Graça Machel

Women and Children's Rights Activist, President of the Foundation for Community Development, Founder of New Faces New Voices

Graça Machel is a renowned international advocate for women and children's rights and has been a social and political activist over many decades. She is President of the Foundation for Community Development (FDC), a not for profit Mozambican organisation she founded in 1994. FDC makes grants to civil society organisations to strengthen communities, facilitate social and economic justice and assist in the reconstruction and development of post war Mozambique.

In 1994, the Secretary General of the United Nations appointed Graça Machel as an independent expert to carry out an assessment of the impact of armed conflict on children. Her groundbreaking report was presented in 1996 and established a new and innovative agenda for the comprehensive protection of children caught up in war, changing the policy and practice of governments, UN agencies, and international and national civil society.

Over the years, Graça Machel has gained international recognition for her achievements. Her many awards include the Laureate of Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger from the Hunger Project in 1992 and the Nansen Medal in recognition of her contribution to the welfare of refugee children in 1995. She has received the Inter Press Service's (IPS) International Achievement Award for her work on behalf of children internationally, the Africare Distingusihed Humanitarian Service Award amd the North-South Prize of the Council of Europe, amongst others.

Amongst her many current commitments, she is a Board member of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization Fund (GAVI Fund), Chancellor of the University of Cape Town (South Africa), Member of The Elders, Member of the High Level Task Force on Innovative Finance for Health Systems and Panel Member of the African Peer Review Mechanism.