16 Days of Activism Activities 2004

GL’s activities during the sixteen days 2004

In 2004 GL has extended its activities in two significant ways. In south africa, GL is spearheading a cyber dialogue initiative and in the region GL is working through the newly formed gender and media Southern Africa (GEMSA) network to extend the campaign through the region. Specific activities include:

• Strategies in eight countries: following the gender and media summit in september 2004 GL convened a planning meeting for the sixteen days with gender and media networks from eight countries. get report here. GL also assisted these networks to raise funds from the open society initiative in Southern Africa (OSISA) to run their campaigns. Intensive planning for these campaigns is now under way.
• Sixteen themes for sixteen days: GL has worked with NGO partners in South Africa and the region to come up with themes and slogans for each day of the campaign, with an overall logo and the slogan: “peace begins at home: united against gender violence and hiv/aids.” in South Africa different NGOs have agreed to take responsibility for producing background information and facilitating discussion on each day of the campaign. They are generating fact sheets and contact information for this.
• Coordinating the cyber dialogues: GL convenes the coordinating committee for the cyber dialogues which consists of three sub committees: technical, content and media. The cyber dialogue concept has been taken up by some countries in the region in their sixteen day campaigns, for example in Mauritius (link to website when this is up).
• Training for facilitators: with the support of the open society foundation (South Africa) and in collaboration with the network on violence against women and women’s net, GL will be providing training for community facilitators who will serve a coordinators of the cyber dialogues at local level. The training will both be on issues of gender violence as well as the use of new information and communication technologies.
• Linking with the city of johannesburg: GL has facilitated a critical link for the cyber dialogues with the city of Johannesburg, which will serve as the hub for the daily discussions. The cyber dialogues have a close fit with a unique joint project on gender, communications and local governance between GL and the city of Johannesburg (link gender and governance) supported by the mott foundation. Participants in this programme will host the daily events and play an important role in fostering discussion at local level.
• Report card: GL and partner NGOs will hold a press conference on 24 November, the eve of the sixteen days, on what has changed, what has not, since the last sixteen day campaign.
• Audit of the SADC addendum on eradicating violence against women and children: GL is coordinating input from country chapters of GEMSA for an audit of the addendum.
• Video conference: the findings will be debated at a video conference on 10 December, international human rights day, in partnership with the British Council which is hosting this event.
• Mobilising the media: GL is holding meetings and newsroom training with the media in the run up to the sixteen days of activism to canvass the themes and activities that will be going on during that period, and to seek commitment to daily, substantial coverage of the issues. Similar engagements are taking place through gemsa in the rest of the region.
• Special bulletin of the gender and media (GEM) opinion and commentary service: GL is producing a bulletin of at least 32 articles from around Southern Africa on the different themes of the campaign that will feature in the cyber dialogue discussions and be widely disseminated to opinion editors around the region for use during the sixteen days. While some of these opinion pieces will be written by experts, at least half will be written by survivors of gender violence and perpetrators who have since been rehabilitated. The “i” stories are a unique contribution to this year’s sixteen days. They have come about as a result of much consultation with ngos that provide counseling as well as facilitated writing sessions. The GEM opinion and commentary service is supported by hivos and OISIA.
• Special edition of amalungelo: the special bulletin will also be contained in a special souvenir issue of GLs bi-monthly gender justice journal, amalungelo, that will be launched on 24 November and will be distributed around the region through gemsa. The magazine and staff support for sixteen day activities are supported by Aus aid through its gender violence fund (GVF).
• Sixteen days online: GL will receive daily reports from partner organizations in the region and in South Africa. These will be compiled and sent out in a daily e newsletter during the sixteen days again with support from Aus aid.
• Monitoring and documenting the campaign: GL, the Swaziland media and gender watch (SMEGWA) and media watch organisation (Mauritius) will be monitoring the media before and during the campaign to gauge media coverage of the campaign and of gender violence generally, mirror on the media. GL will also be producing a video on the campaign.
• Stretch the sixteen days to 365: as in previous years, GL will work with partner organizations in South Africa and in the region to ensure that the sixteen days campaign is extended throughout the coming year and beyond. The dialogues on each day will end with the identification of action points. These action points will be built into an action plan that will serve as a reference point in future campaigns.