Martin O’Brien is the Founder and Executive Director of the Social Change Initiative (SCI), an international not-for-profit organization based in Belfast. SCI works to help activists and donors to be more effective agents for change. Its work is focused on the themes of peacebuilding, equality, human rights and migration.
Prior to joining SCI, Martin worked for 11 years at the Atlantic Philanthropies where he was Senior Vice President and managed the foundation’s global grant-making programs on Health, Ageing, Children and Youth, and Reconciliation and Human Rights. He led the planning process for the conclusion of Atlantic’s programmatic grant-making.
Martin is also a seasoned activist for social change having worked for over 30 years in the peace and human rights movement in Northern Ireland. He led the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) which campaigned locally and internationally to advance human rights in Northern Ireland. He was centrally involved in the efforts to secure strong measures to protect human rights and equality in the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement.
Martin’s work as an effective advocate for human rights and peace has been internationally recognized with a number of awards and honors. He has extensive experience of high-impact philanthropy, fundraising, human rights, advocacy, peacebuilding, and conflict resolution. His work as an activist and as a strategic grantmaker has given him a particular insight into how change happens and the role that philanthropy can play.
I have the privilege of knowing Martin who I have heard of for a very long time from Padraig O’Malley, a common friend, in the wonderful weave of Convisero. I was actually introduced to him by Adi Nassar, the program manager of Amal-Tikva. I was introduced to Adi by his predecessor Amitai Abuozaglo. This came about initially by my meeting Amitai as my Harvard student when I interviewed and successfully nominated him for the Oslo Scholars Program. It is clear that Martin will be a tremendous asset for the course I will teach on mediation, negotiation and conflict resolution in the spring of 2024 at Sai University. We are intent on trying to bring Indian and Pakistani students together to begin to think about divided societies and in particular the future of Kashmir.