[4] Born in Galashiels, Scotland, Elworthy attended Berkhamsted School for Girls on a Herts County Scholarship, before moving to Ireland in 1962 to study social sciences at Trinity College, Dublin.
[5] From 1970 to 1976 she chaired Kupugani, a South African nutrition education organisation, where she set up an initiative that involved the sale of nutritious Christmas hampers to industrial employees, thereby providing annual self-financing for the charity of R6million.
Then in 1977 she established the Minority Rights Group in France and in 1978 she researched and delivered their report on female genital mutilation,[7] leading to the World Health Organization campaign to eradicate the practice.
In 2003 Elworthy stepped down as executive director of ORG to found a new charity, Peace Direct, which supports local peace-builders in conflict areas.
In autumn 2007 Elworthy joined the EastWest Institute's International Task Force on Preventive Diplomacy; in 2009 was featured in the project Soldiers of Peace – Stories from 14 countries around the world – a documentary film narrated by Michael Douglas.
Although she has lectured extensively around the world and appeared on television and radio throughout the last 20 years, her work was less in the public eye from 2005 to 2009 as she was advising Richard Branson, Desmond Tutu and Peter Gabriel on the creation of The Elders, "an independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela, who offer their collective influence and experience to support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity.
"[2][11] Since the autumn of 2011 Dr Elworthy has been working on a course in consciousness and conflict transformation for mid career professionals, in association with Thomas Hübl in Berlin.
"The custodians of this mission are a committed group of professionals, who, over the past 30 years have been shaping their respective fields: economics, business, governance, security, health, ecology, media, culture and the arts, education, spirituality and indigenous wisdom.
[17] Through Business Plan for Peace she advises the leadership of selected international corporations on investing in and strengthening their respective roles in preventing violent conflict, and teaches young social entrepreneurs.