History

The TRIAD Trust was born out of the belief that even global crises can be resolved with local resources.

The intricate morass of social, political, historical, geographic, cultural, medical, and economic conditions has seemingly stymied the progress initially galvanized by countless Western-based agencies and organizations who have worked tirelessly to eradicate challenges in developing regions of the world.

Through her network of friends and colleagues, TRIAD founder Brooke Wurst had heard of many efforts to use high-profile personalities to bring awareness to different worthy causes. But upon their return, these well-intentioned athletes and performing artists inevitably came back more frustrated and disillusioned.

“I’d heard the same thing one time too many, ‘But then what?’” Wurst explains. “When I heard the same thing from David Leepson, a multiple-Emmy® winning producer and filmmaker who had been commissioned by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to create two documentaries aired in conjunction with the 2005 Live 8 concerts, a guy whose footage of the realities of AIDS in Africa had reached into the homes of two billion people, I knew something was wrong with the way things were being done. ‘But then what? Who will be there when I leave?’”

“‘I will,’ I promised David. But it was more a promise to the communities he’d filmed and those who he’d never had the chance to film.”

So in 2006, TRIAD was founded on the principles that local leaders are the agents to sustaining social change and fostering healthier communities. TRIAD would identify and train community leaders to create and run programs based on local needs.

With the help of global health and HIV experts, Olympic medalists & professional coaches, former Peace Corps volunteers, Fulbright scholars, professional performing & visual artists, journalists, and educators, TRIAD created a plan to train local talent to create, promote and sustain youth-centered activities as a vehicle to deliver urgently-needed HIV and health education.

Since then, TRIAD’s expert volunteers have trained young adults in more than 30 partner communities in rural South Africa and Swaziland to create and manage sports leagues, coach athletes, lead arts programs, run newspapers and radio stations, and reinforce healthy lifestyle choices to the most vulnerable children–those who have been orphaned or affected by HIV/AIDS. In addition to offering job-training skills, we work to create income-generating opportunities to pay these coaches and teachers competitive salaries.  Learn more about our results to date.