A virtual field trip to participatory video projects in India

Start by watching videos from DECCAN Community Media Trust, DigitalGreen, Children as Media Producers (CAMP) and InsightShare. And, follow to the web gathering to be hosted by Chris High and Gareth Benest live from the International Association of Media and Communications Research Conference in Hyderabad on the 16th July.

"See you there"

PM4D at Ørecomm Festival

Check HERE for the video of the presentation at the Ørecomm Festival

Live from Ørecomm Festival

I’m giving a talk at Ørecomm Festival, as well as exhibiting the following videos [on and offline:]. Ørecomm takes place from 13-16 September 2013 in Copenhagen, Roskilde and Malmö, and is all about media, communication and social change. This year’s theme is Memory on Trial: Media, Citizenship and Social Justice. My talk will be about PM4D - Participatory Media for Development in Wakatobi, Indonesia.

The videos screening are:

I. PM4D: Participatory Video and Photo-stories from Wakatobi, Indonesia, 2012

Project integrated in the World Wide Fund and The Nature Conservancy Program for Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, in Indonesia. I chose to work with the local minority, the Bajo, with students and a women’s group. The program looked into tourism as a sustainable development tool. Bajo are a touristic attraction, but do they know? Women chose to reflect on what they do each day. Students on their activities and on their village values.

PM4D: Participatory video from Bajo Women's Group, Mola Village, Wakatobi (14:58)

PM4D: Participatory photo-story with Bajo Women's Group, Mola Village, Wakatobi (02:57)
PM4D: Participatory photo-story at Mola Village, Wakatobi (01:59)

II. Documentary in India, 2012

Have you ever heard of Sharmila, a nobel peace prize nominee? And, of Manipur? This is a tale about an extraordinary place and people. Sharmila is a Manipuri woman that has been in hunger strike, force-fed by her nose and in prison, since the year 2000 for fighting to stop the Armed Forces Act.

A Tale in Seven Facts – Manipur (12:18)

Access to independent media and information as Post-2015 Development Goal

"People must be central to a new global partnership. To do this they need the freedom to voice their views and participation in the decisions that affect their lives without fear. They need access to information and to independent media." - BBC Media Action

PM4D: Participatory Video and Photo-stories from Wakatobi, Indonesia

For four weeks I integrated the activities of the WWF/TNC (World Wide Fund for Nature/The Nature Conservancy) Program in Wakatobi Marine National Park. The assessment of the region was focused on tourism opportunities and challenges. Me and the volunteers' group participated in contacts with the local agents, with WWF’s donors on a trip to Wakatobi, and with the local communities. In collaboration with Indar Aminuddin, I worked with a group of nine Bajo women in the implementation of the PM4D workshop in Mola village. This video is the result of the four-day workshop method.  The women participants are part of a group of women that previously started a handicrafts center and expressed their availability for this workshop. The project was supported by the WWF/TNC Program and the Tourism Department of Wakatobi Regency. The video was screened in the handicraft center to the rest of the community and later we heard the women’s group organized a screening themselves for more people. We expect to hear they made more videos by themselves and used it to seek funding to expand their group activities, as they said they would. They were happy to share the video widely to inspire other women’s group. Ideally it will, in due time, be shown in the other islands of Wakatobi. The translation is often poor and is a work in process. This video is the group’s first attempt to communicate their vision and – remember – PM4D it is about the workshop process rather than about the final product, so try to 'visualize' that. I’m happy to introduce to you the Bajo Women’s Group, Sikarimanang: 

See below the also results from the Photo-stories with the local school students of Mola and Liya villages in Wakatobi done by four groups of first grade school students:

TEDx talk on Participatory Video

An interesting talk by Chris Lunch at TEDx IHECS on Participatory Video and on how to 'Make mistakes', 'Lose control' and 'Have fun'.

Participatory Video

This video quickly explains how Participatory Video (PV), which is the foundation of the PM4D method, is done. The final video from this PV project I've done in Ethiopia can be seen HERE. 

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).