Strategic Goals
The interconnectedness of our world has never been so apparent—nor the urgency to resist the many forces that fuel inequality, oppression, and violence. In our work for a better future, AFSC focuses on three strategic program goals and uses four core methodologies. Read more in our 2020-2030 Strategic Plan.
Photo: Omar Ponce/AFSC
Just & Sustainable Peace
Peaceful ends can only be achieved through peaceful means. AFSC works for a future free of militarism and violence. In Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and the United States, our programs help build conditions for peace, protect civic space, and uphold human dignity and rights.
In the U.S., we work to end our reliance on criminalization and retribution. We advocate for community safety beyond policing and incarceration. We seek to end prison privatization. We work for more humane conditions of confinement and better reintegration after prison. Ultimately, we work for the abolition of prisons, jails, and detention centers.
Photo: Karthikeyan Perumal/Pexels
Just Economies
Economies should work for all people and our planet. They should also promote thriving communities. AFSC challenges growing inequality and the corporate abuse of human rights.
Today, communities have inadequate access to food, housing, health care, and education. Meanwhile governments spend billions on war, incarceration, and systems of repression. We support community initiatives for food justice, housing rights, and sustainable income. We also provide tools to help people and institutions make socially responsible investments.
Photo: Kevin J. Beaty
Just Responses to Forced Displacement & Migration
AFSC works for a world where all people have the power to determine where they live and the opportunity to thrive.
We work to address the economic and political drivers of migration. We also support migrants, refugees, and internally displaced people at each stage of their journey. We offer legal services, training, human rights monitoring, and humanitarian relief. And we support immigrant-led organizing and advocacy.
How We Work
Social change movements succeed when people work together. AFSC helps forge connections from the local to the global level. We also help connect issue-specific movements. We use four complementary methods:
Convening
We bring people together who would not ordinarily meet. We encourage an open exchange of ideas. In so doing, we build trust, forge partnerships, reduce conflict, and build bridges for peace.
Organizing
We build power through collective action. We facilitate grassroots community organizing. We partner with dozens of civil society and community groups worldwide.
Advocacy
We advocate boldly and tirelessly with impacted people and allies. We work to influence government and corporate policies and bring systemic change.
Research
We conduct research grounded in the wisdom, knowledge, and experiences of those most harmed by injustice.
