Posts Tagged: Last Girl

My fellow Move to End Violence cohort members and I recently completed our fourth of six convenings. We met in Warrenton, Virginia at the Airlie Conference Center to continue discussing how to propel the U.S. movement to end violence against women and girls forward and to learn about cutting-edge social change tools and effective campaign building.  I was once again humbled and honored to be among such exceptionally powerful people who operate with integrity, passion and vision, and who have dedicated their lives to building a world free of gender-based violence.

Throughout my 14-year career as an activist I have worked with and supported many civil rights institutions, initiatives and gender rights advocates, but nothing prepared me for our advocacy work in India.

For 10 days we were guided by and learned from ally organizations and activists working to end child sex trafficking and exploitation as a “great experiment” (approaching the work as an experiment creates space for risk taking and innovation).

Together, we visited Sonagachi, the largest red light district in India and all of Asia —a place that betrays Gandhi’s theory with no principles of Ahimsa (nonviolence, or the resistance of violence to the self and to others), and Antodaya (the upliftment of the last person/girl, or the empowerment of those who are most marginalized and vulnerable).