Take a deeper look at our stories from around the world.
Each month, AJWS shares the latest developments from our grantee-partners and our staff working to create a better, more just world. You might call this blend of grantee profiles, opinion pieces, and organizational updates a window into the state of human rights around the world. We just call it Stories of Hope.
Stories related to Tawanda Mutasah, AJWS's president and CEO.
We support women, girls and LGBTQI+ people, as they organize to end discrimination, stop violence and live with dignity, safety and health.
We aid communities and movements organizing to protect the land, water and natural resources that people depend on for their survival.
Each year, 15 million girls worldwide are married before the age of 18—sometimes against their will. AJWS supports efforts to end child marriage by bringing girls and young women together to define their own futures.
We aid communities and movements that speak out against injustice, hold governments accountable to respect the rights of all people, and work to recover from civil wars and other conflicts.
When disasters and emergencies strike in the countries where we work, AJWS provides immediate humanitarian relief to activists on the front lines.
A visual storytelling collaboration from AJWS and Magnum Foundation
Witness social change up close through these videos from around the globe. You'll watch a day in the life of an activist AJWS supports and learn how they change lives and build social movements for justice.
Analysis, proposals, and personal stories brought to you directly from Haitian civil society leaders.
An archive of stories related to Robert Bank, who served AJWS from 2009-2026.
An archive of stories related to Ruth Messinger, who served AJWS from 1998-2016.
Mohamad Cisse, 35, Guinea Conakry “Since independence from France, my country has only known dictatorships — we have never truly known freedom,” says Mohamad Cisse about his home, West Africa’s Guinea-Conakry. Growing up in a middle-class family with eight other siblings, Mohamad finished university and became an engineer. But he saw how the high cost …
Rachel Butacha, 25, Democratic Republic of Congo Rachel Butacha smiles when she explains that “my family name means ‘hope’ in my language. Even if someone is sick or upset, they can never abandon their ‘butacha.’” Somehow, neither has she. Today, Rachel lives at the KARIBU building in Dakar — the safe house for activists in …
But there are ways to break free. Today in Haiti, much of government operates on the currency of corruption. While there are people of integrity in all state agencies, networks of corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, and private businesspeople collude to shape decrees, institutions, and processes, and share public resources among themselves. Seeking to fend off investigations …
Our movement showed that bringing justice is critical for Haiti’s security and stability. One day back in August 2018, I saw a picture of an acquaintance on social media. He was blindfolded and holding up a cardboard sign that said: “Where is the PetroCaribe money?” Where is the money? The Venezuelan government had backed an oil loan program, known as PetroCaribe, that …
Kenya’s government has been selling off Indigenous communities’ ancestral lands to foreign companies for carbon projects without their free, prior, and informed consent, leading to the forced eviction and displacement of communities such as the Sengwer and Ogiek peoples. But AJWS partners East Africa Women-Led Indigenous Assembly (EAWIA) and Sengwer Indigenous Community Trust (SICT) are …
Thailand’s government has created an ambitious goal of achieving “net zero” carbon emissions throughout the country by 2050. This may sound like a commendable effort to reduce carbon emissions. However, the government considers carbon projects to be a key strategy towards this goal, claiming that they offset pollution and compensate for existing emissions. In fact, …
In 2012, Bernardo was shot and killed. Locals allege that he was assassinated by supporters of the mining project in an attempt to silence the opposition. While his murderers remain at large, the people he left behind have refused to give in to fear and intimidation. With support from Colectivo Oaxaqueño and other AJWS grantees …
Indigenous communities work together to defend their land and way of life. In Guatemala, indigenous people whose families have lived and farmed in one place for generations are now facing rapid encroachment on their land and way of life. Many Mayan communities lack official land titles, despite obvious historic and cultural ties to their land. …
Although the majority of Burma’s people live off the land, few Burmese laws give them any control over it. In most cases, the government owns the land, and it’s not difficult for government officials and agencies to take it back—or let a major corporation step in to develop it for their own profit. It’s particularly …
