Grassroots International to honor the World March of Women, Via Campesina and two Community Partners

Grassroots International is honoring four extraordinary women for their vibrant activism and leadership at a special event on September 28. This includes two Boston-area Community Partners, as well as two global leaders working to secure human rights and dignity for all. All four award recipients epitomize the organization’s values.

Co-hosts for the event are Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein and Alice Walker.   A pioneering organization headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Grassroots International has partnered with success over three decades with courageous human rights leaders around the world, and the organizations they work with. A global advocate for the human rights to land, water and food, Grassroots provides support to some of the most progressive social movements around the world. The organization remains committed to standing with its partners, amplifying their voices and struggles, telling their stories, and engaging other donors and activists to support their vital work.   Karen Ansara and Amelie Ratliff will each be awarded a Community Partnership Award at a special event on the evening of September 28 at the Dante Alighieri Center in Cambridge, MA. This award, to be presented at a gala event attended by a broad spectrum of donors, activists and volunteers, and other local luminaries recognizes their lifetime of commitment to social justice, activism and passion for community-led solutions.   Karen Ansara and her husband Jim support global anti-poverty programs through the Ansara Family Fund at the Boston Foundation. Karen works with other funders as well to ensure greater, collective impact as the co-founder of New England International Donors and as a member of the Leadership Council at Oxfam America, amongst other organizations.   Amelie Ratliff worked as a minister at Boston University while on the staff of the Boston-Cambridge Ministries for ten years in the early part of her career. An active and committed volunteer, Amelie has used her experiences and business acumen to assist non-profit organizations of every scale and size, such as the Brookline Soccer Club, The Food Project, and The Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Grassroots International.   In addition to the two Community Partners, Grassroots International is also honoring two global partners for their inspiring and powerful organizing for human rights.

• Itelvina Masioli, International Coordinating Committee member of the Via Campesina. The Via Campesina is a global social movement that brings together more than 200 million peasants, small farmers and producers to promote food sovereignty, justice and dignity.
• Miriam Nobre, Coordinator of the International Secretariat of the World March of Women (WMW). The WMW is an international feminist action movement connecting grass-roots groups and organizations working to eliminate the causes at the root of poverty and violence against women.

The WMW and the Via Campesina – both supported by Grassroots International – have collaborated together to support a global campaign to end violence against women and promote land rights and dignity for rural women.