How CCCD is using social media to advance women’s rights 2011 CEO Leadership Forum, October, Nairobi, Kenya. Presented by: Gertrude Pswarayi 1

Why we do what we do 1. Did you know most women and girls in Zimbabwe are marginalized, vulnerable, unemployed, disempowered and voiceless? 2. Did you know these women and girls live at the periphery of society; their voices underrepresented, suppressed, unheard and forgotten? 3. Their Communication Rights are violated on a daily basis and they are unaware of it. 2

CCCD empowers women and girls with the strategic and creative use of communication to express their needs, to make their voices heard, to manage their own communication, and to participate fully in their own development for long-term social change. Why?: Advancing their communication rights will enable them to advance all other human rights and build a stronger, more prosperous society. Why we do what we do…cont. 3

How we do it Mobile technologies Social media Citizen Journalism Theatre for Development Digital Storytelling for transformation 4

The potential of social media 5

ICTS are to development what taps are to water  ICTs transmit an essential resource: information, like taps deliver water  The resource can do many things – with water, industry is possible, growing food is possible, health and more. With information all these things are made possible too  The quality of the resource is important – bad water, like bad information, does not help anyone  Who owns it is important, its location is also important  The design of the ‘tap’ is important’  The tap can change things – like relationships of power (gender!) 6

Social media …sometimes referred to Web 2.0 is an umbrella term that describes websites that connect individuals somehow. …rooted around the idea that the people who consume media, access the internet. …they use the Web not to passively absorb what is available. …users are active contributors, helping to customise media and technology for their own purposes, as well as of their communities. 7

 …users have increase control over content and they generate and receive content that is tailor made to meet their needs.  Anyone who has INTERNET access and an OPINION  Social media is not a strategy but a communication channels Social media…cont. 8

Social media redefining communication  The power to define and control messages and ideas has shifted from opinion leaders, government, mainstream media to individuals and communities  …communication is now more linked to “personal and emotional connecting” 9

What powers the conversation?  Social Networks  News & Bookmarking  Blogs  Microblogging  Video & Photo sharing  Message boards  Wikis  Virtual Reality  Social Gaming 10

How power is slowly shifting "...information and knowledge equate with power. However, information and knowledge become sources of power only if the necessary infrastructure for their production, processing, storage, retrieval and transportation is accessible and when people have the skills to apply information to social practice and to participate in social networks through which information can be used to further one's interests." Cee J. Hamelink 11

Redirecting energy for sustainable change  Increasing access to information  Organising and mobilising for change in laws and legislation  Increasing avenues for information access  Increasing avenues to access services through information  Reducing stigma through sharing stories  Amplifying women’s voices in policy debates 12

Redirecting energies: Focusing on sustainable change  Unearthing Forgotten Names: …use social media to speak directly to the perspectives and needs of women.  Sharing Information and Creating Collective Knowledge:…use social media to quickly and widely disseminate news and information about rights violation, share strategies and organise dialogue across national boarders  Capacity building & Education:…use social media to harness resources and information on the internet to develop capacity building materials in line with your context and location. …use the interactive capacity of social media to develop online training modules  Media Alternatives: …use social media as an alternative voice…also use social media for campaigns and event organising 13

Some of the challenges Inadequate skills and knowledge about how to social media Poverty Lack of ICT centres where women and girls can exploit ICTs in their activities; Lack/limited internet connectivity Frequent and erratic power cuts Governance policies that hinder rather than encourage affordability and universal access Lack of information translated into the local language closely linked Low awareness of ICTs especially in rural areas 14

How do we progress?  Need to address ICTs challenges currently affecting women and girls  Be more creative in ways we use social media by adopting a triple bottom line approach i.e. looking at the social, economic and environmental aspect 15

10 tactics for turning information into action using social media  Mobilise people  Witness and record  Visualise your message  Amplify personal stories  Just add humour  Manage contacts  Use complex data  Use collective intelligence  Let people ask the questions  Investigate and expose 16

Mobile Technologies Freedom Fone uses the fastest growing tool for round-the-clock personal access to information (cell phone) and marries it with audio voice menus and SMS. It allows users to seek, receive and impact information. Voice menus, voice messages, SMS messages, SMS polls. Audio overcomes the barriers associated with literacy. CCCD used Freedom Fone during the 16 Days of Activism campaign last year. [More on the campaign] 17

Theatre for Development By involving local people in interactive plays we are: Creating a forum for creative, collective learning and self expression Helping the community to make sense of the social changes around them. In this way, even those with no formal education can participate in this community learning activity. During the 16 Days of Activism (2010), the community developed a play which toured churches in the community [more on the tour] 18

Citizen Journalism ….private individuals do essentially what professional reporters do - report information. Information can take many forms, from a podcast editorial to a report about a city council meeting on a blog. It can include text, pictures, audio and video. But it's basically all about communicating information of some kind. The other main feature of citizen journalism is that it's usually found online. In fact, the emergence of the Internet - with blogs, podcasts, streaming video and other Web-related innovations - is what has made citizen journalism possible. 19

Digital stories DS are stories produced, stored and disseminated using digital media. The focus is on the story tellers' control over the medium, choice of words (narration), pictures and music so that the process is as powerful for the story teller as the end product is to the viewer. CCCD is committed to challenging traditional approaches of developing media which appropriates women’s voices, misrepresents us, and disempowers us, our approach to digital stories is one of empowerment, of women’s control over their voices and stories, and respectful of process and product. 20

Contact us Address: Number 1 Investon Road, Queens Park West, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Telephone: Blog: