We can’t believe it’s been 5 days since our website going live and the London launch!
We wanted to update you on how the event went. The theme for the launch was ‘Storytelling’. The event was at London’s central all-fairtrade cafe called Fairly Square. We arrived early and made sure we Chaynified it! Most people came straight from work and relaxed with a glass of Fairly Chayn strawberry Lassi made by Onome and the Fairly Square staff. There was another event going on in the basement which meant it did become too noisy at times.
We heard from Hera, the founder of Chayn, who told the attendees about why she started Chayn and how Chayn launched in 3 months(quite a feat!). And then..
*drum roll*
ZARGHUNA KARGAR – our special guest speaker and master storyteller.
Born in Kabul in 1982, she spent half her life in Afghanistan and later in Pakistan. Like many afghan families, when the Mujahideen came to power Kargar’s family fled to Pakistan for refuge. Zarghuna completed her education in Peshawar at a refugee university, studying a journalism course organised by the BBC. In 2001, her family sought asylum in the UK, and she started working for the BBC World Service Pashto Section where she joined the team on the ground-breaking programme Afghan Woman’s Hour as producer and presenter in 2004. Zarguna is also an author of a powerful book covering stories of Afghan women, titled ‘Dear Zari’. Zarghuna’s part in the Girl Rising project which is dedicated to educating girls globally has been much praised. Take a look here: http://girlrising.com/
The attendees were very interested in asking Zarghuna questions about what made stories powerful, how to get women to share personal stories and how to create impact through them.
Zarghuna was convinced that Chayn is a great initiative that will help women and stir conversation in all socio-economic classes through word of mouth. She told us that the stories that are full of impact are the ones that are true and honest. Her advice to us was to first build a relationship of trust with women by being transparent and open with women on why we want them to share their stories. It’s important to tell women we want to inspire other women to take action.
BEN METZ: OXFORD JAM, CIVA
Next up was Ben Metz from Oxford Jam and Centre for Innovation in Voluntary Action(CIVA). Chief co-instigator of Oxford Jam(our favourite unconference on social enterprise) and advisor for numerous foundations and social enterprises, Ben Metz is a familiar face in the London social enterprise scene. Five Chayn-ers have worked on Oxford Jam with Ben and his support was fundamental to the launch of Chayn. Hera asked Ben to speak on why he supported Chayn. He told the attendees that the one thing in common with all CIVA projects was that ‘they were extraordinary ideas started by extra ordinary young people’. We are so pleased to stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of MyBnk, Unltd and Hackney Pirates.
MAKESENSE HOLDUP
The last part of the event was the MakeSense Chayn HoldUp. For those of you who don’t know MakeSense, you are in for a treat. MakeSense is an open project with a global community of happy activists with an impact on a local scale. This movement mobilizes tribes for meaningful innovation! Our founder and 6 other MakeSense-rs have contributed to Chayn. They assist social enterprises in solving their problems through the collective wisdom of everybody through brainstorms. It’s a great innovation hack you should check out(there may be going on in your city)! Check this video out to get an idea of what a HoldUp looks like: https://vimeo.com/38024283
Everybody got stuck in with the holdup and came up with amazing ideas on how Chayn could capture stories of women to inspire other women. Here are some of the solutions they came up with:
Results
Group 1: Marketing
– Get involved with influencers (bloggers, journalists, actors, musicians)
– Be Heard (contact local radio or morning shows)
– Universities and Colleges – because universities are not unisex
– Women can text-in stories of their lives rather than emailing
– Chayn Newsletter – so women and supporters of Chayn can stay up-to-date
– Competition to get people involved – best message of support gets a bunch of flowers from Chayn
Group 2: Subtle Marketing
What features should a Chayn marketing campaign have?
– Anonymity – untraceable form of marketing
– Easy to remember
– Eye catching
– Visual rather than text
– Representative of audidence
– Targeting women-only spaces
Idea of Iconic Image: Something women can relate to but wouldn’t cause suspicion by accompanying abusers.
e.g Speak, What Would You Do?,
Idea is to direct them to website without being too obvious, too aggressive.
Call to Action:
– don’t use the word stories? Can it make it sound
– There are solutions. Find Yours.
Tweet: What are the signs of domestic abuse? Tell your story.
There is always a solution to domestic abuse. What’s yours?
Group 3: Storytelling
Ways to capture Storytelling
– What does Chayn want to do with stories? What should these communicate to readers?
– Checklist
Are you being abused?
Do you know anyone who is facing abuse?
Signposting different forms of abuse.
Invite them to share their story.
Give them the option to share or keep them within Chayn network.
How will chayn help these women?
– Could women SMS their story in? Or letter?
– Agony Aunt: Should there be an advice column on Chayn?
Group 4: Storytelling
– The Checklist:
Has this happened? e.g. Were you threatened physically? This is what it looks like. If you need further help. Click here.
A space where women can write in their own option.
– Rather than prescribing a woman she is in an abusive relationships, it could be like: Because these things have happened – here are how to deal with them.
– Writing diaries: Women could write an online diaries; not necessarilys hare it. And then there was a tech system where some particular words could ring alarm bells and come up e.g. hit, threaten, cry. Then Chayn could have this database and it could be displayed to these women, showing, you have used these words
– Rather than having a block parapgraph for women to fill, you could have speicifc prompts to make it easier for women. e.g. What was the first incident?
Storytelling: Women could drag words and portions of story questions to build a story.
– Women could use sliders to specify the extent of an experience. e.g. My husband is controlling vs. My husband is controlling – scale 1 to 5.
Stay tuned to check what ideas we implement for Chayn. Our next blogpost will be a wrap up of the Lahore launch!
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