Amplify Grassroots Feminist Stories
“When I tell my mother’s story, I tell it with power and courage, not from the point of view of a sobbing, helpless and defeated being. She is a role model and an inspiration. But most importantly, she is the hero of her own story and not just a victim.”
– Hellen Matsvisi, Zimbabwe
JASS maximizes women’s creative use of all forms of media to tell their own stories and share their perspectives
Power resides with those who shape the narrative. Too often women are silenced or omitted from the “official story”, their versions left untold or told without them, their perspectives missing from discussions and decisions that impact them. When women have spaces in which they can be heard and define their own agendas, this not only amplifies fresh and relevant perspectives, but also creates platforms in which they can find one another, reshape the public narrative, and amplify their demands.
JASS sees communication as an integral part of strategy, a way to open space for political perspectives and thinking that is otherwise missing. By amplifying voice and visibility, JASS engages mainstream media to cover women’s actions, agendas and perspectives, and supports women to:
- Strengthen their access to and effective use of media tools, including using social media to generate interest and outreach.
- Overcome the gendered digital divide and harness the power of digital media to amplify their voices and combine virtual mobilization with face-to-face organizing.
- Learn and use radio broadcast skills. Too often forgotten in the age of social media, radio is still the primary source of information in Africa and Latin America.
Women Crossing the Line
JASS launched the communications platform Women Crossing the Line to celebrate and amplify the voices, innovations and struggles of women resisting and confronting inequality and injustice. Through this platform, we demonstrate how standing up for what is right, and fair can be risky, even dangerous, and how support for networks and movement building enables women to be politically stronger and safer. Women Crossing the Line is a vehicle to build solidarity and connection across borders with the belief that it takes all of us, working together, to make change.