VIJAYAWADA: Global India Fund has collaborated with Samhita Social Ventures and Girl Rising in partnership with US Embassy, New Delhi, to organise a series of workshops on effective communication strategies to counter gender-based violence. The workshop, which would be held in tier II cities, was held in Vijayawada on Friday.
According to National Crime Records Bureau, AP has moderately high incidence of violence cases against women. These workshops would be an opportunity to help build organizational and individual capacity to counter gender-based violence in the city.Gabriel Hons-Olivier, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Consulate General, Hyderabad, said, “As we celebrate 16 days of activism, it is important for us to acknowledge the role of communication strategies and digital media to combat gender based violence. Without communication, there is no advocacy and without effective communication, there is no impactful advocacy.”
Addressing the gathering, Vijayawada Police Commissioner Gautam Sawang, “We need to reorient our thought processes, have empathy for the other gender and then slowly change perceptions of others. To change people’s world view, communication plays an important role. To focus on effective communication on women in our society is one of the most rewarding actions we can undertake. Violence against women is a global pandemic that is being ignored worldwide.”
The workshop involved identifying gaps in the existing local narrative and an attempt to fill the loopholes and facilitate discussions around global experiences to promote cross-fertilization of ideas for new programmes, learning and best practices. The workshop also entailed engaging with US and South Asian gender experts to learn how other South Asian countries operate in similar socio-political contexts and how they have designed communication strategies.
Workshop on gender-based violence in tier-II cities
Using innovative communication tools and solution-centric story-telling, these workshops would address policy gaps, discuss global experiences, and engage US, South Asian and national experts to create network opportunities and build stakeholder capabilities.