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We're turning up the volume in 2021...
#LOUDER is not just a hashtag we use here at VOICE, it represents the nature of the work we will continue to do in 2021; amplifying the voices of women and girls in crisis, conflict, and disaster settings around the world. VOICE is particularly committed to furthering our support of women- and girl-led organizations as they meet the needs of their communities in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and beyond. Last year, we saw just how dire circumstances have become for women and girls under the threat of nationwide lockdowns and other movement and resource access restrictions as a result of the pandemic. The need for VOICE’s work is even more critical, and we are excited to expand on our advocacy, services, capacity-sharing efforts, and other humanitarian response offerings to help service providers in local communities.
We're also getting #LOUDER within our organization. This year, VOICE is rolling out our own series of exciting programming that will introduce our feminist approach and women-centered humanitarianism to new audiences.
Here’s a snapshot of what you can look forward to from VOICE this year:
VOICE Resource Hub
We have begun working with a team of experts who can build the technology of a global platform to reach women and girl-led organizations and service providers in settings where accessibility is more of a challenge. The Hub will be a safe space for these organizers to convene, find donors, and directly link to influential aid, development, and peacebuilding actors around the world.
We Must Do Better
VOICE will publish a research and advocacy series, “We Must Do Better,” that will document the impact and effects of the humanitarian system’s failure to meaningfully respond to VAWG. The series will explore not only what has gone wrong, but will also detail response services and groundbreaking and empowering approaches that have succeeded. Work for this project is underway, with a launch date aptly set for International Women’s Day on March 8, and with a podcast conversation series based on the research extending throughout the year.
Guide to the Patriarchy
We are also excited to publish our first feminist education project, the “VOICE Guide to the Patriarchy,” aimed at socializing VOICE’s beliefs about the underlying causes of VAWG: the existing patriarchal structures, systems, behaviors, and language that dominate society. With this art research project VOICE aims to educate and inspire a new generation of feminism that seeks to dismantle the patriarchy by unlearning, and then reteaching concepts on VAWG and women’s empowerment.
VOICE Leadership Program
The current VOICE Fellowship will expand into the VOICE Leadership Program, a division of the organization that is committed to training women and girls, particularly those from marginalized communities in the U.S., to define and identify violence in all of its forms, and understand how it applies to disaster response. We will leverage our distinctly feminist approach and position as a major player in humanitarian response work to build a robust program, mentoring women and girls, and building the capacity of emerging women experts to set them on a path for leadership in addressing feminist leadership and addressing VAWG. The program will allow VOICE to continue to place women and girls at the heart of social change.
U.S./Domestic Work
In 2021 VOICE will also focus heavily on developing a robust presence in the United States that complements and expands on the work we have been doing globally. We will further activate our domestic programming through our Global Resource Hub, as well as supporting U. S. service providers and women- and girl-led organizations. Our areas of focus include the U.S. border regions, partnering with the Navajo Nation and other indigenous and marginalized groups.
Your support enables our programming, resourcing, and ultimately, the success of our mission.
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