Championing health and human rights with community-led partners to respond to the HIV pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Stephen Lewis Foundation is a progressive, feminist organization rooted in the principles of social justice, international solidarity, and substantive equality. The SLF was created with the express purpose of supporting community-led organizations working on the frontlines of the HIV pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa.

Many of these grassroots organizations were originally formed by small groups of individuals responding to the crisis AIDS had wrought in their own lives and in the lives of their neighbours.  Over the years, they have developed into thriving local institutions with deep connections to their communities. The SLF’s community-led partners are turning the tide of HIV and AIDS by providing care and support to women, orphaned children, LGBTIQ individuals, grandmothers and people living with HIV and AIDS.

The Stephen Lewis Foundation is ideological, and actively strives to meet the highest ethical and human rights standards in all of our work, including our policies and processes. We feel deeply accountable to the people and organizations we work with in sub-Saharan Africa. The care, intensity, imagination, and sense of urgency with which we carry out this work reflects the depth of our commitment and the dedication of our staff members, volunteers, and supporters. These values and principles guide us in our decision-making and in challenging and shifting dominant paradigms around fundraising, partnering, and international development.