Ripple the Change! Changing the National Narrative on Girls' Empowerment, One Story at a Time

Abstract for a Comm Talk from the 2022 International SBCC Summit in Morocco: 

"Dawwie in Arabic is an action verb meaning to speak with an impact and echo resonating with the ripple change effect through collective action in collaboration with the Government of Egypt and technical support of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Using an array of social marketing techniques, face to face community dialogue and virtual tools, Dawwie was designed to facilitate organic conversations at different levels, between peers, generations, communities, and decision and policy makers. Designed by young people, Dawwie is based on a structured diffusion of innovation model that creates a bridge between the individual, community and political level to catalyze changes in social expectations at scale. While on ground activities are key to reach the most vulnerable locations and strengthen girls' agency, digital tools as a dedicated website to link with needed gender responsive services, access to a dedicated online digital literacy training course, as well as a dedicated Facebook page and mobile application for user generated content focusing on positive stories of change to make gender equality more and more visible. Dawwie's compounded effect relies on communities owning and driving the change from the bottom up. 'I will make the space for myself and other girls to make choices. I know I can, and I will,' said Alaa, one of Dawwie Ambassadors from a small village in Fayoum, Egypt. Two years later, Alaa stood proud before the First Lady of Egypt on March 8th, 2022 requesting political leadership to invest in the girls in Egypt. Alaa, is just one of more than 800,000 people engaged on ground with Dawwie and over 6 million engaged online."