Collaborative Projects – 2024
In 2024, initiatives across regions continued to focus on justice, healing, and creative resistance in response to war, misinformation, state violence, and social inequities. From grassroots media to artistic empowerment, these projects illuminate pathways for solidarity and change.
Palestine Film Lab
Title: Ghazawyat
Location: Gaza Strip
Led by: Palestine Film Lab
This powerful storytelling project centers women’s voices in Gaza, documenting their personal narratives of war, survival, and gender-based violence. Through a collaborative process with local filmmakers and women’s groups, the project will produce 4–5 short films and a feature-length documentary to raise global awareness and advocate for gender justice.
Partners: Ain Media – Screen for Media Production
Fanni Raghman Anni
Title: Mouvma Summer Camp: Empowering Tunisian Youth in Monitoring and Documenting Threats to Civic Space
Location: Tunis, Tunisia
Summary: The project empowers emerging activists, civil society members, and youth in Tunisia through a structured process of legal and social contextualization, human rights training, and impact evaluation. It addresses Tunisia’s unstable political environment, where CSOs face censorship, legal threats, and activist imprisonment.
Partners: Radio Saida, Alwan Organisation, Socio-Cultural Center in Mornag, Artistic Youth Association in Hammamet, Mythos Production
Ettijahat – Independent Culture
Title: Aman: An Alternative Syndicate of Syrian Refugee Arts Workers
Location: Lebanon
Summary: Aman is an initiative to create a protective, participatory syndicate for Syrian refugee and immigrant artists, focusing initially on Lebanon. It supports artists through legal knowledge, healthcare access, safety measures, intellectual property protection, and labor rights advocacy. It aims to be replicated in other fragile environments in the Global South.
Partners: Legal Agenda, SMEX
Digital Empowerment Foundation
The Rural Fact-Checkers for Community initiative, led by the Digital Empowerment Foundation and supported by Landscape of Hope and Action for Hope, is a pioneering effort to bridge the digital divide in rural India. As the country witnesses rapid digital adoption, rural communities—particularly women—remain vulnerable to the risks of misinformation, financial fraud, and digital exclusion. This project responds to an urgent need to equip rural women with critical digital literacy and fact-checking skills, empowering them to navigate the digital ecosystem safely, independently, and confidently. Rural women face a disproportionate vulnerability in the digital age due to limited access to personal devices, low levels of digital literacy, and deep-seated gender norms. Misinformation spreads rapidly in rural India, with platforms like WhatsApp accounting for over 70% of the circulation of fake news, often in regional languages where fact-checking resources are scarce. Financial security is also at risk, as nearly half of rural women cite fear of scams as a key deterrent to using digital services. These challenges underline the urgent need for gender-sensitive, vernacular, community-driven interventions that empower women with both skills and Confidence.
Since its inception, the initiative has trained 1,000 rural women across Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam, and West Bengal. It has led to a measurable improvement in digital access, with personal device ownership rising from 30% to 75%. The project has significantly strengthened financial literacy as well, with regular digital payment use growing from 53% to 91% and a remarkable increase in awareness about online frauds. Fact-checking capabilities among participants have also been enhanced, with 82% of women now actively verifying information before sharing it. Importantly, the programme has fostered the creation of community-led fact-checking networks, ensuring that the fight against misinformation continues at the grassroots level.
Looking ahead, the Rural Fact-Checkers for Community initiative aims to scale its outreach to include more rural regions and deepen engagement with existing communities. The project envisions the development of AI-driven, vernacular fact-checking tools to support real-time information verification and the establishment of community-led digital hubs where trained women can mentor others. Strengthening partnerships with local civil society organisations, panchayats, and self-help groups will be essential to embed digital literacy within community structures sustainably. Future training modules will integrate more interactive approaches such as simulations, gamification, and vernacular content to make learning more engaging and accessible. Through these efforts, the project seeks to build a more informed, resilient, and digitally inclusive rural India.
Reading material and about the project that can read on https://acode.defindia.org/
Arab Digital Expression Foundation (ADEF)
Title: Healing Arts/Tech Camp for Displaced Palestinian Children
Location: Egypt
Summary: In partnership with Palestine Music Expo (PMX), ADEF supports three summer camps for 300 Gazan children and youth. Activities include arts, healing, and educational engagement. The initiative also builds local capacity by training Gazan facilitators and developing long-term support structures for Gazans in Egypt, who face a precarious legal and social environment.
Partners: Palestine Music Expo
Documental Ambulante A.C.
Title: Films for Hope
Location: Mexico
Summary: Films for Hope brings curated film screenings to five prisons across Mexico to foster dialogue and emotional healing. Themes include maternity in prison, masculinity, and self-transformation. It follows a successful 2023 pilot and aims to challenge systemic violence and inequality through cinema, promoting introspection and resilience among incarcerated individuals.
Partners: Creatura: Critical Thinking Advocates