Isis-Women's International Cross-Cultural Exchange (WICCE)

This paper was presented at the side panel on globalised media and ICT (information and communication technology) systems and structures and their interrelationship with fundamentalism and militarism organised by Isis International-Manila during the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva, Switzerland, in December 2003.

In this paper, Ruth Ojiambo Ochieng aims to examine how ICTs became a vehicle in Uganda for putting a women's agenda on the international negotiating tables.

According to Ruth, the overall goal was to develop "mechanisms that would communicate women's ideas" and enable them to design action plans, to exchange information and strategies despite the challenges before them of poor communication infrastructure, high level of illiteracy among majority of women and the conflict situation amidst them. In order for this to work, Isis-WICCE needed to build the capacity of women in using different ICTs to address their principal problems and to effect change.

They started by using a tape recorder into which women told their stories in their own languages and methods, within their contexts. "The tape recorder was the most appropriate tool because of its simplicity. Many were able to tell their stories."

As this approach grew, it became apparent to the Isis organisers that the visual component of storytelling could have an even greater impact on their audience. "The expressions on the survivors' face, the tears rolling down their cheeks, the mutilated parts of their bodies - none of these could be part of their stories. It was important to expose these visual magnitude of pain, to which mainstream media was mostly indifferent. The video camera became handy at this point. It became a powerful tool to project women's suffering - physical, mental, psychological and economic. Their expressions on video brought the organisation to the next step, the formulation of an action and sustainability strategy."

Excerpt from "Common Agenda, Different Methods":

"As the saying goes, seeing is believing. The audio and visuals drove different actors to take action. The story of a young woman who leaked urine and faeces for 14 years made activists and policy makers react differently. For the gynaecologists, the agenda was to rectify the problem. Indeed they did! A woman who could not step out of her homestead for 14 years was able to say, 'At least I can now interact with others…I can walk around, go to church without smelling.'

Inviting the 'powers that be', to be part of the strategy of launching of these findings was a useful strategy for long-term interventions. During such workshops, survivors were invited to tell their stories (using the person-to-person medium of communication).

The women's own telling of the stories named and shamed the very systems expected to provide them security and better their lives. This prompted some of them, mostly government workers, to take action. Few women who never dreamt of safe shelter received materials and today have a roof above their heads. ICT tools are indeed powerful and could clarify the real value of women.

We also involved mission representatives and members of the diplomatic community who showed sympathy and volunteered their assistance. For example, we invited the Ambassador of the Republic of Germany to launch one of the reports, who then released about US$40,000 to provide basic needs of internally displaced persons.

Telling their stories in front of a camera was in itself empowering for the survivors of armed conflict. The support from UNIFEM to the documentary 'A Lingering Pain' brought these survivors, their war-torn places of origin, and their refugee camps to TV and radio. Their pains were no longer hidden but became topics of discussion by ordinary Ugandans, human rights activists, as well as the UN Security Council.

The unknown conflict became known worldwide. Many actors influenced policy makers at different levels for legal reforms to improve the women's conditions. It became known that apart from rape, women suffered numerous gender-specific and non-specific violations. The organisation's link to more than 2,000 networks worldwide made the sharing of this information (through the Internet) timely. For example, the International Women's Tribune Centre (IWTC) was able to request the UN Security Council to discuss the conflict in Uganda on the way to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Our other partners such as the Association for Progressive Communicators, FEMNET, Isis International-Manila used the same information to articulate the issues of women and conflict at different levels of governance.

Knowing the power of drama to most communities in the Africa, Isis-WICCE continued to build the capacity of women to use drama to sensitise, educate and raise awareness of the ills of war. It has remained a tool in these women's search for peace."

Bytes for All Readers, August 12 2004; and Association for Progressive Communications (APC) Women's Networking Support Programme website, June 18 2009. This article first appeared in Isis International-Manila's magazine Women in Action, No. 1, 2004, issue on "Corporatised Media and ICT Structures and Systems".