Official selection of the world’s largest conference on gender equality and the health and rights of girls and women.

We are very happy to announce that two of our films created for CARE Nederland & H&M Foundation have been selected for the Women Deliver Film Festival 2019 in Vancouver! The Makmende team is super proud, and therefor we share (one more time) these two incredible films on women empowerment with you!

Official selected 1: Unlikely entrepreneur?

Official selected 2: Collective power

Women in Ethiopia are changing the game. Through entrepreneurship they’re supporting their families and each other. These women have organized themselves in Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA). They give each other advice and receive trainings through the VSLA to improve their businesses. The idea of solidarity is the guiding principle for these films, because when we feel that someone has got our back, we dare to aim higher. The strength of the group allows the individual women to show their true potential.

This collective power is shown in a different and original film. The films are a rhythmic, sensitive and energetic, connecting the dancers to the women through image, speech and sound. We conveyed the feeling of what can be achieved by women who participate in such a group through a dance by the ethiopian dance group ‘Destino’. The film had a total reach of almost 100k online and generated an engagement of almost 1,5k and now is also in the official selection of the Women Deliver Film Festival 2019!

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How to how to distinguish your communication about gender

Gender equality and diversity are hot topics. So how do you distinguish yourself when communicating about your work on the issue? We share with you three tips we at MAKMENDE find helpful when communicating about this topic. And ofcourse we give examples of how we translate these tips to concrete communication assets.

TIP 1: Don’t talk about women, talk to women

It might be an open door, but this is a classic mistake many NGOs and brands still make. They show their involvement with a theme, but forget to give a voice to the people they talk about. Dare to start a conversation with your subject, and challenge the viewer by addressing him or her directly.

 Let’s have a conversation with Uwe, The Hard Headed Business Woman (created for BoP innovation Center)

TIP 2: Use humor (even if the subject is serious)

For charities, humor is not the most obvious tactic, with the majority using emotional and affective advertisements to convey urgency.

However, when it comes to serious or difficult issues such as gender equality, a little humor can also be very effective, attracting public attention and encouraging online engagement

With this campaign for Microbanker, we generated 40,000 euros and a million views in no time.

TIP 3: Knock women off the pedestal!

Many impact organizations portray women as heroes in their communication campaigns. They are often depicted as super entrepreneurs, leaders or fearless warriors. While women often rightfully deserve such titles 🙂 , it is no longer original to use this in your communication. We believe it is much more effective to see the real women and get to know them. That is powerful enough in itself!

For a campaign for Mamacash we let young women speak about sexuality. 

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