The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust (the Trust) has awarded over £600,000 to support families serving overseas.
According to UK defence personnel statistics up to April 2024, around 5,700 armed forces personnel were stationed overseas. While the majority (66%) were posted within Europe, other key regions included North America, North Africa and the Middle East, and Asia.
Following the Trust’s own research and consultation, they launched the Supporting Serving Families Overseas Programme. Now, they have awarded nine projects a share of £127,642, with funding making its way to Spain, the Middle East, Cyprus, Belgium, Italy and more!
The projects funded in this round represent a range of support for the whole family. From support for those who have experienced, or are at risk of, domestic violence, to emotional health support for adults and children to help strengthen relationships while overseas.
Overseas, overstretched
A new posting can bring with it the usual upheaval: packing and moving all your belongings (drowning in moving boxes!), changing schools, changing job, leaving the dentist it took you 12 months to find. But add to that a language barrier, not being allowed to work for the next 2-3 years, having to pay for storage for all the things you can’t take with you, not to mention having to rebuy things you’ll need that won’t work in other countries, and you’ve got yourself an overseas posting!
The projects the Trust has supported seek to provide targeted support for families in-location to improve wellbeing and make the transition abroad easier.
Parli Italiano?
They awarded the Home Away Support Initiative Italy £8,500 to enhance available welfare for families, foster a sense of community in this quite isolated destination and help integrate those living there with Italian life.
Staff Sergeant David Skill, Head of locations for North of Italy, said:
“When people see its Italy, or Spain or wherever, they make some real assumptions in terms of what you’re going to do and what life’s going to be like. People get this picturesque view that you’re going to live in a villa and be by the pool every day! There is a little bit of that in there, but that is not the day-to-day living experience (…) It’s about managing that expectation.”
“One of the activities they plan to offer to the families they support is Italian lessons. Emily Golding, Head of locations for Northeast Italy, adds: “It’s not a very touristy place to live, so when you go out for dinners and stuff, you do have to speak Italian. It’s just a normal human thing to be able to go to the supermarket or a restaurant and have a conversation. People are keen to develop their language skills but also, it’s a chance to get people together.”
But support doesn’t stop there
The Trust has also awarded £500,000 to the Army Families Federation to work in partnership with the Naval and RAF Family Federations to implement an evidence-based portfolio of support that incorporates the whole cycle of an overseas posting: from initial contact prior to relocation, to support on arrival and ongoing support during the posting, moving to support with reintegration back to the UK (or another overseas posting), and finally including post assignment learning and feedback.
Following an initial externally run discovery phase to engage with families, statutory organisation, other charities and chain of command, the Family Federations will launch a range of support work including early engagement briefings; an overseas employment information hub; a tri-service digital engagement platform to provide families with key posting information and improving communication; and more.
The Chief Executives from the Families Federations have released a joint comment:
“We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded this four-year grant (…) by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust. During this period, we will be launching a series of projects and a research study that will help us inform and support serving personnel and families from all three Services who are going through the cycle of contemplating, serving on, or returning from an overseas assignment. This is a really exciting time for all three Families Federations, and we look forward to working closely with the Trust and the single services on this unique, transformative programme.”
Find out more
A full list of awards made in this latest round are available on the Trust’s website here.
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