Rabbi Rick Jacobs
Leading a Jewish movement with faith in global justice
Stories
Popular Story Collections
Take a deeper look at our stories from around the world.
38 stories
Video
Watch our videos to learn how AJWS is supporting people around the world who are fighting to improve the lives of millions.
22 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.
8 stories
Ruth Messinger
A tribute to a truly extraordinary leader, AJWS’s former President and its first Global Ambassador.
62 stories
Robert Bank
Get to know Robert Bank! Robert joined AJWS in 2009 as our Executive Vice President. As of July 1, 2016, Robert became the President and CEO of AJWS.
14 stories
Photos
A look at the work we do to end poverty and promote human rights in the developing world.
21 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.
14 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.
20 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.
4 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.
3 stories
Activism Through the Artist's Lens: Photography Series
27 stories
30 at 30
In celebration of AJWS’s 30th anniversary, we profiled 30 global leaders who have partnered with AJWS to build a better world.
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Carlos Chen Osorio
Seeking justice for bloodshed in the name of development
Meet Jeanette
Twenty-three-year-old Jeanette and her two children live in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)—a country rife with ethnic conflict and known by U.N. officials as “the rape capital of the world.” Since 1993, the DRC has suffered waves of political and sexual violence, and women and children have paid the …
Meet Grace
Grace is the mother of seven children. She lives in Democratic Republic of Congo, a country rife with ethnic conflict that has been called “the rape capital of the world” by U.N. officials. In addition to the vulnerability of being a woman in a war-torn region, Grace and her family are Pygmy, an ethnic minority …
Supporting Haitian Migrants and Dominicans of Haitian Descent
Many Haitian migrants and Dominicans of Haitian descent work in low-wage jobs on the country’s sugar and banana plantations, or as construction workers or laborers in the informal economy. They reside in bateyes—poor districts that were established to house sugar plantation laborers and their families. Because Haitians and their descendents are often denied citizenship rights …
Girls Build a Better Future in India
Watch our new animated video about AJWS’s work to end child marriage in India. AJWS supports efforts to end child marriage by bringing girls and young women together to define their own futures. Together we’re supporting girls in India to live with the dignity, safety and independence they deserve. Learn more about AJWS’s work to …
Investigative journalists hold Haiti’s officials accountable
Investigative journalists keep Haiti’s officials accountable for responsible reconstruction. Billions of dollars in foreign aid and reconstruction projects have flooded into Haiti since the earthquake, but the process for deciding how the money will be spent is not transparent. While displaced earthquake survivors languish in tent camps, U.S. government funds have sometimes been directed toward …
Protecting Indigenous Communities from Mining
The rapid growth of mineral mining across Mexico has ravaged local communities. Poverty and disease have soared for workers and people who live near mines and other development projects. The digging has stripped local land—ruining it for farming—and polluted sources of drinking water, multiplying health problems and miscarriages.
Cecelia’s Story
Cecelia Danuweli has been to hell and back. As a girl during Liberia’s brutal civil war, she witnessed her stepfather murdered before her eyes and faced the constant threat of rape and other violence as warring factions attacked her village. In 1990, she fled for her life and spent years living in the bush, hiding …
Tostan
Tostan—which means “breakthrough” in Wolof, the national language of Senegal—is among the highest-profile social change organizations working on the African continent. AJWS was one of its earliest supporters, first funding the organization just a year after its launch in Senegal in 1991. AJWS stood by Tostan and its founder, Molly Melching, as the organization grew …