Since its founding 19 years ago, Facebook has become a social media powerhouse with over 2.98 billion monthly active users as of April 2023. Facebook has grown from a basic social connection website for college students to a life platform. It is used to find, connect, and catch up with friends, to read the news, to conduct business, to shop, and to learn.
Over the years, Facebook has also become a handy tool for users to locate important causes, organisations, and events and to advocate for human rights issues from almost anywhere in the world. Violence against women (VAW) is one of the global human rights issues finding supporters on Facebook where millions of people around the globe can now read, watch and hear a story about VAW through Facebook. People can follow organisational news, participate in grassroots campaigns, and donate from their mobile phones or computers whether they are on the move or from the comfort of their homes.
More importantly, more than 2 billion Facebook members worldwide can now easily find anti-VAW organisations’ Facebook pages to learn about VAW or quietly get VAW victims and survivors the help they need should they be unable to speak on the phone, or otherwise physically get help. Every little bit counts!
This is our ninth annual list of 16 recommended Facebook pages by anti-VAW organisations that we have selected because of their unique approach to fight all kinds of VAW. To reflect the reality that VAW is a global pandemic fought by our sister advocates and activists worldwide, the selection covers a wide range of countries across different continents. So choose a couple to ‘like’, or better yet ‘like’ them all, get informed and take action!
Introduction by Rebecca DeLuca and Regina Yau; Written, researched and compiled by Vani Bhardwaj
Inspired to support The Pixel Project’s anti-violence against women work? Make a donation to us today OR buy the audiobook edition of our 1st charity anthology, Giving The Devil His Due OR buy our 1st poetry collection, Under Her Eye. All donations and net proceeds from book sales go towards supporting our campaigns, programmes, and initiatives.
Recommended Facebook Page #1: Amna – Sudan
Amna seeks to condone and eliminate violence against women in Sudan. Amna believes in creating safer environments for women on the ground by working with them individually and in their communities. Amna’s Facebook page covers updates on violence inflicted on women in the South Darfur region besides the release of the organisation’s reports regarding Violence Against Women in Sudan. Their Facebook posts question on colonising perspectives when it comes to Gender-Based Violence.
Recommended Facebook Page #2: Autonomous Women Center (AWC) – Serbia
Autonomous Women Center (AWC), Belgrade believes that “a life without violence is a basic human right”. They provide legal and psychological consultations to handle crisis situations and male-inflicted trauma on women survivors, and educate the public and youth in particular about prevention activities. AWC formulates shadow reports advancing independent monitoring and evaluation of VAW-related law and policy implementation. They are currently undertaking two projects that are solely focused on GBV: Amplifying Voices of Women Affected by War-related SGBV in the Western Balkan – For a Culture of Recognition and Reconciliation, and STORM, the Strong Resistance Movement of Women Human Rights Defenders for protecting Women Survivors of Gender Based Violence and Their Children. AWC’s Facebook page gets active engagement by sharing its in-person workshops and events related VAW besides sharing infographics, news analyses and organisational positioning related to national news on gender-based violence.
Recommended Facebook Page #3: Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW) – Kenya
The Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW) advances the ethos of bodily integrity, solidarity, commitment, courage and dignity. Such organisational principles help COVAW liberate women and girls from all forms of violence. COWAW has committed itself to ‘breaking the silence on Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)’. Based in Kenya, the women’s not-for-profit organisation dedicates an essential segment of its work to access to comprehensive SGBV and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) services. COVAW’s Facebook page champions continuous community engagement to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and other forms of gender-based violence with updates of on-going community-based projects and events conducted by COVAW with local communities.
Recommended Facebook Page #4: Gender Hub Azerbaijan – Azerbaijan
Gender Hub Azerbaijan uses both online and offline advocacy tools and collaborates with fellow feminist initiatives and groups to further its cause. Gender Hub Azerbaijan provides a rights-based approach for the reintegration of survivors of domestic violence into society and eases their struggle to find shelter. It is a community-based platform that brings together young people, feminists, non-profits and government actors to consolidate resistance against gender-based violence. Gender Hub Azerbaijan’s Facebook page is a great way to find out about their numerous events and initiatives against VAW and in support of women’s human rights in collaboration with the government of Azerbaijan.
Recommended Facebook Page #5: International Foundation for Crime Prevention and Victim Care – India
International Foundation for Crime Prevention and Victim Care (PCVC) seeks donations for all survivors configuring difficulties in building new lives once out of abusive relationships. It also conduct Sexual Harassment Prevention Training (SHARP) to sensitise and ensure that colleges, schools and workplaces provide a secure environment to potential victims of sexual harassment. The organisations are also facilitating a Crisis Intervention Services project coordinated with local police authorities, including establishing a toll-free helpline. It runs shelter for child survivors of domestic violence and an undisclosed shelter for women in crisis situations. Burn survivors of domestic violence are also looked after by the Foundation through a collaboration with the district hospital. PCVC’s Facebook page provides a plethora of information regarding domestic violence, abusive relationships and other forms of violence against women. Overall, engaging infographics are used to convey the sinister silences within our personal spheres.
Recommended Facebook Page #6: Medica Mondiale – Germany
A trauma-sensitive approach facilitates Medica Mondiale’s community-based protection networks that embed coping mechanisms for survivors of sexual violence. It believes that an integrated approach in the form of partnerships and support groups aids recovery, reparations and reintegration for survivors of sexual violence. Based in Germany, Medica Mondiale educates the public on sexual violence during wartime. The organisation adopts an intersectional lens by addressing violence against refugees and migrants besides revealing the racist shades in wartime violence against women. Medica Mondiale’s Facebook Page spotlights the constructive initiatives taken by them across the globe, from Iraq to Afghanistan to the Congo, to serve the women and girls traumatised by conflicts and wars.
Recommended Facebook Page #7: Musasa – Zimbabwe
Musasa seeks to reform norms, beliefs, attitudes and values to eliminate gender-based violence. Located in Zimbabwe, Musasa seeks to be a temporary safe shelter for women in times of crisis, especially since the political conflicts in Zimbabwe have taken a heavy toll on the country’s women in terms of torture, rape and displacement. Musasa executes six programmes simultaneously: Musasa Shelter Home, Networking, Collaboration, Advocacy; Gender Violence and HIV/AIDS, Counselling Shelter and Legal Services, Public Education and Training, Research and Information. Musasa’s Facebook page displays its intersectional approach to gender-based violence activism with GBV awareness being spread to deaf women in remote areas of Zimbabwe through GBV Services on Wheels.
Recommended Facebook Page #8: Prevention Collaborative – Worldwide
Prevention Collaborative recognises itself as a network of activists, researchers and practitioners who seek to strengthen the institutional design in projects related to Gender Based Violence (GBV) through critical review, evidence-based curation and practice-oriented knowledge. Prevention Collaborative facilitates connecting trained prevention mentors with other groups and networks implementing GBV-prevention into practice. It believes feminist movements must be steered towards prevention in design, delivery, and funding. Prevention Collaborative’s Facebook page encourages its subscribers to take their tailor-made VAW-related courses and is enriched with free access to educative tools and course series.
Recommended Facebook Page #9: Project Alert on Violence Against Women – Nigeria
Project Alert on Violence Against Women believes that practical support for female survivors of violence becomes possible with the percolation of information and knowledge for the prevention of violence against women. With 24 years of providing practical support, advocacy, legal aid, medical support, shelter and counselling services, they are proactive with legislative advocacy on Gender-Based Violence with Disability in Nigerian states. Its referral services and bi-annual survivors’ forum as well as individual and group counselling services for survivors and their families benefit from their use of empirical studies, evidence-based research and documentation. Project Alert’s Facebook page encompasses community sensitisation events, workshops and events encouraging a for a victim-centric response, particularly for physically disabled Nigerian women.
Recommended Facebook Page #10: Rain Collective – Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
The Rain Collective mission is to address the root causes of human trafficking via education and intervention and to tackle the human trafficking networks and channels in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The Rain Collective works with clusters of community-based organisations for a medium tenure of two to four years to resolve structural causes that keep the channels of human trafficking thriving in MENA. Rain Collective also has an active seven-stage repatriation programme for survivors who find themselves deeply enmeshed in networks of human trafficking. The Rain Collective’s Facebook page lists country-wide Trafficking In Person (TIP) reports besides the repatriation counts rounded up by Rain Collective in every quarter and also features survivor stories.
Recommended Facebook Page #11: Saathi – Nepal
Saathi was one of the first organisations in Nepal to bring urgent attention to Nepali women and girls who are survivors of domestic violence. Three-quarters of the organisation is female. Saathi works to institutionalise organisational support for survivors. Saathi works with local government organisations, as well as a consortium of locally positioned anti-GBV NGOs. Saathi uses their Facebook page to update their subscribers about the progress in their shelter homes and their multi-stakeholder engagement across civil society and government sectors in the form of various events, workshops and trainings conducted in Nepal. They also post infographics related to Online Gender Based Violence.
Recommended Facebook Page #12: Sordas Sin Violencia – Argentina
Sordas Sin Violencia serves deaf women who undergo intimate partner violence in Argentina, who find it doubly difficult to communicate their trauma and grief due to their disability. Mainstream support services remain inaccessible to deaf women as sign language is rarely used in VAW prevention and recovery programmes. Often feeling unheard, deaf women survivors are unable to receive any communicated empathy from counsellors, interlocuters and facilitators. Sordas Sin Violencia’s survivor-centered approach to assistance makes the deaf women feel fully heard and involved in their own recovery. Sordas Sin Violencia’s Facebook page emphasises deaf women’s right to communication and raises awareness within the deaf community across Argentina about VAW and support services. Any UN-steered VAW initiatives are communicated to their subscribers in a manner accessible to the deaf community.
Recommended Facebook Page #13: Stígamót – Iceland
Stígamót considers the ex-post stage of sexual violence when survivors require trauma-sensitive psycho-social counselling. Stígamót enables confidential and free counselling services not only for children but also the family of sexual violence survivors. The organisation also collects data of survivors of sexual violence and the perpetrators in order to understand the latter’s psyche. Stígamót has a physical centre in Iceland for survivors of sexual violence. Stígamót’s Facebook page has covers local events and infographics on self-care and trauma endured by women who are survivors of sexual violence.
Recommended Facebook Page #14: Together for Girls – United States of America
Together for Girls works on preventing and eliminating childhood sexual violence, preventing the spread of HIV and understanding violence with a focus on adolescent girls and elevating survivors’ voices. The organisation conducts Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (VACS), the biggest global data source collected on violence against children, spanning 23 countries. Its multisectoral approach has enabled 10 governments to ban child marriage officially, supported evidence-based policy changes at national and provincial levels across the globe, and encouraged 12 countries to form their own National Action Plans for ending Violence Against Children. The Together For Girls Facebook page fills data gaps not only through VACS but also with survivor-centric news developments, analyses and reports, focusing especially on childhood sexual violence.
Recommended Facebook Page #15: We Will Stop Femicides – Turkey
We Will Stop Femicides (Kadin Cinayetlerini Durduracagiz) fights to keep women alive in Turkey through collaboration with the families of victims of femicide. The organisation provides legal services to families of murdered women, facilitates legal representation for women who experience physical bodily harm, injuries, assaults, threats and prohibition of freedom in pursuance of female infanticide. It holds legislative and judicial organs accountable for “doubtful deaths” in cases of obvious femicide through publicity events and works with partners in its resistance against the plague of femicide across Turkey. The organisation’s Facebook page covers survivor stories, data and statistics around femicides in Turkey and the street protests regarding prevention of femicide and murder of family members.
Recommended Facebook Page #16: Women’s Justice Initiative (WJI) – Guatemala
Based in Guatemala, Women’s Justice Initiative (WJI) focuses on eliminating violence against indigenous women and girls in rural communities by educating women and spreading awareness about culturally-respectful legal services and knowledge dissemination about such legalities among the most vulnerable to GBV so that Mayan women and girls can live free from violence, WJI brings these stakeholders closer to accessible justice by adopting a community-based approach. WJI’s Facebook page ensures that the voices of indigenous women from around the country are truly heard and the pages’ highlight are the interviews of indigenous women from Guatemala.
The Top Photo is a Creative Commons image by Pixabay from Pexels