• Digital Storytelling’s Role in Healing and Advocacy Against Female Genital Mutilation/ Cutting (FGM/C)

    Date: October 31 at 2:45 PM EST This 90-minute panel will explore how participatory digital storytelling can foster survivor-centered healing, build organizational capacity, and drive systemic change in the context of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and broader gender-based violence (GBV). Drawing from a three-year collaborative project between Sahiyo, Asian Women’s Shelter (AWS), and Silence Speaks, panelists will share insights on using culturally grounded, trauma-informed methods to support FGM/C survivors and building the capacity of GBV organizations to provide trauma-informed support. Panelists will highlight how survivor-created media has been used as a tool for professional development, cross-sector training, and outreach across healthcare, crisis response, and community-based organizations. The session will feature multimedia digital stories from the Voices initiative and reflections from the project partners, including some of the survivors and advocates who created a digital story. Emphasis will be placed on strategies for using digital storytelling to deepen community trust, bridge the gap between FGM/C and mainstream GBV services, and co-create sustainable systems of support. By the end of the session, attendees will: Understand the role of survivor-led storytelling in healing and public education. Learn how digital stories can be used as powerful training tools for culturally responsive, trauma-informed care.

  • Massachusetts Women of Color Network 9th Annual Conference: Survival Is a Group Project

    Events

    Date: Friday, May 15 2026 Time: 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM Stories That Sustain Us: Collective Care and Ending FGM/C Survival is not something done alone. For women and girls impacted by gender-based violence, including female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), survival is sustained through community, collective care, and the courage to speak truth together. This 90-minute panel will bring together alumni from Sahiyo’s Voices to End FGM/C digital storytelling project to explore how storytelling becomes a practice of collective survival. Rooted in participatory, trauma-informed methods, Voices supports survivors in crafting short digital stories that reclaim narrative power, disrupt stigma, and strengthen community response to violence. Through moderated dialogue and the screening of short digital stories, panelists will reflect on: How storytelling shifts isolation into solidarity What it means to survive in community rather than alone How narrative power challenges silence, shame, and harmful cultural norms The role of collective care in healing This session centers women of color not as subjects of policy, but as knowledge producers, movement leaders and experts, and architects of survival. Panelists will share how participating in the storytelling process reshaped their understanding of healing, advocacy, and community responsibility. Participants will engage in guided reflection and dialogue about how storytelling can be […]

  • Voices 2026: Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Stories

    Workshops

    Sahiyo, Silence Speaks, HOPE MA, and Saheli would like to announce a special workshop for immigrant and refugee survivors of gender-based violence and their allies.  When: Virtual orientation sessions will take place on: July 28, 2026 August 4, 2026 6:00 to 8:00 PM Eastern Time The in-person workshop sessions will take place on: August 8 and August 9, 2026 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM The event location is near the Boston University campus, and the precise address will be shared exclusively with confirmed attendees. Participants must be able to attend all workshop sessions in order to be confirmed. This workshop will bring together individuals from diverse immigrant and refugee communities to share stories of resilience, healing, and collective strength. Through storytelling, participants will have the opportunity to reflect on their experiences and explore how stigma, isolation, and gaps in culturally responsive support systems have impacted their lives and communities. The workshop will foster solidarity across immigrant and refugee communities and uplift stories that highlight the importance of community care, allyship, and collective advocacy against gender-based violence. Who: The workshop is open to people in the United States who are part of immigrant and/or refugee communities and want to share their stories of […]