Beloved icon Charlize Theron, who was born in Benoni, South Africa, and later raised on a family farm just outside the city in the greater Johannesburg area, has a deep-rooted connection to the African continent. Over the years, the celebrity has continued to invest in charities, work with organizations and initiatives, and work on giving back to the community in any way she could. However, in 2007, she took a more serious route and started her own organization to help spread awareness among African youth about things like health, safety, and education. Here’s how Charlize Theron empowered an entire generation and worked toward eradicating HIV and AIDS in Africa.
In 2007, Chalice Theron started an initiative to help and empower the African youth
In 2007, the ‘Atomic Blonde’ star started the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, an organization that provides funding and support for local nonprofits actively fighting AIDS, with a focus on youth in South Africa. The main focus regions of her initiative were specifically South Africa, Rwanda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.Her core focus for the project was to empower African youth, help them learn about health and safety, and work toward HIV prevention. While emergency aid was keeping HIV-positive individuals alive, little was invested in youth prevention and sexual health education to ensure that such issues do not happen in the long run. According to the organization’s official website, they fund community-based firms that employ young peer educators to lead candid, judgment-free workshops on condom use, reproductive rights, and sexual wellness, among other things.While talking to Marie Claire about the initiative earlier this year, Theron shared, “We wanted to do something that we really felt was needed, instead of getting in the way of what other people were already doing.” Other than focusing on HIV prevention, the actress’s initiative also helped fund and set up youth programs to focus on mental health issues and provide assistance to people.Early on when the organization started, they worked with local groups to send mobile health vans regularly to underserved rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal, offering confidential HIV testing, counseling, and computer-literacy training that was majorly focused on prevention of the disease.
Charlize Theron’s organization also focused on bringing clean water to communities
The famed actress’ organization also started working on creating initiatives to provide clean and drinkable water for many communities in South Africa. Known as the Home Field Advantage project, the main aim was to break ground across secondary schools in KwaZulu-Natal to construct clean water infrastructure, dry sanitation toilet blocks, community gardens, and soccer fields.
CTAOP’s scholarship program
The organization also offers scholarships to students in South Africa. It was launched in 2018 as scholarships and later expanded in 2024 to offer fellowships. These programs provide full education funding and stipends, as well as mentorship to exceptional young leaders who emerge from CTAOP’s partner organizations. Talking about the same in her interview, the actress further shared, “I love this program, because I have personally seen what powerful young people are capable of.”She further added, “CTAOP has given me a way to feel like, ‘Sure, there are a lot of s*** things happening in the world right now, but I can do something that I know is effective.'” To me, that’s incredibly hopeful. Because I think we all need hope. Without hope, we die.”As per the website, the organization continues to grow strong, having reached over 4.8 million young people across Southern Africa and awarded over USD 15.8 million in grants to local non-profits and community organizations.