Gender-based violence and poverty continue to affect families and communities across South Africa. For survivors, accessing justice and rebuilding their lives can be particularly difficult when financial insecurity and food insecurity are part of their daily reality.
Caroline Peters is working to change that.
A survivor of gender-based violence herself, Peters founded the Callas Foundation. The foundation explained that this community-based organisation supports survivors as they navigate the justice system while also addressing some of the social challenges affecting vulnerable communities.
Through its work, the Foundation helps survivors access support and information, mentors boys around gender equity and operates community kitchens to assist families facing food insecurity.
The impact of this approach extends beyond responding to a single challenge.
For survivors, support can make navigating the justice system less overwhelming and isolating. For vulnerable families, community kitchens can provide relief from food insecurity. For boys and young men, mentorship and conversations around gender equity can help encourage healthier attitudes and relationships.
Peters’ work received national recognition in 2025 when she won both the Santam Women of the Future Social Entrepreneur Award and the Readers’ Choice Award.
The recognition highlights the growing importance of community-led solutions that respond to the interconnected challenges of violence, poverty and inequality.
Through the Callas Foundation, Peters has turned her own experience of survival into action that is creating support, hope and opportunity for others.
Her work demonstrates how social entrepreneurship can create meaningful change when solutions are rooted in the everyday realities of the communities they serve.
For Caroline Peters, the impact is clear: supporting survivors, strengthening communities and helping create a future where more people can live with dignity, safety and hope.
Description
Through the Callas Foundation, Caroline Peters is supporting survivors of gender-based violence, mentoring boys around gender equity and helping vulnerable families access food and community support.
Editor’s Note
Through the Callas Foundation, gender-based violence survivor Caroline Peters supports other survivors, mentors boys on gender equity, and helps vulnerable families facing food insecurity, showing how community-led social innovation can create meaningful change.
