“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” ― Angela Y. Davis 

Jasmine Bekale A. graduated from the University of East London, but was not confident in her job interview skills, because she is originally from a French speaking country and thought of the language as a barrier, finding it also difficult to integrate the UK society. She soon realized that some of her friends who had master’s degree were working in low paid employment because of the language barrier. 

She started a peer support group in 2016, to boost each other’s confidence. She soon successfully got a job offer in the NHS as an administrator. She decided to follow her passion of helping other women enhance their confidence and skills through the VOW platform. She is now a qualified coach and counsellor, while leading her translation company.

Since, many other women from various background have joined in. 

VOW’s work started by identifying the challenges faced by BAME women in Enfield. from our community face:

· Language and cultural barriers

· Isolation, poor mental health.

· Lack of qualification, unemployment, absence of opportunity for work experience

· Unhealthy relationships, gender-based violence

· Shortage of food provisions, 

· Debts, need for budgeting.

Our small team brainstormed ideas to drive change and we distil these down to the three initiatives we believe will drive the maximum impact:

. Education, training, and employment

· Healthy relationships and safety 

· Youth empowerment.

Why VOW?

There is a host of women facing multiple barriers due to language barriers, lack of qualification, abuse, and much more. They are hurting from past relationships, bad decisions, bad investments, and they do not know how to get out. BAME women in particular those with English as a second language find it difficult to adjust to life in the community. Indeed, faced with the language barrier, the traditional injunctions of which they are victims, these women are lost.  It is considering these issues that “Voice Out Woman" was born, here is the metronome that guides, leads, and inspire our various activities towards women in general and those from ethnic minorities background, to stimulate and bring to light, the flame of integration so that, with undeniable potentialities, they can hatch and move in the free field of the emancipation and social justice...      

The fabulous history of the UK is filled with great ladies who have impacted and lifted the greatness of this nation in many different areas such as science, computing, literature etc... Following these, we want to add to the archives the knowledge of women from minority background who live among us and whose skills and abilities are not yet enough incorporated within the fabric of this society in the annals of our country but who on the contrary, daily, are drifting away in the circle of the anonymity.

Concretely, our goal is to free them from social rejection and isolation so that, as Rosalind Elsie Franklin, Ada Lovelace, Agatha Christie, we can see them finally enrich the course of our multi-cultural society. Our fight is therefore to instill confidence and daring spirit within these women who have long been held captive in the dungeons and labyrinths of traditional and colonial rites, so that, they dare to go out of their ways to become women to whom we can and will want to identify.

This is why the VOW is an essential platform because it fosters training, mentorship and sponsorship programs to support aspiring female leaders, while also providing, through regular meetings, a haven for those who still need support to build their confidence due to past experiences. 

We promote systemic change that will enable women and young people to:

. Become leaders and build the next generation of leaders.

. Break free from violence. 

. Gain economic independence and security.

. Promote health, wellbeing, and healing.

London is certainly the starting point of VOW but not its only place of representation.  we have the beautiful ambition to extend this action in the UK and in our countries of origin, in order to see our great nation contribute to the growth and development of our sisters, who have remained in our homeland, by providing them with the best possible tools so that they may also become actors of development. We therefore agree with Ban Ki Moon, former Secretary General of the United Nations who said that "women must be full partners in development so that they can lift their communities out of poverty". This poverty which can have several aspects: cultural, economic, intellectual ...     

The action of "Voice Out Woman", cannot remain silent concerning those who will make tomorrow the pride of this great country:  our young people. That’s why we are embedding programs for our next generation of leaders.

We believe that strong and educated women, as well as young people invested with those values ​​to which we are intrinsically attached, will raise to the top the banner of a healthy humanity, and a strong and unwavering UK.