In six countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, AJWS supports 148 social change organizations reaching thousands of people across the region. The work we fund here there goes deep: Indigenous activists in Mexico protecting their communities’ land and natural resources. Advocates in the Dominican Republic working to ensure health and safety for all. Community …
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In Thiaroye, Senegal—less than 10 miles from the country’s bustling, metropolitan capital of Dakar—a rusty metal gate separates bumper-to-bumper traffic and densely-packed produce markets from a painful but forgotten piece of Senegalese history. Inside the gate, the noise of the city disappears. Tall palms offer some shade, but the sun bears down on unmarked stone …
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In Kenya, seven women die every single day from complications related to unsafe abortions — conducted at home or in backstreet clinics, often using dangerous methods like knitting needles or bleach. This astounding figure, far higher than the global average, is directly correlated to a simple fact: while abortion is a constitutional right in Kenya …
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Around the world, rural and Indigenous communities are working to repair the world — with food. The challenges they face are immense: industrial development, commercial farming and accelerating climate change are all damaging the land that these communities have farmed for generations. But AJWS is supporting activist organizations to fight back. These activists are working with their communities to build “food sovereignty,” or …
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At 8:30 a.m. on August 14, 2021, a massive, 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck southern Haiti, its epicenter in the heart of a rural region home to many of the country’s poorest communities. Globally, it was the deadliest natural disaster of 2021, with nearly 2,500 people killed. In Haiti, the earthquake was the latest blow to …
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“There’s a stigma in society that we’re a curse,” says 26-year-old Feronika, a transgender woman in Palu, Indonesia. “But we’re perfect the way we are. We have two hands just like everyone else, and we’ll use them to improve our society. If people think we’re a curse, we’ll be a blessing in return.” For Feronika, this …
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The headlines in Haiti are bleak. After years of increasing political corruption under former President Jovenel Moïse and skyrocketing gang violence, including kidnappings and outright massacres of civilians, the country faced a new onslaught of crises in the summer of 2021. In July, Moïse was assassinated in his home, disintegrating what was left of Haiti’s …
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As talk of COVID-19 vaccines swept the world in early 2021, a new human rights crisis was already looming: profound disparities in who would receive a life-saving shot and who would face the pandemic unprotected. In the Dominican Republic, this inequity quickly became a reality: on February 16, Dominican President Luis Abinader announced a national …
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On March 22, thousands of people marched on the streets of El Salvador’s capital city, San Salvador, to mark World Water Day — an international day recognizing water as a basic human right, and a resource that must be protected. Carrying posters, banners and flags, people led powerful chants: “Sin agua y sin semillas no …
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For Daniel Kobei and other leaders of his indigenous community in Kenya, May 26, 2017 marked the victory of a lifetime. Everything they’d worked tirelessly to achieve finally materialized, as they won the legal rights to their land after years of struggle. Daniel is a member of Kenya’s Ogiek people—a small community of just over …
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