PM4D with Bajau Women's Group in Indonesia

In late November, 2012, with support of WWF/TNC Project in Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, I facilitated a four-day PM4D workshop. Following the method, the process was carried out with the Women's Group of Mola Village. This is a Bajau Village, where people live on the sea and semi-detached from land, having a different set of  beliefs and traditions from the land communities. The entire Wakatobi Regency is defined as the Wakatobi Marine National Park. Currently, international NGOs and Government are joining efforts to reach a common vision for Wakatobi's eco-tourism industry development. The Bajau Villages (Mola and Sampela) are points of touristic attraction. WWF has shown interest in increasing the involvement of the local community in the design of Wakatobi's vision, hence this PM4D project.

The women's group has independently formed a workshop for creating handicrafts with recycled and local materials. They agreed to participate in PM4D without any financial compensation and for the full four days. A room in the village from the local government was used for the group exercises. The screening took place in their workshop. Later on, they repeated the screening.

From the workshop, a photo-story and a participatory video were made. The group declared to have learn much, also about group work. Some ground-rules, such as listening to each others comments and letting everyone take part in the activities, were new and welcomed. The participants showed interest in doing other videos by themselves. They were very proud and consented full dissemination of the video.

Currently the video is awaiting translation.

Some photos from the PM4D worskhop:

PM4D, simplified

The PM4D method can be adjustable to the available time and resources, as well as the participants' needs.

In Mola and Liya villages in Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia; since the available time to work with the local students was limited, the workshop was simplified to a Photo-story session. In one afternoon the students learned the basics of handling a compact photo camera and of story-telling. Two groups of about six students in each village wrote their own stories, decided which images best illustrate the steps of the story, went out to photograph, recorded the audio, and directed the editing process. In Mola it was possible to have a screening for the community. This was a very energetic session with the other students and family members. In Liya the conditions were not ideal, and the participants's were left with the files of the photo-stories, so they can ideally organize the screening themselves.

Some photos from Mola's workshop:

Co-learning 

Co-creating

Co-working

Community Screening

See the videos here and here.

Using Participatory Theater as a Tool of Peacebuilding

Acting Out of Conflict: Using Participatory Theater as a Tool of Peacebuilding - This is an interesting paper posted by comminit of an inspiring account of social change through art.

Video Advocacy and Gender Justice - A portrait of the work from WITNESS in Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and Uganda, focused on increasing access to justice for survivors in countries under investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC). 

FOUND TODAY: Inter.ACT

This video very much expresses the current issues in my mind about Participatory Video and Media. The key speakers for community media talk about their concerns and objectives. This Inter.ACT Forum explores "how social innovation and participation using digital media can create social, sustainable and enterprise benefits".


Inter.ACT - POSSIBLE FUTURES from Catcher Media on Vimeo.

What I FOUND TODAY - Theater for Development

So far the information as been always on Participatory Video, finally here is something different.

Is Theatre included in media, maybe if you film it too? Yes. Actually during PV processes drama is inevitably used. So interesting... Anyone knows more projects on this?

Participatory Theatre for Conflict Transformation: Training Manual, by Lena Slachmuijlder and Don Tshibanda.

This 2009 book documents what Search for Common Ground (SFCG) has learned using participatory theatre for conflict transformation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Participatory theatre is an approach in which the actors interact with the public, based on a real problem. Throughout the participatory event, the public participates to adapt, change, or correct a situation, an attitude or a behaviour that is developed during the show. "We believe that dealing with conflict constructively is a skill that can be developed, and participatory theatre is a powerful tool in developing that skill."