Sussex Law School graduate joins Tuwezeshe Fellowship 2018
By: Eleanor Griggs
Last updated: Wednesday, 16 May 2018
A high flying Sussex Law School graduate has been awarded a place on a prestigious fellowship programme designed to empower African women to lead the way in the campaign against sexual and gender based violence.
Natalie Acheampong, who graduated with merit from Sussex’s Criminal Law and Criminal Justice LLM in 2017 and a first class from the University’s Law LLB a year earlier, has joined the Tuwezeshe Fellowship’s 2018 intake.
The Fellowship is an international programme created by the Tuwezeshe Akina Dada Africa-UK Young Women’s Empowerment Movement and funded by Comic Relief’s Common Ground Initiative with the goal of enabling young African and African Diaspora women to produce a social action plan to combat sexual and gender based violence.
Natalie was drawn to the Fellowship after attending a legal workshop while working at not-for-profit organisation Sisters for Change and learning just how different domestic violence can be against women from ethnic minorities.
She said: “At the workshop I was able to converse with domestic violence workers from different backgrounds, who spoke of the complications of violence against women when considering colour.
“I came to understand that culture and language are extremely important when working with women of colour who have experienced any form of violence, and it can severely complicate the process of securing their safety and ensuring their path to recovery.
“However, there is a stark lack of resources available for women experiencing this turmoil. This is what inspired me to pursue this Fellowship – to help women of colour.”
This year’s Tuwezeshe Fellowship programme began on 6 April, when participants attended a residential leadership training course in London, where they studied and engaged in key concepts which are essential to effective leadership.
Natalie’s ideas for a social action plan, which she intends to develop during her involvement with the Fellowship, include working with the NHS to ascertain how healthcare professionals can overcome language barriers when talking to women who have experienced sexual or domestic violence.
Natalie, who was a First-Generation Scholar, is the first female on her mother’s side to go to university and the first member of her entire family to achieve a Master’s degree.
She aspires to become a solicitor specialising in serious crime such as sexual violence, domestic violence and marital homicide, and is hopeful that her social action plan ideas will catapult her career into the area she needs.