Campaigns to End Violence against Women and Girls - Virtual ...

WHEN DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO USE E-CAMPAIGNING?
� If there are campaign staffers available who are familiar with the various tools of
electronic communication.
� To reach large, scattered audiences whose key members routinely use electronic
communication devices. In countries where internet use or mobile phone usage is
wide-spread, both advocacy and behaviour-change campaigns make extensive use
of electronic communication tools.
� To trigger immediate action: e.g. campaigners hear on Friday night that the
campaign issue will be discussed in parliament on Monday, and want to mobilize
voters to contact their local member of parliament.
� To disseminate a large amount of information available at relatively low cost, e.g. by
posting it on a website or spreading it through e-mail.
Bear in mind:
- As with any other media, e-campaigning must be crafted deliberately and
carefully. Do not rush into trying out a tool without assessing expected benefits
against the costs (including staff time and technical expertise). Poorly designed
electronic campaigning may damage your credibility, while inappropriate use of some
tools, e.g. excessive e-mailing, may irritate your target audiences.
- Remember the digital gender divide – for a number of reasons (including gaps
between average incomes of women and men and unequal access to education),
women tend to use or have access to electronic media less frequently than men. But
the particular audience you target may be perfectly computer-literate depending on
the context.
- Take into account the targeted users’ internet connection speed: if your target
audiences are likely to have slow connections, avoid using animations and large
downloads.
- Do not use e-campaigning if no-one in your organization or alliance is familiar with
the relevant tools, or if your audiences do not frequently use electronic media.
Tackling VAW with Technology
The lack of adequate resources, information or analysis that explores communications
and technology policies that prevent, minimize or address harm to women is a challenge
faced by advocates working on violence against women. To address this, the
Association for Progressive Communications Women's Networking Support Programme
(APC WNSP) is running a two and a half year project (that started in early 2009) to
strengthen women’s use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to
combat VAW, particularly by helping women negotiate the fraught terrain of ICTs where
freedoms go hand in hand with growing privacy and security concerns.
As part of the project, GenderIT.org published a series of papers that provide a
snapshot and baseline on the law and policy on ICTs and VAW in 12 countries across
Africa, Asia and Latin America. The papers illustrate the different opportunities and
challenges for how ICTs impact on VAW, either worsening the problem (eg. use of ICTs
in trafficking) or offering solutions (eg. providing platforms for women to collaborate and
network against violence). Among the issues explored are internet and mobile phone
access and usage, privacy and the unauthorised use of images of women and girls,
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Campaigns December 2011