My colleague Ryan Kautz and I just returned from Zimbabwe, where we completed a second video advocacy training with our local partners, the Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU). As an immediate outcome, the trainees produced two short videos based on a strong testimony of a woman who survived politically-motivated violence in Zimbabwe. The woman tells a moving story of the sexual violence she lived through. See more on our campaign with RAU here.
In WITNESS' history we have partnered with women around the world. This is a thank you to all the women who are our partners in change.
Up to 60% of women will experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes. Whether in the form of domestic violence perpetrated by an intimate partner, mass rape used as a weapon of war, or criminalization of reproductive rights, violence against women (VAW) remains one of the most pervasive violations of human rights across borders, cultures, and economic classes.
Say you suspect the president of your country is using the Presidential airplane to go shopping and sightseeing in Paris instead of for official state purposes. Or say your government has blocked YouTube because too many videos showing police brutality have been uploaded there. Or suppose you spent years using Freedom of Information laws to request access to government data and now you have thousands of pages of a complex budget in front of you. What can you do with this information? How can you turn information into action?
