Be The Change International (BTCI) is a humanitarian organization working to build partnerships with Georgetown University, the Harvard School of Public Health, and other institutions, individuals, non-profit organizations and governments worldwide to work toward the realization of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which includes raising a generation of children without HIV/AIDS, poverty and despair.

To meet our goals we support and partner with initiatives that “level the playing field” by removing the obstacles and challenges children and families living in distressed situations face on a daily basis. 

Immediate Goal:

Be The Change International’s immediate goal is to eradicate HIV/AIDS from the African continent. We are  currently  focusing our partnerships and initiatives in South Africa and Mozambique and will replicate our programs into surrounding countries as awareness and resources increase.

How we work:

BTCI is an international capacity building organization -- which means we assist small, in-country, community-oriented grassroots initiatives that: Fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and other disease; work to eliminate extreme poverty; empower women and children; and offer quality education and orphaned & vulnerable children’s services. Our goal is to build the capacity of these grassroots programs to help them reach as many people as possible. Through extensive studies generated by the Harvard School of Public Health, we have found that the small, grassroots programs run by respected individuals from within their own community are much more effective than large scale efforts run by foreign individuals and organizations whose delivery of message may be rooted in another culture or country’s ideals. Therefore, BTCI focuses its efforts on assisting community-based programs through: Program funding; installing program reporting, monitoring and evaluation systems; and, organizational and managerial mentoring and guidance to establish long term sustainability and growth. When necessary, BTCI will help local activist groups create and develop initiatives needed to solve issues not currently being addressed.

Be The Change International is modeled after FreshMinistries’ successful program, Siyafundisa. Siyafundisa, created by Be The Change International founder Dr. Robert V. Lee, III and Siyafundisa Executive Director, Dr. Bruce Grob, is an HIV/AIDS prevention and anti-stigma campaign run by Africans for Africans. The program successfully reaches thousands of  people of all faiths, races and nationalities through peer-to-peer training. In most cultures, every village, township and city has a trusted place of worship that plays a central role in the community’s social structure. Through Siyafundisa’s partnership with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa it was able to quickly gain trust within the community and reach thousands of youth -- of all faiths -- with its HIV/AIDS prevention message. Be The Change International is proud to partner and support Siyafundisa and other community-based grassroots organizations reaching out to help their families and neighbors overcome the HIV/AIDS pandemic, extreme poverty and gender inequality.

Through your support for Be The Change International and is partners’ programs, our global community becomes stronger, healthier and more prosperous -- one child, woman, man, community at  a time.