"Campaigners for Change"

Vandalark Rastafor Patricks is a sustainable development practitioner and Human Rights Defender (HRD)  with over ten years of experience in civic activism, and policy advocacy. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Campaigners for Change International, a sustainable development and human rights organization that seeks to create a wholesome society, provide economic freedom, peace and justice to marginalized communities in Liberia. 

Vandalark is a torture victim, who strives to protect marginalized communities by leading an uncompromising evidence-based advocacy, and civil disobedience actions to ensure change. He speaks unpleasant truths to power and expose powerful individuals and institutions, whose actions undermine socio-economic justice and equity. Vandalark continues to demonstrate leadership in difficult times, as evidenced by his involvement during the current COVID-19 pandemic as a front-line healthcare volunteer at the University of Maryland Capital Regional Health.

I have fought against social and economic inequalities, discrimination, and advocated for economic freedom, peace and justice for marginalized people. For over 10 years, I have stood in defense of those whose rights are often abused, and ignored by powerful hands. 

I continue to renew that pledge to remain a positive agent of change and a front-line advocate for justice to promote good governance, and equality that set the stage for economic freedom. To actualize this dream, I campaign for economic freedom where marginalized communities can be empowered through micro-financing and entrepreneurship to become financially stable to take control their destiny. 

If people are empowered through entrepreneurship to earn income on their own, humanity will be elevated, and people will be free to think and act independently without taking instructions from powerful hands to eat and survive.

Growing up as a child, I experienced all forms of inequalities, which negatively affected my upbringing. As a child, I also witnessed Liberia's bloody political turmoil, which killed over 250,000 people. Young people were indoctrinated into violence and used as instruments to destroy lives and properties. Systemic corruption, and injustice served as contributing factors for the bloody 14-years civil war. I have endeavored to discourage violence by grooming rising leaders to lead with integrity in their communities. I have been severely tortured for leading mass protests calling for the prosecution of public officials involved in acts of corruption .  

The World Population Review 2020 ranks Liberia as number #1 on the list of world's poorest countries for 2020 owing to mass corruption. About 60% of the population that is mostly youth are unemployed. Unemployment has caused many youth to become drug addicts. It has made most of them mentally ill and caused them to beg and sleep in street corners. I hope to use my voice to advocate for equality and give economic freedom to the youth through entrepreneurship and psychosocial counseling to transform their lives.

My project is about creating a wholesome, happy, just and peaceful society where every human person will not have to go to bed hungry. It is about empowerment that gives economic freedom to marginalized citizens to live happily, acquire better education and develop their communities. The project is about promoting equality and discouraging inequality, corruption, and abuse of human rights, which served as a contributing factor for Liberia's bloody civil war.

The project works in different stages; policy advocacy, economic empowerment, and peaceful assembly to demand change. The project discourages violence, promotes equality, embraces the rule of law that protects human rights and prosecutes individuals and  institutions for acts of corruption, abuse of power and authority.

It rallies people to take action for the good of their communities and inspires people to think creatively and ignite change that promotes national unity, and peaceful coexistence.

The project is about creating a just society that gives every individual person access to opportunities to develop their full potentials and meaningfully contribute to national development without any form of discrimination or difficulty.  

I work with marginalized and vulnerable slums and ghetto dwellers, where unemployment is high and where abuse of human rights and increased wave of inequalities are prevalent. The inhabitants in these communities are being rejected in society, as evidenced by the refusal of the government to build clinics, hospitals, and schools for those slum dwellers. It has significantly contributed to societal rejection, which has led to an increase in rape crimes against children between the ages of 5-15 years. Infant mortality and illiteracy continue to rise due to lack of support from state sponsored institutions to provide quality healthcare services, education and social protection for people, especially for women and children that are mostly affected.

Through our community services initiatives in slum communities, we have identified the real social problems and offered assistance to reduce poverty, and illiteracy. We have advocated for unbiased application of the law against perpetrators of  heinous crimes in society.

Campaigners for Change often collaborate and write proposals to support community initiatives, offer scholarships to deserving youth and hire pro-bono lawyers to defend the rights of victims of injustice.

 My project relates to The Elevate Prize and my selected dimension, because I fight to address social inequalities, abuse of power, corruption and violation of human rights, which have placed a significant portion of Liberia's population in abject poverty that the prize seeks to also address. As a consequence, opportunities that should be directed towards youth empowerment, education, and entrepreneurship are lacking. 

A few privileged classes continue to enjoy at the detriment of these poor people, which speaks of high-level corruption that has kept the marginalized communities in abject poverty.

During the bloody civil war in Liberia, I was a kid and I vividly saw how a generation of young people was indoctrinated into violence, drugged and turned into killing machines by evil politicians. For the fact that illiteracy is high in Liberia, it was easy for rising leaders to turn into killing machines. They destroyed innocent lives and properties and displaced have of the population. When the war came to an unprecedented end in 2003, most of the ex-combatants had no hope. They experienced discrimination and were rejected in communities for the roles they played during the bloody civil crisis.

Sitting and watching former child soldiers begging students at Cuttington for food and working as janitors in dormitories, reminded me about the words of former American President, John F. Kennedy, who said " Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country". There after, Campaigners for Change was established to advocate for the rehabilitation of former child soldiers, and campaign for educational opportunities that provide economic freedom to marginalized communities that are still experiencing inequalities and societal neglect by national government.

I am motivated to campaign against systemic corruption and human rights violations, which have significantly contributed to the deaths of millions of people in the world today. Corruption and human rights violation have led to brutal civil conflicts, inequalities, discrimination and dehumanization of individuals. I fight for equality, ensuring that the right to live, and enjoy freedom of liberty should not be restricted. I live in a country, Liberia, where the practice of corruption and violation of human rights significantly contributed to  the bloody civil war that destroyed over 250,000 people. 

I am a victim of the war and I still nurse those wounds today. I still hold the belief that if we (victims) of the war do not venture in social activism to discourage corruption and human rights violation, the country might slip into another political turmoil again.

I want to inspire a new breed of generational leaders to think positively, and lead with the audacity of hope believing it is possible and change the narratives of Liberia's bad past. To be silent on corruption and human rights, is to set the pace for war, and that’s why I opted to be a front-line social justice activist.

I have been engaged in social activism and implementing projects that promote justice, economic empowerment, and defend the rights of individuals, whose rights are often abused or ignored.

Realizing that the future of any country depends on the youth, I designed a mentorship program in 2014 to groom young advocates, potential leaders and creative thinkers to continue the legacy of nation building and participating in national development. In 2015, one of my mentees, Abraham Keita, who I nominated for the International Children Peace Prize (Nobel Prize for Children) was declared the winner by the Expert Committee of the prize and honored with One Hundred Thousand Euros at grand award ceremony in The Hague, The Netherlands for his advocacy for children's rights.

I have been resilient in my quest to reform laws that violate the rights of every human person. I have been arrested, tortured, imprisoned and given Sedition, Criminal Conspiracy, Terroristic Threats, and Criminal Libel charges for demanding the arrest and prosecution of public officials believed to have squandered millions of dollars intended to improve the lives of poor citizens.

Additionally, I have been trained as a policy expert. I earned a Master of Public Administration from the Cuttington University in 2012 with several international certificates in human rights protection, policy advocacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership.

I am currently pursuing a Mid-Career Master of Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in the U.S., which uniquely positions me to deliver the project and solve the problem I have discussed.

Working as a Human Rights Defender (HRD) and sustainable development practitioner has always been a challenge. In 2013, I led a campaign against the Government of Liberia for the continuous violation of concession laws where agreements were signed without the full participation of local  community dwellers as provided for by law.

Despite several engagements with members of the National Legislature (same as congress), the government failed to heed to the warnings and proceeded with the signing of two major concessions. I mobilized several communities  to take to the steers in protest with with placards and demanding the legislature not to sign any agreement. Members of the National Security Agency (NSA) arrested and took me to an unknown destination where I was severely tortured for weeks. The public and international rights groups came in my defense which led to my freedom. 

A week later, I announced another protest to demand a review of all concession agreements signed by the legislature for failing to meet legal requirements. An audit of 68 concessions was later conducted, but only 2 met minimum requirements prompting a series of consultations involving the very communities and experts that were refused by the legislature.

One of the things I see as a leader, is to the empathy to treat everyone with respect, love and dignity. Throughout my work, I seek to always transform followers into leaders, and if I am convinced of their ability to make an impact, I transform them into champions and make them great heroes/heroins.

I have worked with several groups of grassroots organizations and entrepreneurs in Liberia to build youth capacities, provide economic freedom to vulnerable young girls and women and advocate for the voiceless in society. Throughout these engagements, networking and collaboration, I often distinguish myself as a leader by mobilizing the needed resources to implement  institutional projects and capacity building program.

For example, during the Ebola crisis in Liberia, I mobilized several communities to save lives by leading effective civic campaigns intended to sensitize the citizens on the preventive measures against the Ebola virus. I headed the fund-raising campaign, raised the needed resources and dispatched several civic educators and social mobilizers in communities that were badly hit by the Ebola virus.

Within a few weeks, the number of Ebola cases significantly reduced in affected communities, because the citizens started taking preventive measures to remain safe.

Campaigners for Change is innovative, because we use technology (social media) to rally supports that promote good citizenship, provide for vulnerable communities, and empower the youth through entrepreneurship to engage in meaningful businesses to earn and live happily. 

Over the years, influencing people was squarely based on physical interaction through direct interaction with people or community mobilization meant to find solutions. My innovative use of technology mainly Facebook and WhatsApp have helped me to rally support and to undertake meaningful initiatives in marginalized communities. I have inspired and motivated citizens to demand change through live Facebook podcasts,which has increased citizens' participation in initiatives that promote social justice, and reform laws that work against the interest of the poor.

I design topics and speak to over 80,000 people monthly, which has reformed key policies, and exposed public officials involved in acts of corruption.

I engage in uncompromising evidence-based advocacy, and lead civil disobedience actions to demand change. I speak unpleasant truths to power and expose powerful individuals and institutions, whose actions undermine socio-economic justice and equity, which make my work unique or disruptive. 

From the day Campaigners for Change was established, I expected it to make great impact on humanity. Growing up as a kid, I was subjected to all forms of discrimination .

Sharing my stories with individuals who are still experiencing iniquities, abuse, and neglect, has inspired a significant number of people in Liberia, as evidenced by the initiative many citizens are undertaking on their own to improve their lives. 

I also expect my work to have a great impact in society, because I initiate and lead evidence-based advocacy that creates a positive thinking among marginalized and vulnerable communities to recognize the power of their voice to ignite change in society.

I have created entrepreneurship opportunities through technological innovation and raised funds to empower vulnerable young girls, and women, who are often engaged in commercial sex as a form of employment to cater to their families. I have also used social media to rally educators, and nonprofits to provide educational opportunities like scholarships and financial aid to help promising Liberian acquire the right skills to make positive impact in society.

Moreover, I am involved in civic campaigns that seek to sensitize citizens about their rights and inspire them to constructively engage national leaders without fear, and demand accountability and transparency in government.

With these initiatives, it is absolutely believable that an impact will be made when these vulnerable young girls begin to earn their own money, take care of their families and sent their children to school. Street kids, with a bleak future, will also have an opportunity to enter the classroom to acquire an education that will prepare them for the future.

I am also optimistic that citizens will be enlightened and sensitive to the things that affect them and will boldly demand a reform/change in policies that negatively

Campaigners for Change deals with some of the major problems of economic inequalities, exclusion, poverty and abuse of human rights, which have placed about 45% of the population in abject poverty. According to Action Against Hunger, 83.8 percent of Liberia's population lives below the poverty line ($1.25 per day) and 94 percent of workers are poor (living on less than $2 per day).

A significant number of this population is situated in areas where we have operated for the past five years and strategically transforming lives, leading change and demanding justice for those whose rights are ignored or abused. 

Currently, about 10,000 people, including victims of human rights violations, war, rape and their families, physically challenged, unemployed youth, and vulnerable young girls and women are terribly mistreated.

In a year, I anticipate an increment in this number from 10,000 to 12,000 people based on the impact our current work is having on the communities we currently serve. In five years, the impact of my work would have increased, and an estimate of 50,000-75,000 people would be served.

A very good number of people are being affected daily by systemic corruption, abused of power, and social inequalities. To address these wickedness, consistent policy advocacy that gives economic freedom, justice and opportunities to marginalized groups of people is very necessary now and in the future.

Since the establishment of this initiative, I have transformed many lives through the introduction of entrepreneurship programs that empowered hundreds of young people, provision of scholarships and financial aid to deserving community youth, who have the passion for education, but lack the financial ability to enroll in school. 

I lead campaigns that demand policy reforms and practical steps that are not just politically or economically easy to do, but are required for a just world. My engagement in policy advocacy led to the review of 98 concession agreements that were dubiously signed by members of the National Legislature. I have campaigned against unjust laws, which led to the decriminalization of draconian laws like the 88A , which was introduced in 1980 by the military regime of Samuel Doe to impede free speech.  I have organized and engaged in peaceful protests and rallies that are meant to demand quality education, prosecution of former war criminals in Liberia including public officials, who are often engaged in acts of corruption.

The fundamental goal of this initiative is to create a wholesome society that embraces peace, social justice and gives economic freedom to the poor. It

empowers the youth through entrepreneurship programs to earn income on their own to become financially stable and walk away from poverty.

The lack of a descent facility (training center) to equip young people in entrepreneurship, micro-finance and leadership is a major problem.

One of the contributing factors that have significantly impeded our progress as an organization to forge ahead and impact more lives, is the lack of adequate financial support. We continue to experience difficulties in providing legal representation for our members and activists that are arbitrarily arrested, tortured and jailed by the government for speaking truth to power. In 2016 for example, I languished behind bars, because my organization could not secure the legal bond fees to bail me out of prison.

Demanding a change in policy that seeks to protect the rights of people to enjoy civil liberty and access equal opportunities usually come with a huge responsibility.

Currently, we still anticipate inadequate financial support to implement major programs in the next year and in the five years. This is a major challenge that will slow down our activities and weaken our momentum to serve humanity. Because of the role we have played in society to demand reforms in policies that protect and empower vulnerable individuals in society, we have been blacklisted by key government authorities. We have been excluded from receiving funding to implement life-changing programs.

We have put in place strategies to address some of the potential barriers mentioned below.    

1. Capacity building for staff and volunteers: Lack of capacity building of our staff continues to negatively affect our work. While they are performing at an acceptable standard, they still need more training to strengthen their capacities by developing new techniques to deal with the challenges we face in our daily work.

2. Facility for training purposes: We face difficulty in accessing the right facilities to train most of our staff, and volunteers. Too often, we spend huge sums of money renting halls for training purposes. It has cost us huge sums of money with minimal impact.  We need our own facility where we can organize more training programs to equip the skills of our staff and volunteers including high school student leaders, who often look up to us for professional development skills.

3. Financial Support: Every organization has an attorney/legal team, but we currently have none. It is a high risk, because we might be unable to deal with legal issues that might negatively affect our organization in the future. Moreover, we need an attorney to provide legal advice on some of the reforms we might want to lead. The lack of a robust legal team made me to spend a week in prison because I had no attorney to represent my legal interest.

We currently partner with institutions that align with our organization's vision and mission to create the desired impact in communities we operate. Below are organizations we have worked with in the pas and continue to collaborate to protect activists and equip individuals to make meaningful contributions in society.

1. Protect Defenders

2. Human Rights First

3. Federation of Liberian Youth

5. West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI)

6. Foundation for International Dignity

7. Council of Patriots

8. Frontline Defenders

9. Public Health Initiative-Liberia

10. KidsRights Foundation

We partner with these organizations to reduce poverty, promote world peace and justice, and give economic freedom to the poor by implementing entrepreneurship programs to empower vulnerable communities to be financially stable.

These partnerships have proven to be great given the impact we have made in society for the past two years. We have also offered support for journalists to attend international training programs through this partnership.

Our beneficiaries are vulnerable slum dwellers, unemployed citizens, at risks-youth and commercial sex workers, who often experience economic hardship and lack of opportunities to improve their. This is based on wide-spread corruption, abuse of power and authority. 

We provide educational leadership and entrepreneurship programs that provide rightful information to the communities we serve to demand answers from their leaders on issues affecting them. We sensitize the citizens on their civic roles and responsibilities and equip them with the required skills to hold their leaders accountable for engaging in acts of corruption that have perpetually kept most of  them in economic bondage, unemployed and uneducated.

We also provide micro-loan and entrepreneurship training for vulnerable  women, mostly commercial sex workers, to gain the skills required to have economic freedom and address the issues of poverty and inequality.

We provide these services or programs through direct community engagements to clearly understand what they lack and how we can support them. The citizens (beneficiaries) need our services and we advocate on their behalves to get them what they need/want.

Financial sustainability has been a primary focus of our organization. We have developed strategies to bring in money within the institution without squarely depending on donor founding.

Product marketing: One of the ways we intend to bring money into the organization, is to market products of big companies, especially the rubber and GSM companies in the country. By marketing these products, we will generate revenues that will increase our revenue base to implement programs in our operational areas. For example, when my mentee was selected winner of the International Children's Peace Prize in 2015, three GSM companies asked him to be their brand ambassador. Our organization was offered great sums of money to implement our programs.  

Training: We intend to collaborate with acclaimed training professionals to provide capacity building training for company staff and government employees through our educational program. Proceeds generated from these initiatives will go towards the implementation of our programs communities we serve. We introduced this method in 2010 and it attracted participants from nonprofit, private and public sectors, which attracted funding to launch our scholarship program to support student with poor financial background to acquire secondary and university education. 

Generous Monthly Contribution: We will identify about 200 individuals to give at least $10.00 a month for the upkeep of the organization. We started it in the past and it's perfectly working today, but with a small number of persons.

At the moment, we lack the financial ability to implement key projects due to the COVID-19, which has stalled most of our engagement processes with nonprofits, and companies for collaboration purposes that would have enabled us to generate enough money to implement programs in marginalized communities.

This is the main reason why we are hoping that our initiative/ program will be accepted to boost our financial capability to support poor communities. 

We intend to seek funding for our next project that will provide adequate information to local dwellers on how to take preventative public health measures to remain safe and healthy.  

The only option to remain alive, and healthy, is to take preventive measures. We intend to conduct a strategic civic education exercise on public health related-issues, train more healthcare professionals and hospital staff to provide adequate healthcare services, and sensitizes the citizens to take preventative measures.  

The estimated budget for 2020 is $100,000. 

The budget items include the following:

• Office rental

2.   Car rental

3.   Motor bikes rental

4.   Program operations

5.   Scholarship

6.   Salary

7.   Capacity building

8.   Volunteer compensation

9.   Legal representation fees

10. Fuel and generator

11. Stationary

12. Laptops

13. Desktops

14. Printers

15. Internet service

16. Phones

17. Ipod 

I am applying for the Elevate Prize to reduce the financial burdens my nonprofit is experiencing. I want to reduce poverty by empowering communities through skills development in micro-finance and entrepreneurship to become financially stable.

For example, I launched a project, " Child's Rights, is Human Rights" in 2015 to elevate children's voices to engage stakeholders to find answers to the problems confronting children around the world.

The project led to the discovery of brilliant Child Rights advocate in slum communities with no hope for the future. I mentored and nominate one of them, Abraham Keita, for the International Children's Peace Prize in 2015. He was later announced the winner of the prize and given One Hundred Thousand Euros for his advocacy for children's rights in the Hague, Netherlands, when I accompanied him for the prestigious award.

With funding from the Elevate Prize, I would deservingly expand my reach in communities that lack basic social services, and work with community leaders to draw the attention of the government and nonprofit institutions to provide them the services they need.

I have risked my life to demand equal opportunities for the poor. I have   gone to prison for advocating against economic inequalities. For over 10 years, I have been on the front-line fighting for equality. It is time for me to receive the Elevate Prize that will give me a global platform to tell my story and inspire nations to become "Campaigners for Change".

I need partners to help me select the right board members/advisors. I want to complete the selection of the remaining members for my Board of Advisors to be more equipped, efficient and strategic in engaging donors/partners for support to implement programs. At the moment, we lack funding opportunities and cannot implement our programs.

Additionally, I need a marketing media and exposure to give me a global attention for the work I am doing /have done. I have achieved so much, but lack the marketing media and exposure to get the desired public recognition to tell my story.

I hope to partner with the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) on its new program-Mid-Level Professional Leadership Training for nonprofit institutions in West Africa. Through this partnership, the capacities of my staff will be equipped to deliver on their responsibilities.

I will also collaborate with the Federation of Liberian Youth (FLY), Liberia National Student Union (LINSU) and Public Health Initiative-Liberia (PHIL) to jointly implement programs that address issues of youth vulnerability, addiction, and human rights abuses. Through this partnership, we will be able to identify problems and find solutions to solve those them.