“Her Vote, Her Voice”

From Brahmanbaria to Nation: Promoting Safe and Informed Voting for Rural Women through Legal Literacy and Online Outreach

Implementation Period: December 2025 – April 2026

Background

Violence against women, especially in the context of rural women’s voting rights, is a deeply entrenched issue rooted in patriarchal structures, lack of education, political marginalization, and misinformation. In many rural areas, women are discouraged – often violently- from participating in electoral processes due to gender norms, familial pressures, community expectations, or even direct intimidation by political actors. Rural women are often targeted with false narratives – such as being told that voting is a male prerogative, that their vote will be exposed publicly, or that voting will bring shame or harm to their families. Access to trustworthy media is limited, and many rural women are excluded from digital spaces. Violence against women voters is often underreported and under-addressed. Even when women face misinformation or threats, they lack platforms to report or discuss them. Policymakers and election bodies may not prioritize rural women’s safety or voting rights due to lack of visibility. Women often rely on family or male community members for information, leaving them vulnerable to manipulation. Many rural women and their families are unaware that denying someone the right to vote or threatening them is a criminal offense.

Key objectives

  • Facilitate secured and informed voting by the women as per their choice
  • Foster dialogue and coordination among the different stakeholders at local level.
  • Counter misinformation and enhance skills for reporting of the local journalists and selected fact-checkers.
  • Use digital tools for conducting online campaigning to present and multiply local voices and lessons learnt at the wider national level

Project Area

  • Brahmanbaria Sadar

Activities

  • Baseline assessment with stakeholder mapping and security assessment.
  • 2 pre-election community dialogue on project briefing, planning, polling site security (in particular with gender aspect) and how to improve existing information ecosystem.
  • 5 community monitoring committees established and oriented.
  • 4 legal literacy sessions for women voters.
  • 1 digital platform established for nation-wide campaigning and information coverage.
  • Produced and disseminated 10+ campaign materials (flyers, leaflets, stickers, display board on election charter, digital media contents like podcast, infographics, video clips, opinion bites and short reels) on safe voting, rights, laws & regulations and misinformation.
  • 20 trained citizen journalists actively report to digital platform at National level.
  • 20 trained fact-checkers countering misinformation and provide factual narratives on digital platform at National level.
  • Weekly misinformation digests and monthly election updates on digital platform.
  • 1 Mid-learning workshop Report
  • An end line impact report
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Expected Outcomes

  • 1 Baseline assessment with stakeholder mapping and security assessment.
  • 2 pre-election community dialogue on project briefing, planning, polling site security (in particular with gender aspect) and how to improve existing information ecosystem.
  • 5 community monitoring committees established and oriented.
  • 4 legal literacy sessions for women voters.
  • 1 digital platform established for nation-wide campaigning and information coverage.
  • Produced and disseminated 10+ campaign materials (flyers, leaflets, stickers, display board on election charter, digital media contents like podcast, infographics, video clips, opinion bites and short reels) on safe voting, rights, laws & regulations and misinformation.
  • 20 trained citizen journalists actively report to digital platform at National level.
  • 20 trained fact-checkers countering misinformation and provide factual narratives on digital platform at National level.
  • Weekly misinformation digests and monthly election updates on digital platform.
  • 1 Mid-learning workshop Report
  • An end line impact report

Empowering Women Voters

Project Resources

IEC Materials

Publications

Gallery