Empowerment
Amplify Pathway to change
The most fundamental requirement for rightsholders to speak up is their inner empowerment. Empowerment is a complex process, like a journey of self-discovery and growth. Whether reflecting internally or interacting externally with others. These journeys are based on activities that strengthen knowledge and skills that lead to self-confidence and self-drive as well as changed attitudes, behaviours and practices. The following Impact Stories illustrate what ‘Empower’ looked like for some grantee partners’ projects:
Illustrating “Leave No One Behind” as the second key
principle of Voice, the following stories tell more about what it means to create new connections and to amplify the voices of rightsholders.
And to be better equipped to represent each other, recognise the diverse voices inside their communities, and widen communication across many layers of identity found in each community. The FLD approach has provided the opportunity for women who are doubly marginalised to explore their communities and share their voices on key issues with each other, including sensitisation on how to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The project has contributed to generating new knowledge on the issues faced by doubly marginalised women, expanding their informal networks, advocating for policy change at the national and sub-national levels, and bringing issues of intersectionality to the forefront in major dialogues among key stakeholders.
The “Our United Voices” project of Women Peace Makers (WPM) empowered doubly marginalised women based on their existing strengths and knowledge for better access to employment and inclusion in the urban society of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The project identified doubly marginalised women as indigenous women, women with disabilities, rural to urban migrant women, and women facing abuse. the perspectives of these women as well as bring their voices to target audiences for uptake, the project initiated, piloted, and evolved its localised information gathering methodology called Facilitative To better understand Listening Design (FLD). FLD is based on participants learning by listening, sharing, and speaking together to empower them and learn more about their communities.
When she attended the boot camp Palemo met four other persons with disabilities. The bonding came naturally with these four who had experienced her kind of challenges as well as others who had never faced such physical challenges. This experience was therapeutic for her. As time went on, she blossomed in the art of spoken word, thanks to the support she received from the bootcamp.
Palemo’s Story of Change from Nigeria: “creative youth booth camp” (Part 1/3)
Amplification is an important step when aiming to influence others and overcome social barriers that have often not been openly challenged for a long time. Recognition of rightsholders speaking up is more likely to be achieved when coordination among rightsholders enables as many as possible to be involved. Many grantee partners used their Voice projects to widen networks to amplify the voices of rightsholders. The following Impact Story illustrate what ‘Amplify’ has looked like forYiaku Laikipia Trust: AMPLIFICATION
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