Humanity in Action

The first annual programs for university students began in Denmark and the Netherlands in 1999. A program in Germany was added in 2002. In 2006, HIA launched a program in France and Poland. A United States program was added in 2006 and was subsequently relaunched in 2015. In 2015, HIA launched a program in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Working in transnational teams, students study the causes of intolerance, historical examples of resistance, and the resources available to those who advocate more inclusive and participatory democracies in these countries.Program expenses generally include lecturers, stipends for students' food and local transportation, international transportation to Europe for U.S. applicants who require need-based support, project directors' fees, and costs of publishing the students' reports. Additionally, HIA provides direct cash support to its affiliate organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland, based on program needs.In 2022 and 2021, HIA launched the Racial Equity Grant to suppport select projects of fellows and senior fellows who are working to increase racial equity and anti-racist work in the United States. In 2021, HIA sponsored professional fellows in Detroit and launched a grant competition for projects implemented there. In partnership with the Alfred Landecker Foundation (ALF), HIA launched the Landecker Democracy Fellowship in 2020. Each year, the Fellowship brings together 30 diverse leaders from the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States who spend one year on creating projects that reinvent democratic spaces, strengthen social cohesion and build connections across communities. With financial support from HIA in the form of fellowship stipends and project stipends, the cohort of the Landecker Fellows works on implementing their projects. HIA offers programming, community building, and training opportunities for the Fellows. In 2022, ALF started financing and supporting HIA with a capacity building grant, a 3-year project that will enable HIA to build upon its education accomplishments of the past two and a half decades and remain a pillar of liberal democratic aspirations in many countries.HIA and its affiliate organizations host international conferences, grant competitions and, in some years, additional study trips and other programming.