Our Partners, Voodoo Park Trust

The Women's Legal and Human Rights Bureau (WLB) is a feminist legal non-government organization composed of women's rights activists, advocates and developments workers.

In 1989, three students came up with the idea for the first consciously feminist legal organisation, advocating feminist legal advocacy as a strategy for the promotion and defence of women's human rights in the Philippines.

WLB has contributed in shaping the Philippine legal landscape by handling cases with the use of the Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) as a basis for self-defence

Philippine women who are victims of violence experience various difficulties and barriers in accessing justice.

VDP Trust supports WLB's Women's Access to Justice in the Philippines.

For access to justice for women victims of violence to be effective and responsive to the needs and experiences of women, the following elements must co-exist; adequate remedies, acting for and her behalf, addressing impunity, legitimacy and cultural shifts in viewing violence against women.

No One Deserves No Less

This was WLBS's statement in celebration of over 100 years of International Women's Day

The Pankhurst Trust brings together Manchester Women's Aid and the Pankhurst Centre. They work together to ensure the powerful story of the women who won the vote, continues to inspire us all to challenge gender inequality, and to ensure that those suffering from domestic violence and abuse get the confidential help they need.

Manchester Women's Aid offer a range of services to help women victims of domestic abuse to live a life free from fear

The Pankhurst Centre is an iconic site of women's activism, past and present. Emmeline Pankhurst and her family lived at number 62 Nelson Street from 1898 until 1907, and the first meeting of the movement that became known as the suffragettes took place in the parlour of this house!

About

The Pankhurst Trust (Incorporating Manchester Women's Aid) was formed in 2014 as a merger between The Pankhurst Trust, which ran the iconic Pankhurst Centre with its museum and women-only activity space, and Manchester Women's Aid, Manchester's largest specialist provider of domestic abuse services. The two-fold mission reflects the charitable objects central to both organisations: (a) to promote the equality of women, and (b) to promote the benefit of women, suffering, or at risk of, domestic abuse, and their dependants, with the objects of: - relieving need, hardship and distress among such beneficiaries; - promoting the mental and physical health of such beneficiaries; - advancing the education of such beneficiaries; and - advancing the education of the general public in relation to issues of women’s equality and domestic abuse. (c) To secure for the public benefit the preservation, restoration, improvement, enhancement and maintenance of 60/62 Nelson Street, Manchester as a building of historic and architectural interest, which building shall house a heritage and educational centre for visitors regarding the suffragette movement, women’s equality and domestic abuse together with a drop in centre for women, space for conferences, classes and social events.

VDP Trust supports the SAHARA project, to work with BAME women and girls who have been victims of domestic violence and abuse. They provide a 1:1 outreach support and group work, and counselling as part of a journey to the survivors who access and complete the outreach program.

SAHARA run weekly women's drop in centre where women can enjoy lunch, get information and advice about legal matter, benefits and housing issues, The support offered aims to build confidence, self-esteem, awareness of domestic abuse, and impact of domestic abuse on women and children in a safe and supportive environment.

In 2020-21, over a third of Manchester Women's Aid (MWZ) and the Pankhurst Trust's clients (44%) were from BAME groups, including mixed/multiple ethnic background, Asian/Asian British, Black/African/Caribbean/Black British and Arab. 5% were from White non-British ethnic groups, including Irish, Traveller and Eastern European.

The Pastor Bimbo Odukoya (PBO) Foundation is a not-for-profit, no governmental, independent-faith based organisation in Nigeria, that provides information resources, support and training to women and youth, particularly young girls in disadvantaged communities across Nigeria.

PBO introduced Girl’s Empowered with focus on (STEM)Science Technology Engineering and Maths in 2016 and anticipates reaching 1 million girls by 2022. Girl’s Empowered uniquely combines the talents and resources of the private sector with the social impact focus of PBO which is to build the confidence and academic capacity of girls to significantly participate in the fields of STEM

It is estimated that one in every five female university students are raped, most of them in their first year. Out of a sample of 295 female students from Ebonyi state university Abakaliki in south east Nigeria, 36.7% had experienced sexual harassment/victimization at least once on campus. Of this, 32.4% had been raped. SHARP4U is a sexual harassment and rape prevention program for university students that comes against the backdrop of a rape epidemic in Nigeria.

The peer education for prefects (PEP) was held as a summer camp, and been the pilot edition, had 46 students from 6 public schools in Lagos, Nigeria.

Investing in a girl’s education is investing in a nation

The VDP Trust supports PBO's "Back to School Educational Support"

Helping girls go back to school, by providing educational support resources. PBO believes that offering girls basic education is a sure way to empower girls. If they can educate a girl, their family is also educated - the more girls and their families who are educated becomes a whole nation of educated people. By sending a girl to school, she is far more likely to ensure her children also receive an education. No one should be left out.

"I have learnt about my rights. How to make the right personal and career decisions, about leadership and how to improve the way I talk. I have learnt a lot of things about myself." - Temitope Balogun, Head Girl (2015) Wesley Girls Secondary School, Yaba-Lagos, Nigeria

ANANDI in Gujarati signifies joyfulness and it is our endeavour that all our struggles and work help make this world a joyful place for all. ANANDI's Technical Support Unit (ATSU) formed in 2017, consolidates it's experience and learnings from engagement with diverse communities and stakeholders to institutionalise good practice, knowledge and capacity building.

ANANDI's mission is to advance rights of women who belong to poor rural vulnerable marginalised communities. Intervene in structures/institutions to make them gender responsive and accountable to address inter and intra household inequities.

ANANDI's vision is to bring rural women's concerns in the centre of all development processes so that all can live in a just, equitable and peaceful society.

The VDP Trust supports ANANDI's Technical Support Unit (ASTU).

ATSU as part of ANANDI extends technical, knowledge and capacity building support to diverse organisations in gender mainstreaming programs with focus on livelihoods, health and nutrition, women’s empowerment and women’s rights. ATSU is strongly rooted in feminist organising and engages with stakeholders to integrate gender transformative processes in their programs

The ANANDI logo is inspired by the traditional art form of India, and it has multiple layers of meanings. Take a good look to see the figures that come together in a Fibonacci's spiral of life, to protect an embryo. The spiral is a symbol of growth, and the embryo represents the new dawn for which they are collectively working towards.

Women’s Empowerment Foundation for Southern Africa (WEFSA) is a women’s information based organization which aims to; amplify women’s voices; open communication channels for marginalized women to speak out; empower women with information to change their lives; and advocate for a fair, balanced and gender-sensitive portrayal of women in mainstream media.

The organisation was founded by female journalists from Zimbabwe and South Africa. The organization was born out of the realization that women are seldom given space in the media to speak on issues that affect them, and mostly get coverage when devastating events have occurred to them. Through its media and advocacy department, WEFSA is also striving to change the society’s negative perception of women through the media.

Since its inception as an informal network in 2009, WEFSA observed that after more than a decade of Zimbabwe’s socio-economic and political crisis, women continue being marginalized from access to information and full (equal) public participation.

The recent Zimbabwean research by Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI) indicate that most women do not read newspapers and they often have their voices unheard due to lack of interactive communication platforms2 where their views and issues can be discussed and considered in policy issues and decision making processes. MPOI observes that 71% of women access information through community meetings compared to television, newspapers, satellite television and internet.

The VDP Trust supports the WEFSA with their "Women's Voices and Democracy" program.

Access to information and public participation are fundamental human rights, but the politicization of community dialogues and polarisation of the Zimbabwean media, the never ending economic crisis and poverty incessantly prevent marginalized women from accessing information and participation in public decision making processes.

"Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women" - Dr Maya Angelou