10 TACTICS SCREENED BY WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT GROUP IN NIGERIA

10 Tactics was screened at a recent training workshop facilitated by The Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) in Lagos, Nigeria. W.TEC uses information and communication technology (ICTs) to better the lives of women and girls by empowering them to use technology for work purposes, leisure or activism.

W.TEC’s founder Oreoluwa Somolu says, “We chose to screen 10 Tactics, because it illustrated many of the issues of using ICT for advocacy that we had been exploring all through the workshop. I was very impressed with 10 Tactics as it provided an engaging and informational explanation of how to use information for advocacy.”

10 Tactics was the only film screened at the workshop entitled ‘Strategic E-Campaigning’ organised for the Women Living Under Muslim Law network.  Participants were introduced to advocacy & communication strategy centered on their issues of interest. The workshop also explored Feminist & gender-sensitive practices and politics of ICTs, the use of blogs, social media, online petitions and mobile phones to support campaigns; security considerations and exploration of real-life campaigns.

Participants discussed the uses of FrontlineSMS, shared their experiences, discussed its effectiveness as a way of communicating and how to tackle the problem of communicating with the illiterate population.

In some answer to this, W.TEC have identified the use of video to highlight instances of corruption and violence. In 2008, some Navy officers were recorded with a camera phone beating a woman driver for not moving her car out of the way of their convoy. This video clip was posted on the CNN, iReport and YouTube website, which drew national attention to this incident and mobilised a protest outside the Naval base.

Using this local example alongside those featured in 10 Tactics, a lengthy discussion took place about security strategies when filming.

Women commented that in future workshops they would like to learn more about tools like Frontline SMS and Freedom Fone and how best to use them. They also recommended time devoted to hands-on practical experience creating, editing and sharing video clips.

Participants also shared their use of personal stories and cartoons to increase the effectiveness of their campaigns, something W.TEC were keen to incorporate into workshops after participating in the Info-Activism camp in 2009.

Read more about W.TEC in partner stories.