Taking Action for Social Justice
We help partners to address their dis-empowerment by providing practical support for an innovative start-up. We then help the partner to build the start-up into a larger program or campaign that will eventually change behavior and policy. AP currently support campaigns in Kenya, Nepal, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Responding to Crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred countless inspired responses by vulnerable communities. Freeman, left, a soap-maker with limited mobility in Gulu, Uganda, has used a small grant from AP to launch his own brand of soap (Clean Wash). Freeman plans to supply primary schools in 2021. This will strengthen education by improving school hygiene, boosting enrollment and motivating parents.
Building a Sustained Campaign
Tanatswa, right, is one of 40 girls from under-served communities in Harare who are using soap to resist early marriage in Zimbabwe. Guided by Women Advocacy Project the girls used a grant of $4,000 from AP to launch Clean Girl soap. The program had attracted over $100,000 of donor support and is poised to expand to two new communities. None of the girls has married.
Girls Protest Early Marriage in Zimbabwe
Producing Social Change
Children Peace Initiative Kenya (CPIK) organizes peace camps for the children of pastoralists in Northwest Kenya that engage in periodic fighting over cattle. With AP’s help, CPIK has secured funding to expand to the troubled sub-county of Barigoi. In 2021, the group plans to address the challenge of climate change and drought, which exacerbates conflict.
Peace Fellows and Innovation
Simon Klantschi (2010) is one of many Peace Fellows who have given us ideas for start-ups. Simon alerted us to the courage of survivors and victims of Agent Orange in Vietnam like Nguyen Thi My Hue. This led us to launch a start-up with our Vietnamese partner, AEPD, that has provided support for eleven caregivers and and shown that the best response to dioxin poisoning lies in empowering families.
Vision and History
AP’s commitment to action stemmed from our early experience with advocates in post-war Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan, where we funded a pioneering program of girls’ education in 2002. With help from AP’s Mary Moore, Sadiqa Basiri launched the Oruj Learning Center and set up several schools for girls in Wardak Province. Mary became our first Peace Fellow. Sadiqa continues to work tirelessly for education.
Feedback
“Your solidarity gives us strength,” writes Ram Bhandari, the founder of the Network of Families of the Disappeared in Nepal (NEFAD). AP has supported NEFAD since 2015 through quilts, news bulletins, economic empowerment and appeals to the United Nations. This all comes together in our work with NEFAD’s chapter in Bardiya District, which gives substance to Ram’s model of transitional justice focused on the needs of victims. The model is gaining traction internationally.