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

Chat/cyber dialoguing
Many social web platforms, web-based e-mail programmes and campaign websites
include chat facilities for registered users. Such cyber dialogue can create a sense of
community among users.
Case Study: Cyber Dialogues by Gender Links
To raise awareness and promote behaviour-change in South Africa as part of the global
Sixteen Days of Activism on Gender Violence (25 November – 10 December), Gender
Links initiated the Cyber Dialogues project in 2004.
The project aimed to:
- empower citizens, especially women, in the use of new technologies
- encourage citizens to air their views and speak out against violence and abuse
- make "e-governance" work for gender justice
- link people across provinces and across borders in a common cause.
The cyber dialogues combined facilitated, interactive dialogues on the ground with a link
to a central hub at the national level where experts and decision-makers were available
at a fixed time each day to answer questions in a live "chat room". The interactive
process featured a bulletin board to which individuals could post messages and a daily
exchange of information between countries in Southern Africa, as well as a video link-up
between all those who participated on the last day of the campaign. In addition, Gender
Links produced a special bulletin of its Gender and Media (GEM) Opinion and
Commentary Service featuring first-person stories by survivors of gender violence and
perpetrators who have reformed their ways.
This project was carried out through a broad-based partnership process. Content,
facilitation and arrangements for each day were made by a consortium of nongovernment
organizations (NGOs) including: Gender Links, the Gender Advocacy
Programme, ADAPT, NISAA Institute for Women's Development, Tshwaranang, the
Inter-Faith Committee, Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Network on
Violence Against Women, Amnesty International, Youth Development Network, Men's
Movement of South Africa, and Sexual Harassment Project. Several NGOs, the GCIS
Multipurpose Centres, and councilors facilitated discussions and input at the community
level. Regional links took place through the Gender and Media Southern Africa
(GEMSA) Network.
For more information, visit the Gender Links website.
SMS and Mobile Phone Campaigning
Short instant messaging (SMS) to cell phones potentially reaches a larger audience than
e-mailing, as many people without easy access to a computer own a cell phone. For
example, in 2008, there were some 300 million cell phone users in Africa. It is estimated
that any individual with a minimum income of US$ 5/ day can afford a simple mobile
phone (Ekine, 2010. SMS Uprising: Mobile Activism in Africa).
Inexpensive technologies send bulk SMS to many phone users, e.g. via internet
services. Specialized software such as Frontline SMS enables a computer to carry out
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Campaigns December 2011