Dr. Peg Herbert
Community Pillars
Dr. Peg Herbert is a visionary leader and humanitarian whose legacy is defined by her tireless commitment to education, mental health, and gender equity. She is the Founder of Help Lesotho and Co-founder of Chosen Grandma.
In 2004, in response to the AIDS pandemic and widespread poverty in Lesotho, southern Africa, she founded Help Lesotho, an Ottawa-based non-profit that has since transformed the lives of over 300,000 people—65% of whom are women and girls.
A former educational psychologist, university professor, and social worker, Dr. Herbert brought decades of experience working with vulnerable populations to her international development work. She first learned about Lesotho through one of her graduate students at the University of Ottawa. Moved by stories of suffering and resilience, she traveled to the country in 2004, where she witnessed firsthand the effects of HIV/AIDS, gender-based violence, and extreme poverty. What began as a personal effort to help quickly evolved into a large-scale, sustainable development organization that today stands as the largest Canadian NGO operating in Lesotho.
Over 20 years, Dr. Herbert raised more than $28 million—entirely through private donations—and developed more than 22 programs focused on psychosocial support, life skills, leadership development, and HIV/GBV prevention. Her approach emphasizes resilience-building as a foundation for long-term impact, helping individuals overcome trauma, develop healthy coping strategies, and foster social responsibility. Dr. Herbert developed an extensive training program to ensure standardization of local staff in psychosocial support course and a certification and training in facilitation with vulnerable populations. An all-local staff deliver programs to more than 25,000 people annually. Her work has also influenced global practices. In 2019, she launched CHANGE4ce, a platform to train psychosocial support providers from NGOs and education sectors worldwide, offering online courses, coaching, and in-person training based on the Help Lesotho model.
Dr. Herbert’s leadership and compassion have earned her numerous accolades, including the Government of Canada’s Meritorious Service Cross, the Women of Distinction Award, and multiple civic recognitions for outstanding contributions to international development. Affectionately known in Lesotho as ‘M’ePeg (MotherPeg), she is beloved by the people she has served. From grandmothers raising AIDS orphans to adolescents finding hope through education, her impact is deeply personal and widely felt. She has empowered local leaders, supported generations of women and children, and created spaces of dignity, healing, and opportunity where there was once only despair.
Dr. Herbert retired in 2023, leaving behind a thriving, locally led organization with a global reach. Though no longer involved in daily operations, she remains a mentor and advocate.
In 2025, she co-founded Chosen Grandma, a volunteer program to build intergenerational relationships between senior women who have no grandchildren in their daily lives and families who have no external support.
