Through taking part in Participatory Video people can grow in self-esteem, value their knowledge, reflect on local issues, share perspectives, identify commonalities and ways forward. This process leads to critical thinking and collective local action. Here are some examples from InsightShare projects.
A group of 11 farmers, members of the Bukonzo Joint Co-operative, came together for a participatory video project to plan and shoot a video about their local environment, before creating a screening in the community to raise debate around sustainable agricultural practice.
In this participatory video project a film is made by 11 members of the Ericaville Farming Trust. A complicated process led to the participants going out into their community to enable a group of youth, elders and women to come together to tell their stories through a participatory video process, and community screening. The video tells the story of their journey together as a community. The past displacement from the West Coast and their resettlement along the coast of the Southern Cape, South Africa, their longing to own land and to farm became a reality after a wait of 30 years.
In this participatory video project a group of people in Chanya (Malawi) explore key issues affecting them as individuals and the wider community, in relation to climate change locally and/or globally. Video was used as a tool by which the subject could be explored and perspectives shared amongst the participants themselves and with the wider community and beyond.
In this participatory video project 12 cocoa farmers made a video, which focused on the negative impacts of deforestation. They succeeded in generating a video that carries the seldom heard voices of Ivorian cocoa farmers, and clearly demonstrates the problems that they are experiencing as a result of climate change. The completed video has the potential to raise awareness of how climate change is impacting on people in this region and may serve to generate interest in supporting efforts to mitigate these problems.
In June and July 2012, eleven farmers from the Cariango Commune in the province of Kwanza Sul, Angola, took part in a participatory video project to explore the impacts of climate change on their livelihoods. After much debate the group decided to focus on the issue of drought as something common to all, and to use the video to explore different ways in which it is impacting the four different communities, by gathering local ideas and stories.
Our PV methods have demonstrated to be ideal for working with small-scale farmers to enable farmer-to-farmer sharing of innovations and experiences, and connecting those same farming communities with the outside world and key stakeholders including policymakers, industry representatives and NGOs. This article describes some recent examples from our work with farming communities around the world.
One of our current programmes aims to build capacity to two groups of young women in Uganda and Guatemala in Participatory Video for M&E. These women are learning to make films that then inform programming and promote learning as well as peer to peer exchange for community mobilisation.
In January 2011, a group of representatives from Nigerien non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working on climate adaptation and human rights in Niger were brought together for a participatory video workshop. During the training, two short films were produced illustrating community based adaptation initiatives supported by UNDP in two respective villages in the Dakoro commune. This training was supported by UNDP/GEF Community-BASED adaptation (CBA) programme.
Phil Borges and his crew interviewed the InsightShare team and trainees participating in our PV M&E Initiative in Guatemala for his documentary on prevention of violence against women, commissioned by the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, administered by UN Women.
As part of the 'Conversations with the Earth — Indigenous Voices on Climate Change' programme InsightShare has supported the development of an indigenous media network around the world. Since 2009 the participatory video process has helped inspire indigenous communities across five continents to work together to protect the planet for future generations. This impact report summarises their stories and the story of InsightShare's contribution to the programme.