Wishes for 2012 starting to come through!

The other day I wrote that I would do more to share findings from evaluations. And now I find out that Oxfam Great Britain has put my whole full big evaluation report on the "We Can" campaign, recommendations and all, in the public domain: ta-taa! Click here if you're interested in campaigning on people's attitudes on gender equality.
The link takes you to the Oxfam Great Britain Policy and Practice web-site, a commendable mine of publications linked to Oxfam work around the world. 

"We Can" launched in the Netherlands

It's "We Can", tout court, not "yes we can": The We Can End All Violence against Women campaign has been launched in the Netherlands. Reaching beyond feminist circles, "We Can" attempts to make large numbers of women and men realise that the personal is political, and encourage them to undertake practical steps in their daily lives to end inequalities between the sexes and violence against women. People can take a pledge to become change makers on the campaign website (in Dutch), and download materials including the signature reproduced here. Don't speak Dutch? There is another informative site on "We Can" in the Northern hemisphere: wecanbc.ca, filled with material on the campaign in British Columbia, Canada. The campaign originated in South Asia: wecanendvaw.org

We Can end All Violence against Women – Kenya

We Can was launched in Kenya on 27 November at the KICC, site of the 1985 World Women's Conference. The We Can Kenya alliance had arranged 1.500 chairs in a spacious tent, hoping for at least 1.000 visitors. But soon after the opening, another 500 chairs had to be brought in! Women and men of all ages and walks of life, from all over the country, came together to show their determination to end violence against women (VAW). We Can makes it clear that everybody, women and men, can and must take responsibility to stop violence in their own lives, in their own communities. The inclusive character of the campaign was underlined by the presence of two interpreters, who translated speeches and performances into sign language for a group of people with hearing impairments, seated near the front. It is a little-known fact that women with disabilities are at greater risk of VAW than able-bodied women. Overall, some 50% of Kenyan women have experienced VAW: one in two.

WE CAN End All Violence Against Women

My main project in 2008 has been my involvement in WE CAN, an innovative campaign to end violence against women. The campaign has its roots in South Asia, but alliances are shaping up far beyond the South Asian continent. In a nutshell, WE CAN creates movements of individuals - so-called "change makers" - determined to change their own lives and influence others so as to end violence against women. For more detail, please visit the We Can sites on the link list at the bottom of this blog.