December 2018
The Internet
Whose voice is on the World Wide Web?
Technology is rapidly evolving. Less than 30 years ago the World Wide Web was created. In 2007 that the first iPhone hit the market. While these tools are convenient, they spark a lot of questions. Who has access to the information? What are our rights in regards to privacy and personal information? Who controls the content we see on searches?
 
Three quarters of online users access the Internet from the global South - Asia, Africa and Latin America. Nearly half of online users are women. Yet most public knowledge online has so far been written by white men from Europe and North America.
 
Whose Knowledge? was created to address this problem. Whose Knowledge?, a group fiscally sponsored by PDF, is a global campaign to center the knowledge of marginalized communities on the Internet. To ensure that many groups are represented online, Whose Knowledge? works with women, people of color, LGBTQI communities, indigenous peoples and others from the global South to fill in the gaps of online information.
 
This year, Whose Knowledge? launched their first annual #VisibleWikiWomen campaign to add more images of women to Wikipedia. It is estimated that less than 20 percent of Wikipedia articles of important women have pictures. As half a billion people read Wikipedia every month and it is the fifth most visited website in the world, gaps in Wikipedia have a big impact on the broader Internet. The result of the campaign was more than 500 images placed on Wikipedia. 
 
In July, Whose Knowledge? hosted a “Decolonizing the Internet” conference in Cape Town, South Africa as a pre-conference for Wikimania 2018. Ninety-six people from 26 countries, with a variety of occupational backgrounds, participated in the “Decolonizing the Internet” conference, the majority of whom were women from the global South. This conference gave the spotlight to the people whose voices need to be heard and viewed online. The conference received international attention resulting in BBC interviewing members of Whose Knowledge? You can listen to the interview on the BBC website .
 
Read more about Whose Knowledge? .
Finding the Voice of the Youth

Culture of Peace Alliance (COPA), a grant recipient of a PDF donor advised fund , is proud to have helped double the number of student participants of the 2018 Youth and Peace Conference. This year, 430  students registered to attend the Youth and Peace Conference, more than twice the number as last year.
 
COPA envisions a nonviolent society of individuals, organizations and institutions that have peace, justice and sustainability as their organizing principles. COPA aims to provide, promote and share best practices, skills and research in order to create a society based on a sustainable and just peace—now and for generations to come. By partnering with other programs and organizations COPA has been able to increase respect, awareness and compassionate discourse among and between people in their community.
  
The Youth and Peace Conference empowers youth as peacemakers and change-makers through skill-building workshops, inspiring speakers and performers, dialogue circles, a resource fair and art show. To ensure that all participants were able to voice their ideas and perspectives on the conference’s themes of Love and Support, the conference had 45 dialogue circles happening simultaneously.
 
Read more about the Culture of Peace Alliance .
Healing from the Unknown
Relatives of immigrants who disappeared or die en route to the U.S grieve
Through grantmaking and education, Ignacio Martín-Baró Fund for Mental Health and Human Rights ( Martín-Baró Fund ), one of PDF’s Community Advised Funds , fosters psychological well-being, social consciousness, active resistance and progressive social change in communities affected by institutional violence, repression and social injustice.
 
Over the years the Martín-Baró Fund has raised and distributed more than a million dollars to small grassroots projects around the world. Committee for Families of Deceased and Disappeared Migrants (COFAMIDE ) in El Salvador is one of seven different organizations in five different countries that received grants in 2018.
 
COFAMIDE used the grant recommended by the Martín-Baró Fund to host 20 workshops throughout the Salvadoran countryside, convening relatives of immigrants who had disappeared or died enroute to the U.S. The relatives received legal advocacy, human rights training, psychosocial support and psychoeducation to deal with the emotional aftermath of their loved one’s disappearance or death.
 
Read more about the Martín-Baró Fund .
Thank You for Making Giving Tuesday a Great Success
PDF Raised $11,730
All of us at PDF would like to thank our donors who gave on Giving Tuesday. We were able to raise a total of $11,730 thanks to your help! The gifts that you made will allow us to create two additional grants during our Community Organizing Grant cycle. We appreciate your generosity and the difference that you have made. 
 
When you partnered with PDF for #GivingTuesday, you gave back to your community and helped to promote real, positive change. Your gifts go directly to making grants and providing capacity building for small organizations for lasting impacts.
Thank you for your support.