Social Work Champion Vweta Chadwick of Project ASHA is our #BellaNaijaWCW this Week

In 2004, our #BellaNaijaWCW this week Vweta Chadwick, 16 at the time, initiated a support group for post-surgical outpatient women and girls at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH).

By 2008, the support group had grown into a safe haven for women fleeing abusive relationships and marriages. As most cases of abuse against women and girls thrive due to poverty, Vweta’s group began providing grants to the women.

In 2012, she founded Empowering Women of the Future (EWOF) which “is charged with promoting the rights of vulnerable and marginalized young women and girls living in underserved communities, through informal and formal education, skills and vocational training and economic opportunities.”

EWOF was later absorbed into Project ASHA, which was registered as a non-profit NGO in 2014.

Through digital literacy, self-elected education pursuits, and germane access to finance, Vweta is enhancing the basic and fundamental rights of women and girls especially those with disabilities.

Vweta is passionate about empowering women and girls as it is key to bringing positive changes and sustainable development in local communities and around the world. This led her to enroll in so many programmes as well as volunteer in several organisations to help her grow in the path she has chosen.

Between 2004 and now, she has volunteered with women and children living positively with HIV/AIDS and as counselor to prospective adoptive parents, both in Edo state. She has also volunteered at Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA), Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) as a peer educator, the Lagos Empowerment and Resource Network (LEARN) and Amnesty International.

She is a 2013 fellow of LEAP Africa‘s Social Innovation Programme (SIP) Fellow, Carrington Youth Fellowship Initiative, 2013 fellow, United States Institute of Peace Generation Change Leaders, a 2013 World Pulse Voices of Our Future Award recipient and 2015 fellow, Global Change Leaders.

In 2016, she was one of 100 outstanding Nigerians and 1000 Africans selected to participate in the Mandela Washington Fellowship.

She currently serves as a Global Ambassador for World Pulse and has also been publish on TIME Magazine.

Vweta’s ASHA, has presence in Cameroon, Canada, Ethiopia, South Africa and over 6 states in Nigeria. It is also registered as a social work enterprise in the UK.