Mission:
Voices of African Mothers is promoting peace in Africa through conflict prevention and resolution, the empowerment of women giving them a voice in order to become decision-making leaders through increased literacy, higher education, vocational training and health education, ultimately helping individuals
Goal:
VAM wishes women and future generations to possess a full range of educational opportunities to attain economic empowerment and to become decision-making leaders in the countries of Africa.
Concept:
In 1997, Nana-Fosu Randall, along with her husband and children, established the John William
Montessori School in Ghana. Funding it with her own money, she wanted to offer the children of Africa a
higher level of education, to offer them hope and to feed their young and fertile minds with good values. It
began with two classrooms and 38 students and now with three buildings and 700 students, it is recognized
as one of the best schools in Ghana.
After seeing much suffering in her 29 years working with the United Nations, Nana-Fosu Randall wanted to continue her message of peace and hope, and in May of 2004 founded Voices of African Mothers along with a group of her friends. Seeing the effects of war, especially on women and children, she realized that only through empowering women could there be peace in the homes, villages, and countries of Africa. Through finding their voices and helping them to become self-sustaining citizens they would become leaders in their communities with an equal voice, creating an understanding among all people.
Voices of African Mothers (VAM) is a non-profit, UN sanctioned, non-governmental organization. The programs are based on the United Nations “Eight Millennium Development Goals”:
- Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- Achieve universal primary education
- Promote gender equality and women’s empowerment
- Reduce child mortality
- Improve maternal health
- Combat HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases.
- Ensure environmental sustainability
- Develop a global partnership for development
VAM’s Objectives:
- To develop local leadership for conflict prevention, conflict resolution, post-conflict reconciliation, and the promotion of peace in general within families, communities, and the nation’s of Africa.
- To strengthen locally generated peace-building activities by raising the voices of underprivileged minorities.
- To promote equality and justice in Africa by transforming unjust institutions and social practices.
- To promote equal education for all children, literacy education for illiterate women and to encourage higher education.
- To promote the economic empowerment of women and produce resources that are appropriate for women’s needs through vocational training and business skills.
- To provide health education in the areas of preventive health care, nutrition, hygiene, safe sex, prevention of adolescent pregnancy, family planning, midwifery, HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases.
- To teach organic farming methods for high yield crops in limited spaces.
- To organize workshops, seminars, and conferences with the aim of educating as well as providing a venue to share information and experiences.
- To develop partnerships with men’s organizations to facilitate change in gender inequality and curtail gender violence.
- To develop partnerships with other NGO’s, governmental programs and civic organizations.
- To promote global consciousness and ecological stewardship.
