Humanity1st has been developed by a small founding team bringing complementary experience across ethical architecture, systems design, facilitation, and applied leadership practice.
The founding team’s role is to steward early development while ensuring that the principles and movement remain shaped, renewed, and legitimised through lived experience.
David Altschuler
Founder
Initiator of Humanity1st, drawing on decades of experience across public health, social impact, and institution-building, with a focus on bottom-up change and ethical leadership in complex systems.
Sami Gichki
Co-Founder
Co-architect of the Humanity1st concept, contributing expertise in ethical systems thinking, narrative framing, and movement design.
Alessandra Confalonieri
Strategic Partner —
Systems & Learning
Alessandra Confalonieri is the Strategic Partner – Systems & Learning at Humanity1st, where she focuses on ethical leadership, youth agency, and community-driven change. She contributes to shaping the initiative’s strategy and movement architecture, developing practical tools that translate ethical principles into grounded action and shared learning.
Alessandra previously led global and regional initiatives with Save the Children and UN partners, contributing to frameworks such as the Adolescent Wellbeing Framework – A Critical Opportunity to Fulfil Human Rights and Drive Change and the Life Skills for Success Toolkit.
Her work centres on enabling participatory leadership and ethical practice, drawing on over 17 years of experience across Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe in programme design, partnership development, and systems approaches.
She holds an MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development from University College London and completed executive training in Business Sustainability Management at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
Working Definitions
Humanity1st uses a small number of core terms consistently throughout this document. These are working definitions that evolve through practice rather than fixed doctrines.
Humanity 1st Principles
A shared moral reference point articulating core ethical commitments. It guides judgement and reflection but does not prescribe behaviour or outcomes.
Compass
A facilitative decision-support tool used to clarify ethical tensions, trade-offs, and responsibilities in real decisions.
Ecosystem
The interconnected system through which ethical learning, challenge, accountability, and renewal take place.
Pilots
Real-world applications where ethical principles are tested in practice.
Thematic Labs
Time-bound spaces that synthesise learning, evidence, and expertise across contexts and domains.
Assemblies
Participatory, legitimacy-based forums where ethical claims, outcomes, and tensions are examined through voice and consent.
Principles
Distinct contexts in which ethical leadership must be practised, and through which shared learning flows.