Grants up to USD 5,000 each are for campaign activities that are aligned with the Take Back the Tech! campaign to take control of technology to end violence against women.
This is the list of projects implemented in 2019:
- Colnodo: Strengthening women's rights and achievements
- Media Matters for Democracy: Take Back the Tech 2019 campaign
- Sulá Batsú: Violence-free ICTs for girls and boys
- TEDIC: The magic that manifests from the feminist internet: A series of three podcasts from Latin American women activists
Summaries of selected TBTT grants (2019)
Colnodo: Strengthening women's rights and achievements
One of Colnodo’s strategic work areas is the promotion of information and communication technology (ICT) with a gender focus. In this regard, Colnodo continues to design and implement various initiatives to promote access, use and appropriation of ICT among women. The purpose of this project was to convene new and broader audiences with the message of non-violence towards women in digital spaces, through the production and dissemination of innovative content using social networks and other virtual media.
Campaign activities such as podcasts, videos, face-to-face workshops, social media strategy and disseminated materials have contributed to amplifying the voices of women and combating violence against women on the internet. One of the 2019 campaign achievements has been providing a venue for women from different backgrounds to express their opinions, experiences and perceptions about their use of the internet, the barriers and opportunities they face, the content they produce, the violence they are subjected to and how to continue using the internet as a space for creation, conversation and dissemination of ideas and knowledge.
Through the social media platforms of the campaign in Colombia and through the face-to-face workshops it was possible to reach hundreds of women, men, boys and girls in different places and to promote discussions on the risks and violence on the internet and how to prevent them, thus contributing to creating safe online spaces.
- Podcast: Women’s role in technology
- Podcast: How can we fight against discrimination and sexism on the Internet by producing and disseminating content?
- Podcast: The relationship of rural women with technology and the internet: Women from the Indigenous, Black and Campesina Community Network of Buenos Aires, Cauca
- Video with reflections on sexism in journalism
- Whose streets? Our Streets! 16 Days of Activism: Activities during the 2019 TBTT campaign in Colombia
Media Matters for Democracy: Take Back the Tech 2019 campaign
The objective of this campaign was to document the experiences of women journalists and internet users in Pakistan. MMfD engaged with women journalists across multiple forums, discussing how newsroom culture impacts reporting on issues of gender-based violence. These discussions were attended by many women in the field who spoke openly about the pressure they feel to add pictures and names to the survivors. Additionally, there were campaigns across social media to discuss gender-based violence. One of the hashtags, #WhyIDidntReport, gained traction, and many women anonymously reported their own experiences with sexual abuse. The project ran during the 16 days of activism designated by the UN to have conversations about violence against women. The online campaign of the project went extremely well and started the debate and conversation that it had been designed for.
When MMfD put out the form for the #WhyIDidntReport campaign, it allowed people to narrate their experiences anonymously. It received more responses than anticipated, showing that people are looking for platforms to speak about their experiences and want them to be part of the public discourse. The form gave them a safe space to speak out about it. The conversations with women journalists, although engaging and informative, did not produce any significant results. The women journalists in the room agreed with the issues being discussed on being more sensitive to issues such as rape, but spoke of newsroom pressures which were not within their control. The language used to talk about harassment, abuse and rape, specifically for women speaking out, is part of larger systemic problems and deeply rooted patriarchal structures that normalise misogyny. These attitudes will not be changed by discussions and orientations but rather consistent engagement at multiple levels.
Sulá Batsú: Violence-free ICTs for girls and boys
With their children and youth campaigns, Sulá Batsú contributes to social understanding for a right-based digital society and to prevent risks and threats for new generations. Their videos are inclusive and easy to understand for all populations. They transform research into attractive information products using art and design. This campaign consists of three videos that strengthen online security content focused on children, adolescents and even adults. Among the topics that were developed are the safe use of social networks, cyberbullying and sexting, three issues of great importance, with a different approach to what is usually developed in Central America. In this project, Sulá Batsú chose an approach that is more realistic with certain issues, not trying to point out the negative or what should not be done, but rather trying to explain the situation and provide the safest options.
This series of three videos are also available to download from the Sulá Batsú YouTube channel or website. A few days after we shared the videos, an elementary school teacher wrote to us and told us that just that week, she was talking about cyberbullying with her students and was going to use the video in class. That was the moment when Sulá Batsú felt like it had triumphed with this product: the moment when a teacher used its content to take it directly to children.
TEDIC: The magic that manifests from the feminist internet: A series of three podcasts from Latin American women activists
TEDIC launched a podcast series compiling the stories and voices of different women tech activists from across Latin America. These stories focus on the importance of a feminist internet, what qualifies as a feminist internet, and opened a discussion on women’s perspectives on internet culture, particularly Facebook. Each episode of the podcast set up a discussion in regards to what listeners also think of Facebook and how they picture a feminist internet, as well as where they feel the magic manifests itself on the internet. Many of the insights from the podcast hosts address the importance of connection and community gathering and support through collaboration, as well as incorporating a feminist methodology.
- A blog post about the launching of the podcast series, which also contains the communicational materials for the project and for each episode, can be found here.
- The transcripts for each episode can be found here:
- Episode 1 – Facebook en nuestra cabeza
- Episode 2 - Imaginando una Internet Feminista
- Episode 3 - Conjurando la Magia Manifiesta
These grants are made possible with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
