Graça Machel, born in Mozambique, is a renowned international advocate for women’s and children’s rights, and has been a social and political activist for many decades. She is president of the Foundation for Community Development (FDC), a Mozambican not-for-profit organisation she founded in 1994. FDC makes grants to civil society organisations to strengthen communities, facilitate social and economic justice, and assist in the reconstruction and development of postwar Mozambique. In 1994, the Secretary General of the United Nations appointed Ms Machel as an independent expert to carry out an assessment of the impact of armed conflict on children. Her groundbreaking report, presented in 1996, established a new agenda for the comprehensive protection of children caught up in war, changing the policy and practice of governments, UN agencies, and international and national civil society. Over the years, Ms Machel has gained international recognition for her achievements. Her many awards include the Laureate of Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger from the Hunger Project in 1992 and the Nansen Medal in recognition of her contribution to the welfare of refugee children in 1995. She has also received the Inter Press Service’s International Achievement Award for her work on behalf of children internationally, the Africare Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award and the North-South Prize of the Council of Europe. Among her many current commitments, Ms Machel is Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, a founding member of The Elders, a member of the High Level Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems and a panel member of the African Peer Review Mechanism. A former First Lady of both Mozambique and South Africa, Ms Machel is married to Nelson Mandela