Compassion underlines Footage's participation at CSW69

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At a time when the humanitarian sector is being stretched to its limits, Footage was grateful to participate and share with a global community of advocates, activists and academics at the 69th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69).

This year, 2025, commemorating 30 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, saw the Footage team taking part in multiple transformative events and connecting with those who share our vision for social justice, human rights, and equity. 

In an increasingly fractured world, we remain anchored in the belief that compassion is not a luxury—but a necessity.

For more than 15 years, compassion, including self-compassion has been central to Footage’s theory of change—rooted in how we listen, connect, and respond to the lived realities of women and gender-diverse people. That commitment feels more essential now than ever.

In the spirit of compassionate advocacy, our main event, “Compassion in Action: Feminist and Narrative Methods for Transformation,” co-hosted with dear friends and partner SayItForward.org was the only one among hundreds to include “compassion” in its title; and one of seven to have it in the description. At a time when global discourse feels polarized and transactional, we continue to center compassion—not as sentiment, but as method, philosophy, policy, and daily practice. Co-facilitated by our Executive Director and Co-Founder, Dr. Kristen Ali Eglinton, and Gender Programs Consultant, Theo Biney-Amissah, the session brought together participants in an interactive dialogue centered on mental health, resilience, and feminist solidarity. 

Attendees shared messages of compassion for women affected by conflict in Ukraine, where our FemSMS Ukraine initiative, developed in collaboration with our dear friends and partners at Project Kesher, continues to reach and support growing numbers of women in need. These moments affirmed our core belief: that compassionate action and community are essential to meaningful advocacy and systemic change.

Following a presentation at a high-level CSW69 event hosted by the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship at the American University of Beirut, under the leadership of Lina Abou-Habib, titled “Beijing+30 and Beyond: From the Beijing Platform for Action to Feminist Foreign Policies,” Dr. Eglinton was also invited to speak at a hybrid event hosted by Dr. Holly Shaw, Chair of the NGO Committees on Mental Health and Education, Learning, and Literacy. Dr. Shaw is a senior leader at the Katherine J. Densford Center for International Nursing Leadership at the University of Minnesota. The video clip below, "Compassion: Empathy in Action", shows a segment from a paper delivered by Dr. Eglinton on the intersections of education and mental health in times of crisis—highlighting Footage’s capacity-building interventions in authoritarian contexts and the urgent need for trauma-informed approaches across both education and humanitarian sectors.

Despite the challenges facing us and all those working for equity and human rights Footage continues to advocate for compassion across intersectional policies and praxis reflecting gender rights. If you would like to support us or engage with our advocacy, research, or programs, please contact us at info@footageproject.org




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