GlobalGirl Media New to London, Ready to Empower Young Girls
GlobalGirl Media is a nonprofit organization started in 2010 by Amie Williams. The organization develops the voice and media literacy of young women in undeserved communities by teaching them to create and share digital journalism that aims to improve scholastic achievement, ignite community activism and spark social change.
Because there aren’t enough women in the media, GlobalGirl Media exists to influence change at local and global levels of the media sector. By linking young women internationally with seasoned reporters, educators and mentors, GlobalGirl Media teaches girls that their voices matters too, and their stories count. There are chapters in South Africa, Morocco, Kosovo, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. But now, there is a new chapter starting in London by documentary filmmaker, Victoria Bridges.
“(GlobalGirl Media) is an example of how educating one young woman can transform a community.”
- First Lady Michelle Obama (blogged after meeting a GGM Reporter in South Africa)
GlobalGirl Media London
GlobalGirl Media London is keen to recruit girls that are highly motivated, but they’re also keen to recruit girls that are not so confident to be in the media.
They train only small groups of girls. The training is purposefully designed to be a safe space where there are just girls in a sustainable news room. The idea is within an only girl space, girls can explore their ideas, meet each other, and find links and bridges between each other’s lives.
The London chapter is going to be educating girls on their rights, where they will watch videos, and talk about issues such as nutrition. The founder, Amie Williams, has a model for the curriculum that they will follow.
“It's essential to give girls a voice, because you are changing the narrative, and in the world we live in today, with all the issues we are confronted with, we have to find some way in which we alter the narrative”
- Danny Glover / Actor, Activist & GlobalGirl Media spokesperson
For the graduates that will finish at the end of the training, each girl will have created a blog; and they will each have produced around 4 videos some of which will go up on the GGM broadband network. Even after the girls have long finished the course, they will continue to be mentored by someone from the media industry.
They hope to partner with other major news networks and are in conversation with Sky News, Reuters and the BBC. Some of their partners may use some of the videos the girls make for their own sites.
“We’ve already been invited to report on events,” stated Victoria Bridges, the London chapter head. Thoughtworks, a tech company that works to create social change, has invited the London chapter to the world’s largest all-female hackathon. “The girls will see women that look like them, code and do technologically advanced things, which will be good for them,” noted Victoria.
“Holding the camera was like holding the future in my hands…”
- GGM Reporter Lungile, Soweto, South Africa
Reuters is having a conference in October called Trust Women. Two of GlobalGirls have been invited to cover that. And they have been invited to attend the International Day of the Girl at London’s Southbank in October. There will be girls from all over the world and they will turn the London Eye pink that day. The London chapter will be interviewing girls from all over the world. And two weeks later, at the Why Youth Festival, the London chapter’s videos from the International Day of the Girl will be shown to the public.
Just like anything in life good things take time - they take baby steps. There has already been some GlobalGirl Media successes. The women from the Morocco chapter attended a protest in Morocco to overturn a law that dated back to French colonial times that stated women who had been raped in some instances, would have to marry the rapists. The global girls went to the protest and made a video, interviewing some protestors. The video wasn’t seen on Moroccan TV, but it went viral and was passed around feminist circles in Europe, and ended up on the Huffington Post. And now the law in Morocco is being changed.
“There is no fair representation of women and women’s issues anywhere in the media, and it's a worldwide phenomenon”
– Liliane Landor, BBC
For the London chapter, while the UK is more democratic than Morocco, it’s not anticipated that laws will be changed. But, having more female voices in broadcast, broadband, and social media will make for a more peaceful and happier society. “Our girls will be choosing what to make, but we assume that whatever subjects our London girls will want to highlight will be ones that they identify with, and that will bring awareness to what’s important to them. We may not change laws but we can inspire more women to be in media, and talk about issues that affect women like domestic violence, depression, and other issues that affect British women,” stated Victoria.
Victoria is embracing the baby steps. “It's the little steps that can have massive ripples beyond, and Amie our founder’s idea is that it starts with the individual and moves out. It starts with the community and we will see GlobalGirl Media’s ripple effect around the world.”
*Photos courtesy of GlobalGirl Media