We believe that documenting lived realities and sharing our stories is a powerful means to change public discourse and perspective, especially on topics that are often deemed ‘taboo’. We’ve used the medium of digital storytelling to support activists and community members to speak about the ways they’ve experienced struggle and conflict, but also come to acceptance, around faith & sexuality.

What is Digital Storytelling?

“Digital Storytelling (DST) is a workshop-based methodology that focuses on the everyday person’s ability to share aspects of their life story. It is grounded in the storytellers’ control over the medium – words, images and audio – so that the process of learning and production is as powerful for the storyteller as the end product is for the audience. 

A final digital story is a short video (2–3 minutes) of images, voice, text and music stitched together using low-tech, affordable and accessible technology. Participants narrate first-person scripts that they write and then match with personal photo- graphs, drawings, music and sound effects to tell their story. Once completed, DST stories are easily published online and can be made available to an international audience, depending on the topic and purpose of the project.

The power of DST is in the process, not the product. It’s an opportunity to build young women’s communications and leadership skills, and amplify their voices.”

– Women Win Toolkit

CSBR’s DST Workshops

Our workshops can be held with anybody who has access to a personal computer, as the DST method is intentionally about using open-source or freely available software to craft digital media. We prioritize supporting participants to work in whatever local language(s) make sense, and ensure multi-lingual facilitation and translation where needed.

Each of our workshops is tailored to specific themes within “Faith & Sexuality”, and specific communities, while encouraging a diversity of experiences in the room.

We have brought together queer, trans and feminist activists from across social roles, including as journalists, artists, community organizers, sex workers, religious leaders, and more.

We like creating shared spaces for diverse activists with common goals, objectives and aspirations. This includes:

• Strengthening leadership skills and confidence of advocates who support sexual and bodily rights as human rights, to speak up and to tell their stories to a wider audience;

• Developing technical skills as advocates, to create accessible, dynamic stories that capture the complexity of human experiences and our struggles for equality and fundamental freedoms;

• Encouraging ourselves to effectively amplify our voices and experiences to exercise rights and to effect change at the community level and beyond;

• Aiding each other to integrate the skills we learn into our on-going work for human rights at home;

• Sharing in & co-creating a collective, community process
  
• Learning from and being able to share some of what is created during the workshop to strengthen and amplify the call for respect of diversity, pluralism, sexual and bodily autonomy, and human rights across Muslim societies.

Watch some of the Stories!
You can view the the digital stories that have come out of the workshops here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHeEO1o7Ewg&list=PLaTgB7YQ4us7ALE0_7EHAvT62aERQuiyV.

Organize a Workshop With Us

We have run DST workshops in person as 5-day workshops, and developed an online curriculum. While we have currently focused on Faith & Sexuality, we can tailor workshops to any theme that resonates with your group. If you’re interested in learning more, or partnering with us for a DST workshop, get in touch! Email coordinator@csbronline.org.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:

• Digital Storytelling for Queer Muslims (Online). Apply by 9 September 2020: https://forms.gle/YRipk2n6zjJfHpfAA.