WISCOMP SAAHAS AWARDS 2017 Recognizing Heroes of Courage & Release of Training and Curriculum Package

WISCOMP organized the Saahas Awards Ceremony on March 16, 2017 in New Delhi to honor the courage of extraordinary men, women and transgender persons who actively stood up against violence against women in their own lives & those of others; and they continue to advocate for equality and social justice. The seven Heroes of Courage who were felicitated were selected through a competitive process initiated by WISCOMP. They come from diverse geographical contexts and also belong to ‘resource-poor’ spaces. WISCOMP also honored feminist activist, poet & author Kamla Bhasin for her outstanding contributions to the promotion of gender justice & equality with the Shero of Courage Award.

At the WISCOMP Saahas Award Ceremony, an innovative and path-breaking training and curriculum package developed by WISCOMP was also released. This package is especially designed to encourage individuals to think of ways in which they can incorporate meaningful changes into their daily lives to effect positive societal transformation. The package consists of:

• En-gendering Education: Building Youth Capacities to End gender-Based Violence in India is an educators’ handbook which consists of training modules designed to build capacities of teenagers and young adults to counter gender-based discrimination and violence. It is a learning-cum-doing resources, which school and college educators as well as facilitators and practitioners can use to initiate workshops with participants in the 14-30 age group.

• When Women Write…In Words and Pictures, curated by Tulika Srivastava and Ridhima Mehra is a unique digitalized mobile Exhibition-in-a-Box on an intersectional understanding of the diversity of women’s experiences and the contexts in which they unfold. It has been designed as a tool for advocacy and educational projects.

• Re-Imaging Frames of Empowerment: Changing Contours of Gender Equality in the Visual Media in India is one-of-a-kind multimedia exploration, collation, and analysis of the altered discourses within Indian media on the issue of VAW. It foregrounds the significant changes in audio-visual media messages—especially advertisements and public service announcements—following the rape and murder of Jyoti Singh in 2012 in New Delhi, which lead to the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2013.

• Resisting Violence is an annotated bibliography of a diverse and representative set of reports, handbooks, guides, and documents, which address the issues of violence against women and girls from diverse settings and backgrounds. The resources range from studies commissioned by governments, police departments, city councils, university regulatory bodies, and media houses to reports and toolkits designed by international organizations, local NGOs and civil society groups.

• Saahas Ke Chaar Adhyay: Profiles in Courage, directed by Sania Hashmi and Mohan Kumavat is a deeply moving film honoring ‘heroes of courage’ (WISCOMP Saahas Award Applicants) who took action to counter Gender-Based Violence in India. It records the life, struggle and ultimate triumph of four outstanding individuals from diverse backgrounds and different parts of India who braved great odds–such as intimate partner violence, domestic violence, discrimination at the workplace and patriarchal mindsets; to finally reclaim their sense of agency.

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