What we do

A women’s burden

All these years Helena had been inhaling smoke while cooking on an open fire. So something had to change. And it did. In 2012 Helena and her husband made a decision that transformed their lives.

How do you get governments, producers, retailers, certifiers and civil society to step up efforts together towards a living wage in the agri-food sector? You organize “The Only Way is Up!” – the first major European conference on living wages organized in seven years.

Sexual harassment is prevalent in the floriculture industry in East and Southern Africa. Women are hired to do the lowest-paid jobs, whereas men often fulfil supervisory or managerial roles. This imbalance of power, combined with wages too low to earn a decent living, leads to many sexual harassment incidents.

Reflecting on five years of Citizen Agency

In a country plagued by corruption, how can you prevent another toxic mining spill? Is it possible to end malnutrition without listening to everyone’s ideas, mothers’ as well as ministers’? Or, propel women’s development when their needs are mere footnotes in energy policy planning? For this, you need to partner with courageous and determined civil society organizations.

Why art is important to Hivos

Freedom of expression is the hallmark of democracy. It is a sign of societies where citizens are free to openly debate and contribute to a myriad of issues affecting their day-to-day lives. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights lists it as a fundamental human right.

“A Ugandan girl is always judged by whether she would make a good wife, not a potential member of the workforce,” says Leah Eryenyu, a professional feminist who’s fighting to improve the rights of women in the flower sector. “With a living wage women could flourish and take well-considered decisions about their lives.”

Our story

Hivos believes that humanity can only contribute to greater good if all human beings lived responsibly and ethically. Our premise is simple: realising true equality for men and women is not a pipe dream, it is possible. This is where our story of creating safe work spaces began.

In just a couple of days, Kenya’s high court is expected to make a ruling that will turn the tide for Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) rights in the country.  Same sex relations in Kenya are outlawed under the penal code and considered punishable with a sentence of up to 14 years. While […]

Conserving global biodiversity

“Food is a symbol of self-determination. You cannot have dignity without feeding yourself.

Fighting corruption with cartoons

Makarao (Swahili slang for “police”) is a popular online animation series that follows the lives and antics of two fictional policemen in Kenya. The stories use sharp humor to focus on the many and often absurd ways policemen, especially traffic police, demand bribes and harass average citizens.

Fewer choices, shrinking diversity and rising food giants They say seeds are the soul of agriculture, a statement that fights to justify some truth but all indications of reality show an uncertain future of seeds. Currently, it is estimated that the world has lost 75 per cent of its crop diversity. A stark reality that […]

Changing the food system

Allow us to take you to Indonesia, Bolivia, Zambia, Kenya and Uganda. In these countries, we’re getting street vendors, municipalities, cooks, farmers, activists and politicians to not only fight malnutrition in innovative ways, but also to slowly change the way the food system works.