About SafeHer Foundation
Two visionaries.
One foundation.
SafeHer Foundation is a Ghana-US women's safety foundation co-founded by Zarinah Knows and DK Cyber. Together, they combine two decades of senior leadership in national security and privacy with deep ground presence across West Africa — to build what safety education for African women should have always been.
Co-Founder · Author
Zarinah
Knows
Author, women's safety educator, and security/privacy professional. CEO and Founder of Happy.Gov, Happy You, and Ballard & Silas LLCs. Author of 30 Ways Pretty Girls Can Save Themselves.
Twenty-plus years as a senior leader in national security, privacy, law, and international trade. A proud HBCU, law, and Harvard Kennedy School graduate, with additional certifications in counterterrorism, use of force, European Union law, and commercial real estate. The founding voice for personal safety education — teaching this material since 2015.
BasedWashington, D.C., USA
FocusCurriculum, content, US operations
Co-Founder · Cybersecurity
DK
Cyber
Ghanaian cybersecurity professional and digital safety trainer. Founder of DK Cyber. Technical depth in account security, mobile fraud, social engineering, and digital safety architecture for African contexts.
Africa operations and technology lead. Brings the on-the-ground operational capacity, cultural fluency, and African network that turns SafeHer Foundation from imported curriculum into authentic local movement. Leads technology, regional operations, and government engagement across the continent.
BasedAccra, Ghana
FocusTechnology, Africa operations, partnerships
Our story
Built quietly.
Released with purpose.
The book came first. Written in 2020, refined for years, the 30 Ways framework took shape across nearly a decade of teaching teen girls and women — long before it appeared between covers. When publication finally arrived in 2024, one thing remained held back: the harder material. The physical defense, escape exercises, and advanced safety modules that needed the right partner and the right ground.
That ground turned out to be Ghana. The partner turned out to be a cybersecurity expert who had been building safety tools for African digital life and recognised the framework as the missing curriculum piece he needed.
SafeHer Foundation is the result. An American framework, an African edition, a partnership that combines twenty years of security expertise with cultural fluency that no amount of translation can replicate. SafeHers — the movement it powers — is built for women everywhere. Starting in West Africa.
Our principles
What we
stand on.
Six principles that shape every decision we make — what we build, how we fund it, who we partner with, and what we refuse to do.
01
Safety is a right
Not a luxury. We build for women regardless of income, geography, or institutional access.
02
Localise, don't translate
African women's safety needs cannot be addressed by translating Western curricula. We co-author.
03
Sustainability matters
Programmes that collapse after one grant cycle help nobody. We build to last.
04
Impact is measurable
Every programme is evaluated against clear outcomes. We publish what we find — openly.
05
Earn the harder rooms
We start with what we know works. We expand into sensitive areas only when we have the trust to do it well.
06
Local voices lead
Our certified educators are the face of the work. We exist to equip them, not replace them.
Join us
The work is
just beginning.
If you serve women and girls — as an institution, a company, a government, or a donor — we want to hear from you.