“We invite participants to respond to stories and connect by asking themselves when reflecting on these stories: ‘What would you say to her, if she were with you now?”
NEW YORK, NY, November 25, 2024 /24-7PressRelease/ — Footage Foundation (Footage) has launched a new campaign, What Would You Say To Her?, to coincide with the UN’s annual “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence” campaign. There has been an alarming increase in gender-based violence (GBV) in conflict zones in recent years-–in 2023, the United Nations reported a staggering 50 per cent increase in gender violence from the previous year.
What Would You Say to Her? (WWYSTH?) is a community-based digital advocacy campaign inviting people to post messages of unity, collaboration and solidarity with those who have shared stories about displacement and gender-based violence.
Executive Director and co-founder of Footage Foundation, Dr. Kristen Ali Eglinton, says: “What Would You Say to Her? is an advocacy campaign that invites participants to connect in a safe, compassionate space with women’s stories of displacement, prejudice and gender-based violence. We invite participants to respond to stories and connect by asking themselves when reflecting on these stories: What would you say to her, if she were with you now?
“At Footage we believe that everyone deserves to feel seen, heard and worthy. We use narrative and expressive approaches to connect those affected by gender-based violence as agents of social change. What Would You Say to Her? encourages multilateral, intersectional, compassionate responses to the deeply affecting human stories that demonstrate the experiences and realities of our time.”
Footage participants are some of the most marginalized girls, women, and gender-diverse communities in the world. They have fled persecution from dangerous hostile governments and conflict zones, experienced displacement, abuse and exploitation. Footage’s feminist research interventions show how sharing stories in a supportive space nurtures self-compassion, diminishes shame, and fosters belonging.
Working with those who have been affected by forced displacement and gender-based violence, the organization uses storytelling as a tool for healing, learning, and a mechanism for compassion, connection, and transformation.
“Our research shows us that while feelings of rejection and dislocation can inhibit connection, feelings of equitable “human” treatment are paramount for building belonging and fostering connection. Time and again, we unknowingly—and sometimes to avoid the pain of reality—dehumanize those in crises and conflict. Moreover, we know that dehumanizing people is how fear and separation are perpetuated. Yet, participants in our programs consistently express their desire to be seen, treated, and valued the same as those who are not displaced — as “human.” Anyone who writes a compassionate message in response to the stories is taking part in an act of solidarity and that can help to empower you to feel less impotent in a time of great uncertainty and anxiety,” says Dr. Eglinton.
The campaign website will share courageous narratives collected over the years by Footage, many of them from the Girl-talk-Girl platform, the world’s largest digital storytelling initiative focused on gender-based violence. The platform allows those affected by GBV to share their experiences, building a network of global solidarity while generating data to inform policies and advocacy. The stories shared in the WWYSTH? campaign are from those who have been forcibly displaced from countries such as Afghanistan and Ukraine as well as survivors of violence from places such as Russia, Kazakhstan, Syria and Cameroon.
In her shared story, Rani pleas for peace and humanity, to be able to lead a normal life.
“I am Syrian. Syria, which is bleeding blood from its kids and youth, but unfortunately with all this blood which flows in the streets like a river, nobody understands and nobody knows what happened to us. Nobody can feel us. And nobody can know what it means seeing people and kids dying. Nobody can see everything crumbling, but with all of that we will try always to show them that we are human like them and we are not bad or stupid and we are smarter than them. All we want is to live a safe life far away from war, shooting and bombing. We need to continue our studies and live our lives, like a real life, and a life like everybody else from Europe or America or anywhere in this world who has a natural life. This is our dream but nobody can understand why we left our country-Syria. We passed all these dangerous ways because we have a little hope to live a normal life. Why can’t we have this life? Why?”
The campaign aims to raise awareness of GBV and calls on leaders and policymakers to adopt and implement laws and policies to urgently prevent and address gender-based violence.
“Participating in this campaign and sharing compassionate messages, “seeing” those whose stories we respond to, not only intensifies our own compassion, it strengthen calls for policy change,” concludes Dr. Eglinton.
For additional details and about the What Would You Say To Her? campaign and Footage Project’s research interventions working with people affected by gender-based violence, please contact Jenny Caven at [email protected] or Dr. Kristen Ali Eglinton at [email protected]
About Footage Foundation: Our vision is a world where every person feels seen, heard, and worthy. We are a feminist organization raising voices to elevate lives through creative research, wellbeing interventions, and advocacy—all advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda, and Feminist Foreign Policy principles. Footage has received a dozen Public Diplomacy awards from the U.S. Department of State to design and implement programs focusing on preventing gender-based violence. Founded by five women PhD colleagues at Cambridge University, Footage uses narrative and expressive research approaches to encourage dialogue for social change. Footage programs center on those most affected by forced displacement and gender-based violence.
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