WITNESS Video Advocacy Workshop

WITNESS will be holding a workshop on
Video Advocacy at a parallel event to
the World Summit on the Information Society.

November 14, 2005
5-7 pm
Sousse Room
WSIS, Tunis, Tunisia

Please join us!

The workshop: Video advocacy integrates modern communication technology into human rights campaigns for change. WITNESS empowers local human rights defenders to strengthen the impact of their advocacy by uniting the power of visual images and the reach of emerging communications technologies to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools for justice. WITNESS makes a difference because we work with our partners to turn powerful testimony and images into strategic advocacy campaigns that create specific changes in policy or practice by influencing decision makers, attracting the attention of national and international media outlets, and mobilizing the public. In the workshop, we will discuss strategies for developing advocacy plans built around visual evidence, testimony and stories, and for using video to target domestic and international institutions including the UN and regional commissions, international and national courts, government decision-makers, the media, an internet-based global public and others. The focus will be on challenging participants to move beyond traditional perceptions of video as a specialized skill outside of the needs or experience of human rights defenders, or as solely a promotional or fundraising tool.

Using illustrative short clips from our partners’ video productions, the workshop will include presentations around the WITNESS methodology and case studies of WITNESS’ partners’ work and advocacy successes. The workshop will also give participants the opportunity to share their ideas and experiences of using video effectively to create change. Furthermore, we will discuss current trends in video technology, and other ICT’s, and their potential impact on human rights documentation and advocacy. The objective will be for all participants to leave with an expanded sense of the possibility for using video, and other communication technologies, in human rights advocacy in their geo-political environments.

About WITNESS: WITNESS (www.witness.org) has worked with over 200 locally-based human rights organizations in over 60 countries around the world, training and supporting them to use video and the power of visual imagery and testimony to document abuse, and advocate for change. WITNESS works with 10-12 partner organizations worldwide at any given time, and also trains networks of human rights organizations through its ‘seeding video advocacy’ initiative. WITNESS is currently working intensively with partners in, among other countries, USA/Mexico, Burma, Brazil, Senegal, the DRC and Uganda. In 2003, WITNESS was the winner of the 2003 Knight Ridder Equality Award in the Tech Museum Awards for its pioneering work in incorporating video into human rights practice, and was hailed by Fast Company/Monitor Group as one of the top 20 groups working for social change worldwide.

About Hakima Abbas: Hakima Abbas, Program Coordinator for Africa and the Middle East, joined WITNESS after graduating from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University where she concentrated in human rights. During her graduate program, Hakima interned with Human Rights Watch and for the Coalition for the International Criminal Court. She also designed and implemented a research project into the Gacaca jurisdictions in Rwanda under the auspices of the United Nations Development Program, Kigali, and in partnership with the Center for International Conflict Resolution at Columbia University. During 2000, Hakima worked in Nazareth, Israel for the Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA) as international advocacy officer at a time of intense crisis among the Palestinian minority population of Israel. Previous to her work at HRA, Hakima worked as an Alternate to one of the permanent missions to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In addition, she has worked on video production projects in collaboration with TS2K and Noh Budget Films in the United Kingdom. She received her Bachelor of Sciences in Mathematics from the University of Leeds in the UK. Hakima is fluent in French and English.

About Bryan Nunez: Bryan Nunez, Technology Manager, joined WITNESS in 2002 with over a decade of experience working with technology. Prior to WITNESS, he worked as a Technology Consultant working on numerous projects ranging from online banking, to interactive television. His clients included the SciFi Channel/USA Networks, Times Mirror Publishing, and various non-profit and for-profit organizations. Bryan was an adjunct faculty member of the New York University Graduate School of Publishing, where he taught courses on internet-based publishing tools. In 1993, he began working on his first website, www.blairmag.com, which was one of the first webzines to include online video. In 1995 he helped launch one of the first online radio stations, Better Living Through Radio. He attended New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program and received his BA in anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley. He speaks English and Tagalog, and basic Spanish and Portuguese.

WITNESS Video Advocacy Workshop - Parallel Event