When, in 2007, Oscar winner Charlize Theron (Monster, 2003) launched her eponymous nonprofit — the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project — its mission was as targeted as it was ambitious: to bring HIV prevention and information to a continent where both were in tragically short supply.

But in recent years, CTAOP’s scope has widened, as the organization has formed partnerships with other African NGOs to spread vaccine equity, increase educational opportunities and battle gender-based violence.

Theron, born in South Africa, hopped, discussed her organization’s successes and challenges — “You don’t become an agent of change overnight” — as well as its goals for the future.

But she did not come alone. She also invited two colleagues into the conversation: Neo Mohajane, program director at HIVSA, an AIDS-focused nonprofit that often partners with CTAOP; and Miche Williams, 24-year-old alum of Brave Rock Girl, a CTAOP partner program that provides safe spaces for young women in Manenberg, one of the most dangerous townships in South Africa.

THERON Because it’s important to me [that we be] authentic storytellers. When we birthed CTAOP, there was messaging that needed to happen, but it’s old-school thinking that one person can bring that message and spread it. That’s something we wanted to change early on. So, when I get to meet these incredible women and get to know them through working with their programs, I rely on them to help tell the story. Today, we have the opportunity for them to tell their story and the truth of their narrative.

NEO MOHAJANE I usually shy away from the word “empower” — people use it loosely to cover a multitude of sins — but I’m going to say it here. The relationship with CTAOP has been so empowering. It’s allowed us to do things that we only dreamed about, things that we wondered if we could do. They walked us through the journey of launching Choma. Charlize was there and said, “I see your vision and I believe in what you guys are trying to do.” We often joke at HIVSA that we think there must be something in the water that their whole team drinks because you get the exact same sentiment from everybody that works at CTAOP. You get the feeling of somebody who truly believes in your capabilities and truly believes that if you need a leg up, if you need a hand to help you walk the road, if you need a hug even, all of that is there.

MOHAJANE Choma is an online magazine that provides health information to girls and young women. Young women may not necessarily actively look for health information unless they are in trouble. But they will look for information related to fashion and beauty, and if you package it with health information, then you’ve made it more accessible. They may look [in Choma] for information related to sex, love and relationships, but they’ll also find information related to HIV prevention, contraception, delaying sexual debut as well as inspiring young girls to have dreams and aspirations. Choma provides all that information on your phone — or any other platform, from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and a website.

THERON It was so innovative. You don’t necessarily need brick-and-mortar to change people’s lives. I got to visit when they launched, and it was so powerful and effective in reaching young people at their level. You can do all the great work you want, but unless somebody can actually hear it, it doesn’t mean anything. Young people are tough. I have two in my house. Unless you can come to their level, they just think you’re annoying them — especially when you’re talking about things like reproductive health. That’s the last thing they want to talk to their parents about. Reaching them at a very specific level, through sports or specific centers where girls really feel like they can relax and be a part of something that they’re interested in while also giving them this information [is what works].

Meeting young people where they are

THERON Just like you’re asking questions and getting information, that really is our process [at CTAOP]. I haven’t lived in South Africa for over 30 years, and so even though I am a South African, for me to step in and think that I have this knowledge [would be naïve]. I know the statistics and I know what our program partners share with us. First of all, let’s start with this: South Africa is the most beautiful country you will ever go to. It is also a country that is still suffering from a lot of turmoil, and unfortunately people are suffering for a lot of sins that happened many, many years ago. It’s also the youngest continent; I think its over 60 percent are under 25. When people say that young people are the future, they are really talking about Africa. There’s so much to invest in. It’s pretty obvious why I’m interested in it — I’m from there. It’s where my bones are from. That’s never going to change no matter how long I live here.

THERON The word charity just really bothers me so much because truly what it should be called is solidarity. We are working in solidarity. We know what our role is at CTAOP, and I know the role that I play as someone who has a bit of a platform over here. As a unified head, we try to work in solidarity on long-term partnerships through grant-making and storytelling. On my part, I feel it’s not a responsibility, it’s just the right thing to do to stand up, whether that be through the United Nations or through CTAOP or through the press that I get that allows me the access to talk about these issues. There’s no other way to explain it. People ask, “Why South Africa?” The answer is that if you really, truly care about people and you care about the wellbeing of the world, you have to look at places like South Africa where femicide is five times higher than any other place. We should figure out what’s going on. I try my best. I have also failed miserably. I think failure is how CTAOP is constantly evolving

To be successful, you have to be nimble and pivot

THERON The COVID pandemic was interesting for us because it became clear at the beginning that in many places outside of America and Europe that countries were being forgotten in terms of having access to healthcare. We kept hearing that over and over. We joined our program partners to try and figure out how we could be of help in providing access. Ultimately, we didn’t think that we could do it because we hadn’t been involved in that way. It all happened so fast, and COVID taught CTAOP that we could. We can pivot and it gave us the confidence and understanding that we have access to tools and resources that we could use.

Pivoting is life, it’s something you have to embrace in everything that you do. The older you get, the more you realize that there’s such power in that. Not this kind of anger that you wrap change around, but that there’s a real empowerment in stepping into a world where you have to challenge yourself. The challenges can be huge and they happen fast. For us in the future, it boils down to our fundamental philosophy which is allowing our program partners to guide us. We work very hard over here to try and get rich people to give me lots of money but we also like to continue to create safe spaces where we can have the authentic storytellers step in and share.