A Bride With A Doll

children & family

Jan 11

About the CSO

Arab Women Organization of Jordan (AWO) was founded in 1970 and focuses on promoting gender equality and women’s rights. AWO works to strengthen a common feminist analysis and address issues of mutual interest across Jordan such as increasing women’s participation in public, political and economic spheres, improving legislation towards ending discrimination against women and its implementation, combating gender-based violence, and ending gender stereotypes.

The team

Clockwise from upper left: Walaa (CSO representative, Jordan), Doaa (data researcher, Jordan), Abdou (data scientist, Tunisia), Farah (designer, Egypt), Skye (Team Leader, data/design, USA), Tala (journalist, Jordan), Jill (data/web developer, USA), Manal (CSO representative, Jordan)

The topic

Jordan is one of the countries in the world most affected by the Syrian crisis. In 2018 there were more than 650,000 Syrian refugees living in Jordan and over 80% of those were living below the poverty line. Their dire financial situation has contributed to an increase of early and forced marriage among the Syrian refugee population.

A look at the data

Before attending the Data4Change sprint, AWO had never worked with open data. In fact, they didn’t know they were allowed to, so they were in for a huge and exciting learning curve! The team used a number of narrative reports that AWO had produced that contained case studies and stories, and combined this with data from a variety of sources including Department of Statistics, Higher Population Council Jordan, the International Centre for Missing and Exploited children, and more.

Their objectives

AWO runs face-to-face workshops and sessions with Syrian refugee women and their daughters across Jordan. The AWO team wanted to create digital and printed material to use during their existing workshops, which the women who attended could then share with friends and family. They wanted the Syrian refugee mothers to discuss different scenarios and risks surrounding child marriage through roleplaying and decision-making that was informed by data on the topic.

Results

The product that the team created at the sprint is called "Don't make her a bride" with the tagline "champion your child's future". It is an interactive scrollytelling quiz that lets users explore the story of Amal, a 14-year-old girl. At the workshop, the team suggested for the digital campaign to be developed into a printed product that the mothers and daughters could use during the sessions and take home and share with their family and friends.

Post sprint

After the sprint, AWO and Data4Change iterated the concept further. Together, we created an interactive data-led offline experience that can be shared between mothers and daughters who are identified as being at risk of early marriage.

“Through this approach, we have been able to reach and influence more people than through the traditional workshop sessions we used to do.”

Manal Al Taleb
Programme Manager, AWO

The outcome is a storybook about a 14-year-old girl who is forced to marry. Her story describes the physical, emotional and economic consequences of child marriage and the package includes a series of posters, social media assets and interactive exercises that AWO can run during their workshops with mothers and daughters.

The book can be read from right-to-left or left-to-right, with one direction telling the story of the girl, and the other the mother. Reading together, they meet in the middle spread where the root of the problem is exposed. The design was created by Farah, the sprint team’s designer, and Saja, a Jordanian designer who also attended the Amman sprint.

Impact

The project was launched for the 16 Days of Activism campaign in 2018 and was honoured at the Commission of the Status of Women of the UN in New York in March 2019 for its creative approach and impact, it was also long-listed for the 2019 Information Is Beautiful Awards.

“The idea is very unique and the design is terrific. But the most important thing is the emotions we will feel when you read the story. It’s very touching!”

Manal Al Taleb
Programme Manager, AWO

Below are some images from the launch of the project in Mafraq, Jordan, on the 28 November 2018. Mafraq was chosen because it has the highest rate of early marriage in Jordan.

The campaign was launched with a march from AWO’s centre to the Mafraq municipality building. Members of municipal councils, representatives of CSOs, NGOs and number of students from schools and universities participated in the march. A play based on the book was performed by AWO to capture the attention of the audience. The march was covered by the local and national media.