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CHANGE BEGINS WITH ME

Small individual efforts make
a large collective impact!

November 25, 2014 to December 10, 2014

There seems to be an epidemic of gender-based violence underway around us without any end in sight.

The Prajnya team invites you to become part of the solution from today by joining us during the 2014 Prajnya 16 Days Campaign against Gender Violence, to take responsibility and action in any way that you can to further this common goal: To end all forms of sexual and gender-based violence, no matter whom it targets.

We believe that any individual can make a difference. And here are some ways you can get started today, no matter where you live:
Help women learn about distress services: Locate or create, print and share widely helpline listings for your town or district.
Spread the word: Contact local NGOs that work on this issue to come and make a presentation to your office or your college.
Volunteer your time: Find a service provider whose work you admire, and ask them if they need help with an area where you possess skills, such as accounts, design, editing or writing.
Donate: Those who provide emergency help need resources—from money to emergency supplies for those who have to leave situations of abuse. Ask first, and then give what is actually needed.
Extend your professional skills and resources to this cause: Reach out to local NGOs to see how you can help them with your professional skills and resources.
(A Call to Action with a consolidated list for anyone, anywhere can be found here.)

If you live in Chennai, and would like to join the Prajnya Campaign this year:
Distribute Prajnya’s ‘Call for Help’: This listing of Chennai helplines is available in many formats at http://www.prajnya.in/chennaihelplines.htm. Feel free to print, copy and distribute it, or share it over email or social media.
Organise or host a ‘Prajnya Community Café’ in your housing society or club: This is an hour-long informal conversation facilitated by Prajnya where friends, family and neighbours get a rare chance to talk openly about issues relating to sexual and gender-based violence.
Volunteer with us: Show up on event days and help us put things together. We usually need help with everything from arranging chairs to receiving guests.
Attend our events: Express your solidarity by attending our public events and standing up against gender violence.
Display our posters/stickers: Put up our posters in your workplace to help highlight the problem of gender violence and start conversations about it.
(A Call to Action with a consolidated list for those in Chennai is available here.)

If you do not live in Chennai but would still like to be a part of our 2014 Campaign, we’ve thought of ways for you to join us:
We will have pre-composed tweets and FB status updates that you can post during the 16 Days of Activism. Find the tweets here. Choose from these FB posts.
Participate in our “Men say NO to VAW” call for videos: http://prajnya.in/16d14videocall.htm
Change your profile pictures on Facebook and Twitter to our logo for the duration of the campaign to promote awareness about gender violence.

Whatever you choose to start with us, feel free to share with us via photographs and short accounts of no more than 100 words.

Our Call for Help posters in A3 size in Tamil and in English.

Are you on Twitter? Join the Prajnya campaign by posting the following tweets from your handle:

I say NO to gender violence. What does gender violence mean?
http://prajnya16days.blogspot.in/2008/10/what-do-we-mean-by-gender-violence.html #nosgbv #prajnya16d

How can YOU help? The 4 Ds of bystander intervention:
http://bit.ly/1fSi34X Also: http://bit.ly/1fSi6h4 #nosgbv #prajnya16d

Share widely: “Call for Help,” a listing of #Chennai #helplines for women in distress.
http://prajnya.in/chennaihelplines.htm #nosgbv #prajnya16d

Why do I say no to gender violence? Take a look at its consequences: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2013/violence_against_women_20130620/en/ #nosgbv #prajnya16d

Are you on Facebook? Join the Prajnya campaign by copying and pasting one or more of the following posts as your status updates.

Change begins with a choice. I choose to say ‘NO’ to gender-based violence.
“Women with disabilities are at a higher risk of being victims of domestic violence as opposed to women without disabilities; are likely to experience abuse over a longer period of time; and, they suffer injuries that are more severe as a result of the violence.” - Rashida Manjoo, 2013 #notosgbv #prajnya16days

Change begins with a choice. I choose to say ‘NO’ to gender-based violence.
“Men who want to support women in our struggle for freedom and justice should understand that it is not terrifically important to us that they learn to cry; it is important to us that they stop the crimes of violence against us.” - Andrea Dworkin #notosgbv #prajnya16days

Change begins with a choice. I choose to say ‘NO’ to gender-based violence.
“Calling gender violence a women's issue is part of the problem. It gives a lot of men an excuse not to pay attention.” - Jackson Katz #notosgbv #prajnya16days

Change begins with a choice. I choose to say ‘NO’ to gender-based violence.
“It's my view that gender is culturally formed, but it's also a domain of agency or freedom and that it is most important to resist the violence that is imposed by ideal gender norms, especially against those who are gender different, who are nonconforming in their gender presentation.” - Judith Butler #saynotosgbv #prajnya16days

Change begins with a choice. I choose to say ‘NO’ to gender-based violence.
“Sexual, racial, gender violence and other forms of discrimination and violence in a culture cannot be eliminated without changing culture.”- Charlotte Bunch #saynotosgbv #prajnya16days

Change begins with a choice. I choose to say ‘NO’ to gender-based violence.
“All forms of violence against women must stop – from the use of rape as a weapon of war to the use of violence by a husband to terrorize his wife within her own home.”- Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro #saynotosgbv #prajnya16days

Change begins with a choice. I choose to say ‘NO’ to gender-based violence. “There is one universal truth, applicable to all countries, cultures and communities: violence against women is never acceptable, never excusable, never tolerable.” - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon #saynotosgbv #prajnya16days

Know of a really good quotation on gender-based violence? Share it using this template:
Change begins with a choice. I choose to say ‘NO’ to gender-based violence. <YOUR QUOTATION> #saynotosgbv #prajnya16days