about Inter Pares

When you "Give Something Big," you're not just supporting Inter Pares – you're supporting people working for social change all over the world.

Gifts to Inter Pares contribute to the work of a wide variety of organizations in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Canada. While they are in different contexts, they are all addressing structural roots of poverty, injustice, and obstacles to public participation, and promoting more equitable futures. Most of them work at the national level but collaborate closely with grassroots groups, and also connect internationally with others.

Inter Pares engages on issues as varied as violence against women, food sovereignty, refugees and displaced people's rights, peacebuilding, health, and just economies. The thread that connects our work is participation, strengthening the capacity of people and communities – especially the most marginalized – to influence the social, economic, and political structures that affect their lives.

What is Inter Pares?

The name Inter Pares means "among equals" in Latin, and reflects our belief in the equality of people, North and South. Inter Pares was founded in 1975 on a commitment to promote peace and justice in Canada and internationally. We believe that this is our responsibility as Canadians, and that we must do so by collaborating with and supporting the struggles for justice of people around the world.

This means that we do not have overseas offices, or public profile in the other countries where we work. Instead, we relate to organizations and activists working in their own countries to confront injustice, helping them strengthen their work so they can occupy the political space that belongs to them. Most of them are from countries that have past or present internal armed conflict and dictatorships. We place a special emphasis on the leadership of women and of marginalized communities.

How does Inter Pares work?

Inter Pares works with groups around the world who are promoting justice in many ways: we raise money and political support in the North for Southern activism; we bring our strategic perspective and our feminist analysis to program development; we work in coalition, connecting our colleagues with others we know who are struggling with the same issues; and we engage in policy advocacy and public education here at home. We also support domestic social justice work here that fits into our global concerns, and bring together Canadian and international activists who share common cause. To learn more, please visit www.interpares.ca.

About "Give Something Big"

"Give Something Big" raises funds for organizations working towards social transformation, while offering an ethical and environmentally friendly alternative to holiday consumerism for people who care about peace and justice.

In a sea of charitable gift campaigns, we wanted to do more than create Christmas cards for a worthy cause. Our holiday cards are meant to capture the spirit of solidarity that's part of everything we do...and to convey that sometimes, our fondest holiday wish for our loved ones is something that just won't fit under a tree.

Sudanese women protesting for their political rights. The Gender Centre for Research and Training (GCRT) promotes women’s rights and social change in Sudan. Through researching aspects of Sudanese women’s situation, engaging with parliamentarians, journalists and decision-makers, building capacity among grassroots activists, and promoting women’s political education and participation, the GCRT promotes peace and gender equality. Photo: GCRT

Graphic from CALDH poster. In Guatemala, the Centre for Legal Action in Human Rights (CALDH) leads legal battles to release key military documents from the country’s forty-year armed conflict. Through building strong legal strategies and institutional strengthening, CALDH also supports victims’ organizations to testify in international courts against human rights violators such as former Guatemalan dictator General Ríos Montt. Photo: CALDH