By Pavel Sagolsem

In September 2023, The Bachchao Project carried out its first offline Writing Sprint. Our intention with it was to focus on developing resources that provide guidance and strategies for addressing online hate and harassment. In our earlier work on online hate and harassment, we had spoken to many muslim women who had lived experiences of such kinds of harm. For this sprint as well, we wanted to work with a group of muslim women and queer people, to hear their experiences and highlight what they wanted to share with others in their groups, and with those in the social media industry.

When we embarked on this sprint, it was akin to navigating uncharted waters. The journey taught us profound lessons that have changed our team dynamics and collective understanding of the work we do. 

As we as a team reflect on these challenges and triumphs, it has been evident that for projects such as these, with intersectional nuances and complexities, there must be intentional thought behind the alignment of skills and capacities. Digital security (especially for traditionally vulnerable communities) cannot just mean technical expertise, but includes a careful curation of diverse skills and experiences within the team. This is an acknowledgement of some of the challenges that such work can shine light on among team members and participants. 

One of the crucial aspects of the work we do lies in how to highlight the lived experiences of the communities we engage with. This has always been a key point for The Bachchao Project. However, in this sprint, we did not extend this principle to the actual execution.  While we scrutinised the online spaces where harassment occurs, we shifted some of the focus away from the essential step of unpacking the lived experiences, hindering the building of common ground and trust within the group. What we needed was a shift in perspective from being an outcome-focused sprint, to one designed for exploration, collaboration, and participation. 

We also think we failed to to focus on a clearer delineation of roles based on the experience and capacity of the members, coupled with explicit project management structures. This sometimes gets confusing in a collective structure. But we understand that these hard steps are necessary going forward.   Time, often underestimated, also emerged as a critical factor. The time to do programs when in a contract is usually cramped even when we plan in the best possible way. This often creates all sorts of constraints in how programs get executed. Even though for this contract we could define our work and out comes it still caused us discomfort. Going forward we want to work towards more realistic deadlines which also includes space for everyone. 

The mental health of our participants as well as our team came into focus multiple times during, and after the sprint. Despite our awareness and efforts to support each other, we were unable to provide the kind of support for ourselves and others that was required for an event of this nature. What was required was expertise to recognise and address such topics. We were unable to budget support for a separate mental health practitioner for the sprint, and the absence of this  severely curtailed our ability to respond to the situations that arrived in the sprint. 

As the team members we were under prepared of how it would impact each of us and how we would react to the conversation in the space.  As facilitators, it is essential to show up with authenticity in engaging with difficult issues; sometimes to establish potentially common ground, but also to show vulnerability. Acknowledging discomfort in engaging with certain topics and addressing this during project design will lead to a more transparent and conducive space for dialogue. It would also led to better project planning. This is an important take away for us to make space for these discussion during the planning period. 

Many of these points were reinforced during a period of extensive participant feedback. These added to our own self reflection. Following the sprint, we revisited project design, made amendments where possible to the budget, to ensure a smoother experience for participants. We are committed to improving and adapting, and we hope our steps following the sprint displayed the same. 

The kind of participant knowledge and experience that was collected, along with the team’s responses during and after the sprint are important indicators of learning meaningfully in the complex landscape of online harassment intervention. As we move forward, these lessons serve as guideposts, illuminating the path towards more intentional, inclusive, and impactful projects.