Vocational and Experiential Learning

It is said, "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."  In order to create sustainability through education, it is important for pupils to assist in the process, from inception to follow-through, by giving back to the communities in which they are from.  Unsilenced Voices is committed to increasing the number of girls and young women participating in vocational, domestic violence, and sexual abuse trainings in Sierra Leone and beyond.  We pledge to increase awareness of gender-based violence and provide opportunities for healing through sensitizations and survivor-based community outreach. When you teach the "give-back" model to students, they take their learning more seriously and desire to impact their communities in a positive way through what they learn. 

Gender- based violence and lack of opportunity to education cause the marginalized to stay victims.  Pupils need to acquire skills to respond to violence at home, school and in their communities in order to stop the cycle.  Sierra Leone is among one of the countries with least ranked on the human development and social indicators.  In Sierra Leone, women constitute 51.3% of the population, however their representation in Parliament stands at below 10% and women in the higher status of economic decision-making (administrators and managers) is also low. Women and girls continue to be plagued by harmful traditional practices and GBV. 

According to a recent study of World Health Organization (WHO), 36.6% of women in Africa suffer physical and/or sexual violence. In Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast, 63% of GBV cases that were reported to International Rescue Committee (IRC) were perpetuated by intimate partners.

By providing sensitizations and offering vocational training, we help our young women learn about their rights and abilities.  By encouraging them to give back, we start a new cycle of working with the community to see sustainable change.

Knowledge is power.  In order to strengthen competency and increase experiential learning opportunities for women and girls, Unsilenced Voices will sponsor young women who have been affected by abuse(s) to attend vocational training and provide communities education about domestic violence and sexual abuse lead by peer-leaders with first hand experience in these injustices. By encouraging survivors to speak up, these women will transform into champions for their fellow humans and start to break the cycle of abuse.  Only through knowledge can women and girls understand their rights and only through learning a skill can they transition from education to employment. 

The United Nations reports that less than 40% of women experiencing domestic violence seek help. The majority of those women reach out to friends or family with less than 10% reaching out to police after experiencing violence. Unsilenced Voices works with the Bo Women's Vocational Center to pay for survivors' job skills training, leading to employment beyond the sex trade, domestic violence, and GBV.  We work with women of all ages from 15-70 years old who have experienced forms of abuse. Additionally, we lead community sensitization trainings to combat the silence and cultural acceptance of domestic violence.

Founder/CEO of Unsilenced Voices, Michelle Jewsbury, is a survivor of domestic violence.  She travels to Sierra Leone where she works with communities and other survivors to implement sensitizations and hear voices of the victimized.  By materializing what the community asks for, Unsilenced Voices has begun to see significant changes in many women and girls.  They have increased sense of self, confidence, determination, and strong work-ethics.  They know and will continue to learn that they matter.

51 % of Sierra Leone's 7 million population are women. Yet they are the poorest and the  most illiterate.Literacy rate in Sierra Leone is 50% with an abysmal 37.7% of women who are literate compared to men, 62.3%. There are 1 in 3 women who experience domestic abuse worldwide.  When we equip young women and girls with specialized training and implore them to give back to their communities, they not only learn an important skill that translates into employment opportunities, but they build an appreciation for their community and learn leadership skills to create impact and change. 

Innovation is key, especially during these uncertain times.  Providing Vocational Training for specialized skills along with imploring pupils to give back to their communities enables our young women to become leaders and inspire sustainable change in their populace. This innovative way to educate and bring awareness to important topics like domestic violence and sexual abuse while allowing our students to be on the front lines of change during community sensitizations allows them to see the larger picture, not just their situation.  This "give-back" methodology teaches empathy, compassion, appreciation, and responsiveness to injustices while equipping students to learn specialized skills that lead to employment opportunities.  

Our organization currently serves over 1920 village women/girls in Sierra Leone, 3600 students in Sierra Leone, and hundeds of sex workers every year.  Our progress is creating a ripple effect while continuing to impact thousands.  In the next five years, including our additional countries, we will serve 60,000 individuals per year.  (roughly 10,000 people in each country per year)

Within the next year - Start sensitizations in the US while continuing our support in Ghana and Sierra Leone.  

Within the next 5 years we will be solid in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Nepal, The Netherlands, and the USA. 

Like many organizations, financial support is needed for the expansion of any goal/solution for change.  Our biggest challenge is being able to assist with housing for our students.  We feel we have begun to see a change in the cultural acceptance of our programs, but this is always a barrier due to the extreme differences from Africa and the western world. 

We like to live by the model, "just keep swimming" from Finding Nemo the movie.  We will continue putting one foot in front of the other.  We have solidified imperative relationships with other organizations, law enforcement, and hospitals to help in our progress and will continue to strengthen those relationships with dedication and resolve.

Contractors - 3

full time - 6

Over 20,000 women have been murdered due to domestic violence since 2003. Unsilenced Voices founder Michelle Jewsbury nearly became one of those women. For years, Michelle was trapped in the domestic abuse cycle. She walked on eggshells around her partner, suffered his violent blow ups, and tried to believe his apologies. Instead of being accountable, her abuser worked to keep Michelle isolated and silent. In December of 2015 she summoned the strength to break that cycle, leave her abuser, and share her story. Now, Michelle works to combat domestic and gender-based violence on a global scale as the founder and CEO of Unsilenced Voices.

The Bo Vocational Training Center in Sierra Leone to provide necessary skills training for our students, Commit and Act Foundation in Sierra Leone to work together in ending domestic abuse and rape, The Ark Foundation in Ghana to provide shelter to survivors, various schools in both countries where we conduct school-aged sensitizations, and a large handful of organizations in the USA including Beyond Freedom, Two Wings, Alkamey Group, Girl Friday, Lasting Impressions, I Am Enough Movement, Warriors For Peace, and various attorney's in Los Angeles to provide assistance to survivors of domestic violence, sexual abuse and human trafficking.

Key resources: Donor network, social media, online platform, speaking engagements, unsilencedvoices.org

key activities: to provide assistance to victims of abuses and provide vocational training through sponsorships and educate communities about domestic violence, sexual abuse, and human trafficking while giving back to the marginalized

type of intervention: education and awareness

value prop: allow pupils to learn a skillset in order to attain employment opportunities, education surrounding topics of abuses to end the cycle, promote solutions and options to survivors

cost structure: online platform of awareness, live events, staff, materials

surplus: Marketing and implementation to new programs (we are researching sustainability by developing a for-profit business ran by Unsilenced Voices to generate the funds necessary to perform our services)

revenue: grants, donors, gifts

Unsilenced Voices will continue outreach to acquire sustained private/corporate donations and grants and selling products (skirts, hats, sweaters, etc).

In order to strengthen competency and increase experiential learning opportunities for women and girls, Unsilenced Voices needs help to sponsor young women who have been affected by abuse(s) to attend vocational training and provide communities education about domestic violence and sexual abuse lead by peer-leaders with first hand experience in these injustices.  Providing Vocational Training for specialized skills along with imploring pupils to give back to their communities enables our young women to become leaders and inspire sustainable change in their populace, but we can't do it alone.  Solve is a platform that offers personalized support by a community of peers and funders that we need in order to create mentorship, media and conference exposure, and business and entrepreneurship training.

We desire to partner with organizations and platforms that align with ending injustices through innovative ways to create sustainable change.  We need the most assistance with funding opportunities for our community lead programs and marketing/exposure assistance to generate awareness. 

Downtown Womens Center in Los Angeles to provide case workers and other resources to the survivors we work with

IJM for their commitment and knowledge about ending the sex trafficking industry 

Child Liberation Foundation to help us craft ideas in the middle east and end trafficking and sexual abuse

We currently work with vulnerable women and girls to provide oppurtunities for learning through vocational training and our "give back" model of experiential learning.  

The United Nations reports that less than 40% of women experiencing domestic violence seek help. The majority of those women reach out to friends or family with less than 10% reaching out to police after experiencing violence.

By encouraging survivors to speak up, these women will transform into champions for their fellow humans and start to break the cycle of abuse.  Only through knowledge can women and girls understand their rights and only through learning a skill can they transition from education to employment.