- Hassan Hakmoun’s Focus For Change Music Monday Playlist Our guest-curated Music Monday playlists in honor of our 10th annual Focus for Change Benefit continue with Moroccan musician Hassan Hakmoun.
- The Power of a Witness According to Robin Williams As we join the many people worldwide who were saddened to hear of the death of Robin Williams, we celebrate his commitment to making the world a better place.
- Because of You, WITNESS’ YouTube Channels Are Nominated for Webby Awards Thank you for your efforts to document human rights violations and to call for change. The Webby Awards have taken notice. Help us all win a Webby!
- Behind-the-Scenes of WITNESS’ New Intro Video A glimpse into how we produced our new video, featuring five activists, with the help of some of the film industry's creative leaders.
- The WITNESS Guide to Cheap Digital Cameras for Activists A review of six cameras (and suggested accessories) for under US $300 for video activists on a budget.
- Behind-the-Scenes of Our 20th Anniversary Video The challenge: Make a video that encapsulates WITNESS and its work empowering human rights defenders to use video since 1992, set against a backdrop of global events from the last 20 years.
- Whose Media Is It?: How Police Requests for Unreleased Footage Blur the Line Between News and Evidence A near 6-month battle between British news broadcasters and the police has recently concluded: last December’s court decision that ordered television companies including BBC, ITN, and Sky News to surrender to police hours of unaired footage from the violent October 19th Dale Farm eviction, was thrown out. Journalists are now hailing the decision as a landmark victory in the fight for news neutrality and confidentiality.
- Video Advocacy Example: New Voices in Sex Workers’ Rights Activism As advances in technology democratize the media field, its makers are becoming more and more diverse, presenting a prime opportunity for traditional advocates to become facilitators and traditional “victims” to become actors in advocacy scenarios.
- The Year of Making Video A More Effective Human Rights Tool Here's to 2012 as a meaningful, impactful year and to video becoming an even better human rights tool! I want to thank you for 2011. Thank You! For the difference that you made, and for inspiring others to do the same. Each one of you helped WITNESS accomplish so much in the past year.
- Why Stephanie Zito, Traveler, Blogger and Humanitarian Supports WITNESS For our year-end post, we asked a supporter to share a personal story about why she cares about the organization and our partners. You can show your support for WITNESS by visiting our website to make a year-end donation. Thanks to Stephanie Zito for her support and to all of you who support us throughout the year.
- Celebrate Thanksgiving by Supporting Our Youth Fighting For a Healthy Atmosphere As we gather to spend time with families and friends this Thanksgiving, and share stories from the past and hopes for the future, I want to take a moment to share a story about a group of remarkable youth who are taking action to ensure a healthy future for us all. I have been traveling across the United States over the past few months with our partner, the iMatter Campaign, and have met extraordinary youth who are taking big steps to protect our atmosphere and our collective future.
- Choosing Timing, Outreach and Platforms for Successful Online Fundraising Thanks to incredible response from our supporters, WITNESS' spring fundraising challenge has reached and exceeded our goal! To date, Project: FOCUS has raised $73,948 (that's 106% of the $70,000 goal) and checks are still coming in.
- How To Run a Successful Online Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Campaign Last week we launched WITNESS’ annual "Spring Challenge," a primarily online-based, peer-to-peer fundraising initiative. This is our fourth campaign and every year our approach has shifted with the ever-changing philanthropic environment (and the ever-expanding digital world).
- Gender Justice Activists Integrate Video for Advocacy As I’m writing from a buzzing room in Nairobi, Kenya, there are five groups of women’s rights activists editing interviews that they’ve conducted as part of a ten-day video advocacy training. Through WITNESS’ new partnership with Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice, this is the second comprehensive training that we’ve conducted (see a video report from our first training with a group from Northern Uganda) to support a push for an end to gender-based violence.
- Measuring Impact in Human Rights Work: A Look at WITNESS’s Dashboard WITNESS has just published it's annual performance dashboard covering 2010. We publish a dashboard twice a year that shows how we measure the impact of our work, both in qualitative and quantitative terms. This is important to the entire WITNESS team since we want to be sure that our efforts and passion travel in the right direction.