Videos to raise awareness of gender violence
The Ink Link depicted emotions on video in support of the Groupement pour l'abolition des mutilations sexuelles and its ACCESS program.
GAMS Belgium
The group has been fighting for the abandonment of female genital mutilation in Belgium and the rest of the world for over 20 years.
The association is committed to combating all forms of gender-based violence against women, teenage girls and young women in Belgium and the rest of the world by supporting programs to abandon female circumcision, for example. The actions aim to reduce the health, psychological and social impact of women who have suffered violence. They may also involve promoting maternal and child health.
The ACCESS program
Our joint project relates more specifically to the European ACCESS program, which aims to facilitate access to prevention, protection and support for migrant women facing violence.
We are talking here about many forms of gender-based violence: sexual violence, female genital mutilation (excision), violence between partners, forced marriage, sexual exploitation... as Fabienne Richard, Director of GAMS Belgium explained at the November 2019 press conference:
"Violence against women is universal and takes different forms. Migrant women suffer double violence, because of language barriers, difficulties in obtaining international protection and discrimination (racism, religion)..."
In theory, the law protects them.
In practice, it's sometimes impossible to get help.
The ACCESS program was therefore devised to support these women by introducing them to resource associations on which they can rely.
The challenge of the program is to effectively reach the people concerned: women who have been living in Belgium for different lengths of time and who have experienced or are experiencing violence.
Very quickly, the short video format proved to be the most appropriate: it allows simple, rapid and confidential sharing. It can be distributed very widely, without any logistical or printing issues. All that remained was to find a suitable and effective narrative!
Making the videos
Three scriptwriters from The Ink Link team, Alix Garin, Marie-Paule Noël and Laure Garancher, interviewed women and listened to their stories and experiences. Based on these accounts, they chose to focus on four key emotions: stress, fear, disgust and pain.
These emotions make it possible to tackle these difficult subjects from an angle that everyone can understand. Everyone can take on board the message of the video by recognizing themselves in the experiences and emotions they see.
The workshops and discussions enabled us to choose a format and content suited to the future beneficiaries of the program.
After our three scriptwriters, it was Yannick Corboz turn, the illustrator.
He was responsible for the cutting and overall design of the future one-and-a-half-minute videos. He was able to put into images a variety of profiles and sensitive situations. Every stage, from storyboarding to coloring, was approved by The Ink Link and GAMS teams, and modified according to the feedback from the concerned women.
The Boniato studio then took over to bring the images to life and find the soundtrack for the 4 emotions. The videos were also translated in 9 languages to reach out to as many people as possible.
Broadcast and future of the project
The four videos are available on the ACCESS website, along with a map listing which associations to turn to. We urge you to share them as widely as possible to support and help many women.
Fatimetou Sow Deyna, who lent her voice to the French version, spoke at the press conference:
I left my country of origin, Mauritania, to protect my daughters. Where I come from, girls are married at the age of 9, then force-fed to make them fatter and 'more valuable'. After that, they are excised and the marriage consummated. In other words, they will be raped at the age of 12. Every morning, I see my daughters smiling. That's my victory.
We want this situation to become the norm.
The ACCESS project is coordinated by GAMS Belgium, in partnership with FORWARD UK and Médicos del MundoEspaña, with support from the European Union's "Rights, Equality, Citizenship" program, Equalbrussels and the PCI program of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.