Take Back the Tech! to end violence against women.

The Association for Progressive Communications Women’s Networking Support Programme (an international network that advance women’s rights through the strategic use of information and communications technologies) in partnership with Women’sNet are embarking on a project that builds the capacity of women’s rights activists and organizations to advocate and use ICTs to end violence against women.

The “Strengthening Women's Strategic Use of Information and Communications Technologies to Combat Violence Against Women and Girls” project aims to help women participants negotiate the fraught terrain of this new digital landscape, in which ICTs hold out the promise of greatly increased freedoms but are burdened with growing privacy and security concerns. The project is being implemented in 12 countries, across 3 regions and is supported by the MDG3 Fund. Women'sNet is the South African partner and is implementing the project in the country.

Goals of the project:

To mobilise key stakeholders to stop violence against women and girls by building feminist analysis into global, regional and national ICT policy

To build and strengthen the capacity of women and adolescent girls and women’s rights organisations to use, reclaim and shape ICT to stop violence against women and girls

To create platforms and opportunities for women and adolescent girls to critically engage with ICTs to combat violence, and as survivors of violence to contribute towards self and collective healing

Project Activities:

- Develop an Issue paper on violence against women and ICTs

- conduct a national strategy meeting

- Localise Take Back the Tech campaign

- Training events: Feminist Tech Exchanges

- ICT Policy and Advocacy

- Distribute small grants for 4 projects that use ICTs to address or prevent violence against women.

Contact: sally [at] womensnet [dot] org [dot] za