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Take a deeper look at our stories from around the world.
16 stories
Stories of Hope Newsletter
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.
1 stories
Tawanda Mutasah
Stories related to Tawanda Mutasah, AJWS's president and CEO.
69 stories
Sexual Health and Rights
We support women, girls and LGBTQI+ people, as they organize to end discrimination, stop violence and live with dignity, safety and health.
45 stories
Land Water and Climate Justice
We aid communities and movements organizing to protect the land, water and natural resources that people depend on for their survival.
6 stories
Ending Child Marriage
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.
34 stories
Civil and Political Rights
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.
9 stories
Humanitarian Response
When disasters and emergencies strike in the countries where we work, AJWS provides immediate humanitarian relief to activists on the front lines.
3 stories
Activism Through the Artist's Lens: Photography Series
A visual storytelling collaboration from AJWS and Magnum Foundation
5 stories
Activists Up Close
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.
4 stories
Haitian Leaders on Haitian Change
Analysis, proposals, and personal stories brought to you directly from Haitian civil society leaders.
64 stories
Robert Bank
An archive of stories related to Robert Bank, who served AJWS from 2009-2026.
8 stories
Ruth Messinger
An archive of stories related to Ruth Messinger, who served AJWS from 1998-2016.
All Stories
Across two generations — a family transformed
It was Yanilda Juan, 23, who brought her family to Muñecas Negras. Today, her sisters and their daughters joined: seven Juan women in all. “This project doesn’t just teach us to stitch dolls. It teaches us to love ourselves, our roots, our ancestors, our hair, our skin. To understand that everything we have is gold, …
Stitching together a strong sense of identity
The Muñecas Negras initiative brings together women and girls, largely from communities of Haitian descent, in rural areas across the Dominican Republic — giving them a safe space to connect, take pride in their identity and learn about their history, all while creating dolls that share their skin color. Below, step into Batey Carmona to …
Activists Up Close: Meet Three People Changing What’s Possible for Their Communities
Welcome to Activists Up Close, our new video series inviting you inside the lives of human rights activists that AJWS supports around the world. Mercy, Misael and Pisey are all working every day to build a better future for their communities. Below, you’ll hear their inspiring stories told proudly in their own words. The work …
Against Legal Challenges, Grantees in Kenya Are Expanding LGBTQI+ Acceptance
Living as an LGTBQI+ person in Kenya has always meant living under threat — often from your own community and certainly from the laws of the country, which makes same-sex relationships illegal. But AJWS grantees, led by truly inspiring activists, are creating change city by city. Esther “Essy” Adhiambo is one powerful activist at the …
Momentum on Peace
In a garden in Casamance, Senegal, sprouts poke hopefully out of the soil.
Momentum on Legal Justice
In 1981, during the Guatemalan armed conflict, 21-year-old political activist Emma Molina Theissen was arrested, brutally raped and tortured for nine days by the military.
Momentum on LGBTI Rights
In 2010, as rumors of a same-sex wedding swirled in the conservative coastal city of Mombasa, Kenya, angry Muslim and Christian religious leaders mobilized locals to “flush out the gays.”
Momentum on Capitol Hill
The past two years have brought a litany of assaults on global human rights—many from within our own government. Among the most egregious: The Trump administration tried to slash funding for international aid and has cut off all funding to international organizations that support reproductive choice. To mitigate the administration’s threats, AJWS has participated in …
Momentum on Gender Equality
One afternoon when Sonali Khatun was only 14, she returned home from school in her small village of Sahanagar, India, to find rows of chairs set up in her family’s mud house.