Regions South Africa

Helping Forge Democracy from the Pain of Apartheid

The 1990s were pivotal years in South Africa. First came Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1990, followed by his election as president in 1994. Two years later, Mandela signed a new South African constitution, hailed as one of the most progressive in the world—a remarkable achievement for this once repressive nation.

The “prospect of a new era” drew Atlantic to South Africa, according to Harvey Dale, Atlantic’s founding president. Dale, who initiated the foundation’s work there in 1991, saw the opportunity to be “engaged in a potentially game-changing period in a society emerging from apartheid repression.” In its first years, Atlantic focused on helping aspiring young black South African attorneys get law degrees as well as clerkships on the new multiracial Constitutional Court.

In 2000, Atlantic opened a regional office in Johannesburg. Over the years it worked in South Africa, the foundation made investments to boost nursing and health services and to support research at historically disadvantaged higher education institutions.

By the end of 2016, Atlantic’s investments totaled $422 million, funds that were used to build, strengthen and advance democratic institutions and organizations that promote equity, opportunity, dignity and democracy, and that have scored major victories in improving the lives for the country’s least advantaged people.