areas 25 September

• New restrictions on household mixing brought in for Wigan, Stockport, Blackpool and Leeds
• London added as an area of concern as hospital admissions rise
• Teesside added as an area of enhanced support

In close discussions with local leaders, the Health and Social Care Secretary, NHS Test and Trace, the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC), Public Health England (PHE) and the Chief Medical Officer for England have agreed to introduce local measures in parts of the North West and Yorkshire and the Humber.

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, Wigan, Stockport, Blackpool and Leeds have been escalated to areas of intervention and London has been added as an area of concern. Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Darlington, Redcar & Cleveland (Teesside) have been escalated to areas of enhanced support.

From Saturday 26 September, residents and visitors in Wigan, Stockport, Blackpool and Leeds will no longer be allowed to mix with people outside their household or bubble in private homes, including gardens. This will be enforceable by law.

Residents and visitors in these areas are advised not to meet people outside their household or bubble in any setting, whether a bar, shop or leisure facility – indoors or outdoors.

As announced this week, childcare bubbles will be able to form in areas of intervention to allow families to share caring responsibilities with another household, as long as they are consistent. This includes formal and informal childcare arrangements.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said:

We continue to see an acceleration of COVID-19 cases across the country, especially in the North West and the North East. Working alongside our scientific and public health experts and local leaders, we are prepared to take swift and decisive action to reduce transmission of the virus and protect communities.

I recognise the burden and impact these additional measures have on our daily lives but we must act collectively and quickly to bring down infections.

We all have a part to play and I urge everyone to isolate and get a test if you have symptoms, follow the advice of NHS Test and Trace, and always remember ‘hands, face, space’.

Cases are rising in parts of the North East, and discussions are ongoing with local leaders about potential further measures.

The changes come as the weekly surveillance report is published by Public Health England (PHE), with a number of updates to this week’s local authority watchlist, published on GOV.UK.

PHE, the JBC and NHS Test and Trace constantly monitor the levels of infection and other data on prevalence of the virus across the country. As has always been the case, measures are kept under constant review to reduce the spread of the virus and save lives.

Changes to this week’s watchlist

London

• London has been added to the watchlist as an area of concern

North West

• Wigan and Stockport to be escalated as areas of intervention and will follow the restrictions currently in place in Greater Manchester
• The additional restrictions in Bolton remain in place
• Blackpool to be added to as an area of intervention in line with the rest of Lancashire
• Merseyside and parts of Cheshire remain subject to additional measures and restrictions

West Yorkshire

• Leeds escalated to an area of intervention and will follow the restrictions currently in place in West Yorkshire (Calderdale, Kirklees and Bradford)

West Midlands

• Birmingham, Solihull, Sandwell and Wolverhampton remain as areas of intervention with restrictions on household mixing in private dwellings
• Stoke on Trent removed from the watchlist

East Midlands

• Corby and Northampton removed from the watchlist
• Leicester and Oadby and Wigston remain areas of intervention
• Blaby remains an area of enhanced support

North East

• South Tyneside, Gateshead, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Sunderland, North Tyneside, Northumberland and County Durham remain as areas of intervention. Cases are rising, and discussions are ongoing with local leaders
• Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Darlington, Redcar and Cleveland escalated to areas of enhanced support

Background information

The surveillance report includes this week’s watchlist and what the different categorisations mean.

The three definitions for JBC and PHE’s watchlist are: ‘Areas of concern’, ‘Areas of enhanced support’, and ‘Areas of intervention’.

‘Areas of concern’

Upper-tier local authorities (UTLAs) will work with partners, supported by regional PHE and NHS Test and Trace resource, to take additional actions to manage outbreaks and reduce community spread of the virus to more normal levels. Actions taken may include additional targeted testing at high risk areas or groups, for example care homes, enhanced communications around the importance of social distancing, hand hygiene and other preventative measures, and more detailed epidemiological work to understand where clusters of the virus are occurring so that appropriate action can be taken.

‘Areas of enhanced support’

These areas will be provided with increased national support, capacity and oversight, including additional resources deployed to augment the local teams where this is necessary. Actions taken may include significant additional widespread testing deployed to the UTLAs, national support for local recommendations put in place to manage outbreaks, and detailed engagement with high risk groups and sectors to help increase the effectiveness of testing and tracing in these areas.

‘Areas of intervention’

The areas are defined where there is divergence from the lockdown measures in place in the rest of England because of the significance of the spread of COVID-19. There are a range of non-pharmaceutical interventions available to local and national leaders, from extensive communications, expanded testing, to restrictions on businesses and gatherings.

See the Contain Framework for more information.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. And may I also thank, of course, Undersecretary Generals DiCarlo and Lacroix for their briefings. Let me also thank all those UN colleagues who are working very hard to get UNITAMS stood up and to deal with the ongoing issues there.

Mr. President, despite competing priorities and indeed the complications and death toll from COVID-19, we’ve continued to see the civilian-led Government of Sudan take forward implementation of the key transitional benchmarks as set out in their constitutional document. And in particular, we welcome recent progress made on legal reforms which strengthen human rights across Sudan, as well as the appointment of civilian governors. And on the latter we welcome very much the inclusion of a number of women in these appointments.

That’s all very positive, but Sudan still faces, Mr. President, a multitude of challenges. In the last year alone, the people of Sudan have had to contend with unprecedented flooding, with desert locusts and with the first polio outbreak in over a decade. Inflation exceeds one hundred and sixty percent and the humanitarian need, unfortunately, is increasing. COVID-19 has only exacerbated these challenges.

Mr. President, it is clear that the Sudanese people cannot face these challenges alone, and it would be unreasonable for any of us to believe that. So the international community must step up.

The United Kingdom is playing its part. We have contributed over $100 million towards the family support program, which will help mitigate the negative impact of some of the necessary economic reforms being pursued by the Government of Sudan. And in 2020, the United Kingdom is donating an additional $76 million of humanitarian aid to UN agencies and NGOs to meet the most urgent needs of those affected by food insecurity, conflict and economic crisis in Sudan. But, Mr President, we must do more. Echoing the Secretary-General, I ask member states to consider not whether we can afford to support Sudan, but whether we can afford not to?

Mr President, once established, UNITAMS will be at the core of international support, working to ensure that it is coordinated and effective. And we urge the United Nations to work with the Government of Sudan to facilitate the swift deployment of this mission and crucially, to ensure that UNITAMS has adequate resources and a geographical presence to enable it to respond to needs on the ground and fulfil its mandate. And colleagues, we need to see the rapid appointment of an SRSG. We have waited for too long, and that delay is undermining the United Nations’ ability to support the people of Sudan.

Turning to the peace process, I want very much to commend the efforts and achievements of the Government of Sudan, under the leadership of Prime Minister Hamdok, and a number of armed movements to take forward negotiations despite the challenges of COVID-19. I want particularly to welcome the initialling of a peace agreement on the 31st of August by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan Revolutionary Front. It is a very welcome step towards a comprehensive peace deal for Sudan, and it’s an opportunity that we urge all parties to take advantage of through swift and full implementation of the agreement. We also reiterate our call to all of those who remain outside the peace process to engage constructively, immediately and without preconditions and to conclude swiftly negotiations on a comprehensive peace agreement.

Mr President, although we have seen progress towards efforts to secure peace, nonetheless, the security situation in Darfur remains concerning. The recent increase in inter-communal violence, civilian displacement and the ongoing conflict in Jebel Marra demonstrates the complexity of the drivers and root causes of conflict, which will need to be comprehensively resolved if we are to see a stable and secure Darfur.

I want to commend the work of UNAMID during these unprecedented times, not only in their assistance to the national response to COVID-19 in Darfur, but also their work with the Government of Sudan to support and bolster the protection of civilians. In this regard, I want to welcome the Government of Sudan’s National Protection of Civilian Strategy, which demonstrates their firm commitment to fulfilling their responsibility to protect. However, it will take time to build the required capacity and in doing so, we urge the Government of Sudan to build on their cooperation with UNAMID to ensure the protection needs continue to be met.

Thank you, Mr. President.