The Process:

“Girls are not the problem of this world, they are the power of it.”

-Bayan, Age 14, Syrian Refugee Girl and VNV participant

Vision Not Victim is a process that weaves together two overarching goals:

The first is to support adolescent girls in developing critical skills that keep them safe from violence and allow them to pursue their potential and passions. To that end, the whole process includes creative ways for participants to build life skills, leadership and communication skills, to practice healing, explore identity and story, and build networks of mentors and other girls.
The second goal is to build and hold space for girls to practice dreaming, build the capacity to aspire, create goals, and design the futures of their choice. This is done through creative workshops, media creation, art, drama, music, dance, and writing.

The VNV process is adaptable to participants’ spaces, contexts, and availability. It can be a 2 week intensive series or a multi-month program. In 2020 and the time of COVID, VNV is now available as a digital program.

VNV’s core activities include:

Building Critical Life-skills

Bold, interactive, and fun, these workshops draw on community traditions of art, storytelling, and daydreaming to support girls in: building relationships, exploring their identity, developing strategic life and leadership skills, and practicing ways of using art in all its forms to process emotions and think about future possibilities.

Visioning Futures

Girls build their capacity to aspire, daydreaming, exploring, and designing futures for their personal and professional lives, and working together to create a collective vision for their community.

Engaging Families & Communities

The visions, views, and voices of girls are used to challenge norms surrounding girls. Facilitators use vision images to spark discussions with parents and leaders about supporting girls’ aspirations, keeping them safe, and supporting girls’ education and greater opportunities. These conversations culminate in specific and concrete actions to promote gender equity in the community.

Working with Mentors

Bringing together mentors from a range of different backgrounds (artists, activists, and professionals), these informal talks prompt girls to expand the realm of what is possible, Mentors support participants in thinking strategically about the future, how to navigate challenges, and how to use creativity to cope with crisis and spark people to change.

Collaborative Media

Girls use different types of media, art, and story to translate their visions into powerful visuals that challenge stereotypes, represent their own stories, and show snapshots of the future.

Designing Local to Global Strategy

Girls are the best advocates for their own rights. Through strategy sessions and advocacy workshops, girls choose priority issues, create messaging, and design a social norms marketing campaign or advocacy platform that draws on their vision images. Girls together with their communities choose advocacy priorities, design, and carry forward their action plan in support with partner organizations and Vision Not Victim.