Nov 2008
Prajnya is a non-profit organization based in Chennai, India that works towards peace, justice and security. A large part of our work has focused on raising awareness about gender-based violence through research and public information initiatives. Since 2008, Prajnya has organized its flagship 16 Days Campaign against Gender Violence almost every year, inspired by the global 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence movement.
Since its inception, Prajnya has recognized the value of ICTs in subverting hegemonic gender-based hierarchies and catalyzing change; many of our activities and public engagement programs take place online, with the recognition that social media can be a powerful tool to reach new audiences. During our 2010 campaign, we launched our YouTube channel, which we have used in subsequent years to promote our ‘Men Say NO to Violence Against Women’ video series, as well as videos that utilise storytelling to highlight gender inequalities. We have also used our campaign blog to host multiple blog symposia on varied themes, such as structural violence, militarism and gender violence, and the intersection between gender violence and public health, thereby melding our interest in research with our mission of raising public awareness. Moving 'offline', we have conducted workshops for middle and high school students, as well as for parents, on combating cyber bullying and staying safe on the Internet.
Over the years, we have drawn on Take Back the Tech!’s resources to drive some of our campaign initiatives - in 2009, we adapted TBTT's 'Collaborative Cooking' initiative to request 'ingredients' online that could contribute towards 'recipes' against gender-based violence. During our 2013 campaign, Prajnya once again collaborated with Take Back the Tech! for our colloquium on gender violence and digital security, which brought together several experts in the field to discuss emerging challenges and possible means of intervention, and which featured a presentation by Take Back the Tech! to demonstrate how the Internet can also be a tool to reclaim space for women.