#WalkTogether and share a #SparkofHope
continue Mandela’s long walk to freedom
Sparks of Hope are grassroots organisations that embody the change The Elders want to see in the world. Each one tells an inspirational story of how incredible people across the globe are working for peace, health, justice and equality.
These organisations were brought together to honour the 100th anniversary of The Elders’ founder, Nelson Mandela. They form part of the #WalkTogether movement and The Elders continue to amplify their amazing work as shining examples of the values Madiba held dear.
Discover them all here.
Filter by Freedom
IRPAD
Empower small-scale farmers and sustainable agro-ecology, ensuring they can access land and markets, to build equality ...
Read their story
Proximity Designs
Engage the rural poor in building human centred systems that meet their needs and empower them ...
Read their story
Partners in Health
Create networks of doctors and community health workers, integrating hospital care with home care for vulnerable ...
Read their story
Magamba Network
Encourage disaffected youth to engage in civic and political processes through pop-culture and the arts.
Read their story
Rachel House
Provide resources, capacity and training for poor communities to access palliative care where health systems don't ...
Read their story
The Women’s Law Centre
Disrupt the culture of silence surrounding violence against women in patriarchal societies, by providing free legal ...
Read their story
HAkA
Bring local communities, government and technical experts together to enforce the law, and restore and protect ...
Read their story
Possible
Invest in the distribution of health tech platforms that allow patient information to be stored and ...
Read their story
The Florence Project
Provide free legal aid to ensure incarcerated migrants, especially children, realise their rights to fair treatment ...
Read their story
Girls Not Brides
Use collective power across cultures to fight the long held cultural beliefs and practices that keep ...
Read their story
Corporación Justicia y Libertad
Organise and educate itinerant agricultural workers on their employment rights so that they have the collective ...
Read their story
Forum for Nation Building Nepal
Provide legal assistance for the poor to access their right to reconstruction support following natural disasters.
Read their story
Young Urban Women’s Movement
Allocate public services and social security to recognise unpaid care work undertaken by women.
Read their story
Search for Common Ground - Yemen
Build networks of students and teachers within secondary schools that offer youth a voice in decision-making, ...
Read their story
Centre for Natural Resource Governance
Empower local communities in resource rich areas to enforce reinvestment and environmental governance by extractive industries.
Read their story
Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia
Provide funding and capacity to empower poor communities to hold polluters accountable for actions that impact ...
Read their story
Nossas
Use technology to empower all people to take action against state violence, by providing tools for ...
Read their story
Africans Rising for peace, justice and equality
Leverage networks to strengthen the voices of ordinary people in Africa, creating space for civil society ...
Read their story
National Association of Youth Organisations
Strengthen youth engagement in democracy by removing obstacles to voting and offering ongoing voter education and ...
Read their story
SeeBeyondBorders
Improve the quality and value of education systems in all countries through supportive networks of teachers ...
Read their story
Crisis Text Line
Provide trained psycho-social counsellors via mobile text-based platforms to increase the likelihood of younger generations seeking ...
Read their story
The Equal Justice Initiative
Direct criminal justice policy and practises to remove racial biases from criminal justice systems to overcome ...
Read their story
B'Tselem
Empower citizens to use documentary evidence to ensure international conventions and human rights law are upheld ...
Read their story
Safe Hands for Girls
Change cultural norms in all countries and diaspora communities practising female genital mutilation by convening survivors ...
Read their story
Food for All Africa
Scale and systemise food redistribution schemes to direct unwanted food products to those in need, reducing ...
Read their story
Guyana Animation Network
Create new learning ecosystems that empower young people to find creative routes to employment in roles ...
Read their story
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
Open new Arab-led forums for dialogue on the difficulties of applying international human rights laws within ...
Read their story
Level
Embed training for law enforcement and justice workers into justice systems to overcome embedded inequality and ...
Read their story
District Six Museum
Create a platform and knowledge base to codify arts based peace-building techniques that can be embedded ...
Read their story
Asian Peoples' Movement on Debt and Development
Fight rising inequality in Asia by ensuring policy places the burden of environmental and social risk ...
Read their story
Green Girls
Invest in local, decentralised sustainable energy schemes in poor communities, designed and run by trained women ...
Read their story
White Ribbon Alliance
Empower citizens to demand healthcare systems prioritise their most pressing needs and advocate for health budgets ...
Read their story
Loja de Energias
Scale and systemise the building of sustainable energy microsystems, run by rural women, creating jobs and ...
Read their story
Fossil Free
Connect campaigners and build support around the world to shift public and private finance flows from ...
Read their story
Iraqi Centre for Negotiation Skills and Conflict Management (IQCM)
Provide resources and training to build a sustainable network of grassroots conflict mediators, ensuring all communities ...
Read their story
My Choices Foundation
Devise community based safe environments to bring survivors, perpetrators and law enforcement together to agree holistic ...
Read their story
SEWA
Organise and empower women working in the informal sector to build their leadership, collective strength and ...
Read their story
Breaking the Silence
Provide safe platforms for soldiers to express their experiences and grief, to encourage forgiveness and reconciliation.
Read their story
National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
Review legislation that criminalises same sex relationships to ensure all people have equal rights under the ...
Read their story
African Youth Initiative Network
Establish replicable grassroots mechanisms to give victims of war direct influence on post-conflict rebuilding priorities and ...
Read their story
The Ethiopian Centre for Disability and Development
Consider people with disabilities in all aspects of society and public services, so that their needs ...
Read their story
Women’s Justice Initiative
Invest in training and building paralegal networks to reach remote communities, ensuring all people can access ...
Read their story
Voice of Libyan Women
Use religious teaching and texts to promote gender equality and break the cycle of violence against ...
Read their story
Search for Common Ground - Nigeria
Create opportunities for genuine social interaction between Christian and Muslim girls to empower them to change ...
Read their story
Moms Rising
Activate citizen participation platforms to lift the voices for those who are alienated from decision making ...
Read their story
Homes of Hope
Provide resources and capacity to care for women and children with HIV/AIDS in safe spaces, where ...
Read their story
EarthRights International
Ensure there is clear regulation on natural resource use that explicitly respects the links between human ...
Read their story
Breakthrough
Model new norms for valuing women equally by engaging young people in mixed gender social and ...
Read their story
Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum
Guarantee the livelihoods of local subsistence communities by strengthening policy and providing resources to enforce limitations ...
Read their story
The Equality Trust
Attack the root causes of economic inequality through public awareness of the explicit reforms required to ...
Read their story
Camfed
Build national systems to provide high quality, free education for all girls, including mechanisms for alumni ...
Read their story
Medic Mobile
Scale up technology solutions to monitor patient care and connect patients with their healthcare providers, even ...
Read their story
Hope Through Health
Distributed healthcare clinics, run by trained community health workers, even in the absence of a well ...
Read their story
GirlTrek
Encourage and create spaces for self-organised networks to inspire poor and overlooked communities to exercise collectively ...
Read their story
Mae Tao Clinic
Providing free primary healthcare for newly arrived migrants allows them a productive start to a new ...
Read their story
The Alliance for Improving Health Outcomes
Invest in immersing aspiring health professionals in developing countries during their training years, to retain them ...
Read their story
IMPACT Kenya
Secure resources for legal empowerment of indigenous peoples to address their land, water and cultural rights ...
Read their story
People's Health Foundation
Target resources at public awareness and public health policy to combat the lifestyle choices that increase ...
Read their story
Management Sciences for Health
To fight the danger of anti-microbial resistance, regulate, train and certificate sellers of essential medicines in ...
Read their story
The Maharishi Institute
Ensure access to quality higher education is accessible for young adults disadvantaged by historical inequities in ...
Read their story
Women Wage Peace
Support and scale networks of women mediators, connected to share practices nationally and internationally.
Read their story
SAPCONE
Ensure peace-building activities integrate acknowledgement of shared environmental resources and encourage economic cooperation.
Read their story
Earth Guardians
Provide young people with the tools to demand climate justice through legal action and advocacy targeting ...
Read their story
Agrupación Defensa y Conservación Maule Mataquito
Bring all sectors together to value conservation of areas of unique biodiversity and build equitable administration ...
Read their story
Corrymeela
Systematically create immersive experiences that enable difficult conversations between divided communities, to heal the wounds of ...
Read their story
Movimento Ipereg Ayu
Educate, consult and connect indigenous groups with decision makers determining environmental policy and land use in ...
Read their story
Groundswell
Build networks of peer advocates to support vulnerable groups in urban communities to access free healthcare ...
Read their story
Pilier aux Femmes Vulnérables Actives
Empower survivors of sexual violence in conflict zones to take action against perpetrators securely, and end ...
Read their story
"The Awakening"
Promote policy to outlaw violence against women and provide access to care and legal protections for ...
Read their story
Al Bedaiah
Support robust, secure platforms to give voice and international exposure to journalists and human rights defenders ...
Read their story
Basmeh and Zeitooneh
Incorporate safe environments within refugee and host communities, where children learn non violent techniques for conflict ...
Read their story
MicroJustice Argentina
Make citizenship and identity rights accessible from birth, to ensure no-one is excluded from vital services ...
Read their story
Namati
Provide a platform for effective collaboration to deliver legal aid and access to justice for all ...
Read their story
Remote Area Medical
Invest in the basic health needs of poor communities in all countries using the legal aid ...
Read their story
NEPHAK
Ensure that people living with HIV are integrally involved in the development of the services and ...
Read their story
Rien Sans les Femmes
Build the visible leadership of women in roles of authority to rapidly shift culture.
Read their story
Aspen Management Partnership for Health
Build capacity by embedding international experts in developing countries' health ministries to roll out effective community ...
Read their story
Bobbi Bear
Provide training and resources within health, justice and education systems to identify, protect and care for ...
Read their story
Child Rights and You (CRY)
Provide funding and capacity to ensure all children complete their education before entering the labour force.
Read their story
MamaYe-E4A
Scale the capability for crowd-sourced local evidence collection to be used to inform regional and national ...
Read their story
Callisto
Scale up the prevalence of sexual assault reporting platforms that empower victims to take control of ...
Read their story
The Children’s Radio Foundation
Give young people public platforms to be heard on the local political, civic and social issues ...
Read their story
Open Street Map
Develop practical pathways to build young people’s active role in improving civic life.
Read their story
Last Mile Health
Government investment in community health workers, particularly in remote communities, provides proven economic, social and primary ...
Read their story
All Out
Connect oppressed LGBT groups to a larger global movement to create international pressures that helps to ...
Read their story
Front Line Defenders
Leverage international pressure to protect and support human rights defenders at risk in their home countries.
Read their story
Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative
Build public awareness of the prevalence of mental health issues to remove social stigma, and encourage ...
Read their story
Campaign for Migrant Worker Justice
Extend the protection of employment law to seasonal migrant agricultural workers employed in the USA and ...
Read their story
IRA Mauritania
Expose modern day slavery and use international courts to challenge the impunity surrounding this injustice against ...
Read their story
City Health Works
Invest in networks of paid community carers in developed countries, targeting poor and isolated chronic illness ...
Read their story
Afrika Youth Movement
Strengthen the impact of local youth-led campaigns by creating forums for decentralised movements to connect their ...
Read their story
RWAMREC
Engage men directly to change the cultural norms that prevent women from realising their full participation ...
Read their story
Search for Common Ground - South Sudan
Create a platform and knowledge base to codify arts based peacebuilding techniques that can be embedded ...
Read their story
Kav LaOved
Provide legal aid services to assist migrant workers in redressing exploitation by employers and authorities, and ...
Read their story
The Guerrilla Foundation
Empower grassroots activists with greater autonomy on the direction of funding to support movement building and ...
Read their story
Muso
Build proactive healthcare outreach systems to treat primary health issues, monitor health needs and offer education ...
Read their story
Tanzania’s People’s Health Movement
Coordinate civil society movements within countries and internationally, to make the case for directing resources toward ...
Read their story
Project 189
Advocate for policy in the middle east to protect marginalised low-paid workers from abusive employment practises ...
Read their story
Syrian American Medical Society
Target a percentage of peacekeeping resources to fund accessible medical and psychological care for victims of ...
Read their story
Refugees Welcome
Training and resources for local hosts to help integrate refugee arrivals into new lives harmoniously.
Read their story
I-Dare
Provide resources to scale youth-led online initiatives replacing violent extremism and hate speech with alternative narratives.
Read their story