Inaugural National Summit Recap | Part 2

After wrapping up our Welcome & Keynote session, we jumped into our first presentation of the day: Data on the State of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in South Asian Communities. In this session, Amrita Doshi and Nashi Gunasekara from the SOAR team shared some of the latest research on GBV prevalence in the South Asian American diaspora. The statistics included many of the ones shared here, such as 48% of South Asians in the US experience physical violence, and 85% of South Asians (ages 18 - 34) in one study experienced some form of sexual assault.

Following this, they shared a preliminary analysis of data collected across the SOAR collective in the summer of 2022. The presentation also covered aggregate totals of clients served and helpline requests, select data on client demographics, services offered at SOAR’s member organizations, and emerging trends following the pandemic. While the data collection and analysis had several limitations, it represented a groundbreaking opportunity to collect nationwide data and trends. SOAR plans to publish the data in 2023 and hopes to use it to support storytelling, advocacy, and funding.

Once we were grounded in understanding the data, we headed into our first workshop of the day: Driving Change at Every Level. In this workshop, we discussed systems change fundamentals, identified the different levels of change, and introduced a framework for implementing change. We concluded the session with a small group activity to practice the systems-change framework.

The session began with a quick exercise to help us think big: “To end gender-based violence in the South Asian diaspora, we need to ____.” After this, we watched this video on systems thinking and systems change by the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape.

The next activity supported participants to reflect on an issue that survivors face and think through what change at every level could look like:

1. What is the oppressive condition, or what is holding this problem in place?

2. What is the liberatory condition, or what is the goal?

3. How can we address those factors at every level of change?

• Individual

• Interpersonal

• Community

• Society

• Systems 

4. What consistent set of values do we want to ground any kind of change in?

Here are some of our key takeaways from this workshop:

• Systems change is similar to prevention in that it aims to shift the underlying factors that hold a problem in place.

• Change can happen at the individual, interpersonal, community, society, and systems levels. Culture is present at all of these levels!

• Allow your radical visions for liberation and violence free communities to be so big that you see beyond the obstacles of your question of “how?" 

After an energizing workshop, participants met peers from across the US at our networking lunch! Folks connected to learn more about each other, exchange fun facts, and share both their challenges and wins.

Watch a replay of the summit here! And, read Part 1 and Part 3 of our recap series here!