American Jewish World Service (AJWS) is an international development organization motivated by Judaism’s imperative to pursue justice. AJWS is dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among the people of the developing world regardless of race, religion or nationality. Through grants to grassroots organizations, volunteer service, advocacy and education, AJWS fosters civil society, sustainable development and human rights for all people, while promoting the values and responsibilities of global citizenship within the Jewish community.

 

WHAT WE DO

 

AJWS fights hunger, disease and poverty in the developing world

With your support they fund hundreds of grassroots organizations working to promote health, education, economic development, disaster relief, and social and political change in the developing world. They work with women, youth, ethnic, religious and sexual minorities, indigenous people, refugees and IDPs and people living with HIV/AIDS.

AJWS's grantmaking supports grassroots communities in Africa, Asia and the Americas that are working to create a just and equitable world where human rights are universally recognized, where poverty, discrimination and violence no longer exist and where individuals are free to flourish and live their lives with dignity.

 

AJWS offers service volunteer opportunities with a difference

For Jewish people seeking to build a more just and sustainable world, AJWS service programs provide unique travel, work and learning opportunities for both individuals and groups. These programs integrate Jewish values and study into the developing world experience, and help create lasting change.

 

AJWS advocates for global change

Raising awareness and influencing U.S. international policies and funding in relation to human rights, global health and poverty is an integral component of AJWS’s work. In partnership with their grantees, they advocate for U.S. engagement to help find peaceful and just resolutions to the world’s worst conflicts and to provide support to rebuild societies devastated by crisis.

 

AJWS educates the American Jewish community about global issues

AJWS seeks to make the pursuit of global justice an integral part of American Jewish identity. They bring Jewish perspectives to bear on many dimensions of global poverty through teaching and publishing materials that are true to Jewish tradition and responsive to the unique challenges of the 21st century.