It is far more common to read about women in developing countries and women of color in general via white researchers from “first world” nations. It is rare that we hear of progress such women are making on their own and the obstacles they have overcome to initiate amazing projects in their communities. Considering the power of radio, television, film, and print, women in developing nations and women of color have considered media a vital tool for fostering progress. Here are a few cases of sisters doing it for themselves:

1995: Bamboo Girl, a magazine with the mission to challenge “racism, sexism, and homophobia from the Filipina/Asian Pacific Islander/Asian mutt feminist point of view,” publishes its first edition.

For more information on Bamboo Girl, click here: www.bamboogirl.com

1997: Radio Toco is founded in Trinidad and Tobago with the mission to educate its listeners on issues of social development, poverty, politics, gender equality, and progressive environmental policies. Radio Toco has many female participants and incorporates many women’s rights issues in its programming.

For more about Radio Toco, click here: http://www.comminit.com/experiences/pds11-15-99/experiences-321.html

1998: Zan, a newspaper for women, by women, is founded in Iran by publisher Faezeh Hashemi, daughter of former president of Iran akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The paper is considered subversive and a potential threat to Islamic values, according to more conservative Iranians, and is later banned in 1999.

For more information about Zan, click here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/388635.stm

2000: femLINKpacific is created with the mission to empower the women of Fiji and the communities to which they belong. femLINKpacific develops, produces, and distributes media materials and often collaborates with the mainstream media and government agencies in order to encourage gender equality in policy. Since its inception, femLINKpacific has led the “Blue Ribbon” campaign by having its supporters wear a small blue ribbon as a symbol of unification in the promotion of peace, reconciliation, the principles of human rights, and democracy.

For more about femLINKpacific, click here: http://www.femlinkpacific.org.fj/

2000: Bad Jens, an Iranian feminist journal, publishes its first online edition with a mission to educate readers living outside of Iran about issues Iranian women face. The writers and editors hope to improve links between intellectual and cultural progressives, educators and activists, within and outside of Iran. http://www.badjens.com/

2001: Chica Luna Productions is founded by Elisha Maria Miranda, Sofia Quintero, and Sonia Gonzalez, three New York artists working to provide their community with progressive multi-media projects. Chica Luna Productions strives to provide support women of color in social justice-themed media projects and to encourage community involvement and accountability. In 2005, Chica Luna Productions opened a studio in New York and has grown to incorporate artists and community organizers from Los Angeles as well.

For more information about Chica Luna Productions, click here: http://www.chicaluna.com/

2002: Maisha Yetu Media Campaign is founded by the International Women’s Media Foundation. With a $1.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundatin, the Maisha Yetu Campaign was created with the mission to give African media sources the means to accurately and consistently report health issues, especially those related to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, as they have had the most drastic impact on communities and families within Africa. The campaign encourages transparency in coverage regarding new treatment options, life-saving drugs, and general medical resources, such as clinics and visiting healthcare professionals.

For more information on the Maisha Yetu Campaign, click here: http://www.iwmf.org/africa/programs.php#maishayetu

2002: Perceptions, a monthly newspaper, is founded by women incarcerated in New Jersey’s Edna Mahan Correctional Facility when Rebecca Sanford, who taught business writing classes at the prison, realized that their first newspaper, The Insider, was defunct. With Sanford’s help, the inmates once again gained the opportunity to write about their experience and to improve on their writing skills. Though many of the pieces included in Perceptions could be considered “benign,’ the women also used the paper as a means of documenting their grievances toward the prison system, including, but not limited to, instances of rape and physical abuse at the hands of prison officials.

For more information about Perceptions and prison media, click here: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3693/is_200701/ai_n19512053

2004: UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) grants more than $1.5 million to media projects in developing nations, including a project in Afghanistan to encourage the involvement of women in the media and Radio Toco in Trinidad and Tobago.

For more information on IPDC, click here: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13270&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

2006: S(h)e-bytes, a project geared toward providing access to communication-oriented technology, sponsors a workshop for the participants in the Let Us Grow Project in Orange Farm, South Africa, which provides counseling and health resources to survivors of sexual assault and women living with HIV/AIDS. During the workshop, the women shared their stories and conducted interviews with other members in their community, all of which were documented via minidisk recorders they had learned to use with the help of S(h)e-bytes.

For more about S(h)e-bytes, click here: http://www.shebytes.com/