<div><strong>Exciting Phase II for Sierra Leone and West Africa!</strong>
</div>
<div><strong><em>Update Tuesday 31 March 2026</em></strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>Summary</strong>
</div>
<div>We continue our successful and sustainable work in Sierra Leone and in the region. In December 2025, we trained about 60 people in Makeni in the Northern Province, and this time we back to train about 90-100 leaders, community reps, church communities, NGOs and more, first in Freetown (23-27 March, 2026) and Makeni (30 March-3 April).
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Additionally we are building and strengthening an NVC Core Team, based on dedicated people from December, and adding to the team as we go along.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Finally, BREAKING NEWS:
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>We have rented a two storey house in Makeni where will reside as a collective Core Team, while doing the official opening this coming Friday, 3 April. The Centre is historic, will be called the Western Centre for Nonviolent Communication, serving all of Sierra Leone and huge parts (if not all) of the entire West African region.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>Background</strong>
</div>
<div>In Sierra Leone, working with educational institutions and communities, we’ve realised that Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and empathy training are needed in Sierra Leone to heal deep societal wounds left by its past civil war and to build trust and social cohesion amid ongoing challenges like poverty and inequality.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Nonviolent Communication can help to foster understanding, repair relationships, and promote long-term reconciliation within communities.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Post-conflict Sierra Leone still faces social divisions based on past events and persistent issues like poverty and stigma. When we communicate nonviolently, we build better understanding of ourselves and others; this could help to restore hope in Sierra Leone.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>Nonviolent Communication</strong>
</div>
<div>Nonviolent Communication (NVC), also known as Compassionate Communication, is a powerful approach to interpersonal communication and conflict management. Developed by Dr Marshall Rosenberg (RIP), NVC focuses on fostering empathy, understanding, and collaboration in order to build strong and healthy relationships. These intensive trainings are designed to introduce beginners to the core principles, tools and applications of NVC.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>Objectives</strong>
</div>
<div>The primary objectives of the trainings are:
</div>
<div>· To provide teachers, community leaders, students and non-project volunteers with a comprehensive understanding of the principles and framework of NVC.
</div>
<div>· To equip participants with basic, practical tools and techniques for effective needs-based communication, conflict management and building and strengthening of relationships.
</div>
<div>· To promote self-awareness and emotional consciousness, enabling participants to connect more deeply with themselves and others.
</div>
<div>· To empower participants to create more harmonious and empathetic interactions in both personal and professional contexts, ensuring sustainability for further training and practice.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>Larger Target Audience</strong>
</div>
<div>Our trainings are catered for about 50 selected teachers, community leaders, organisation champions, church and mosque leaders and university students who have little to no prior knowledge of nonviolent communication and are interested in improving their communication skills, managing conflicts, and fostering more empathic relationships and connections at work, in their relationships, or socially. It is suitable for individuals from diverse backgrounds, including professionals, educators, community leaders, careers, and anyone seeking to enhance their interpersonal interactions. To ensure commitment, all participants will apply with a motivation statement where they also explain how they will use their knowledge in their continuous work.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>MYCRO and affiliates</strong>
</div>
<div>Because we want to get grounded with the course and to equip our team for effective, efficient and sustainable NVC practices in Sierra Leone, we’ve suggested having an extra session with a 12-person team (the SL NVC Core Team). This will give us sustainability and a better chance at keeping and strengthening knowledge and experience in Sierra Leone.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>These are staff volunteers of MYCRO and our affiliate members of our organisation. It is our hope that when the core team is grounded, we will be fully empowered to train others after the facilitator has left Sierra Leone.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>Outcome </strong>
</div>
<div>By the end of these intensive training, these Sierra Leonean leaders will have gained a foundation in Nonviolent Communication, enabling them to engage in more compassionate and effective communication, thereby hopefully contributing to a more empathic and harmonious society.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>Materials: </strong>
</div>
<div>Handouts, workbooks and resources related to Nonviolent Communication.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>Trainers</strong>
</div>
<div>Gert Skoczowsky-Danielsen (Norway), Empathy Norway, Certified Trainer in NVC
</div>
<div>Dominic Maada Macavoray (Sierra Leone), Assistant-in-Training
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>In Phase I, we requested donations for up to USD 4,100.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>This time, we ask for USD 10,400, which would cover
</div>
<ul>
<li>One training in Freetown at USD 5,000
</li>
<li>One training in Makeni at USD 5,000
</li>
<li>12 months' rent for the Centre. All office costs by be sponsored by yours truly this first year, and we truly hope to, and believe to, engage in the private market, Government entities, organisations and others so that we can "Robin Hood our way through the financial landscape and at least cover all Centre costs over time, while also providing affordable trainings for those with less resources.
</li>
</ul>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>From MYCRO Sierra Leone, thank you very, very much for supporting our peaceful future! </strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>NOTE:
</div>
<div>Due to IT and wifi difficulties, we have sadly not been able to update and share this until now. We hope to be to share more updates more frequently over the next days and weeks! :)
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>*** </strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>Update, January 2026</strong>
</div>
<div>After having gone through our accounts (available upon request), we have seen that our original budget of USD 3,000 was too optimistic.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>With additional costs for Gert's visa, compulsory airport security fees in Freetown, increased food prices, bank fees, costs for Gert's dog at a "pet hotel" in Spain while he was in Sierra Leone, some increased printing and local travel costs, the final accounts amounted to USD 4,176, totalling NOK 42,402 (exchange rate USD 1 = NOK 10,15).
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Additionally, with less interest in Freetown, we moved the training to Makeni in the Northern Province, which meant we lost the initial sponsorship of lunches and the venue. We also had 14 more participants registered than planned, reaching 64 individuals from different sectors in this historic training.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>With sadness, we conclude that we could have budgeted in more realistic terms and been more precise in our pre-calculations. That would have been more in line with our values and met our need for integrity, predictability and care for all our supporters.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>With some tremendously generous donations from more than 25 individuals, we reached USD 2,938 this weekend. We are now humbly asking for an additional USD 1,238 (NOK 12,565) to reach our updated goal of USD 4,176.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Your support in this final leg of the fundraising effort fills us with inspiration, motivation, gratitude and hope. Thank you!
</div>

Nicole Allen

Kristine Sanchez

James Bowen

Anonymous

Peggy Smith

Mironel de Wilde

Margaret Chotas

Afua Sanders Kim

Sini Moilanen

Anniken Beer

Muditadevi Bente Kjønstad

Leif Cedric K Gottschling

Mercedes San Roman Ruiz

Alina Vandenberghe

Mercedes San Roman

Pontus Ohrstedt

Empathy Training for Sierra Leonean Youth Leaders

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

Eligible for Profile Share Badge

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

isEligibleForProfileBadge

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.3.0 and above

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

You’re supporting Empathy Training for Sierra Leonean Youth Leaders

Your donation will benefit Gert Skoczowsky-Danielsen