Training in using ICTs for advocacy and activism can be difficult when experience and confidence levels vary amongst the participants. Keeping the energy levels up, making sure that everyone is up-to-speed, engaged and following takes a deep focus and an ability to “read” the participants. Technology can be frustrating when it fails us or we miss one critical step in the process. Being a trainer, one needs (among other things) to be empathic and create an environment which encourages participants to ask questions. It is a constant process of learning for both trainers and participants.
It is day 2 of the 4 day FTX workshop here in Phnom Pehn
Cambodia. 18 participants are in the second workshop to build understanding of e-advocacy strategies in the context of anti-VAW advocacy. The first workshop focused on augmenting skills on advocacy strategies and this workshop is focusing on bringing the campaign online using social networking to build multi-media campaigns.
Correct me if I'm wrong (I mean it), but I think that the default and most comfortable setting for any technology trainer is to expound on a topic through a lecture (mostly, with a presentation of slides) then field questions during and after. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. In fact, I have been lucky enough to witness tech trainers who are really good at it, who prepare really informative and interesting lectures, who allow for anyone to ask any question at any time, whose presentation slides are so brilliantly crafted that they are memorable enough for the learning to stick.
But still, some of the best learning experiences I have had have been spaces where learning is facilitated through interaction between participants, where more time is spent on facilitators asking questions, where participants are given the tools / resources to answer their own questions, where participants take the lead in knowing what they need to know.
I don't mean to make false dichotomies here. But I've also witnessed way too many tech trainers who do nothing but lecture and create one-way communication channels between them and their participants. Whenever I do, I always wonder if a learning opportunity has been missed because the trainer couldn't draft a better design for their session.
Le futur de la vie privée est un des thèmes qui m’ont directement frappe. La vie privée dans dix ans sera-t-elle différente de ce que nous connaissons aujourd’hui ?
Juriste de formation, sachant que le droit évolue je n’arrive quand même pas à m’y faire. Mais la victime de violence sur internet en moi se rappelle de combien je n’aimerais pas que ce qui m’est arrive, arrive aux autres.
As we get to the end of the third day of the digital story telling workshop in Islamabad, Pakistan, I look around the room to see every one of the participants working intensely working at finishing their stories. We have just demonstrated how to use windows movie maker and i-movie – the last of the tutorials in our training plan. The room is buzzing – they are finding images, re-checking their audio recordings, drinking tea with one hand while the other rests on their keyboard.
Del 18 al 21 de marzo se realiza en Bogotá, Colombia, una nueva instancia del Intercambio Tecnológico Feminista (ITF)1 que en esta oportunidad reúne a mujeres colombianas y de la zona Andina para la capacitación en tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) con perspectiva feminista. El objetivo del taller es que las militantes del movimiento por los derechos de las mujeres que asistan alcancen un uso efectivo de estas tecnologías y de Internet para avanzar por una participación plena y efectiva en las acciones y las decisiones que permitan lograr una sociedad con justicia de género y sin violencias.
That's why I'm a feminist...
Singing, dancing, hand mapping, making networks out of string, cutting out paper faces from cardboard and performance pieces where just some of the activities at the South African Feminist Tech eXchange (FTX) held in Cape Town 11 to 14 November 2009. The FTX is part of a larger project of the APC WNSP called “Strengthening Women's Strategic Use of Information and Communications Technologies to Combat Violence Against Women and Girls” which is being implemented in South Africa by Women'sNet.
The diverse group came from all over South Africa and represent university departments, activist organisations, community based groups, township telecentres, feminist groups but all share one struggle – that of combatting gender-based violence. And the FTX aimed to build the capacity of the groups in using ICTs in creative and strategic ways to enhance and support their activism. The workshop also explored, debated and contributed to developing a feminist practice of technology. The Oxfam Canada Women's Rights Advancement Programme (WRAP) partnered with Women'sNet and APC WNSP and supported the participation of their grantees in the WRAP programme.
Posted by Jenny but written by Alice Gelderblom-Waddilove during the South African FTX workshop in Cape Town, November 2009.
I interviewed Nicky from Rape Crisis Cape Town about their ‘1000 Hearts campaign’
-Why did you decide on using social networks to fundraise?
At the end of 2008, Rape Crisis faced a huge financial crisis. Rape Crisis was finding that big companies would rather donate their money to animal or child welfare causes than to a cause like Rape Crisis, because rape is in no way cute, fluffy or pretty. Rape Crisis was also finding that there was good infrustructure within their NGO for big companies to make donations, but if individuals wanted to donate they couldn’t do so with ease.
Defines our approach to training. It outlines the core values that comprise feminist technology training. It is based on the experiences and politics of feminists who train other women to use technologies creatively and strategically.
How do we approach technology as women's rights activists? Where do communication rights fit into women’s movements? How can we reclaim technology for women's empowerment?
The Feminist Tech Exchange, also known as the FTX, was developed in response to calls from feminist and women's rights movements for greater understanding of emerging technologies, their potential and...
Training agenda, presentations, trainers' notes that have been used in our FTX workshops. Definitely useful in planning your our training and your own FTX workshops.
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Tried, tested and true technology resources made for and used by activists and non-profit groups. Guaranteed to make your feminist tech training extra-special.
Fantastic women who know a thing or two (...or more) about appropriating technology for women's rights and empowerment. They have been trainers / facilitators in our FTX workshops.
Unless otherwise stated, content on the FTX website is licenced under CreativeCommons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0
