"The Walkers" Project

Objective of the Action

o    To generate solidarity among women worldwide: To represent the links and solidarity among the Coordinating Bodies and regions of the world. To feel that we are together on the march again, meeting and re-meeting grass-roots women.
o    Through creativity, the appropriation of the four Action Areas in order to highlight the lived experiences and hopes of women, the creation of the Walkers taking place in a popular education workshop.

Means

o    Revisit the history of the WMW leading up to 2010;  
o    Propose exchanges where women can express their lived experiences, their oppression, and their hopes or demands with respect to the 4 Action Areas;
o    Each National Coordinating Body (NCB) is responsible for creating one or various characters: the Walkers;
o    Take the Walkers to the marches and mobilisations in March and October 2010, and the international mobilisation in Bukavu, South Kivu (Democratic Republic of the Congo) on the 17th October;
o    Immediately following the marches/mobilisations in March 2010, the clothing of at least one Walker will be sent to a designated focal central (or taken to the regional mobilisation in each region), and sent from there to Bukavu (DRC) (or sent through a delegate) to take part in the international mobilisation in October.  


Activities

I. First stage:  Creative Workshop

We cannot start to think about the creation of the Walkers without thinking back over the history of the World March of Women, without remembering the great struggles of women. It is important to engage with our history before beginning any type of creation. To create is to reinvent, re-appropriate one’s own history and that of others, and propose our world or the world we wish for.  

a)    The World March of Women
o    We explain what the World March of Women is and its origin, and remember the 5 values in the Women’s Global Charter for Humanity from 2005. We briefly explain the 4 Action Areas that bring us to 2010, and share future actions.

b)    The ‘quiz
o    The workshop will begin with a questionnaire about the conditions of women’s lives around the world, in relation to the 4 Action Areas. This “icebreaker” will seek to establish a connection to the international.

c)    Our history
o    This is the time for sharing experiences regarding our lives as women, particularly in relation to the 4 Action Areas.
o    What kinds of oppression do I experience as a woman?  Why?  What is my history?  What is the history of the woman next to me?

d)    Our demands
o    This is the time for proposing our solutions, our demands, our dreams. What kind of a world do we want to live in?

e)    Creation of the Walkers
o    On a piece of fabric, the women illustrate, draw, write, or paint their experiences, their history, their dreams… We can use various materials (seeds, photographs, drawings, etc).
o    With these pieces of fabric, the women create at least one piece of clothing that will be used by a marionette (*see the guidelines for creating marionettes, and photos with examples, at the end of the text)
o    Each dressed marionette will become a Walker. The NCBs decide how many Walkers they want to create; they can create up to 5 items of clothing to dress up to 5 Walkers – each representing a region of the world of the WMW.
o    The proposal is that the Walkers (and, consequently, their clothing) are given the dimensions of a large woman (from 2 to 2 ½ metres tall) so that they are very visible during the marches / mobilisations.
o    The Walkers will show the diversity of women - of their history, their experiences, their living conditions, their demands, their dreams. They can be accompanied by a small description or name, if the NCBs choose to do so.

II. Second stage: During the marches / mobilisations on International Women’s Day, the Walkers will take to the streets for the first time!   

o    During the marches / mobilisations on International Women’s Day, which is the launch date for our 3rd International Action (on the 8th March, or close to it), each territory and country will mobilise with the participation of their own dressed Walkers.
o    The descriptions of the Walkers could be read publically, as well as some of the words written by the women on the pieces of fabric.

III. Third stage:  the sending of the Walkers

o    Immediately following the marches / mobilisations in March, each NCB will have two options:  

1. They can chose to send the clothing of one of their Walkers – by mail or other delivery service – to a designated country or territory in their region (if the NCB creates more than one Walker, obviously they can send the clothing of more than one). From the central location, the clothing will be sent (via a delivery service or a WMW sister travelling by air) to Bukavu, South Kivu (DRC), location of the international mobilisation in October 2010.

2. They can chose to send the clothing with a national delegate who will participate in the regional mobilisation in their region, and from there, a WMW sister (e.g. an IC member) will take the clothing to Bukavu to the international mobilisation in October.

o    See the countries designated as central locations and the countries and dates of regional mobilisations at the end of the text.  

IV – Fourth stage:  17th October 2010, the Walkers take to the streets for the second time

o    In the International mobilization that will close our 3rd International Action in Bukavu, South Kivu (DRC), protesters will carry the Walkers (since the NCBs will be sending only their clothing and not the Walkers themselves, new marionettes will have to be created together with our sisters in Bukavu).  


o    Once again, we can read publicly the description of the “Walkers” as well as some of the words written by the women on the pieces of fabric.  

Calendar


November 2009          Project presented to the NCBs.  
December 2009    Creation of the popular education workshops.
January / February 2010    Popular education workshops
March 2010    First appearance of the Walkers at the national level
Late March / April2010    Walkers’ clothes are sent to a central location in each continent
17th October 2010    Second appearance of the Walkers in Bukavu, South Kivu (DRC)


*Countries designated as central locations and countries and dates of regional mobilisations

Africa:

Countries designated as central locations: Mali (East Africa) and Kenya (the rest of Africa).
Country and date of the regional mobilisation: Bukavu (DRC) at the time of the International mobilisation, 13th – 17th October 2010

Americas:

Country designated as central location: Brazil
Country and date of the regional mobilisation: Colombia, Meeting of Women of the Americas, 21st – 23rd August 2010.

Asia-Oceania:

Country designated as central location: Philippines
Country and date of the regional mobilisation: Philippines, WMW Regional Meeting, late May 2010.

Europe:

Country designated as central location: Switzerland
Country and date of the regional mobilisation: Turkey, regional mobilisation, 30th June 2010.


*Guidelines for creating the marionettes

- The marionettes that will be transformed into Walkers can be made out of whatever material the NCB has available, such as wood, paper maché, cardboard, plastic, etc, etc. Be creative! What is important is that they be visible during the marches / mobilisations, so think carefully about the size, colours, design… and keep the weather in mind (the possibility of rain, for example).  


Examples of marionettes created by the WMW National Coordinating Bodies for various mobilisations: