VOZ PARA TODAS

The project and the vision behind Voz Para Todas came about through conversations and socio-critical discussions between my friend Pedro and me. We had already met in Vilankuhlos in March 2019 and started to support each other’s projects through regular exchange and ideational
support. The vision behind Voz Para Todas grew out of a shared desire to counteract structural oppression and generate a collective common good for all individuals in a community.
My partner Vroni and I are very honoured to address these issues in a collaborative project with a young and impressive organisation like GoodWill Mozambique, which Pedro founded with Gina last year.
Within Voz Para Todas, we are meeting with responsibility not only feminist-pluralist ideals. We form a project that stands for individual growth and freedom as well as solidarity-based community building and peaceful, supportive coexistence.
We move in cooperation between the Global South and the North. In our globalised world community, this construct is still a driving force of inequality and violent exploitation through post-colonial structures of oppression.
Therefore, Voz Para Todas wants to establish a process of decolonisation within itself through its intersectional claim.
For this reason, we as actors of the Global North have the necessary task of working together with a great awareness of our whiteness and the associated privileges and given power imbalances to deconstruct them. Finding strategies and reflecting on our actions critically of racism takes up a large part of our current work.
Our task in the cooperation with Voz Para Todas is therefore primarily to use our privileges and to win sponsors from German foundations and institutions for the project.
The women of Vilankuhlo are the guiding force and initiators of the project. Their voice will unfold and shape a future of diversity, equality and community. We are very grateful and full of anticipation to be able to support them in this.

The cooperation between the two non-profit organisations GoodWill Mozambique and Petit Papillon e.V. is to deepen in 2023 with a project in Germany. The young women of the Voz Para Todas Initiative will receive funding, space and support to realise a project in the “Kulturraum” of After, over the scope and implementation where they have every decision-making power. Their perspectives, ideas and workshop offers will enrich the cultural space.

Abstract

The project Voz Para Todas – Voice for All is an initiative of the non-profit organization GoodWill Mozambique and will start next July.

Voz Para Todas stands for the emancipation of young women who, through artistic experiential spaces, recognize the efficacy of their voices and develop the courage to initiate new processes within their community.

Why is Voz Para Todas needed?

Being socialized as a woman in Mozambique still means occupying an oppressed position in society. Structural oppression of women manifests itself in the form of domestic violence, sexual assault, but also in the deprivation of subjectivity and autonomy.

The idea for Voz Para Todas originally grew out of the need to create a shelter for women who had to go through such painful and traumatizing experiences. This protected place should give them space to talk about their experiences. It allows time for processing and healing and offers a way back into society through confidants. In this way, supportive strands of solidarity are created between those affected, which openly and vividly pave the way full of readiness for action for a new future.

To achieve freedom as an individual, we need to be aware that independent action and thinking is possible. How much opportunity does a young woman have to make decisions on her own if she has never been able to learn to do so? Having a voice, using it to have a say, is a privilege that most women are structurally deprived of.

Voz Para Todas needs it because every woman should have the right to be a free individual who can live, think and act in safety. Women, as an essential part of our society, deserve to be active and equal in making decisions with, for and through the community.

What are our goals?

Our goal is to create this safe space next July in Vilankuhlo to address this issue through artistic processes. In this, the voices of Vilankuhlo’s women and girls will be included and strengthened to stand together for a safe and self-determined life for everyone.

In the long term, this project will be the starting point for feminist initiatives in Vilankuhlo and will strengthen the exchange program between Petit Papillon e.V. and Good Will Mozambique.

How do we want to work?

The empowering power of Voz Para Todas finds its way into the Vilankuhlo community through changing workshop offerings, participatory art practice and various initiatives. Not only women of all ages must be involved, but also male socialized people, so that together given structures and grievances can be changed. The structural oppression of female read persons cannot be addressed in symptom fighting but must be brought to the awareness of all members of a community because only in this way can change be created. Various media and methods are used to initiate this.

Artistic practice

Artistic work plays a decisive role in our projects. Artistic creation is a universal language that connects body, mind and soul. Voz Para Todas is thus a tool for strengthening community and the ability to live creative action.

Art can heal just like that. Artistic practice is a form of expression that creates a visual reflection surface for processing traumatic experiences. Our artistic practice within the project serves to build important factors of resilience, such as strong self-awareness, healthy self-regulation, self-efficacy, and active problem-solving behaviours.

Participatory Strategies

Voz Para Todas affects everyone in a community in different ways, which is why everyone needs to get involved.

Participatory in this sense means that each person has partaken, involvement and co-determination to the same extent in this project.

In February, we would like to make Voz Para Todas participatory with our fellow people in Vilankuhlos. The project is mainly supported by the women and girls of Vilankuhlos. The voices of the women of Vilankuhlos decide in which direction, form and dimension Voz Para Todas will develop.

The structural framework results from the cooperation of our organizations, the collaboration with local artists and feminist initiatives.

Philosophical basis – Ethical Individualism

Within the project, we are interested in various philosophical questions that revolve around individual freedom and rights, but also how we can create a future together and practically, where everyone can live a good, self-determined life.

We learn in the socialization process what our role in society is, what we think and how we are “allowed” to act. In this way, individuals, so-called minorities and marginalized groups are denied their subjectivity who do not fit into the collective norm of patriarchy.

Ethical individualism offers a way to make one’s world tangible, in all its facets and from different perspectives. As an individual, one acquires the ability to move into active action and to think independently. Given structures can be questioned – change can happen.

The Team

Our team consists of five people from Vilankuhlos, who carry the project voluntarily. They are supported by external volunteers from other organizations so that many perspectives come together in the project development. The team has the task of maintaining the safe space that characterizes Voz Para Todas. The eight team members provide the framework in which participatory artistic work can take place, where ideas and initiatives can be born and equal justice, as well as trust and reinforcement, can take hold. They also act as mediators and guardians of mutual respect and attentiveness.

Their task during the project will be to lead workshops but also to document the process.

What is the structure of the project?

The project consists of a four-week preparation phase and the four-week implementation phase.

Voz Para Todas has a great responsibility in dealing with sensitive issues and the deep attention we want to give to each person through our participatory approach during the joint work. That is why this long preparation phase is necessary. During this time, the on-site team will make arrangements so that a safe space is created for everyone involved. External volunteers will have time to get to know the environment and community and a strong bond can be established between team members.

The project will officially start on August 01, 2022, and will be structured into different topics during the four weeks we may work together. Permanent workshops with changing participants will be offered, as well as a fixed group of young women that we are allowed to accompany during the four weeks. This residency is described below.

Residence

The Voz Para Todas residency will take the form of regular meetings, workshops and art activities throughout February. The group of women (ages 14 to 99) have the opportunity to go deep into this empowering journey. The transformation takes place through artistic practice and moves from an individual transformation to a societal level.