Left: Pakistan Fixer Raza Khan was killed in May this year. The Trust is helping to support his family.

"Raza may look like a pirate', I'd say by way of an introduction to my fellow journalists, 'but I trust my life with him.”

- Tim McGirk, Time Magazine's former Pakistan Bureau Chief      

At the heart of our work, the Beneficiaries Programme operates globally to provide direct financial support to freelance newsgatherers - cameramen and women, journalists, fixers, drivers and translators - and their families, who are in crisis.

This may be as a result of death, injury, imprisonment, kidnapping or because the freelancer is in hiding or exile as a result of their work.

We give approximately 100 grants a year. Each case is considered individually and grants are tailored to the specific needs of the applicant and their situation.

Our aim is to help beneficiaries recover from their critical situation and, if possible, resume work. A grant should enable a freelancer and/or their family to move forward with their lives but it may also be for basic subsistence.

We have helped freelancers and their families across the globe - from Pakistan and Afghanistan to East, West, South and North Africa to South America, Central Asia and the Caucausus, as well as Europe.

This programme has benefited greatly from the support of the Sigrid Rausing Trust.