Project Title: VideoActive Women: Unleashing the Power of Young Women’s Stories

Location: Asia → India

Grant Amount: $50,000

Grantee Website: videovolunteers.org

Mission of Video Volunteers
Video Volunteers (VV) empowers marginalized people to tell their stories and create change campaigns, so that their issues come out from under the rug and become important threads in India’s development narrative. Video Volunteers believes the world would be a better place if the voices of thousands joined together to amplify every single cry for justice.

Summary
We are funding the VideoActive Women: Unleashing the Power of Young Women's Stories project which will enable 1,000 young women in rural India to become digital changemakers, finding their own powerful voice on social media and thus promoting better gender discussions and awareness in their home villages. Emerging grassroots women leaders in communities where VV already works will have demonstrated leadership, activism skills, and experience in identifying issues, reporting stories, and creating change. This project will help them build the capacities of other women and invest in the next generation of leaders.

As the internet reaches rural India, a crucial component of female leadership will be digital leadership skills, including using social media and storytelling to communicate power and independence as women, and developing digital skills to empower others.

The following are the expected impacts of this grant:

Direct: 1,010
Indirect: 100,000


Why We Love This
This project directly amplifies rural women’s voices by equipping them with the tools to document, challenge, and dismantle patriarchy in their own communities. The model is uniquely rooted in community storytelling and digital leadership, giving women power not only to speak, but to influence governance and accountability. We value that the program is proven, scalable, and led by diverse women who already demonstrate impact. With more than 50% of creators being women and a history of measurable change—including community videos resolving local issues—there is strong evidence that investing in this initiative will expand gender equity and leadership where women are most marginalized.