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What We Do

Grassroots projects are the focus of the Stephen Lewis Foundation — providing resources to small, front-line groups that make tremendously effective use of comparatively small amounts of money. On rare occasions, we fund larger undertakings where we are sure the funds are being disbursed at the community level. Since 2003, we've funded more than 300 projects in 15 countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

Download the PDF version of our brochure and read more about the projects we fund in our latest newsletters.

Our mandate

We focus on four critical areas:
women, orphans, grandmothers and people living with HIV and AIDS

For women with HIV/AIDS, we fund initiatives which provide counselling, and necessities such as gloves, soap, clothing, sleeping mats, nutritious food, and drugs for opportunistic infections. For the neighbours, relatives and older women who are struggling to care for the dying, we fund training for home-based care, social support initiatives, home and hospital care visits, daycare and respite care, and money for income-generating projects to help women with HIV/AIDS support their families.

We assist orphans in every possible way from the payment of school fees and supplies, to support for their guardians, most often grandmothers and older teenagers. The grassroots organizations we support nourish the orphans through school gardens and school feeding programmes. We fund projects that help these children cope with their grief and then work to build their self-sufficiency through vocational and life skills training.

Grandmothers single-handedly care for millions of children orphaned by AIDS, sometimes as many as ten to fifteen in one household. These magnificently courageous women bury their own children and then look after their orphan grandchildren, calling on astonishing reserves of love and emotional resilience. But they do so with almost no support. Learn more about the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign.

The Foundation supports projects that unite women, men and children living with HIV/AIDS. One of the most important objectives for associations of people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHAs) is to educate themselves and share information with the broader community on prevention, treatment, care and the elimination of stigma. We also support PLWHAs to provide nutritional support, home-based care, prevention workshops and assistance in accessing treatment as well as income generating activities.

Our Funding

Since 2003, we have funded over 300 projects in 15 sub-Saharan African countries. A number of the initiatives that we support are detailed in this section of our website and in the feature stories section of our website. The funding provided by the Foundation is just the beginning. Ongoing funding is desperately needed for these projects to be sustainable and for other important initiatives that the organization may wish to undertake. As the work of these grassroots organizations gains momentum, the Foundation intends to be there to support projects into the future.

All of the projects inspire us with their resourcefulness, professionalism and dedication – bringing hope and dignity to the lives of those they reach. To find out more about them, click on the Projects We Fund button to the left. To learn more about how we fund, visit Funding Process.