ACHIEVEMENTS AND AWARDS

“Only when we stand together, can we make a difference!” – Nelson Mandela

There is a very violent and brutal war against women and children underway in South Africa! An urgent response across the whole spectrum of South African society is required to tackle the root causes of the pandemic of domestic violence and sexual assault!

WE EMPOWER EVERY WOMAN TO LEAD A LIFE OF DIGNITY AND FREEDOM

VISION

We envision a South Africa where adults and children are free from abuse and sexual violence. TEARS Foundation seeks to be an agent of transformation by promoting positive change in societal values and attitudes. Our vision upholds the right to say “No” as a fundamental human right, ensuring victims and survivors of rape and abuse are treated with empathy and dignity. We strive to make legal, medical, and psychological support easily accessible to all, regardless of gender, race, or economic standing.

“At a time when the pandemic has left us all feeling vulnerable and uncertain, violence is being unleashed on women and children with a brutality that defies comprehension. These rapists and killers walk among us. They are in our communities. They are our fathers, our brothers, our sons and our friends; violent men with utterly no regard for the sanctity of human life.”
– President Cyril Ramaphosa

TEARS Foundation has been at the forefront of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) for the past 13 years, dealing directly with victims and survivors of GBV, and using technology innovatively to create solutions to the barriers victims and survivors of GBV are finding.

Our Achievements: TEARS Foundation has achieved local and global recognition for our work and innovation in responding to gender-based violence and rape in South Africa.

2025

TEARS Foundation was awarded Best Social Organisation by the Women Icon, in association with Times Women for its significant impact in combating GBV across South Africa.
TEARS Foundation was awarded a Global Recognition Award for its significant impact in combating GBV across South Africa. The Global Recognition Awards is a prestigious awards program that aims to recognise businesses worldwide for their excellence in their respective fields.

2024

Mara Glennie was nominated by the University of Cape Town to become a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society. Individuals from organisations are selected as Golden Key honorary members to recognise their significant contributions to society, their fields of expertise, or their support for education and leadership.

2023

TEARS Foundation was named a 2023 Stevie Gold Winner for the use of smart technology in the Company of the Year, non-profit or government organisations category in the 20th Annual International Business Awards®.
TEARS Foundation’s Speak Up® Campaign received a Certificate of Excellence in the Not for Profit category at the 2023 Sabre Awards Africa. The 2023 Africa SABRE Awards recognises Superior Achievement in Branding, Reputation, and Engagement. The campaigns were evaluated by a jury of industry leaders.

2022

TEARS Foundation received two commendations from TT100 Awards for 2022 and won the Innovation Concept for 2022 on 16 November 2022
Emerging Enterprise: Innovation Concept Winner – TT100 hereby acknowledged TEARS Foundation for meeting the minimum criteria and establishing SPEAK UP as a successful innovation concept.
Commendation for demonstrating progress within the Management of Innovation.
Commendation for demonstrating progress within the Management of Technology.

2021

TEARS Foundation was a finalist in the TT100 Awards under the sections Management of Technology and Sustainability and we received the Overall Excellence in the Director-General Award from The Department of Science and Innovation for 2021.
TEARS Foundation received runner-up for the Conscious Leadership Award for the Conscious Companies Award 2021 in the NPO Category.
On 13 March, Mara Glennie received the Leadership Award 2021 from Every Girl Wins, for demonstrating strong leadership skills in her life, community, and career as a Gender-Based Violence Advocate in South Africa.

2020

Mara Glennie recognised as a GBV Hero by Between 10 & 5.
Help-at-your-fingertips® received SILVER in the social transformation subcategory: social development award for the Gauteng Premiers Service Excellence Awards.
TEARS Foundation designed and developed an electronic online system to capture all case files to have accurate statistics on the clients TEARS Foundation assists. This system has become the case management system we use to access client files, with the aim to become paperless by 2030.

2019

Help-at-your-fingertips® received the MTN Awards for Social Change in the Small NPO category.
Blame No More Campaign was created for awareness around victim blaming – something we all do, asking “why were you there”, “why were you drinking”, “what were you wearing”, questions irrelevant to the rape, the real question should be “Why did he rape me?”

2018

TEARS Foundation implemented Survivor Centred Support Training in Call Centres dealing with Emergency calls.
2018 Campaign for 16 Days of Activism – Bang your pot – encouraging bystanders to actively assist victims of GBV and not to turn a blind eye. The days of “What happens in Vegas” are long gone, and as a society, we need to stand together.

2017

In November 2017, TEARS Foundation launched the Emergency assistance option on the Help-at-your-fingertips® service, offering a “911” type service in the event that someone is in a life-threatening situation. This is another service offered free of charge for victims of GBV.
Help-at-your-fingertips® was shortlisted in the Impumelelo Awards and received the Star Award.

2016

Help-at-your-fingertips® was shortlisted for two National Science & Technology Forum – South32 Awards for 2016/2017.
Help-at-your-fingertips® was announced the 2016 Gold Stevie Award WINNER in the Organisation of the Year – Government or non-Profit, 10 or less employee’s category in November 2016. The Stevie Award for Women in Business are the world’s top honours for female entrepreneurs.
TEARS App, Medi-App was shortlisted by UBS Social Innovators for 2016 as one of the candidates in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region.
LifeBoard® was exposed to 16 schools, 720 students played LifeBoard®, and we assisted a further 65 students, opening cases of abuse, rape and incest, and provided them counselling.
TEARS Foundation identified a problem in our medical system, where an abuser will take their child victim to different doctors and hospitals for medical assistance, however, Doctors could not confirm abuse, as they might only see the patient once every 6 months, but in the meantime, this victim seeks medical assistance on a more regular Basis. Medi-App was designed and developed to assist medical personnel to be able to confirm abuse, especially in children.

2015

During the year of 2015, TEARS Foundation travelled with Ford and “Skills4Life” around South Africa, doing school activations. During this time, we reached over 50 000 school children, and actively assisted over 4000 children with issues of abuse, rape, incest, pregnancy and HIV/AIDS.
TEARS Foundation a recipient of an Outstanding Government Communication Award Finalist in the Communications X-Change Award for LifeBoard®.

2014

Help-at-your-fingertips® was relaunched with a new number (*134*7355#), being completely free, using reverse billing. TEARS Foundation can now offer Help-at-your-fingertips®, free of charge to any victim of rape and abuse nationally without anyone dropping off due to lack of finances.
Most often, women who are in abusive relationship experience economical / financial abuse as well, therefore, TEARS foundation will always provide their services to anyone who needs it, free of charge. In the second year of operation and on the new number, we assisted 8 924 people, with less than 2% drop off.
TEARS Foundation started developing a boardgame for children called LifeBoard® educating them about rape and abuse in a fun way, using gamification to teach taboo topics in a group setting, allowing peer education to inform behaviour.
TEARS Foundation received the 2014 TT100 Emerging Enterprise Qualifier Help-at-your-fingertips®.

2013

TEARS Foundation launched the first USSD service focussed on assisting victims of rape an abuse, guiding them to their nearest service provider. This service was registered as Help-at-your-fingertips® *120*7355#. The problem was that anyone who needs to use the service needed money on their phone. In the first year we had 3500 people using the service, however, we noticed a 75% drop off that could be related to network or costs.
Our flagship project Help-at-your-fingertips® was a concept finalist in the Accenture Innovation Index and Awards due to its innovation.

2012

Against all odds, Mara survived a life-threatening event involving grievous bodily harm. After she recovered, she founded TEARS in 2012, an organisation that provides a support network for victims of rape and abuse. Her aim is to enable victims of rape and sexual abuse to find the assistance, comfort, and compassion they need.

She is passionate about women’s rights and the fact that despite our progressive laws and many studies done on violence against women in South Africa, women still have very little protection.

She has been a crusader for social issues over the past six decades and the driving force and facilitator behind numerous development conventions and training initiatives to change the perception of the community and public in general around rape, abuse and GBV. Link to Mara’s story: Watch Mara’s story.