Community Mentor Mothers at work in the area around Ikhwezi Clinic, South Africa.

LGT Venture Philanthropy (LGT VP) and mothers2mothers (m2m) are pleased to announce a three-year follow-on engagement from LGT VP to m2m. The LGT VP and m2m partnership began in 2009, when LGT VP invested in m2m’s scalable, adaptable model, and has continued uninterrupted since then. Now, this new flexible funding is to support m2m’s 2022 – 2026 Strategic Plan, which seeks to cut preventable deaths by one-third for people enrolled in m2m programs across the African continent, achieved through further evolution of m2m’s peer-led, community health worker model and deeper partnerships with Governments. It also cements m2m’s place as one of LGT VP’s longest standing portfolio organizations—LGT VP and m2m will celebrate 15 years of continuous partnership in 2024.  

LGT VP’s flexible core funding combined with talent support has been instrumental to m2m serving 15 million clients 

Mentor Mother Liako (right) with clients in Lesotho.

m2m’s “Mentor Mothers”—local women living with HIV, trained and employed as community health workers to deliver health care services to their peers—have already reached over 15 million people across the African continent since 2001. They have delivered health outcomes for entire families, including virtually eliminating the transmission of HIV from mother-to-child among enrolled clients for eight consecutive years, and helping to keep over two million at-risk mothers and children alive. Support from LGT VP has been instrumental in achieving these outcomes, especially as m2m has been able to invest LGT VP’s flexible core funding into innovation and growth initiatives that have underpinned these impacts. The relationship also goes well beyond financial capital —LGT VP has supported m2m in dynamic ways, including bolstering m2m’s human capital through the placement of 10 fellows over 13 years through the LGT VP Impact Fellowship. 

m2m’s new 2026 strategy will expand direct service delivery as well as double down on health-system strengthening  

A Mentor Mother based at Chipata Level 1 Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia giving a health education talk about cervical cancer.

Over the next five years, m2m will leverage its proven peer-led model to double down on its original mission of ending HIV and achieve the UNAIDS triple elimination target for HIV, Syphilis, and Hepatitis B for enrolled clients, while also tackling life-threatening health issues that pose major risks for people living with HIV—all with the aim of building a fairer, healthier future. Expanded health areas to be addressed by m2m will include tuberculosis, malaria, and non-communicable diseases (including cervical cancer)—many of which occur alongside HIV and in settings of marginalization and poverty. To increase and accelerate impact, m2m’s new strategy also includes a focus on supporting African governments to unlock the power of female community health workers through certification, employment, and career pathing, while also advocating for greater recognition and upliftment for this critical group of health professionals. 

Frank Beadle de Palomo, m2m President and CEO commented:   

Frank Beadle de Palomo, m2m President and CEO.

“With this investment into m2m’s new strategy, LGT VP has once again proven their commitment to ensuring transformational health outcomes for African families, achieved by ensuring women closest to the problem lead the solution. The fact that this is—again—non-programmatic support is critical. This means we can continue to invest LGT VP’s resources where they are most needed and will have the greatest impact. This award for m2m is an important step on our journey to double our reach, and our annual revenue and support by 2026 to achieve our ambitious strategic goals. We hope this vote of confidence from LGT VP will help spur additional investment from partners old and new alike.”   

Tom Kagerer, Partner at LGT VP, added:  

Tom Kagerer, Partner at LGT Venture Philanthropy. Photographer: Eddy Risch, Schaan.

“We believe that for philanthropic funding to be truly transformative, we must strengthen the capabilities of organizations delivering effective solutions so that they can drive more significant impact and embed their models in wider systems. Through our partnership with m2m we are doing exactly this. For more than a decade of collaboration, we had the opportunity to learn alongside m2m what it takes to provide quality healthcare. We witnessed their expansion to over 10 lusophone, francophone, and anglophone countries in sub-Saharan Africa, targeting new demographics such as adolescent boys and girls, and using tech and data to steadily increase reach and quality of their intervention. Through the Health System Strengthening focus of their new strategy, m2m doubles down on their work with national and regional government partners. That approach will ensure that m2m’s experience is not only benefitting the communities they directly serve, but also influences governments and NGO partners in shaping primary healthcare solutions that can be implemented within the public system, that are cost-effective and improve health in the communities they intend to serve.” 

LGT Venture Philanthropy is an independent charitable foundation established in 2007 with teams in Switzerland, Sub-Saharan Africa, and India. The Foundation strives to improve the quality of life of people facing disadvantages, contribute to healthy ecosystems and build resilient, inclusive, and prosperous communities. LGT VP focuses on strengthening the capabilities of locally rooted organizations that deliver effective, scalable solutions across health, education, and the environment contributing directly to the SDGs. For more information, please visit  www.lgtvp.com.