Why WeHuddle
Supporting women to campaign for change
In 2014, Jaha Dukureh was a 24-year-old a mother of three. By day, she worked in a bank in Atlanta while at night, she studied at a local college. In 2016, Jaha Dukureh was named as one of TIME’s 100 people of the year — the latest stage in an incredible journey that has seen her become a global figurehead in the fight against female genital mutilation (FGM) after she started a petition to Obama on the issue. It is a journey that has changed her life and the lives of thousands of women, including mine.
Jaha’s story is not just her story. It is also the story of the women around her.
A British teenager who had campaigned to end FGM in the UK and inspired Jaha’s efforts. A women’s rights campaigner in New York supported Jaha to get an education. A foreign journalist who has spent a lifetime fighting FGM. A group of friends and family in Jaha’s home in Gambia who put aside other ambitions to dedicate themselves to the effort. And campaigners at Change.org — including, in a small way, me — saw Jaha’s petition, and went beyond their day jobs to help this extraordinary woman.
Now Jaha has connected with women across Africa who are working to end FGM in their communities. They’ve called themselves the Big Sisters and keep in touch over Whatsapp and Facebook to share ideas, resources and encouragement. When obstacles come their way, their solidarity and support for each other keeps them going.
Meeting Jaha — and others like her — changed how I think about the work I do. I’ve spent my career using the media and tech to build mass movements of people who fight for change. I’ve witnessed the power of many people coming together to force change. But the story of Jaha and the Big Sisters reminded me that behind all the headline grabbing numbers and successful stories is always a small group of committed leaders working tirelessly to keep their campaigns alive.
I’ve realised as someone that wants to make a positive impact, the best contribution I can make is to think less about creating campaigns and more about building support systems — so that people who are on the frontline can access the resources they need to change the world.
For the last year I’ve been asking women at the heart of movements: why did you start, what has kept you going and what do you need. The issues are so different but what is striking is that the answers are so often the same: “we started because we had to”; “the women around us keep us going” and “we need our work to be valued.”
There is Gabby Eldin, who posted a simple message on Facebook a year ago — collecting sanitary products for asylum seekers — and went on to establish Bloody Good Period. Now three core volunteers work with Gabby to drive the campaign on, and the demand for their work is growing.
And Robyn Boosey, who found courage working with her friend Rebecca Bunce to start IC Change — a campaign to get the UK government to ratify the Istanbul Convention to improve laws to combat violence against women. Over the last year they’ve built a remarkable coalition to push the UK Government to catch up with international legal standards to protect women — even getting a new law passed. Robyn and her co-founder Rebecca often running volunteer meet ups and planning sessions from their living rooms.
These stories are not unique. With little or no funding, and a mass of other life commitments, women huddle in living rooms, in coffee shops and community centres to plan and grow their campaigns. It’s encouragement in Whatsapp groups, late night calls to supportive collaborators, coordination on Facebook groups and core volunteers turning up again and again that drive their work.
These huddles are the behind the scenes of campaigning that you often don’t see. And we can do more to share that knowledge and experience.
Each and every one of the women I have spoken to has bigger ambitions for their work and needs more help to achieve them. Thanks to the internet sharing stories and connecting people more women than ever before are stepping forward to make change — but the support system around them is lagging behind. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Often the support women need to scale movements is simple; access to a community for advice and mentoring, understanding of free or cheap digital tools to grow communities, and fundraising — which can be done with the power of the a crowd now.
The Big Sisters shows us when small huddles connect together, it creates an unstoppable force.
That’s why I’m starting a new project — WeHuddle. WeHuddle will give women (all women) who are stepping up as campaigners, organisers, activists, community leaders or volunteers, the tools and connections they need to build their campaigns and grow their movements. Together we’ll build the campaigning toolkit for women, by us, for us.
If you care about politics, activism and women’s rights — or just want to start getting more involved, then we need your help. Come and join us.
