• Location12 Syke Street Congo Town Freetown. Sierra Leone

  • Emailwohlen2021@gmail.com

  • Contact +232 78953927

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About Us

About Us

Women participation and empowerment are fundamental women's rights to enabling women to have control over their lives and put forth influence in society. Women often face discrimination and gender inequalities, with some women experiencing multiple discrimination and exclusion because of factors such as background or caste. Women of Honour Liberation and Empowerment Network is an organization that deals with skills development through Vocational Training along with various measures such as Communication skills, Business etiquettes, Language development, Personality development, Leadership skills, Management skills, Entrepreneurship and Business Masterclass, Basic accounting skills, Basic computer skills etc.

Skill is the bridge between job and workforce. Women often have different training needs than men, since they are more likely to work as contributing family workers, subsistence farmers, home-based micro entrepreneurs, or low-paid seasonal laborers, in addition to handling their domestic work and care responsibilities. Skills development is a key to improving household productivity, employability and income-earning opportunities for women and also for enhancing sustainable Rural and Urban Development and livelihoods.

Women constitute about 50.11% of the total population of Sierra Leone. According to World Bank Statement 2019, women are legal citizens of the country and have equal rights with men. Because of lack of acceptance from the male dominant society, Sierra Leonean women have suffered immensely. Women are responsible for baring children, yet they are malnourished and in poor health. Women are also overworked in the field and complete all of the domestic work. Most Sierra Leonean women are uneducated. Vocational Training programmes aims to provide skills and confidence to women from economically backward families and help them to achieve economic and social independence. Women have always been marginalized and relegated to the status of subjugated class in the Sierra Leonean society. Due to lack of specific implementation of plans, local communities especially women have remained outside the scope and benefits of government schemes and programmes. Women have not actively participated in their emancipation due to their lack of economic independence and illiteracy. There is a need to address the issue by raising the status of women. The key lies in women empowerment through economic self-sufficiency and higher awareness levels on social, and legal issues through mobilization. There is also a need to recognize and emphasize the diverse roles of women such as reproductive, productive and community management. Women should be organized and strengthened at the grass root level to end their subordination.

Skills and knowledge are the engines of economic growth and social development of any country. Countries with higher and better levels of knowledge and skills respond more effectively and promptly to challenges and opportunities of globalization. Sierra Leone is in transition to a knowledge based economy and its competitive edge will be determined by the abilities of its people to create, share and use knowledge more effectively.

OUR CONSTITUTION

Name

The name of the organization shall hereof be called Women of Honour Liberation and Empowerment Network. Subject to article 1 of subsection 1, the organization shall be abbreviated as WOHLEN

Motto

Herein the motto of the organization shall be “We liberate to Empower”

Location

The organization shall have it head office located at 12 Syke Street, Congo Town in Freetown the capital city of Sierra Leone and with offices in provincial headquarters as it may deem fit by the management of WOHLEN with consultations with the board of directors.

Status

The Organization shall be non-profit making, non-partisan and non-religious denominational and non-governmental Organization. Women Of Honour Liberation Empowerment Network shall be called the women’s platform that will bring together women from all works of life to traine, mentor and support them in a bid to liberate the world.

Existent

WOHLEN shall be deemed to have come into force in every district of the establishment after registration with the appropriate authority(ies) and or ministry(ies).

AIM, VISION, AND MISSION

Aim

Women of honour liberation empowerment network aim at empowering, capacitating, and supporting women to liberate the world.

Vision

Women of honour liberation empowerment network envision a society where women are fully capacitated and ready to liberate their communities, country and the world at large.

Mission

Our mission is to ensure that we work effectively with women and children mostly those at risk by supporting them with the necessary resources, capacity building, mentoring with skills development programs that will help them reach their fullest potential.

Mission Statement

We shall be committed to contributing to national development and nation building by creating a better and safer space for women to enhance development, empowerment and entrepreneurship, social justice, sustainable development, peace, inclusiveness, and supporting community women. Advocating for the elimination of gender-based violence, the less privileged, gender equality.

CORE VALUES and ACTIVITIES of the ORGANIZATION

CORE VALUES

All members, volunteers, staffs, and executives of the Women of honour liberation and empowerment network shall at all time demonstrate best practice at work and shall be:

  1. Non-partiality
  2. Committed
  3. Respectful
  4. Teamwork
  5. Professionalism
  6. Non-Discrimination
  7. Accountability and transparency
  8. trustworthy
  9. Non- partisan

Thematic areas

The organization shall center its work on women empowerment mostly those at the community level. henceforth the organization shall work on the following as key areas of concentration.

  1. Women empowerment
  2. Gender and human rights
  3. poverty reduction

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

The organization shall be structured on the principle of inclusive and participatory democracy and an inclusive system with a hierarchy of office as discussed in the articles below.

SOURCE OF FUNDING, ACCOUNT, and MEETINGS

SOURCE OF FUNDING

Hereof the sources of funding of the organization shall be as follow

  1. Registration fees
  2. Donations
  3. Grants
  4. Projects Fundings
  5. Fundraising Programs
  6. Dinners
  7. And any other as may be approved by the executive director

Concept of Women Empowerment

Empowerment is the process of increasing the capacity of individuals or groups to make choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes. Empowerment of women means developing them as more aware individuals, who are politically active, economically productive and independent and are able to make intelligent discussion in matters that affect them. Women empowerment as a concept was defined as redistribution of social power and control of resources in favour of women. In its definition of women empowerment, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNDFW) includes factors such as (1) Acquiring knowledge and understanding of gender relations and the way in which these relations may be changed; and (2) Developing a sense of self-worth, a belief in one's ability to secure desired changes and the right to control one's life.

Scope of vocational training and skills development programme

Vocational Training programme is introduced to enhance livelihood opportunities of women who are at a disadvantageous position and have a scant exposure to technical skills and knowledge. The vocational training program for women aims to develop entrepreneurial skills among women.

Vocational Education in Sierra Leone

It is widely recognized that the 21st Century will be driven by knowledge, and a nation's competitive advantage in the global economy will be sustained by a focused and innovative education agenda.

To meet the challenges of this century, many countries around the world, and more particularly newly independent developing countries, including Sierra Leone, set their mind on the expansion of educational systems and made heavy investment in education. There was a growing realization that availability of educational opportunities to all sections of the society, irrespective of social status, class, caste, religion and gender, ensures nondiscriminatory distribution of educational opportunities and socio-economic and political gains accruing from it.

Vocational Training for Women

Skills development for employability will be used as an agent of change in promoting women's employment. Women face a multitude of barriers in accessing skills and productive employment, remaining on the job due to effect of globalization or otherwise and advancing to higher level jobs, as well as returning to the labour market after a period of absence spent, for example, in raising children.

  1. WOHLEN would create a non-discrimination action plan which will be pursued vigorously to provide equal access for women to skills development and employment.
  2. Proactive measures that overcome barriers and facilitate participation, such as building a four (4) storey building Hostels for Women empowerment training, Business and Entrepreneurship Coaching and Mentorship, Scholarships to Primary, Secondary and university girls who are poor and less privileged, Skills Empowerment,Training Materials and Loans, will be made available on a large scale.
  3. The Women's Vocational Training Programme will be expanded and the institutional network providing training facilities exclusively for women, so that they can obtain skills with high wage and self-employment potential will be greatly expanded.

In order to promote skills and employability of women, WOHLEN will focus on a large number of community based women which will be identified. These may include: Liberation Phase: Training, Seminars, Workshops

The training programme will consist of three main training components:
  1. Business and Entrepreneurship skills training
  2. vocational training and
  3. life skills, legal rights and civic education
The business and entrepreneurship skills curriculum will be designed and tailored to meet specific needs of women. A Business & Entrepreneurship Masterclass will be holding once every month to cater for the unmet needs of women and help women achieve their full potential. Participants of this Business Masterclass will have a 3-4 hours interactive sessions with Facilitators, Mentors and Coaches. During the business training, beneficiaries will start or begin to prepare a market study, with guidance from mentors. The aim of the market study is to map out existing local businesses and assess the potential for starting up their small businesses that is of interest to them. Based on the market study, beneficiaries who are interested in starting their own business will be asked to submit their business plans, and market assessments for their proposed projects, and the academy will accordingly identify their vocational training needs and empower them with a start up portfolio kit at the end of their training.
Vocational training will be the academy major focus as a tool as a tool or weapon to help strengthen the middle level man power of Sierra Leone. With the help of lour local training academy, beneficiaries will receive a variety of training options, in activities such as accessory making, sewing, hairdressing, perfume making, cleaning supplies production, mobile phone repair, computer hardware and software training, and food catering services. Concurrent with the vocational training and business start-up , Participants swill also be given the opportunity to attend life skills training courses, health awareness classes. WOHLEN volunteer staffs will also helped beneficiaries to open their own saving accounts at local banks.

SKILL DEVELOPMENT FOR WOMEN

Women have shown their ability in community development. Hence, it is important that women be a part of skill development. In Sierra Leone, women are now participating in various areas like – education, art and culture, service sector, sports, politics, media, and science and technology. They form a substantial part of the workforce - but the working percentage rate of women in the total labor force is declining. A large number of them are working in the informal sectors. This represents lack of employment opportunities and skills for women workforce.
Currently, a majority of the female workforce in Sierra Leone is unskilled. They can be motivated to develop their life skills – that will give them high paying jobs with better livelihood & confidence to earn for their family. It will develop their ability & quality to move ahead and be self-dependent. It is observed, that the concept of training and skill development needs to move beyond imparting technical and managerial skills, with more focus on literacy, numeracy and life skills.