Growth & Development

Humanists International works to grow the worldwide humanist movement, fostering new humanist organisations and helping them to develop.  Discover your nearest Humanists International Member Organisation.

A new Growth and Development Plan (G&D Plan) was approved by the Board of Humanists International in October 2016. It aims to:

• help the growth of the global Humanist movement;
• provide tools, resources, and funding for the development of new and emerging organisations worldwide;
• strengthen the relationships between organisations, in a spirit of solidarity and international cooperation.

The G&D Plan prioritises Latin America in 2017, Africa in 2018, and Asia in 2019. The results of this regional focus are astonishing: in February 2018 Humanists International exceeded indeed 150 Member Organizations worldwide!

In February 2018 the number of Member Organisations of the IHEU exceeded 150 for the first time

The first main program of the G&D Plan is the Café Humaniste series, an event series by Humanists International, bringing people together to discuss questions of interest and concern to humanists, wherever they are from.

The second main program of the G&D Plan is the opening of different grant schemes, meant to support our Member Organisations’ projects as well as their participation to the activities of the international humanist movement:

• In 2017, for example, we started awarding the Regional Humanist Hub grants, meant to support the work in capacity-building and the promotion of humanism.
• Every year Humanists International holds its General Assembly in a different country worldwide – for example in London (United Kingdom) in 2017 and in Auckland (New Zealand) in 2018. To facilitate the participation on a global scale, Humanist International provides every year around 6/7 Travel Grants to help representatives of its Member Organisations to attend the General Assembly and all other humanist events on the same weekend.
• In 2019 Humanists International, via its youth section Young Humanists International, will be launching a grant scheme called “Young Humanist Regional Hub”. Grants will be awarded for all activities, events and projects focusing on the promotion of humanism specifically for young people – for example.

The main activities of the G&D Plan are:

• the organisation of Café Humaniste around the world
• the award of Humanist Regional Hub Grants
• the award of Travel Grants to attend Humanists International yearly General Assembly
• the creation of resources meant to help the growth and development of humanist organisations worldwide
• the creation of media resources on humanism

Humanists International also has a network of contacts in countries where there is no Humanist organisation yet, or where the local organisation is newly formed or very small. The Growth and Development network is supporting organisations that want to strengthen their humanist identity and individuals who want to establish such an organisation. If you are part of any humanist organisation or if you want to establish a new one, please get in touch with us by sending an email to office@iheu.org.