Assignment 9.12: Case study

Case Study
Benbere was launched in Mali in May 2018. The platform aims to reflect the voices of a highly fragmented country. There is a striking lack of knowledge among young Malians about their peers in the different regions of North, South and Centre as well as of the different ethnicities and traditions. Benbere enables young Malians to understand each other better.
Benbere produces a lot of testimonials (mainly on video). An example of this was when the Benbere team decided to raise the issue on the silence that surrounds rape and sexual violence in Mali on their Facebook page with the post: Do you think victims are best protected by denouncing the perpetrators or by keeping quiet? The post was read by around 14,300 people and received just over 600 comments – more than any other Benbere post has ever had before. Amidst all those comments, there was one in particular that caught the team’s attention:
“I was raped when I was 12, and my family did nothing, except for humiliating me. To them I was the shame of the family… I was only 12. My family never denounced the perpetrator. God is going to make him pay one day, the man that raped me.”
After contacting her, the young woman decided to share her story. In the video, the now 26-year old woman describes what she went through and how her family beat her instead of supporting her because they thought she was to blame for what had happened:
“My aunt went to get a whip to hit me, instead of taking me to the hospital. When I was 12, no one helped me even though my clothes were torn, and I had blood running down to my feet.”
In less than two weeks, the video was seen around 360,000 times, and it received hundreds of comments, most of which were very supportive. Another girl has since turned to Benbere to confide her experience of rape.
As part of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) campaign, Benbere published a series of articles under the hashtag #MaliSansVBG and organised offline events including performances by artists and actors popular with young Malians. Gender-Based Violence is a serious problem in Mali but remains largely taboo. The Benbere team aimed to raise awareness and start a broader conversation around the issue. Offline activities included a theatre piece highlighting the harmful consequences of GBV. In total around 1,000 people attended the performances and in a survey at the end of each show, 90% of the young people interviewed said they learned a lot about GBV.
As a result of the campaign, Benbere was invited to the World Bank office in Mali, for their awareness day against GBV and took part in a panel with the representative of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the evaluator of the national programme to combat GBV.

Based on the case study of Gender Based violence above, can you identify where AMPLIFICATION took place?