WITNESS teaches with 10 tactics in Hungary

On 8 March WITNESS training participants in Hungary watched 10 tactics as part of their training on ICT tools for activism. Aliya Rakhmetova writes of the days events:

The first day of intensive video-advocacy training culminated in the screening of 10 Tactics in the European Youth Center in Budapest, Hungary. Even though the screening session stretched well beyond 9pm and the participants were still recovering from their jetlag, the 10 Tactics film kept them alert and interested!

WITNESS video advocacy institute conducted an intensive 5-day training on using video for advocacy on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, linked to participation in the International AIDS conference (IAC) to be held in Vienna, Austria from 18 to 23 July, 2010.

The screening of 10 Tactics was incorporated into a training programme which supported discussions around the use of ICT tools for change. The hosting organization, Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU), shared its own advocacy and mobilisation examples and answered questions from the participants. Balas Denezs, HCLU’s Executive Director, demonstrated how some of the tactics mentioned in the film can influence the effectiveness and spread of the message in a matter of days and how social networks can mobilise communities for action.

According to South African participants, the film introduced useful ideas to solve communication challenges in reaching out to communities with high level of illiteracy where the visual presentation of information might be a better tactic.

Besides the 10 tactics  DVDs, the participants took home other Tactical Tech toolkits, Maps for Advocacy, Message in-a-Box, Security in-a-box, Mobiles in-a-box and a link to Tactical Tech's website for more tools and ideas.The next screening organised by HCLU will take place in Central European University with the support of Human Rights Initiative.

Story and photos by Aliya Rakhmetova.

Images Top: participants take away copies of Tactical Tech materials. Bottom: Aliya Rakhmetova introduces 10 tactics to the participants.