Women for Women International

Founded at 23. More than 500,000 women survivors of war supported.

Zainab Salbi founded Women for Women International in 1993, at the age of 23, after learning about the rape camps in Bosnia. The idea was simple and direct: connect a woman survivor of war with a sponsor who would send monthly support and write to her, so that help arrived with a name attached to it rather than as anonymous aid.

In the three decades since, the organization has reached more than 500,000 women survivors of war and mobilized over $240 million in aid, working across Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Kosovo, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Sudan and beyond.

Zainab Salbi with Women for Women International programme participants in Rwanda — With programme participants in Rwanda.

A model built on women's own decisions

The programme combines direct financial support with training in business and vocational skills, rights awareness, and health education. Women enrol for a year. They decide for themselves what to do with the stipend and what to learn — the premise throughout is that women survivors of war are not passive recipients but the people best placed to rebuild their own lives and communities.

Zainab Salbi and Berra Kabarungi meeting with women in Kayonza, Rwanda to plan for International Women's Day — Planning for International Women's Day with women in Kayonza, Rwanda.

Recognition

In 2006 Women for Women International received the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, the largest annual humanitarian award, which Zainab accepted as the organization's founder and CEO.

Women for Women International programme participants gathered together

To learn more about Women for Women International, visit https://www.womenforwomen.org