Digital Disruptors in the Philippines
Digital Disruptors is Amnesty International’s youth-led digital campaigning project. It aims to train young activists to promote human rights by creating their own online campaigns.
Tech-savvy, bold, and creative, young Filipinos have been in the front line of social change for generations, claiming their space and defending others’ rights in public and online spaces.
Amnesty International trained nine talented young activists who created the first Digital Disruptors campaign in the Philippines.
As part of the Digital Disruptors Youth Team, they created a digital campaign focusing on the role that technology plays in young people’s lives and the impact it has on their rights and well-being. The direction, shape, and key issue of the campaign were decided entirely by the youth team! They were supported by a team of experts from Amnesty International who has provided them with knowledge, attitude, and best practices as they went through the entire campaign process.
Some questions answered by the Digital Disruptors project include “what role does technology play in young people’s social and political engagement?”, “How are young activists impacted by their use of technology?” and “How does the reliance on major platforms such as Google and Facebook impact young people’s digital rights?”
Amnesty’s Role
The selected candidates underwent several training sessions both online and offline, including a 2-week in-person workshop run by experts from Amnesty International. The training program was designed to provide the youth team with additional insight into human rights and digital rights. It has equipped them with the technical skills needed to execute an engaging campaign and the soft skills that helped them work successfully together as a unit.
The Youth Team also had support and focused mentorship of Amnesty staff and members – from the Philippines and the international secretariat throughout every phase of the project. Funding was provided to the team to manage and use for the campaign they designed.
The Philippine Campaign: Online Gender-Based Discrimination
“Ayaw ko Pagyawa-a” is a Bisaya phrase that roughly translates loosely to “Wag kang demonyo” in Tagalog, or “don’t play tricks on me” in English.
The online space we know of is often associated with freedom of expression and access to easier communication. However, various forms of evil, or “yawa”, have made it unsafe and made users from all backgrounds susceptible and vulnerable to Online Gender-Based Violence (OGBV). As such, this campaign aims to recognize and actively respond against these evils.
By providing the audience with suggestions on how to act against the “yawa” which can take on the form of OGBV, this campaign recognizes the needs of both victims and stakeholders. For victims, “it has happened to them”, whereas stakeholders should realize that “it can also happen to them.
Various forms of evil, or “yawa”, have made it unsafe and made users from all backgrounds susceptible and vulnerable to Online Gender-Based Violence. As such, this campaign aims to recognize and actively respond against these evils.
