Recognizing Colonial Legacies Collective Trust (RECOLLECT) is a new initiative by the Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities. This initiative builds on previous research conducted by AIPG on best practices for memory spaces to apply an atrocity prevention lens to their programming in order to maximize their preventive impact on risk factors for atrocity. These best practices were published in the form of Beyond Remembering: An Atrocity Prevention Toolkit for Memory Spaces.
RECOLLECT is a collective trust that is funded by national governments, multinational corporations, and other institutions or individuals who are seeking to contribute to the prevention of identity-based divisions that give rise to conflict in formerly colonized countries today. RECOLLECT serves as a concrete step in providing acknowledgement and redress for the past and present harms of colonialism to formerly colonized countries and populations.
The trust will be used to fund projects developed by community-based organizations, memory spaces, and museums that are designed to recognize the impact of colonial violence in their respective societies and seek to take direct actions to transform those legacies to create positive social, cultural, and political changes. While AIPG is the administrator of the trust, our goal is to empower local actors. As an international nongovernmental organization, we will be able to leverage our network to secure funding for the trust. We will provide technical assistance as requested, but project implementation will emphasize local expertise by providing awardees with the creative freedom and flexibility needed to develop a localized program.
Successful project proposals are not required to memorialize the legacy of colonialism directly but rather can address a broad array of present-day risk factors related to the legacies of colonial violence. We will accept proposals on a broad range of topics as they relate to exploring how the legacies of colonialism continue to impact present day risk factors for identity-based violence, including but not limited to:
The project team is accepting proposals on a rolling basis, and applicants will be contacted as funding is secured in their country or region. Our aim is to have a range of proposals to present in our discussions with potential funding governments or corporations to illustrate to them how organizations in the area of interest are proposing to mitigate present-day risk factors related to legacies of colonialism in creative and innovative ways.
If you are interested in submitting a proposal, you may do so here.