This campaign ran from 2017-2019.

In 2019, a year when women were mobilizing and running for office in unprecedented numbers, the Women, War & Peace series returned to PBS. The second series demonstrated how some of the biggest international stories of recent memory are shaped by women. An all-female cast of directors presented four never-before-told stories about the women who risked their lives for peace, changing history in the process: Wave Goodbye to Dinosaurs (Eimhear O’Neill), Naila and the Uprising (Julia Bacha), A Journey of a Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers (Geeta Gandbhir and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy) and The Trials of Spring (Gini Reticker).
Alongside Women, War & Peace II, our campaign produced Women, Peace and Power, a short film and training tool for policymakers, peacebuilders, and students, to spark a discussion on the nexus of gender and security.

Some of what we were able to achieve include:

Writing women into history and today’s news

Through editor roundtables, dedicated reporting series, and local PBS station grants, original reporting created on women’s central role in peace and conflict, driven by the campaign’s editor roundtables, dedicated reporting series, and local PBS station grants. Additionally, a partnership with NowThis resulted in the outlet’s first coverage of Women, Peace and Security (WPS) across two videos with 90,000 views on Twitter alone.

Recognition of women’s role in peace and security

The US Department of Defense has used the series in its mandatory gender trainings. They have also committed to using the series as part of new trainings that will take place under Women, Peace & Security Act implementation. The Individual Training & Learning team for the Joint Chiefs of Staff committed to integrating the series into new trainings that will take place under Women, Peace & Security Act implementation. Amnesty International and Congressman Bill Keating screened series content in a Hill briefing to gain support for the Afghan Afghan Women’s Inclusion in Negotiations Act (WIN), Act (H.R. 4097).

More stories of women changemakers told

Through the series’ social media channels, we distributed original video and written content to inform and engage audiences around the role of women in war and peace. Engagement rates were consistently more than 10,000x the platform averages for media brands, and at their peak, more than 26,000x higher.

Films advanced peacebuilding work

The Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition featured in Wave Goodbye to Dinosaurs continue to use the film in their ongoing peacebuilding work, an indispensable tool to educate and galvanize young women in particular.

Services Provided

  • Campaign design
  • Digital communications
  • Strategic partnerships
  • Original resource creation
  • Grassroots screenings
  • Flagship event organizing

 

 

Download the Impact Report

More from this Campaign

We created multiple resources, including discussion guides for both Women, War & Peace II and our short film Women, Peace and Power.

Discussion Guide: WWPII Discussion Guide: Women, Peace & Power

Film Credits

  • Directors: Julia Bacha; Geeta Gandbhir and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy; Eimhear O’Neill; Gini Reticker
  • Year of Release: 2019

 

Visit the Film Website

This campaign ran throughout 2016.

The Armor of Light follows the journey of Reverend Rob Schenck, an anti-abortion activist, who breaks with orthodoxy by questioning evangelical pro-gun culture. Along the way, he meets Lucy McBath, the mother of Jordan Davis, an unarmed teenager whose murder in Florida has cast a spotlight on “Stand Your Ground” laws. The film follows these unlikely allies through their trials of conscience as they attempt to make others consider the growing toll of gun violence in America. We led an outreach campaign to initiate a biblical discussion on gun violence. Highlights include:

Built a new platform for an evangelical gun safety champion

As the lead character in the film, Rev. Schenck represented the champion critically needed to begin to balance the gun violence prevention movement. We supported his work by facilitating meetings with nationally prominent faith leaders; interviews and op-eds in mainstream and Christian media outlets including The Washington Post and The Christian Post; and speaking events at churches and seminaries. The press continues to seek Rev. Schenck’s comments, and his perspective has become only more sought after and relevant after the 2016 election.

Engaged Christians by reframing gun violence as a spiritual crisis instead of a Constitutional issue

From engaging Christian universities to spiritual leaders and pastors, we were able to help reframe the conversation about gun violence to one of a spiritual issue. Our campaign worked with the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), an association of 181 Christian schools, on a private screening of the film for their staff, as well as a public screening for more than 200 professors and administrators from 50 Christian educational institutions. We also partnered with 28 faith leaders who wrote devotionals, held screenings, and preached sermons on the topic, potentially reaching more than 3.5 million people in megachurches and on social media. The film even inspired the “God and Guns” faith leader training sponsored by Riverside Church.

Initiated an attitudinal shift away from gun culture

The campaign inspired an evangelical woman to cancel the purchase of her first gun and a Christian student to decide against applying for a concealed carry permit. Community screening survey respondents indicated that 70% of hosts changed their perspective on the issue and 100% were likely to talk to a friend about gun violence.

Services Provided

  • Digital communications
  • Strategic partnerships
  • Original resource creation
  • Grassroots screenings
  • Flagship event organizing

 

Download the Impact Report

More from this Campaign

We developed several discussion guides, each tailored to a specific target audience. View and download them:

General Discussion Guide Academic Discussion Guide Bible Study Guide

Film Credits

  • Directors: Abigail Disney and Kathleen Hughes
  • Year of release: 2015

 

Visit the Film Website

Watch the Trailer

In 2011, popular uprisings swept through North Africa and the Middle East, and women were on the front lines. Yet they were largely absent from coverage of the Arab Spring. The Trials of Spring was created as a multi-media initiative to spotlight the central role played by women during these tumultuous events through a feature-length documentary, six short films, and articles by award-winning journalists.

We created a campaign to elevate women’s voices as advocates for peace, human rights, and freedom in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Highlights of our impact campaign include:

STRENGTHENED THE LOCAL CAPACITY OF ORGANIZATIONS LED BY WOMEN

We brought the films to international stakeholders as well as women from the MENA region leading their communities. One special event with the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom at The Hague brought together over 1,000 international activists and featured a screening and panel discussion with women leaders who shared organizing advice with their peers in the audience.

CHALLENGED RACIST AND SEXIST STEREOTYPES OF ARAB WOMEN

We developed a lesson plan around the short films for the New York Times Learning Network to help students better understand the Arab Spring, particularly concerning Arab women. The lesson was presented at the National Council for Social Studies Conference to 3,000+ educators and published in Al-Masdar, the premier online source for Arabic language teaching materials.

CATALYZED DISCUSSIONS CONNECTING WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND THE SUCCESS OF SOCIAL CHANGE

We brought the stories of Arab women’s rights activists to 250 international classrooms and communities, including government and military settings. As a result, the Eisenhower School’s National Security and Resource Strategy program at the National Defense University expanded its curriculum to include a course on Women, Peace and Security — the first-ever for the university.

Services Provided

  • Campaign design
  • Strategic partnerships
  • Original resource creation
  • Grassroots screenings
  • Flagship event organizing

 

Download the Impact Report

More from this Campaign

We created both a general discussion guide for viewers as well as lesson plans for educational use.

Download the Discussion Guide Download the Lesson Plans

Film Credits

  • Director: Gini Reticker
  • Year of release: 2015

 

Watch the Film