Grow the action and plan a Take Back the Tech! campaign with your community. It can be a rewarding experience where you'll develop new relationships, learn more about the issues and experience a variety of successes, from raising awareness to changing policies. Below are simple steps you can take to organise your Take Back the Tech! campaign.

1. Round up friends and partners

  • · Find a few like-minded people to join your team. The number doesn’t matter as long as you share a commitment to taking action.
  • · If there are organisations or groups already organising Take Back the Tech! campaigns in your location, see if you can partner with them.

2. Pick an
issue

  • Explore critical VAW issues in your school, workplace, neighbourhood or region and how they relate to communication rights.

  • Consider how ICT contributes to VAW or serves as a way to address it. For example, women and girls are increasingly stalked and harassed through mobile phones, but they are also able to use those phones to find safety information on the internet. A call for action might be to demand that mobile operators enable SMS-reporting of abuses.

  • For greater impact, look for recent policy changes, upcoming legislation, issues already getting media attention, etc.
  

3. Brainstorm actions

  • Be creative and playful but also strategic and challenging. Think up actions that are engaging, thoughtful and likely to get media attention.

  • Mix and match your different skills, ICT tools and digital spaces to form an action. For example, one of our past actions was to create digital postcards sent through our website to friends or public officials to raise awareness.

  • Define your target audience and consider what tools and spaces they use. Think about how to reach decision-makers directly as well as through the media and general public.

4. Draft your call to action

  • · Write in a clear, engaging manner and use active language.
  • · State the VAW problem and make the connection to ICT, describe the goal of the action and give clear instructions about how to carry it out.

5.
Plan the details
  • Make a list of what needs to be done and who will be doing it. Divide up tasks between partners so everyone has a part to play and you collectively own the campaign.

  • Depending on the scale of your action, you might need to think about dates, materials, messaging, outreach, media strategy, permits, security risks and sponsorship.

6. Claim the movement

  • · Use our campaign materials and feel free to adapt them by translating the tag into your language, localising how the Take Back the Tech! logo looks, etc. These materials help us build a collective movement.
  • · You can also use materials created by other campaigners, and don’t forget to share yours. Create an account on our site and upload what you’ve designed. Or email us at ideas@takebackthetech.net, and we’ll upload it for you.

7. Spread the
word

  • Create buzz on social media, email your contacts and talk to your friends. Give clear details about how to participate, support, promote and document.

  • Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @takebackthetech, and let us know you're organising a campaign so we can help you spread the word.

  • Invite media contacts to write an article or host a radio show about the campaign, and be sure to list it in community activity bulletins.

  • Don’t forget sidewalk chalk, stickers, leaflets and flyers. Think creatively and strategically!
  

8. Document the campaign

  • Take photos and screen shots and write a summary of actions, participation and results. This will help you prepare for post-campaign media interest and future sponsorship.

  • Upload the summary, along with photos, videos and graphics, to your campaign page on our website. Or send your campaign information to ideas@takebackthetech.net, and we'll upload it for you. Documenting actions all over the world strengthens our activism and builds the campaign.