Feminism in India (FII), in collaboration with the Swedish Institute, is excited to present ‘Advocacy, Passion & Beyond: Voices from the SI Leader Lab’, a new mini-podcast show. In this show, your host Japleen Pasricha, founder-CEO of Feminism in India, talks about the various ways in which activists across the world have taken on the challenge and have used digital tools to continue doing the work they do. Listen to the podcast trailer here.
The podcast show has been produced under the SI Leader Lab programme of the Swedish Institute. SI Leader Lab is a leadership programme arranged by the Swedish Institute for civil society leaders working for Sustainable Development Goal 16 (peaceful and inclusive societies) in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. It’s designed to give participants an opportunity to explore their leadership skills and learn effective advocacy methods. The next call for applications will open in mid-October 2022, more information here.
For the second episode, we have Hira Amjad from Pakistan and Noura Aljizawi from Syria.
Hira is the co-founder and Executive Director of the DASTAK Foundation, which works to eradicate gender-based violence and promote women’s rights in Pakistan. She specializes in the development and execution of grassroots-level community engagement, awareness raising and social mobilisation projects. Hira has worked with women and young girls across Pakistan, including those residing in various districts of former war-torn Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on projects supported by the US Embassy, British High Commission, USIP, UNDP etc. Her nationwide campaign to counter GBV – DASTAK reached millions through social media and thousands via grassroots-level activities. Her #DignityCampaign has supported thousands of girls and women impacted by flooding in Pakistan. She was awarded the Human Rights Award by Geneva in 2021 for her work through initiatives such as Waseela and TABEER Network.
Noura Aljizawi is a researcher at the Citizen Lab at Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto. Her work takes an in-depth look at digital transnational repression, digital authoritarianism, human rights, and digital surveillance more broadly. In addition to her research at the University of Toronto, Noura is the Chairwoman of Start Point, a nonprofit organization that works on human rights and gender in the course of the conflict in Syria, she serves as a board member of the Center of Victims on Torture CVT. She also sits on Amnesty International’s steering committee of Just Tech And Migration Community, and on the advisory board of the Humanitarian Dialogue HD of conflict and disinformation program. She is an Excellence Through Innovation Award winner for her contribution to Security Planner. She holds a Master’s degree in Global Affairs from the University of Toronto, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.
Tune in as Japleen talks to Hira and Noura about how to counter gender-based disinformation – and why it’s important for a functioning democracy.
The ‘Advocacy, Passion & Beyond: Voices from the SI Leader Lab’ podcast is available on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Google podcasts and many other streaming platforms via Anchor!
