By: HFI staff
How Israeli Organizations Continue to Change the World
Israel is living through one of the most difficult chapters in its history. With war dragging on and families across the country facing unthinkable loss, the instinct might be to turn inward, to focus only on survival.
But that’s not what’s happening.
Instead, Israeli organizations are continuing to lead life-changing efforts around the world. While bombs fall and headlines swirl, they’re still working—in Africa, in remote villages, in classrooms—driven by a belief that doing good isn’t something you pause when times get hard. It’s something you hold onto.
Three Israeli-founded organizations—Fair Planet, Shanita, and Innovation: Africa—are showing what that looks like in real time. They’re not just symbols of innovation and compassion. They’re proof that even in tragedy, purpose can carry on.
Fair Planet: Empowering Farmers with the Power of Seeds
Fair Planet is a non-profit organization that aims to break the cycle of poverty and improve food security in Africa by enabling smallholder farmers to access high-quality vegetable seeds. Based on the understanding that seeds are the foundation of agricultural success, Fair Planet works directly with local farmers, governments, and international seed companies to provide education, training, and resources.
Fair Planet trains farmers on how to grow high-yield, climate-appropriate vegetables that not only improve nutrition but also boost income and sustainability. By helping farmers bridge the “seed gap”—the divide between available agricultural technology and what smallholders actually use—Fair Planet facilitates long-term change.
The beauty of Fair Planet’s approach lies in its humility and practicality. Rather than imposing a system, the organization partners with local communities, respecting indigenous knowledge while offering practical tools for improvement.
What makes Fair Planet’s story even more powerful is the resilience behind it. In October 2023, the organization’s director, Dr. Shoshan Haran, was kidnapped by Hamas during the brutal attack on Israel. Several members of her family were murdered. And yet—even in the face of that horror—Fair Planet didn’t stop its work. The team kept going. Because for them, helping others is not optional. It’s who they are. Their continued work is a profound statement: tragedy can break hearts, but it doesn’t have to break mission.
Watch to learn more: Feeding the world: Fair Planet
Shanita: Empowering Uganda’s Children Through Education
Shanita is an Israeli-founded nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting children in crisis through long-term educational journeys. Operating in the Karamoja region of northeastern Uganda—one of the country's most impoverished areas—Shanita focuses on providing vulnerable children with access to quality education and comprehensive care. The organization serves children deprived of education due to factors such as extreme poverty, discrimination, gender inequality, and other injustices.
Shanita's Scholarship Program offers more than just academic opportunities. It provides immediate support to children facing crises, ensuring they have access to healthcare services, nutritious meals, and a safe environment to thrive. Each student receives personalized mentorship from local staff members who guide them throughout their educational journey.
The organization's approach is holistic, aiming to transform children's lives from mere survival to thriving. Through educational tools and extracurricular activities, Shanita empowers children academically while cultivating essential life skills such as leadership, critical thinking, and problem-solving. This supportive environment fosters a strong sense of belonging and community, preparing children for a brighter future.
Shanita's commitment to Karamoja is deep-rooted. Rather than expanding broadly, the organization chooses to deepen its impact within this specific region, working hand in hand with local communities to unlock their full potential and create lasting change from within.
Watch to learn more: Shanita
Innovation: Africa — Bringing Light and Water to the Continent
Innovation: Africa is perhaps one of the most striking examples of Israeli tech meeting humanitarian need. This award-winning non-profit organization brings Israeli solar, water, and agricultural technologies to rural African villages. Since its founding in 2008, Innovation: Africa has provided clean water, electricity, and sustainable agricultural solutions to over 4 million people across 10 African countries.
The organization installs solar panels to power schools, medical clinics, and water pumps—essentially transforming the infrastructure of entire communities. One of its most life-changing technologies is the solar-powered water system that allows clean water to be pumped from deep underground aquifers, freeing women and children from the daily burden of walking for hours to fetch water.
What makes Innovation: Africa unique is not only its cutting-edge approach, but its transparency and accountability. Each project is equipped with remote monitoring systems that allow donors to see real-time data on water flow and electricity use, ensuring sustainable impact.
The founder, Sivan Ya’ari, has often spoken about how her work is driven by Jewish values and the responsibility to help others, regardless of race, religion, or geography. Innovation: Africa embodies the mission of restoring dignity and life to some of the world’s most vulnerable communities using the power of Israeli innovation.
Watch to learn more: Innovation: Africa
A Culture of Strength and Global Responsibility
These organizations reflect something deeper than humanitarian aid. They represent a national culture of resilience—of people who, even in the middle of war, are still reaching out to help others stand taller.
Fair Planet, Shanita, and Innovation: Africa are not offering handouts. They are building systems that last—systems rooted in respect, local partnership, and long-term change. Their impact is measured not just in numbers, but in lives made stronger, children given a future, and communities transformed.
In the face of unimaginable personal loss and national trauma, these organizations remind the world that Israel’s strength doesn’t end at its borders. It radiates outward—quietly, consistently, and powerfully.
This isn’t just a story about aid. It’s a story about values. About showing up even when you’re hurting. About believing that what happens in a remote village in Uganda or Ethiopia matters as much as what happens at home.
Even as sirens wail and fear looms, these Israeli organizations are choosing to build, to serve, to heal. That’s more than humanitarian work. It’s leadership.
And right now, the world could use more of it.