Journalist and Founder of Man Up Campaign by Jimmie Briggs

As the founder of Man Up, a Women and Girls Lead campaign partner, Jimmie Briggs advocates for the personal responsibility men have when it comes to gender equality. Man Up strives to engage youth in a global movement to end gender-based violence and advance gender equality through programming and support of youth-led initiatives intended to transform communities, nations and the world.

When my daughter was born, I was fully immersed in being a war journalist. Assuming I would be travelling for most of her childhood, I sat down and wrote her a letter. One I’ve been re-writing periodically for the last 11 years, which she has yet to see. I told my daughter, “I go because these experiences must be recognized, must be honoured.” On one of my first trips to Northern Uganda, an elderly man told me that if a dying person tells you their story and it’s not passed on, you would be haunted. Well, I did pass on the stories I heard, but the knowledge and the awareness remained to haunt me.

Look for and join our online and community screenings for March Women's History Month and beyond. Read the full article.

Cynthia Arvide – WNN Features

“We must not think that this event is feminist or for women only”, Santillanez emphasized recently in an interview with WNN. “We are half of the world’s population and by empowering a girl or a woman you will improve not only her life, but her family’s and all the people around her as well”, she added.

This same idea resonated among many keynote speakers during the G(irls) Summit. “Men are [also] part of the solution and they’re benefited from whatever we do for women”, said Isatou Jallow, Chief of Women, Children and Gender Policy for the United Nations World Food Programme.

Delivering a ‘heartfelt’ speech during the G(irls)20 Summit outlining the role men can take in preventing violence against women, Jimmie Briggs, former journalist and founder of the Man Up Campaign, recalled having what he calls a, “life-changing moment”. When he met a woman in the Congo region of Africa who confessed to him her tragic story his life changed immediately.

She told Briggs she was gang-raped by the militia during the conflict in Congo, and saw her children and father killed in front of her. The shock of making such close contact with a woman who’s traumatic experience under conflict was so overwhelming to Briggs, caused him to discontinue his work as a journalist. Deciding to start instead the Man Up Campaign, Briggs now aims to activate global youth to stop all violence against women and girls worldwide.

Read The Full Story

Echoing Green defines work as the overlap between how you self-identify and how you spend your time. How would you describe your “work”?
As the co-founder and executive director of Man Up, I worked with dynamic colleagues to mobilize Man Up’s 200 youth ambassadors in 50 countries to identify and realize innovative approaches to stopping violence against women and girls in their communities. Every community is different, so every project is different. For instance, a team of three ambassadors in Paraguay has developed a graphic novel and accompanying curriculum on domestic- and dating-violence, which, thanks to funding from the Paraguay and Spanish governments, is now being used in every school in Paraguay.

Read More

By Kerri Macdonald

“She is a pillar of strength. Her eyes tell the story of grace and humanity. She will always endure and transcend whatever obstacles life brings her.” The photographer Gillian Laub describes Oxana, a striking woman she photographed perched atop a wheelchair on a Tel Aviv beach last July.

The image and statement are part of a exhibition and auction benefiting the Man Up Campaign, opening Thursday night at 25CPW in Manhattan with a nod to International Women’s Day.