Meet 3 ChangeMakers helping eliminate violence against women
By: Jens Christian Trier
Tags: Domestic Violence, Social Enterprise, Womens Rights, Volunteering, Sdgs

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. According to the United Nations, violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread human rights violations globally. It is an issue that is generally unreported due to the shame and stigma related to it — and the lack of prosecution against it. Violence against women and girls is manifested in physical, sexual and psychological forms. These include:

Intimate partner violence

Sexual violence and harassment

Human trafficking

Female genital mutilation

Child marriage

At We Make Change we are inspired daily by the amazing and impactful work that people across the world initiate. Social Entrepreneurs addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals with a mission to make change for the better.

Today we wish to highlight three female Social Entrepreneurs addressing the pressing issue of violence against women and girls. We have had the honour to support their mission by connecting them with individuals who believe in the same mission. These three women are leaders in 2020 and the future to come.

Allow us to present the stories of Anna Juusela, Tanika Bawa and Agita Pasaribu 💪

Anna Juusela 🇫🇮

Anna is an impact startup entrepreneur on a mission to empower women and girls. She is the Founder & CEO of We Encourage️, a fundraising platform for individual fundraisers and NGOs with causes related to the empowerment of women and girls. According to Anna, the mission of We Encourage actually chose her

“Few years back, I was watching a documentary about an Afghan girl, Sonita Alizadeh, who wanted to be a rapper. Long story short, she was almost forced into marriage but the documentary maker ended up buying her free. something shifted in me, I got a strong determination and vision about helping other girls to get educated instead of being forced into marriage”.

In November 2018, Anna turned her vision into reality by founding We Encourage. The fundraising platform is not the only thing Anna’s initiative offers, We Encourage also offers an open source conversational AI tool that provides supports victims of intimate partner violence and gender-based violence. The AI tool is named Aino — which is a Finnish female first name meaning “the only one”. In the epic Finnish Kalevala folklore, it is the name of a girl who drowns herself when she learns that she must marry an old man named Väinämöinen. AINO provides psycho-social support and guidance to these victims, but also promotes sexual- and reproductive health. You can read more about AINO here.

When I learned about Anna Juusela and We Encourage I was convinced we had to work together somehow. Not just because both of our organisations starts with We, but also because we share the same values and goals for the world. In Anna’s words: “We live in an abundant time when individuals have the tools to make an impact in a global scale from their homes — we just need to start doing!”

Tanika Bawa 🇨🇭

Tanika is a neuroscientist currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. She is a founding member of YANA.help (You Are Not Alone), which is an inclusive and participative web platform supporting victims and witnesses of domestic abuse. These individuals receive professional help and key information to overcome their experience.

For Tanika, making change has always been an integral part of her life. “Throughout my life, I have always volunteered in one way or another, because I believe that if everyone does a little, the world would be a better place.”

Doing something was also what Tanika did with her team when they attended a Swiss-wide hackathon earlier this year. Their motivation to prevent domestic violence was sparked from the increase in cases of domestic violence since the COVID-19 pandemic forced countries into lockdown. This motivation and the hackathon turned into what YANA.help is today.

During the spring, when COVID-19 was peaking in its first wave, We Make Change partnered with the #EUvsVirus hackathon, one which YANA.help participated in. We have been delighted to support them through our community of skilled volunteers.

Agita Pasaribu 🇮🇩

Agita is the Founder of Bullyid; a British startup that integrates Artificial Intelligence with psychologists and lawyers to provide tele-health and tele-legal services for physical abuse and cyberbullying victims.

Agita has been advocating for progressive youth-related policies at various and international forums to promote the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Before founding Bullyid, Agita spent over a decade actively contributing to youth empowerment initiatives both domestically and internationally.

Bullyid is dedicated to bringing equality and justice to everyone by raising awareness towards mental health. Users will have a system of supporters beside them, and a certified psychologists and lawyers who will help with a set of actions they can take right now.

We had the pleasure of featuring Agita in our Chats with ChangeMakers series in October 2020. You can watch it here.

Make a change!

Today is a day dedicated to the women and girls being oppressed and robbed their freedom globally. The issue is still pressing and has gotten worse since the pandemic hit earlier in 2020.

How can you make a difference?

If you are starting up — or running — your own Social Enterprise or NGO, you can get volunteers with the skills you need to grow your impact for free here.

If you have skills that you want to volunteer to prevent violence against women, you can join a project here. Together, we can eliminate violence against women.