impact
The Power of the Process
How people view themselves and how they are viewed by others has significant impact; it influences how they act, think, and how others behave towards them. Instead of telling girls, parents, or leaders about the possibilities of girls, Vision Not Victim supports girls in showing their power and potential through visuals and creative media.
They show their hope, light, strength, fight, creativity, leadership and radical imagination. They defy stereotypes, norms, and expectations.
Thus they change themselves, their families, their communities, countries and lead other girls in a similar process of visioning and imagining.
Girls who have participated in Vision Not Victim continue to receive support from our partner organizations long after the project ends, and have gone on to lead, mentor others, attend University, and are continually striving to realize their aspirations.
Seeing the transformation of their daughters, families and leaders have committed to not marrying their daughters, keeping them safe, and supporting their education and professional goals.
Exhibits of girls’ vision images in US Congress, at major international conferences, at museums and in public spaces have challenged and influenced policy, funding, and action around girls’ rights, education, and protection from violence.
“But away from these bleak statistics, there is another picture of hope – which is captured brilliantly in the [] Vision Not Victim photo exhibition. This project shows girls in Eastern Congo visualising a future where they are doctors, journalists, architects, teachers. In these pictures, in the strength and courage of these girls - you can see their country’s hope for a better future. And that’s why I believe investing in girls and women, tackling the violence, isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s the smart thing to do too, and it’s crucial to a country’s development.”
— Justine Greening, UK Secretary of State for International Development speaking to leading humanitarian agencies about the need to prioritize women and girls
Here a participant's mother reacts to seeing her daughter’s vision captured in a photograph. What followed were conversations about what it would take to support her daughter to achieve her dreams. The girls were each given copies of their photographs to share with family, friends, and their community which challenged perceived norms about the potential, vision, and power of adolescent girls.
Here US Congressman McGovern send messages of thanks and encouragement back to the girls who participated in Vision Not Victim in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These girls' vision images were shown at a Congressional Hearing on global gender-based violence and exhibited on Capitol Hill. Girls and their families received this message from Congressman McGovern, along with hundreds of others messages of people expressing how their images had an impact.
"This week was the best week of my life. I learned from my teachers, from friends, from mentors and I am inspired. I have learned a lot from the program. For example, now I am encouraged to talk and be in a community. Before this I was stuck...now I know how to step into my future and that I am allowed to want things for my life "
– Shamila
AGE: 17 FROM: Afghanistan
VISION: Future Police Officer