Half the Sky Movement Game Uses Facebook for Real World Impact

Various campaigns to raise awareness about pressing issues world-over are constantly ongoing. This is great as we build towards becoming a better world. One key issue that has been highlighted by various organizations is that of the plight of girls and women around the world. It’s definitely a pressing issue considering that girls and women make up half the population and you cannot have a progressive world if half the population is not making a full contribution to it.

Technology is a power tool when it comes to social good. Social media has been used to disseminate information and spread powerful ideas. The internet in itself has made the world a smaller place and made access to things happening across the world possible. Wezesha Dada Inua Jamii in partnership with Half the Sky Movement has gone a step farther and created a series of games that make it possible to learn about the challenges of girls and women around the world and help make life easier for them.

Wezesha Dada Inua Jamii uses the power of storytelling through various media platforms to share the insightful and inspiring stories of fearless women and men who are bringing positive change to the lives of Kenya’s women and girls.

Inspired by journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s book of the same name, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide brings together video, websites, games, blogs and other educational tools to raise awareness about women’s issues and work to provide solutions for them.

Half the Sky Movement: The Game is the first Facebook game with direct virtual to real-life translation. Players embark on a global journey which begins in India, and moves on to Kenya, Vietnam, and Afghanistan, ending in the U.S. Players meet different characters and cause real life change by unlocking funds from the game’s sponsors to make actual impact. Impact can be donating books to young girls or helping women with fistula get treatment.

The game is definitely a worthwhile way to spend free time while on the internet and requires a Facebook account. There are misgivings on young people being on social media but the existence of this game proves that social media can be used for good. I hope it will be introduced especially to students in Kenya who will benefit from learning about the challenges of fellow young people from Kenya and other countries. The knowledge that playing the game in the virtual world is actually making an impact in the real world definitely sets this game apart.