Stephen Lewis Foundation

History

The foundation was started by Stephen Lewis, a former Ontario Opposition Leader and Canadian ambassador to the United Nations. He first proposed the idea in an interview published in The Globe and Mail newspaper on January 4, 2003, citing the crisis of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Several readers responded with financial donations, the first of which arrived before the foundation had been formally established. By the time the foundation's first cheques were mailed out in June 2003 for projects, the donations totaled $275,000. As of 2014, the foundation's website indicates that it has disbursed over $80 million to more than 1,100 initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa.

For his efforts in starting the foundation, Lewis was named as person of the year by Maclean's magazine in 2003 and was awarded the Pearson Peace Medal in 2004. He continues to travel and speak on the foundation's behalf. Lewis's daughter, Ilana Landsberg-Lewis, was the foundation's executive director since its formation in 2003 until 2020, and its African Advisory Board is chaired by Graça Machel.

As of 2020, the executive director has been human rights advocate Meg French who worked previously with UNICEF and the United Nations, and had ties to the foundation since participating in the International AIDS Conference in 2006 when the Grandmothers To Grandmothers campaign was launched.

Activities

The Stephen Lewis Foundation is mandated to provide care for women suffering from HIV/AIDS, to assist orphans and other children affected by AIDS, to support grandmothers caring for orphaned grandchildren, and to support groups of people living with HIV/AIDS.

On March 7, 2006, the foundation launched the "Grandmothers to Grandmothers" campaign to encourage grandmothers in Canada to raise funds and awareness on behalf of African grandmothers caring for children orphaned by AIDS. More than forty groups were started across Canada in the first five months of the initiative. The first "Grandmothers to Grandmothers gathering" took place at George Brown College at the University of Toronto in August 2006, attended by two hundred grandmothers from Canada and one hundred from sub-Saharan Africa. Several groups from the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign were profiled in Grandmother Power, a book by photojournalist Paola Gianturco.

On September 7, 2013, the foundation hosted a people's tribunal in Vancouver, BC, to shine a light on the discrimination and inequality faced by African grandmothers who are supporting communities and children affected by HIV/AIDS. Six grandmothers from across sub-Saharan Africa presented personal testimonies to four Tribunal judges: Theo Sowa, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, Joy Phumaphi and Gloria Steinem.

Approach to funding

The foundation mostly supports small frontline groups and charities, although on some occasions it has provided larger projects with money. It has supported initiatives in Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The foundation’s approach to funding is based on the principle that community-based organizations are best poised to respond effectively to the HIV/AIDS crisis. In evaluating funding applications from prospective partners, the foundation places particular emphasis on the involvement of women, community members, and people living with HIV and AIDS in decision-making processes.

References

References

1. "Stephen Lewis Foundation".
2. Stephanie Nolen, "Stephen Lewis has one word for us: Help," ''The Globe and Mail'', 4 January 2003, F1.
3. Stephanie Nolen, "‘Someone is beginning to listen'," ''The Globe and Mail'', 28 June 2003, F3.
4. [http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/financials.htm Financial Information], Stephen Lewis Foundation, accessed 4 September 2015.
5. Samantha Martin, "'I see almost exclusively the bad. I don't see a lot that's good'; Stephen Lewis speaks on AIDS in Africa during University of Guelph talk Thursday," ''Guelph Mercury'', 4 October 2005, A3.
6. "Lewis passes torch after heroic effort," ''Toronto Star'', 7 December 2006, R10.
7. [http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/about_ED.htm About Ilana Landsberg-Lewis] {{Webarchive. link. (4 March 2016 , Stephen Lewis Foundation, accessed 19 February 2011; [http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/about_africanAdvisory.htm The African Advisory Board] {{Webarchive). link. (6 March 2016 , Stephen Lewis Foundation, accessed 19 February 2011.)
8. [https://stephenlewisfoundation.org/leadership-team/], Stephen Lewis Foundation, accessed 19 October 2023.
9. [http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/about_who.htm Who We Are] and [http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/about.htm Our Mandate], Stephen Lewis Foundation, accessed 19 February 2011.
10. [http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/grandmothers.htm Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign], Stephen Lewis Foundation, accessed 19 February 2011; "New Campaign to Support Africa's Unrecognized Heroes - The Grandmothers," ''All Africa'', 8 March 2006, 08:13.
11. "Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign," ''Ottawa Citizen'', 13 August 2006, B2.
12. Debra Black, "Grandmothers gather to share joys, sorrows," ''Toronto Star'', 12 August 2006, A21.
13. Vicki Larson, [http://www.grandmotherscampaign.org/mill-valley-photojournalist-paola-gianturco-documents-activist-grannies-in-new-book "Mill Valley photojournalist Paola Gianturco documents activist grannies in new book,"] ''Marin Independent Journal'', 18 September 2012, accessed 12 November 2012.
14. "African Grandmothers Tribunal".
15. [http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/projectfunding.htm Funding Projects], Stephen Lewis Foundation, accessed 19 February 2011.
16. "About the Foundation".
17. "Partnership Criteria".