Participatory Video Stories

We amplify unheard voices and bring people together to focus on change. At InsightShare we work with communities around the world to address key issues through Participatory Video. In this blog we share our experiences with Participatory Video, the challenges and the success.

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Empathize, get ready, go!

by Sébastien Taylor (InsightShare) and Siyu Cao (d.School Paris)

Moving chairs and loud whispers can be heard from the corridor as people keep rushing in from the stairs following a trail of paper posters taped all around the venue and leading towards room 101 where the commotion seems to be originating from. There’s something strange happening here.

The room is practically full and people keep coming in to fill in the last remaining seats, sitting down or standing up in between tables, tripods, flip-charts and strange wheel shaped circles while taping their long sought name tag on their shirt. The doors close as Chris Lunch and his team introduce themselves kick-starting a highly disruptive afternoon of participatory video at the 4th edition of the international conference on design thinking in Paris, “the D.EVENT”.

InsightShare being unfamiliar to working specifically with the private sector, the participants present today are designers, engineers, or leaders in visual arts, innovation, HR or change management. They are or aspire to be makers or creators of lasting changes within their business, for their clients or their own company culture.

Arranging an inner and outer circle of face-to-face seats, each circle equal in numbers, with the inner circle tight and facing outwards, participants take part in a first brainstorming session using the Margolis Wheel, an activity learned from a permaculture practitioner involving participants consulting one another to discuss challenges and share approaches and advice to come up with solutions. The challenge is simple: what’s your worst experience at a conference?

From this interaction ideas begin to spark and take shape one post-it at a time before being pitted to the group engaging in a human size game of snap.

Participants start to empathize and one by one ideas join a larger narrative of shared experiences. Three problems stand out and will become synopses for three groups to work on and make a video using a smartphone gimbal, an Ipad set or a fully-fledged HD camera, three items which appear as magical artifacts for a lay audience.

Just before filming, each group draws out the scenes of their film on a whiteboard and discuss the sequence together, so that the message they want to communicate is clearly represented. “One shot, steady hand, and choose well the background”, after a simple demo, the directors and actors are ready to pass on “action”.

“Can we see what we have filmed?” The room is filled with impatience as each group finishes their film, since each and every one of them participated in the process of building their story. It’s a film generated from their collective effort, a work that shows the voice of a community that contains different individuals.

Since 2017, InsightShare has been pushing participatory video to uncharted territories deepening its collaboration with the Paris d.School mixing design thinking and participatory media to come up with a unique and collective problem-solving process applicable to any given context and sector.

“Participatory video uses participatory methodologies to identify problems and enables the group to produce their own video about these problems and these solutions and this way they can share this knowledge within their own communities and beyond. This is a better way to build empathic connection with the target group and massively improve the innovation process” stresses Andres Bedoya, an innovation project manager at the d.School who has been working with InsightShare since inviting us in 2017 in Colombia to co-facilitate a participatory video training aiming at strengthening and supporting a local culture of social innovation (see video below).

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Seven things I learned about Participatory Video for Most Significant Change

by Anna Patton, InsightShare Associate and training participant

Laptops banned. No notebooks allowed. For those of us who like to write everything down, the instructions for the latest InsightShare course on Participatory Video for Most Significant Change (25-27 October, in London) were a bit daunting. How would I remember it all?

Fortunately, visualisation (lots of drawing, arranging of keywords and mind maps) and experiential learning (going through the process ourselves as participants) helps it stick. Here’s what I learned:

1. “Most Significant Change” sounds a bit fluffy, but it’s actually a recognised evaluation technique.

Participatory monitoring and evaluation means that those affected by (and those affecting) a programme are involved in the process of assessing what worked. Together the group negotiates and agrees how to measure progress.

The Most Significant Change process, developed in the mid-1990s, is one form of participatory M&E. Groups collect people’s stories of significant change in their lives, analyse them, and then systematically select the most significant ones. Reflecting on the stories at each stage allows those involved to learn about what causes change.

MSC is now accepted as a valid monitoring and evaluation technique, and has been used by government agencies like the UK’s Department for International Development and international organisations like Oxfam.

2. Adding video makes a lot of sense.

MSC was conceived mainly as an oral exercise, with stories captured in writing. This can have its issues, especially if you’re gathering hundreds of testimonies. One user of MSC reports that it was difficult to get the evaluation teams to write up stories, because they saw it as adding to an already heavy workload. Written stories also risk being left unread: some people may be illiterate; those who can read might be put off by many pages of text. Writing also loses the expression and body language of the storyteller.

Using video, meanwhile, can bring those stories to life, potentially increasing the impact on the viewer. As InsightShare facilitator Isabelle explains: “It takes data off the paper, and it makes it human”. Since anyone can learn basic video skills, storytellers can speak to peers, in a familiar setting; they can watch videos back immediately and as a group. People may also be more inclined to attend a screening than to take part in a focus group. In short, it’s fun and accessible, yet still analytically rigorous and data-rich.

3. It’s best suited for organisations prepared to learn — and maybe even change.

With so much pressure these days to demonstrate the value of a project and show what’s been achieved, it’s easy to think evaluation is about reassuring funders. But as one of my fellow trainees put it, this is evaluation “that aims to improve — not to prove.”

The stories are based on responses to an open question — usually: “What has been the most significant change in your life [in x time period]?”. That prompts unforeseen answers. Perhaps the programme had unintended effects; participants might not mention the aspects you thought were crucial; maybe something else entirely influenced the change they talk about.

So organisations considering PV MSC need to be doing it for the right reasons. (It works especially well as part of a long-term intervention, when the findings of a first phase can feed into the next one.) And they need to know that the process “can bring a cost”, as InsightShare facilitator Neville says, and “the cost is change.”

4. It’s not going to replace quantitative methods any time soon.

Quantitative methods help you see what has changed and by how much. MSC isn’t a replacement for that: it doesn’t use predefined indicators, or anything that needs to be counted and measured.

But MSC can work well alongside quantitative research, by exploring why things have changed, as Soledad Muniz, InsightShare’s head of innovation and development and our trainer for this course, told us. It adds a deeper understanding of what a programme or activity has actually meant to people, she said, and that “lets you understand people’s perspectives on how change happened in their lives, as well as how other enablers contributed to that."

Many InsightShare clients, such as Nike Foundation, have used PV MSC as part of a much bigger evaluation exercise.

5. It can also build skills and experience among those involved.

PV MSC gets you more than just useful feedback: it can also build capacity.

Training local evaluation teams — beneficiaries, local staff, other stakeholders — and taking them through the whole process means they learn and practice data analysis, presentation and public speaking, consensus-building and negotiation, and video recording/editing skills. Depending on existing levels of education/experience, training and support can be time-consuming and costly; though the process can also be done on a much more limited budget, without ticking all the participation boxes.

6. Sharing personal stories can be powerful stuff.

How often have you simply talked to people who listen, without interruption, for as long as you needed to, knowing you were in a safe space? Oddly, something so simple seems rare these days.

Day two of InsightShare’s PV MSC course offered this experience. After the story circle, one of my fellow trainees said she found it “enriching and liberating to have the opportunity to share my story in a safe and neutral space. It was the first time I’ve shared my story so freely… It was beautiful… to feel truly listened to.” Another said that sharing her story “made it real and opened new doors for reflection and decision-making”.

As for me, talking and listening sparked a palpable sense of connection in a room of near-strangers. We each described different things — but there were common experiences, similar worries. Even when there’s little in common, you’ve shared something of yourself that you maybe don’t even bother your best friends with.

It’s not hard to see how storytelling circles can build solidarity among a community and develop people’s confidence in speaking up. (Of course, the process can also be difficult and even traumatising; in some cases a trauma counsellor might need to be present.)

7. Selecting one story isn’t random.

This was the bit I struggled most with. How can one story ever be representative of a hundred or more? And what about all the detail you miss by focusing only on one story?

The point, though, is that the evaluation team have heard and analysed all the stories. They can choose what data to capture from them, and this can feed into a final report.

And in fact, it’s not really about the selected story being representative, but about being meaningful. Two metaphors for the MSC process help illustrate why it makes sense to focus on the meaningful:

“Do you remember the average things [about a holiday abroad] or the wonderful and terrible things? MSC helps teams of people focus on the memorable events and uses these events to help realign effort towards achieving more of the wonderful things and less of the terrible things. When the focus is on learning, we need to capture more than just the average experiences.”

“A newspaper does not summarise yesterday’s important events via pages and pages of ‘indicators’ (though they can be found in some sections) but by using news stories about interesting events… The most important stories go on the front page and the most important of these is usually at the top of the front page.”

From ‘The ‘Most Significant Change’ (MSC) Technique: A Guide to Its Use’ by Rick Davies and Jess Dart

And MSC is robust because of the breadth. Hearing a few stories from the field might be merely anecdotal, but as the InsightShare PV MSC toolkit explains, “when 50 or 300 stories or more are collected and analysed, meaningful patterns emerge.”

What about defining significant? As our group struggled to choose which of our six stories to select, Soledad suggested another metaphor: “think of a chrysalis becoming a butterfly”. Change is something that can’t be reversed.

Aside from this, what any given group decides is significant will be subjective — and that’s ok. Because the criteria that a group uses to select their story also says something about what matters to those people. That’s a valuable thing for any organisation to learn about those it’s trying to help.

Photos: Ingrid Guyon

References & further reading: http://insightshare.org/resources/participatory-video-and-the-most-significant-change/ https://www.odi.org/publications/5211-msc-most-significant-change-monitoring-evaluation http://insightshare.wixsite.com/videogirls/the-pv-process http://www.mande.co.uk/docs/MSCGuide.pdf http://www.tools4dev.org/resources/the-most-significant-change-msc-technique-tool-review/

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Participatory video as feedback: Refettorio Felix

by Anna Patton, InsightShare Associate

Pedicures for homeless guests. Creative writing or cooking courses. More quiet zones to relax in. These were some of the suggestions that emerged after we screened ‘The Place To Be’, a film made by guests at St. Cuthbert’s Day Centre.

St. Cuthbert’s, a drop-in centre for vulnerable people near Earl’s Court in west London, is already pretty special, according to its visitors. As one of them said: “The staff come and say ‘Good morning, how are you?’. You don't always get that — in some centres, you just sit down and nobody wants to know.” Another said he walks a long way to St. Cuthbert’s every week, even though other places are more convenient: “People here accept me as I am… they never make you feel less important than others.”

That warm welcome has been extended to those in need for some 20 years, but recently St. Cuthbert’s saw big changes as part of the Refettorio Felix project. The drab church hall has been redesigned as a bright, modern, calming space. Instead of queuing up, visitors are now served lunch by volunteer waiters and waitresses, and are offered vegetarian or allergen-free options. Ingredients, sourced from surplus food gathered around the city, are turned into nutritious three-course meals (occasionally by visiting Michelin-starred chefs).

The new approach aims to rebuild dignity by “feeding body and soul”. And as the first of its kind in the UK (similar refettorios have been created in Italy and in Brazil) the team behind the transformation wanted to know if it was having the intended effect. Would the new environment make a difference? Are there things people don’t like? What’s missing?

That’s where InsightShare came in, to explore these questions through a short participatory video project.

Unlike having a filmmaker produce an impact film, using participatory video meant that:

Guests using the centre interviewed each other. This gave them the opportunity to direct the conversation towards what they felt was important.

They had control over what footage was used — they had a chance to see a rough cut and to remove any clips and add extra ones.

They decided who will be allowed to see the film.

In the process, they learned new skills (operating a camera / microphone, interviewing, speaking on camera) and got to see a project through from start to finish.

In terms of facilitation, there were some limitations to work around:

Limited time: We had just four sessions (three hours each) with the group, spread across four months. With an enticing three-course meal breaking up the day, we often lost a few people for the afternoon session (and had new ones join instead). 

A fluid group: As a drop-in centre, we never knew in advance who’d be there on the day. Each session brought newcomers, making it hard to build on learning or on discussions from the last time.

A very mixed group: People come to St. Cuthbert’s for various reasons (pensioners living alone, homeless people, former alcoholics, people on very low incomes, etc.). Our participants reflected this mix. They were aged from 30s to 80+, and many spoke English as a second language.

Limited mobility: For some elderly participants and some with health issues, moving around with the camera was not an option.

Small budget: We only had one camera kit for the group, so could only do one interview at a time.

With these restrictions, we had to be flexible in some ways. With limited time and conversations that tended to go off on a tangent, I focused our sessions on interviews (rather than building skills with other camera exercises). We decided to provide the core questions for the group (rather than spend time devising questions together). And I kept the editing session as simple as possible (going through a rough cut with the group, noting down requested changes, and then finalising it myself).

My task was also helped by:

A hugely supportive host organisation / local partner. Tina, at St. Cuthbert’s, was available at all the sessions — but happy to leave us to it when we realised participants’ responses might be influenced by her presence. Because she knew them all, she could let me know of any issues or things to be aware of. She also helped by speaking to participants between sessions, preparing them for upcoming sessions and reminding them of dates.

A client who valued the process as a feedback exercise. One of the tensions in these projects is always between a client who wants to spread the word with a great PR video, and clients who may want to be critical, or who don't want their video to go public at all. Food For Soul (the organisation behind the refettorios) do want to use the video publicly (and as it happens, the group agreed to share it online). But Food For Soul also encouraged the group to share negative feedback too. They were also clear with me as the facilitator that the whole process should be led by the group — in other words, as participatory as possible.

Participants who genuinely wanted to share their views. Despite it being such a mixed group, people at St. Cuthbert’s are always rubbing shoulders with unlikely companions, so all participants came ready to listen to each other. And they had plenty to say. In fact, my challenge was more about getting them to stop talking — a good problem to have!

Ultimately, we had 11 different people sharing their views, personal stories, concerns and suggestions in the film. More thoughts and ideas bubbled up in the discussion after the screening, and both Food For Soul and St. Cuthbert’s have promised to take those on board. It’ll be great to see how things evolve next.

Watch the final video here:

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How to make an impact - design thinking meets participatory video

by Manon Koningstein & Chris Lunch / - Watch the project video here

‘In this workshop, we were not only facilitators but also participants, and at the same time the community were not only participants, but also facilitators’ (Juan Jurado, Centre for Social Innovation in Nariño - CISNA)

In March of this year, InsightShare (UK) deepened its collaboration with the d.school Paris (France) developing new ways to solve some of the world's stickier social issues. A series of trainings and workshops based on a unique combination of design thinking and participatory video were carried out in Nariño province in Colombia aimed at strengthening and supporting a local “culture of social innovation”.  

(Image: The Centre for Social Innovation in Nariño team (CISNA) learn the “disappearing game”)

‘I think this is a great methodology, especially in the field of social innovation, because it helps us to really get to our specific target groups and go even further than we have in the past’ (Camilla, CISNA)

Last year the province of Nariño hit the headlines when it elected one of Colombia’s youngest ever Governors, Camilo Romero. He has put open government, a collaborative/sharing economy and social innovation at the heart of his policy strategy and established the Centre for Social Innovation in Nariño (CISNA).

‘The idea behind CISNA is to motivate our own citizens so that they themselves can create a social innovation project, that they don´t have to wait for the authorities to take action; the action comes from within’ (Melissa Restrepo, CISNA)

CISNA invited InsightShare and the d.school Paris to carry out this training following the success of their work combining these methods in marginalized estates in the suburbs outside Paris (Val Fourré). That project, carried out in partnership with a leading engineering university (EIVP), ensured that local citizens became the urban planners of their own environment. They worked through some of the key issues they face and developed innovative ideas and designs that are now being considered and integrated into decision making by the local council and social housing coops who commissioned the work.

(Image: Residents in Val Fourré, France show their film to other residents followed by an open discussion)

‘By giving citizens the cameras and enabling them to represent themselves and their environment in their own way and their own words, we managed to carry out deep and meaningful participatory design thinking work. This was all the more remarkable given that this is an area that is known for its distrust of outsiders’ (Anaëlle Liberman, CEO Cogicité & Professor at EIVP)

Design thinking

Design thinking is a creative approach to problem solving, it begins with the people one is designing for and ends with new solutions that are tailor-made to suit their needs. It consists of three phases starting with building a deep understanding and empathy with those that will ultimately be the users of any new social project, service or product that is developed. Participatory video can help to engage the target groups from the start and hand over control, enabling them to turn the camera on themselves to identify constraints, opportunities and needs. The next phase is to generate tons of ideas, again Participatory video helps bring in diverse voices, identify locally workable solutions and reach out to groups that won’t usually come to workshops.

‘When innovating for and with people we need to develop more than just good ideas. We have to create a strong movement towards the desired impact. Design thinking enables fast testing of different exploration paths. When the tests are done with the community and the solutions become contextual and co-created the innovation is set in motion towards impact’ (Andres Felipe Bedoya Martinez, Innovation project manager, d.school Paris at école des ponts)

The Design thinking approach ensures that these participatory exercises go beyond simply generating ideas to actually developing and testing them, both in their community and with other key stakeholders. This is what is known as prototyping and is critical in breaking cycles of passive dependency or hopelessness and in creating a movement towards local action and positive change. Sometimes these prototypes are in the form of a role play or short participatory video which might convey the new experience, service or product to other community participants or 'users', so they can start to imagine how this might improve their lives or address some of the day to day challenges they are facing. The video element enables these solutions to be shared widely both within the local community and with wider stakeholders and decision makers. All the time the 'users' (who are now co-designers) are collecting feedback, refining and testing their ideas until they are ready to be implemented.

Participatory Video

‘Participatory Video is a tool that bridges worlds, unlocks doors, and involves the beneficiaries in each phase of a project. This is not [just] a video camera. This is a people magnet, pulling people together to join in, to get involved, to plan together, to unite, to take action locally and to make the changes that they want to see’ (Chris Lunch, Founder and Director, InsightShare from the TEDx talk ‘This is not a video camera’)

(Image: Each one teach one - Participatory video is controlled by the participants)

Participatory Video (PV) provides an accessible way to bring people together to explore shared issues and voice concerns. It can be a powerful platform to engage and mobilise traditionally underrepresented and underserved groups. The methodology is designed to simultaneously empower participants to engage in learning activities and voice their stories and opinions, whilst they gain confidence in their abilities to acquire new skills, improve existing knowledge and practices, and think creatively towards innovative problem-solving.

‘What makes this such an effective tool for social change is its accessibility to all participants, irrespective of literacy, background, gender or age. A powerful shift occurs when you give marginalised groups a space to share their knowledge and experiences. When we use participation as a pathway towards more respectful and insightful research we have the opportunity to conduct research with people, rather than about people’ (Manon Koningstein, InsightShare associate & Founder and Director, Sivin Communications)

Urban workshops

InsightShare and the d.school team coached CISNA staff in the use and facilitation of a Design Thinking process. Next up was a group of about 30 participants, all working on different social innovation projects in the capital of Nariño; the city of Pasto. The challenge was ‘How can CISNA support a thriving environment of social innovation in Nariño?’ Those that attended were all young leaders involved in social projects such as an urban cycling project, art projects, urban dance projects and projects addressing teenage pregnancy.

‘We come from different corners and backgrounds and through learning how to listen and dialogue with all these different people today, we are learning methods which will help us do this more effectively with other user groups too’ (Andrés Bastidas - artist name: ISMO).

Together with InsightShare and the d.school Paris, the CISNA team facilitated an actual design thinking workshop. The energy was great and the outcomes even more inspiring. The combination of brainstorming, analysing and team building exercises was very much appreciated by the participants.

‘Through the methodology I found my ideas flowing and gained a greater appreciation  for the support and collaboration of my teammates. It taught me to trust the ideas of others, even when they sound crazy in the moment, and not try to solve everything by myself.’ (Carolina Lugo, urban workshop participant).

(Image: Participatory exercise exploring different stakeholder groups)

Often working well into the evenings, the participants felt that this hands-on methodology could bring them greater clarity in their work. By following this process together, new ideas were emerging. An interesting challenge was the reverse brainstorming, which aims to find the worst possible response to an emerging issue that has been identified, and then reverts these back into positive actions and responses.

‘I liked the exercise that was called ‘reverse brainstorming’, because it literally forced me out of my linear thinking process, and challenged the things that I have always been thinking and believing´ (Jose Dueñas, urban workshop participant, Nariño.)

At the end of the second day, some great products and services had been designed and were ready to be tested and implemented in real life. Examples include a step-by-step manual (called “Manuel”!) on how to identify opportunities for funding your social innovation project; a detailed structure for an online platform where users can find other local projects, regular meet-ups to discuss shared challenges and promote each other's work and a social innovation contest where the grantees would receive an incubation period with the government in order to close the gap between the citizens doing projects and the government.

Rural workshop

The next phase of the workshop was with Indigenous leaders and teachers from various communities that were all part of the Los Pastos indigenous group in Nariño. The aim was twofold; to develop a participatory video needs assessment process which CISNA could replicate across the whole territory and to build links with the local indigenous communities and explore how CISNA could support these harder to reach groups develop their own social innovation initiatives.

The Pasto indigenous community is made up of 30 groups that are spread across the Southern parts of Colombia and the Northern parts of Ecuador. These populations are engaged in a long struggle to reclaim their ancestral lands and to prevent the loss of their indigenous culture, values and language.

(Image: Filming a scene for their participatory video)

Three groups worked until midnight experiencing the engaging and fun participatory video games which introduce the group to the camera, enable them to try out interview techniques and focus on developing trust and understanding between the participants and the facilitators.

‘I like the use of participatory video, it gives us the chance to move our words, to move our thoughts and find a way to communicate a certain message, through the use of images. Especially for us indigenous communities, since we are oral communities, it is very important to combine our words with images’ (Lucia Moreno, Indigenous teacher & rural workshop participant).

The next day participatory activities helped the group identify specific problems in the region that affect their communities. Topics that came up included their pride in their indigenous culture and specifically their struggle to include indigenous beliefs and values in the centralised educational curriculum (so-called ethno-education). For them this was a key part of a larger focus to retain their native language, culture and customs. Topics also included the struggle these groups have been through over the years, especially in the light of the Colombian conflict. As they started to group all the issues and topics they had a sudden realisation. They noticed that whilst many of them had identified their big struggles to secure their land, education and culture, hardly any of them had mentioned the important issues that were closer to home, such as alcoholism and family breakdown. They recognised that without a strong community they would not achieve their wider goals. They decided that one group should focus their video on these 'closer to home' issues. A second group focussed on the issues related to land and the third group focussed on the ongoing struggle for indigenous education.

(Image: Participatory activity to identify the key issues to explore)

Their video messages are primarily aimed at key decision makers in the government, however the participants were sure that their videos would also be great tools to promote positive change within their communities. Participatory Video had helped the groups identify problems and solutions in new ways, creating safe spaces for discussion. At the end of this first project cycle Paola Coral, Head of the Centre for social Innovation in Nariño stated that;

'InsightShare and the d.school in Paris have brought us great knowledge, particularly in the human field. We have been able to enrich ourselves, as professionals and as an organisation. We have learnt how to conduct a planning process and reach a results that is totally coherent with the ideas of this new government and with the needs of the community'

Using participatory video helped CISNA show a very human face, one that was ready to listen and make a meaningful connection with the indigenous population who, after so many years of struggle, are understandably very wary of working with outsiders and with the government. Having witnessed the participatory video workshop and after speaking with the participants, Ernesto Ramiro Estacio, a Pastos indigenous leader and currently environment secretary for the government of Narino, declared; “you have earned our trust and now you are part of our community, we are ready to work together”. He has seen the potential of this work to create change and real impact in his community and has pledged to provide additional financial support to that promised by CISNA for ongoing work with this group.

The results from both these workshops will be used as a starting point for the “Citizen Lab” that will take place in Pasto in October this year, funded by the United Nation with the Narino Government and led by SEGIP (Secretaria General Iberoamericana - Madrid). Youth leaders and participants from the indigenous teachers group will be able to share the insights they collected with participatory video with other workshop participants who will help them build on the solutions and actions they identified and maybe even develop new prototypes. Andres Felipe Bedoya Martinez will be assisting that workshop, continuing this ‘human centred’ trajectory that provides insightful, relevant and community-led impact.

WATCH IN FULL SCREEN & TURN ON ENGLISH SUBTITLES (bottom right) to get a real taste of the project. 

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For more information contact [email protected]

References & Suggested Reading

Azadegan, Shadi (2016) “We are not alone”: Nicaragua’s rural youth tell their story. Read it online here

Beckman, S. L., & Barry, M. (2007). Innovation as a Learning Process: Embedding Design

Brown, Tim (2008). Design Thinking. Harvard Business Review, june 2008.

Brown, T. & Wyatt, J. (2010). Design Thinking for Social Innovation. Stanford Social Innovation Review Stanford, CA: USA

Hillen, V. (2014). Place. In Hillen, V. 101 Landmarks I’ve discovered to innovate thanks to design thinking. Retrieved from www.veroniquehillen.com

Lunch, Chris & Nick (2006) “Insights into participatory video”, Oxford. Download the handbook for free here

Lunch, N (2016) "Indigenous Peoples behind the Camera": Read it online here 

Roth, B. (2015) The Achievement Habit. Harper Collins

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Feeding the Future - PV Training for Researchers in Agroecology and Resilience at Coventry University

A blog written by Zoe Young, InsightShare Associate

(Victoria Bridges, InsightShare Associate and CAWR participants)

It was 7.30 AM on a rainy morning in November 2015 when we set out from our Coventry BnB to begin a new participatory video adventure.

Our trainees were a group of cutting edge international researchers, exploring sustainable agricultural systems in Coventry and around the world. Many were as new to each other as they were to us, yet within a few hours they were out in sunny Ryton Organic Gardens, laughing uproariously and shooting an improvised play about aliens. Discussion soon deepened through practice to the ethics and agendas of participatory video research: our ambitious year-long CAWR training was underway!

(left: filming for the ‘agendas shaping pv, top right: participants heading out to film for the first time in the Ryton Gardens, bottom right: Colin Anderson and Julia Wright filming)

In 2014 Professor Michel Pimbert established the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) at Coventry University to drive transdisciplinary research on resilience, food and water systems. Michel had known InsightShare’s Nick Lunch for many years, and was a pioneer of the food sovereignty movement through his research at IIED.

Our hungry and fast changing world is in dire need of such innovative and indigenous ways to keep ourselves fed, so in late 2015 CAWR joined with InsightShare in a bespoke one year training and support programme for PV in Agroecological research. The project is supporting trainees to integrate PV within CAWR research and advocacy, and to amplify local voices, knowledge and skills in the vital field of farming future food.

Establishing inclusive governance of food systems — where farmers and other citizens play a central role in designing and implementing food and agricultural policies — is not just a matter of equity or social justice. Evidence shows that it can also lead to more sustainable livelihoods and environments.

And yet, across the world, food system governance is marked by exclusionary processes that favour the values and interests of more powerful corporations, investors, big farmers and large research institutes.

How can we tip the balance and amplify the voice and influence of marginalised citizens in setting the food and agricultural policies that affect them?

Participatory video (PV) enables cross-cultural exchange by engaging local people in a process of reflection, analysis and learning – in this case, exploring how communities can and do feed themselves in a broad range of contexts without destroying soil or harming the wider prospects for life on earth. Effective research carried out using PV as part of participatory action research has real relevance and meaning for grassroots partners, and research findings shared through community screenings can catalyse locally-led action and/or advocacy.

Facilitators Soledad Muniz and Zoe Young, presented excerpts from videos made in Tanzania with local farmers and trainees from the University of East Anglia, piloting participatory video as a research tool to capture dimensions of environmental justice. Senior researchers Nicole Gross-Camp and Iokiñe Rodriguez found that although the end result of a participatory video is a film, the iterative and reflective process itself is arguably as important in providing opportunities for data collection and supporting locally-led action.

Once the group of 15-20 CAWR researchers taught themselves to use video cameras and record sound, through a process of PV games, experimentation and a series of great mistakes (from which the best lessons are learned), they planned, storyboarded and shot short films exploring some of the risks, opportunities and issues arising in uses of PV in their field of research.

(top left: Fergus Walker interviewing Carla Kay, bottom left: heading out to film with a storyboard, right: Mapping issues using the problem tree)

In February 2016 we returned to CAWR to facilitate the participatory editing and planning phase, wherein the researchers took their footage from the previous session’s shoot and edited it into short films.

Other interesting questions concerned the contents of the films: What might happen if a facilitator arrived to work with a community kitchen and in their enthusiasm for applying new learnt PV techniques, failed to recognise that the soup kitchen’s remit was racist and understand the wider political context of who participates? What if a researcher working with a pre existing agenda imposed participatory tools and techniques on an unwilling community? What if a PV film was made and then screened to the wrong people, bringing new problems on a vulnerable community? Fascinating debates arouse which allowed the group to reflect in depth about the PV method.

These questions being opened up, filtered into the process of planning how specific research projects might use PV, from indivdual PhD students’ research work in Greece, Spain and London, including a cross cultural exploration of how urban food production is contributing to the social and spatial reorganisation of cities. Other potential projects may emerge in Ecuador and Indonesia, and a collective investigation is underway into how to work with local food networks in CAWR’s home town of Coventry.

The plan now is to further develop general thinking about using PV in CAWR’s work and specific refinements to these projects through reading groups, liaison online and in person, and then putting plans into practice on the ground. By the end of 2016 CAWR will be ready to document and share some of the outputs and learning at a final event.

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From Messenger of war to Peace Messenger

A story from a recent PVMSC Evaluation. Written by Chris Lunch, InsightShare co-director & Anicet OBOUE local trainee Cote D'Ivoire, General secretary of réseau Action Justice et Paix (RAJP)

(Above: Stephan is taking part in the first exercise of sharing his story in Abidjan)

At a busy intersection in the city of Douékué, a crowd of more than 2500 people has gathered, the atmosphere is electric, people are talking on a microphone, a makeshift screen and projector have been set up and there is dancing and theatre in the street. This vibrant scene is a far cry from the terror witnessed in these same streets in 2011 when 800 Douékué citizens were massacred as part of the post election violence that swept across Cote D’Ivoire. Today the message is peace and the messengers are youth.

One youth, in particular, stands outs: 20-year old Stephane Taha. Like many of his peers, Stephane had once served in a gang and in a militia group as a child soldier, even contributing to the country’s post-election crisis of 2011. But, unlike his peers, Stephane has managed to transform his violent past into something positive. In fact, it was through his school’s Peace messenger club, set up by search for Common Ground and @unicef’s Learning for Peace initiative, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, that Stephane first learned how to love. “That club changed something in me. I was no longer the violent kid of yesterday, I was now a peace envoy, a promoter of peace.”

Last year, Stephane found the words to tell his story during InsightShare’s participatory video evaluation, an approach that enables beneficiaries and stakeholders to create their own films to convey their respective stories (watch it above). Several stories were collected, from which 5 were selected by the communities involved, as having demonstrated the most significant changes (MSC). Stephane’s story was among those featured. UNICEF C4D has seen much success from and enthusiasm for this process in Cote D’Ivoire and Uganda, so much so that it has recently collaborated with InsightShare to develop an open source Participatory Video & the Most Significant Change (PVMSC) toolkit to guide those interested in using this technique to evaluate their social change projects.

As one student observed of Stephane’s experience; “it was as if (Stephane) was at a crossroads and this evaluation project became the catalyst for him to launch the next phase of his journey. In his story he talked about his violent past, his transformation and also about his future intention to set up a youth led peace movement and retrace his footsteps, so that he could visit all those places where he had fought as a child soldier or gang leader, this time to speak about peace with other local youths”. His video was first watched by a small group of peers and then, with Stephane’s consent, it was shown to other students, parents, UNICEF and Search for Common Ground staff and even representatives from the Ministry of Education.

With each showing Stephane’s confidence and resolve grew and he and his friends have now put his words into action, setting up a youth-led organisation called “Entr’nous” and screening the participatory video stories of change they filmed during that evaluation workshop last year to youth across the country.

During these screening events, audience members have also shared their stories, as well as discussed what they think should happen next and how to get started. In using this format, Stephane and his team have enabled people to tell their stories and to learn to forgive, all while building on the skills they gained from the Peace messenger programme. Especially inspiring is how an initial 3-week participatory video and most significant change evaluation (PVMSC) has evolved into an ongoing platform for a message of peace and forgiveness for thousands of youth across Cote D’Ivoire!

Last month Stephane took part in a second PVMSC evaluation with InsightShare, this time as part of the local facilitator team. Together they collected more than 150 stories from their peers all taking part in Unicef and SFCG programmes in Daloa and after 2 days of analysis they made a video report with their recommendations for peacebuilding youth programming (watch it below).

With last November’s peaceful elections, Cote D’Ivoire is ready for a new chapter of peacebuilding initiatives in schools and among the youth, and for its new youth messengers of peace. At that busy intersection in the city of Douékué, onlookers see more than a vibrant scene; they see an optimistic future of peace.

(Above: Stephane prepares the next scene for their participatory video drama)

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Farmers film their homegrown solutions

By Katherine Snyder and Juliet Braslow 

In an unused school classroom in the dry, dusty village of Sekoti, Ghana, 11 community members gathered to learn how to make a video. Many of them had never even used a camera before, much less operated a microphone. Participatory video is an empowering and creative process that allows those who understand their local issues best to have a voice. It is a great tool for knowledge sharing and inclusive agricultural research for development at a community level.

The International Center on Tropical Agriculture and its partners, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, University for Development Studies and The Association of Church-based Development NGOs have been carrying out a funded project by the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems on farmer-led ecosystem management for improved livelihoods. The project team decided that participatory video would be a good way to capture the views and voices of local community members about their landscapes. Over the course of a week, the group of 6 men and 5 women learned to film a video, from the very basics of assembling the equipment and shooting scenes, to conducting interviews and finally, editing.

Deciding on the title “We Can”, the video team from the two communities of Damolgo and Sekoti produced a short video on the practices they feel are critical for maintaining their environment, improving their soils, and supporting their livelihoods. Watch the video filmed and directed by this group of farmers:

Farmers to film makers

You might ask how the community members, who had never touched a video camera before, decided on the story, locations, and did all the filming themselves in such a short amount of time. The process involves fun games and activities to learn how to use the camera and group reflection to help everyone feel comfortable in front of and behind the lens. 

(Learning the camera- the best way to learn is through doing- everyone gets a chance to use the camera)  

(Interview practice- The group practices asking and answering questions on film)

Activities to help the group identify the main issue(s) they would like to represent on film are interspersed with the video learning games and culminate in a final film plan.  

(Sample Pathway- This is the audience pathway the group developed to help them design the story their film will tell)

(Sample Film Plan- this is the final script and plan for the film that explains the content, location, director, speaker and main message for each portion of the film)

The participants direct and film the footage and direct the editing of the final film. Along the way the entire group, including facilitators learn more than they could imagine in 6 days.

(Group editing- The group works together to edit the final film so that it reflects exactly the message they want to share)

Managing their environments 

The video, filmed in the local Frafra (Nabit) language, features farmers describing the importance of trees, stone bunds, contour planting and vetiver grass strips, mulching and manuring and the negative effects of bush burning. Trees in these communities, and indeed throughout the northern regions of Ghana, are critical for local livelihoods. They provide fodder, medicine, firewood, fruit, and nuts. Shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) and dawadawa (Parkia biglobosa) trees in particular are essential products for women’s livelihoods, used both for home consumption in food preparation and in soap and other cosmetic products. Shea is sold locally and enters a global value chain. Trees are under considerable pressure for use (firewood and charcoal), but also are being cut down as agriculture expands. Bush burning also damages or kills these important resources.

Trees are easy enough to show on film, but how do you use video to show soil improvement and management? These farmers’ creative solution featured demonstrations of stone bund construction, manure collection, compost application, and more. The farmers emphasize that these efforts are labor intensive, but important for crop yields. Farmers with few or no livestock walk through rangeland areas to collect cow dung in buckets and transport it back to their homesteads where they mix it with compost or crop residues to later apply to their farms. The video crew also visited one farmer and interviewed him about his vetiver grass strips planted on the contour to address soil erosion.

The video team discussed the issues affecting their farms, landscapes and communities at length and ultimately, their film showed how farmers themselves could manage their environment and improve their lives. Indeed, they saw these practices as essential ways to improve their crop yields and thus reduce poverty in the area. One woman added: “NGOs and others come into your community to tell us how they can help with poverty but we can also do this on our own through these efforts”.

(Female film crew- Everyone has a chance to play every role: director, sound check and interviewer)

Adapted from a blog that initially appeared on the Water Land and Ecosystems Thrive blog and the CIAT blog

Photos by Juliet Braslow

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Facilitating a participatory photography & video project

A blog written by Ingrid Guyon, Fotosynthesis. 

In 2009, I created an organisation called Fotosynthesis, which uses participatory photography (PP) and research to support social cohesion and give a voice to individuals and communities in the United Kingdom and abroad. One year later I was lucky enough to join InsightShare’s Participatory Video (PV) training and have since been trying to find a project which would allow us work together. I have always been inspired by Insightshare’s methodology ever since meeting Soledad Muniz (Head of PV M&E, InsightShare), in 2009 when we shared an office space together in Lambeth. We immediately became friends and admirers of each other’s work.

In late 2015 we finally made it happen! I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Soledad, piloting a joint pv and pp project with the Latin American community in Elephant and Castle, South London.  We approached Latin Elephant, a charity that promotes the inclusion of Latin Americans in urban regeneration in Elephant and Castle. We proposed the use of pv and pp to give a voice to the Latin American community about their stories, hope, fears and dreams of the area. As Soledad is from Argentina and I have been involved with the Latin American community for many years in London we were really motivated to work with this group of people.

Challenges of using participatory photography with participatory video

We delivered 8 weeks of participatory video and photography in Spanish and conducted an initial consultation around urban regeneration and community engagement. The participants were introduced to both mediums for the first sessions and could then organically choose if they preferred video or photography. This worked very well and created a balanced group and helped us to make sure no one felt isolated or unengaged.

I have to say that it has never been that easy to plan or agree on the content of workshops, there are always so many exercises and learning points to try and fit in. However, in this case there are similarities to both participatory video and participatory photography processes. Each method uses practical exercise of framing, composing, using the light, points of view, storyboards, audience and community mapping, ground rules, group dynamics; authorships and ethics are the same and can be applied to both medium. Both InsightShare and Fotosynthesis also use mistakes made by the participants as a way to learn in a positive and constructive manner.

One main difference between PP and PV is that it is much more relaxing and funny to watch back the footage of the practical exercises than looking at the pictures! Video records all the unexpected moments and funny mistakes of the groups working together making everybody laugh while photography only records the technical mistakes to allow for discussion.

Despite the fact that we merged the methods throughout and planned one cohesive narrative, not all participants were able to identify clearly the aspects of the storyboard in which to use PP vs. PV.  Participants had a better understanding of how to select video clips and interviews for the final video but when they came to select the photos for the photo-stories they found it more difficult. Even though the process is the same (you select the best photos from all those taken throughout the process, create captions and text to go alongside certain key stories), we needed more time to explain what a photo story was and how to select the pictures for it. To overcome this we had to do active facilitation to help them navigate this, we spent a few more sessions on both video and photography to explore how to select shots.

Another difference of method is that Insightshare used one video camera for the whole group and did not leave the video camera to the participants to record in between or after the workshops, except on the week they recorded the final footage.  In this project we gave one camera to each participant to take home and asked them to choose what they wanted to photograph using the storyboard to guide them.

This was the first project where Fotosynthesis worked on creating common stories as a group rather than focusing on individual stories. Filmmaking is in itself a discipline that requires working as a team because you have to coordinate the sound and the camera, while photography is a much more individualistic practice allowing more independence. Either way of working brings the group to reflect and discuss common issues together.

What do you gain from combining the methods?

“I think that photography is more accessible and that it allows working more independently. Nevertheless, I think that it also brings some limitations. For example, it is more difficult to tell stories with photographs to a general public. You need to add the story, captions, etc. With video, you can explain more with more details.” (comment from one of the participants)

There are things to take into considerations when choosing which medium to use. For example, the paper edit and editing of the video requires much less logistics and workload than a group photography exhibition. No need to think about how the pictures will be hung on the wall, which size, how many pictures per person, how to archive them in a logical way, which images can fit with which story, who will help hanging all the photographs. To help the group navigate those aspects (deciding on video content and photo exhibition) we added 2 extra sessions before the big day.

We could have just done a projection of the images as a slideshow with music and captions but there is a value in printing the photographs and hanging them on a wall. It gives a sense of pride to the photographer and brings the images to life as a photograph is expected to be printed and a video to be screened.

Overall, I think that this project was a success and that both participatory photography and participatory video mediums and methodologies have the potential to be used together in a same group or project. All the pictures, interviews, captions and footage came together at the end of the process with a coherent narrative. Some images were used to fill gaps in the video while some interviews were used to accompany images. Pulling the two methods together created a coherent message and complemented each other perfectly.

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PVMSC toolkit - a glimpse of the launch

A reflective blog written by Claire Hill-Dixon, InsightShare

(Soledad Muniz, Head of PV M&E programme, InsightShare. Kerida McDonald, Senior Advisor, Communication for Development, UNICEF HQ. Jackie Davies, Director, C4D Network)

What happens when we put participants at the centre of the evaluation?

On Wednesday the 17th of February 2016, over 60 people came together at the Institute Of Education in London to learn about an exciting communication for development (C4D) tool for monitoring and evaluation: Participatory Video and the Most Significant Change Technique (PVMSC). The team from InsightShare were joined by Kerida McDonald (Senior Advisor , Communication for Development, UNICEF HQ) and Jackie Davies (Director, C4D Network), to explore how PVMSC can contribute to grassroots change. In this blog post, you will get a glimpse of the event.

Understanding the bigger picture

With the dawn of the Sustainable Development Goals, agencies such as UNICEF are drawing on lessons learnt from the Millennium Development Goals. One lesson pointed out by Kerida was that a broad-based approach to participation is integral to creating lasting change. What Kerida illustrated was that using C4D in innovative ways enables evaluations that address engagement and transformation but also measures and documents change. In the case of PVMSC, video provides new channels of dialogue, which can reach and engage people at every level of society. However, a question raised also drew attention to one of the struggles facing development agencies in the use of PVMSC - Can the UN deal with emerging change? In response, Kerida said this:

‘We need to think holistically about resource mobilisation. We should never divorce platforms from the results. It is about a new way of thinking. We need to get partners and we need to influence donors that will understand a less planned approach. Let’s advocate for this change and this approach. It’s not just about reaching the goals, it is about how you get there.’

Why use PVMSC?

Chris Lunch presented details of a case study in Cote D’ivoire. You can see above the film that shows the results of a three-week process. The evaluation focused on the work of UNICEF with Search for Common Ground to support ‘Peace Clubs’ established by the Ministry of Education and empower students, citizens of tomorrow to become ‘champions’ of peace through trainings in conflict transformation and mediation, participatory theatre, radio programmes and music.The stories documented changes the students chose to make as a result of their involvement with the clubs, some of whom have left behind a history as child soldiers and entrenched gang warfare.

Chris highlighted that PVMSC can create an invaluable space for organisations to learn through a cycle of reflection and reshaping of programmes in line with participants’ values. As well as highlighting what impacts have been made, the case study demonstrated that the PVMSC process brings to life the how and the why, resulting in in-depth qualitative information.

(Soledad Muniz and evaluation participant looking at the How, What and Why in Guatemala)

Visualising change

The InsightShare PVMSC toolkit has seen a systematic incorporation of learning over the last 8 years through 18 PVMSC processes that recognised a need for a grassroots tool in the hands of local people. Now we couldn’t be happier to have officially launched this PVMSC guide, our small contribution as an organisation to the 2015 International Year of Evaluation. Let's turn participation into a 360 degrees tool and push participants to the centre of evidence-based programming. As Kerida said, the PVMSC toolkit is a ‘resource for all of the community’ which provides us with a method to put ‘the last first’.

There is still a lot of work to be done until we see PVMSC and its principles being used across the sector and beyond,  but it was truly motivating to see a room full of people engaged with grassroots participatory change. We can’t wait to see what happens next.

Resources

Click here to listen to the full audio recording of the event

Click here to download the toolkit for free

Click here to download Soledad’s presentation

Click here to download Chris Lunch’s presentation

Sign-up to the InsightShare newsletter

(Kerida McDonald presenting at PVMSC launch)

(Chris Lunch presenting at PVMSC launch)

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Amplifying Women’s Voices – A Power Shift Reflection

A refelctive blog post by Marlene Bovenmars, Operations Manager at InsightShare. 

Since I attended the Power Shift conference I have been reflecting on the thought provoking sessions and the many conversations I had with other attendees, to answer the question that we were presented with: what can and will you do to contribute to women’s empowerment over the next few years?

From research and design to evaluation, dissemination and advocacy – as a global Power Shift community we currently have many urgent needs. In this blog I outline how the participatory video methodology pioneered by InsightShare can contribute to addressing some of these by enabling people to see and hear one another in new ways.

By helping groups shape and create their own video messages we are able to cut through social, operational or hierarchical barriers and bring different stakeholders together to unlock innovative and appropriate solutions to critical issues. To understand more about this empowering process watch our TEDx talk. To put this into practice we need partners, so we urge you to see if any of the below resonates with your mission.

NEED 1: Better understand the needs and wishes of women and enable them to take action themselves

First of all, we need to better understand what positive and sustainable women’s empowerment means to different groups of women around the world. By starting our initiatives in collaboration with the women that we aim to support, we can develop a good understanding of their needs, wishes and priorities and how these are influenced by social, cultural, economic and political forces as well as their physical environment. Our participatory video processes enable groups to explore their needs, challenges and express their strengths and visions for positive change in an accessible way to academics, policy makers and NGO staff. In addition, we always support them to identify what they can do themselves to work towards positive changes and encourage them to use their video to mobilise other group or community members to take action.

This video was made by a group of Maasai women to get an insight into their vision of gender equality and hear how they are urging their community members, in particular the men, to change their practices in relation to marriage, education and health. A project delivered in partnership with UNA Finland.

NEED 2: Amplify women’s voices so they reach policy makers and inspire organisation change

We call out to research institutes and organisations that would like to give women a clear voice and a leading role in their studies or projects.

All around the world, government policies encourage practices that limit or even harm women. At the same time, targeted policy changes and budget allocations can also lead to great advances in women’s well-being. Participatory videos can bring the voices of women to places they may not be able to access, like the offices of government officials.

Participatory video can also be used to empower cross-functional teams and staff in your companies and organisations. Breaking through gender based stereotypes and making sure all voices are heard equally, promoting culture change and unlocking innovation by cutting through organisational barriers caused by hierarchies or teams working in silos.

This film was shown on national television ahead of a parliamentary health debate and inspired the Tanzanian government to double their budget for midwife training. It was shot by 4 midwives and a doctor, and produced in partnership with the White Ribbon Alliance.

NEED 3: Involve women in the design processes of services and products

We call out to organisations that are interested in working with us to bring women’s issues and demands to the eyes and ears of policy and decision makers around the world. We also call out to companies and charities to consider using participatory video as a means of enabling different teams to share their needs and ideas in a participatory and fun format.

How can new or adapted services and products truly increase women’s well-being? Design thinking realises that an effective design process starts by gathering clear insights from the current or future users. Participatory video can strengthen the voices of women users and enable them to be the drivers of innovation –  enabling design teams to respond more effectively to their needs and wishes. InsightShare have partnered with the Paris Est d.school to bring participatory video and design thinking processes together and empower users to co-design game changing products and services.

NEED 4: Disseminate knowledge, skills and innovations in cost-effective ways

We call out to enterprises whose main drive originates from a wish to increase the well-being of women. We would like to work with you to develop tailor-made processes that combine design thinking and participatory video tools to inform the design of responsible and relevant products or services.

Once we know what knowledge, skills and innovations contribute to women’s empowerment and well-being, our key challenge is to identify effective strategies for education and inspiring behavioural change. Video can be an effective tool for disseminating knowledge and skills and motivating people to try new products, techniques or services. Participatory video can enable women to make recommendations from peer-to-peer. This is important as research shows that people are most likely to take advice from people they know and trust or who are like themselves.

Watch this video created for peer-to-peer sharing, focusing on the improved cooking stove that was made by local farmers and staff members from the Himalayan Permaculture Center in Nepal. The video not only shows exactly how to build and maintain the improved stove, it also presents all the benefits (that greatly contribute to women’s well-being) in a memorable way and addresses common misconceptions and worries.

NEED 5: Learn not just IF but also HOW initiatives have positive impacts on women’s well-being

We call out to organisations that wish to strengthen peer-to-peer sharing of knowledge, skills, services or technologies that contribute to women’s well-being. We can involve your audience in the production of a one-off video or train the right people to continue to produce videos by themselves.

To find out what initiatives truly contribute to increases in well-being through female empowerment, we need rigorous impact assessment processes, like the one presented byMayra Buvinic and Markus Goldstein during the conference. These can provide us with the necessary quantitative insights but in order to go beyond knowing if and to what degree a project contributed to positive impacts, we need to develop a clear understanding of HOW the project fuelled the change. Our rigorous participatory video impact assessment approach enables project beneficiaries to share their stories of change and analyse the enabling factors as well as the main challenges that played a role in the changes that they experienced. This type of qualitative data helps to identify the changes, enablers and blockers specific to a certain group, time or context. We need these insights to make sure we are making the best use of funding and to guide us as we scale up initiatives or replicate them in new locations.Click here to download our brand new free toolkit all about how we use participatory video to measure and share project impacts.

In 2011 Nike Foundation asked us to capture the key learning coming out of BRAC’s Empowerment and Livelihoods Adolescent program in Uganda. We trained 12 girls who had taken part in the programme to facilitate story circles and use participatory video to document the experiences of 300 other beneficiaries. Watch some of the powerful stories of change that they collectively identified to be the most significant. Or have a look at the report to get an impression of the valuable learning that came out of their participatory analysis.

NEED 6: Make people care about women’s struggles and inspire them to change

We call out to organisations and funders who wish to learn from the projects they are implementing and who would like to share those impacts internally and externally across their sector. Why not empower your beneficiaries to document their stories of change, analyse and present their experiences and make their recommendations in their own words.

As Alison Kiehl Friedman’s presentation made very clear: in order to motivate anyone to take action against injustice, they first need to be aware of the negative effects of the status quo. They need to understand the situation and – as behavioural change research shows us – they need to care. Although many choose to turn a blind eye, sometimes just one story can be enough to make people feel the injustice – and never forget it again. We therefore need to work together to give injustice a face and a voice.

In this documentary, you meet Clare whose touching story will give you an idea of what it is like to be female and homeless in the UK. This video was made by 7 people, none of whom had ever made a film before and 3 of whom have been homeless in the past. The project was funded by Aspire and Oxford Homeless Pathways.

We call out to organisations that work to highlight women’s struggles and human rights violations. For example, imagine how real stories documented by the people directly affected could contribute to the work of organisations such as the

Global Fund to End Slavery in the battle against human trafficking.

Like Laurie Adams, who passionately talked about human rights abuses in many places around the world (during the ‘Legal Rights and Economic Power’ session), I often feel like crying when I think about the painful struggles of women around the world, particularly when I learn that things are getting worse instead of better. I am however hopeful that by working across sectors and by giving ordinary women a face and a voice in all key processes – from initial user-led research and co-design to impact assessment and peer-to-peer sharing – we can find ways to move in the right direction and speed up the global power shift.

If you’d like to learn more about the power of participatory video, visit the InsightShare Facebook page or click to download their free handbook: Insights into Participatory Video.

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Science for Development: for all and from all

By Manon Koningstein, Research Associate & Communications Specialist working with the DAPA/CCAFS Gender & Climate Change team.

Established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 2001, the World Science Day for Peace and Development (WSDPD) is celebrated on 10 November each year. However, peace and development cannot be addressed unless we use tools that include the voices of all who are involved.

Successful agricultural research for development (AR4D) should go beyond the generation of quantitative research findings, and ensure these findings feed into context-relevant development interventions. An understanding of the context in which the research takes place is therefore essential for AR4D, and ought to include all groups that make up the research context in the process: include their voices, opinions, needs and ideas and look for ways to communicate these to a variety of audiences.

CCAFS, CIAT and Humidtropics have been working together on the creation of an innovative and inclusive tool to include these voices: Participatory Video.

What is Participatory Video?

Participatory Video (PV) is a participatory research tool that involves members of a community in creating their own video message. It is an ideal method for sharing ideas and learning, encouraging marginalized groups to identify their own needs and implement their own forms of sustainable development.

The community learns to use video technology, write their own story, interview leaders and neighbors, and tell their own story. The PV methodology collects indigenous knowledge on factors that impact the effectiveness of sustainable development interventions based on local needs. View this animated video to see how we use PV in our projects.

From our experiences in Estelí and Somotillo, Nicaragua, PV has proven to be a powerful cross-cutting tool for knowledge sharing and inclusive agricultural research for development at community level.  Through the invitation of marginalized groups to discuss relevant issues in their community we gain valuable insights into local needs, linked to participation, learning and innovation, gender and inter-generational dynamics, natural resources and income generation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

PV - An inclusive tool

A strong focus on inclusion means the community is accurately represented in regards to gender, age, ethnicity, and educational background. Learning a new skill sets the stage for empowerment and creative problem-solving, while creating spaces to generate strong outcomes linked to two main objectives: Identifying challenges for sustainable livelihoods, and empowerment of marginalized groups to take on these challenges.

Contributing to Enabling Development Outcomes

The cross-cutting nature of PV contributes to the achievement of development outcomes, by effectively mainstreaming elements of innovation and gender and youth empowerment in AR4D design and implementation.

Innovation is strengthened by creating conditions for smallholder farmers, women, and youth to gain confidence in their abilities to succeed at new activities and improve existing local knowledge and practices. At the same time, gender and youth empowerment occurs by engaging marginalized groups in learning activities and encouraging them to voice their stories and opinions. This provides a non-threatening mechanism that improves gender and inter-generational relationships.

PV is simple to replicate, disseminate, and track. Therefore, it can also serve as a versatile M&E tool throughout the various phases of research interventions, generating insights and feedback from specific target groups. This creates a strong sense of project ownership within the community and a more fertile ground for technology adoption and social change.

Exploring the potential of inclusive youth and gender components linked to innovation and transformation processes which stem from learning experiences at community level, PV provides a thorough understanding of the development challenges facing poor rural communities. This serves as a powerful contextual base to adequately adapt development strategies and policies to local needs, knowledge, and wants.

The CGIAR Research Program on Integrated Systems for the Humid Tropics (Humidtropics), in collaboration with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) have been using PV in the cities of Somotillo and Estelí, Nicaragua, and are looking to replicate this process is other Humidtropics action sites in Africa and Asia.

For more information, see:

Blog on project in Somotillo

Blog on project in Esteli

CCAFS Working Paper

PowerPoint Presentation on the use of PV

A note from the author:

Taking part in the @insightshare Participatory Video Training in fall of 2013 was one of the best decisions I ever made. Sounds cheesy I know but I have been able to retain the energy and share it during the design and implementation on various PV projects. Since the course we have been working with youth in rural Nicaragua to discuss issues such as climate change and sustainable agriculture. Even though there is always room for improvement and new lessons to learn, we are very content about our work with PV. For more information on what we are doing and how we see things, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at [email protected] or [email protected]

*You can click here to find out how to join the next Participatory Video training course.

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From stories of change to project analysis – Climate Smart Agriculture in Malawi

By Sabine Hellmann, filmmaker, graphic designer and PV facilitator

What is the CSA project and why are we using participatory video?

For more than 2 years, I have been working with the Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) project in Malawi. The CSA programme aim is to equip communities in Malawi to broaden their diets, and re-adopt natural farming methods. Our partner The Kusamala Institute of Agriculture and Ecology are implementing the project, teaching permaculture techniques to 1500 farmers in Dowa District. 

Participatory Video is one of the ways CSA is helping. We’re using it to learn how farmers are getting on, and it’s fantastic to hear stories from the communities too.

The CSA project in Malawi is now entering a crucial phase: farmers started to grow their crops, trees and home gardens at the beginning of the rainy season in late 2014 - using newly acquired permaculture skills from our partners, Kusamala. The big question is: HAS IT WORKED?

Using participatory video to collect stories of change

After facilitating an initial round of baseline Participatory Video (PV) workshops in our farming communities, I went on to plan the qualitative monitoring and evaluation phase using PV and the Most Significant Change (MSC) technique (Rick Davies and Jess Dart).

As an alumni of the PV Facilitation course at InsightShare, I sought help from them in order to tackle the more scientific and complex M&E process. Their vast amount of experience using PV is useful not only for empowerment or research, but also for monitoring and evaluating development projects, like ours. Soledad Muniz mentored me to work out a thorough strategy and structure for an intensive analysis workshop. 

How did we collect the stories of change?

I was well prepared to go back to Malawi to work with the 7 field coordinators that finished the big task of collecting up to 280 stories of change through 14 story workshops in five months. These stories were written down by the farmers using a set question: What has been the most significant change in your life since the CSA project started in your community?

The farmers were guided to think about positive as well as negative change and to think back about what change felt most important to them. Some stories were really short, possibly due to the lack of confidence in writing. A lot of stories were a bit more expressive and utterly fascinating reads. 

Out of the 280 stories we decided to focus on 42 that were already voted as 'most significant' in the community groups. We also looked at the other stories, sorting out the dubious ones and also finding stories among the 280 that reflected the CSA values very well, but had not been voted for by the community.

(above: Mr. Kaundama reading through the stories of change – extra stories)

I planned roughly 7 days for the analysis. First I went through all the stories to check the content, identifying domains of change (keywords like food security, income etc.) After this I guided the team to make their own video report about the whole M&E phase in order to present the findings.

What does the story analysis tell us?

The story analysis brought a number of themes to the forefront, yet most stories that were voted in the village groups as 'most significant' dealt with similar topics: Learning new skills like soil conservation with organic manure, managing to produce more food for the family's consumption and even managing to sell surplus vegetables, e.g. generating extra income. 

Stories that mentioned these positive changes have dominated especially among the women. The food security issue was more pertinent to them - 60% of women compared to men chose this topic for their story. But men, especially the older generation were the ones that mentioned agroforestry. This was an interesting finding and we suspected this topic was chosen because older generations have lived through the decline in forests and experienced these effects firsthand, whereas woman might be more concerned with feeding the family.

Some stories of challenge highlighted disputes with doubtful neighbors, hungry goats destroying crops and farmers struggling to carry manure or water over long distances to the fields. It is invaluable to get insights like these early on in the process, to address and resolve them, otherwise they could impede the future success of the project.

(Above: Esimy in deep thought in front of the analysis chart)

Creating participatory videos about the process

The process and workshops were fun and engaging and we delved deep into all the stories, making sure we discussed the domains of change.  During each workshop three groups made films about the winning MSC stories using storyboards.

Some unanticipated issues arose through the process. In some cases, the initial plan to use storyboarding and filming ‘enacted scenes’ was changed to recording interviews with the farmers instead. Interviews can be a great insight into the work we are doing – and indeed many of them show the gardens and fields of our farmers. But unfortunately, some of the interviews came across as contrived and with a feeling that the farmers had to justify themselves. Because of this there were only a handful of engaging and funny, ‘enacted story’ films and many talking-head interviews. We made the most of the situation and edited the best story films into the video report and chose one short interview that had an engaging older lady in it. 

The Kusamala team did a great job presenting the findings, explaining the process and figuring out a structure for the edit of their analysis film report. Now it is just a matter of subtitling before the film can be shown to wider audiences.

(Above: Temwa presenting the findings – paper edit of the analysis film)

Having an impact and leaving a legacy

For the local civil society network and many other Malawian organisations, our videos will show how the power of stories can give a more vibrant and ‘locally-led’ perspective to development projects.

These stories are destined to inspire lots of farmers as we are now planning an extensive 'Farmer's Cinema' screening tour through our communities in March 2016. We will also be able see through this process, if farmers have learnt to speak up and better communicate their issues. The huge interest this method has generated shows how rewarding it is to be able to engage with beneficiaries, to let them express their thoughts and criticism and to inspire them by giving something back to the communities!  Leaving a legacy like this makes the project more credible and long lasting.

With our partners at Kusamala we will do our best to make sure the films will travel far and wide across Malawi and inspire many more smallholder farmers to adopt our successful sustainable farming techniques.

Some of the films that have been made in the last years can be found here: https://vimeo.com/channels/581615

More info on sustainable farming using permaculture thinking in Malawi: www.kusamala.org

Sabine Hellmann ( www.sabinehellmann.com ) is a filmmaker, graphic designer and PV facilitator based in Edinburgh, currently working with Climate Futures on the CSA project: www.climatefutures.co.uk

*You can click here to find out how to join the next Participatory Video training course.

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Cooperation and Conservation in Natmataung National Park

By Jack Jenkins Hill

In Myanmar, a network of national parks protect important ecosystems and biodiversity, but often at the expense of the lives and livelihoods of forest-dependent communities that live in and around them. Conservation priorities often ignore the views and voices of local communities that depend on forests, using heavy-handed law enforcement to control them rather than building cooperation, trust and dialogue.

In 2014 I was trained by InsightShare in participatory video facilitation, and was amazed at how much of a powerful tool it was.  In order to spark a process of dialogue, and create a more inclusive and people orientated approach to park management, we planned a participatory video project with the following objectives:

To help improve the lives of the people inside the park.

To bring the voices of those inside the park to the park authorities.

And to build cooperation between the communities, the park authorities and local government.

Building Cooperation Through Dialogue in Natmataung National Park

The PV process brought together participants from 3 different communities living inside and adjacent to the national park. The participants were initially scared about the prospect of sharing their challenges, struggles and experiences with local authorities and decision makers. Six years prior villagers had been arrested for writing poems criticizing the park authorities. After much discussion, the participants decided that they wanted to take part, and would ensure their safety by sending positive messages and solutions, rather than being negative or critical – in order to build cooperation with the park authorities.

The participants were determined that they would use this opportunity to speak up to improve the position of the communities living around the park, and open dialogue for change with the new park warden.  It was a humbling experience to see how the voices and messages grew strong, confident and well directed through the process. The initially quiet and shy participants became empowered leaders, determined to create change within their own communities by reaching out the park authorities through pragmatic and collaborative solutions.

The group made two powerful films looking into the challenges that marginalized communities faced around the national park and some solutions that could appeal to the park authorities to change their approach to park management.  Upon completing their films, the participants invited a range of local stakeholders to watch their videos.  Local representatives from political parties, the township administrator and non-governmental organisations all came to watch their films. However, to everyone's disappointment the park warden did not come, despite previously promising to attend and open the event with a speech.

Without the park authorities present, the participants screened their films and an extremely lively debate was held afterwards. There were speeches from township administrator and the local opposition party representative stating the deplorable condition of villages around the park and making pledges to make actions to improve their situation – with the participants filming their responses.

Keeping up the momentum

Whilst the park warden, who had been the key target audience for both films, did not come to the screening, the experience of being listened to was invaluable for the communities that took part in the project.  On reflection, the participants had grown a lot of confidence and had realised the power of their own voices and their own ability to change things.  The project helped to create space and a platform for communities to explore their situation and devise steps to improve it.

After the project had come to an end, the participants discussed ways in which they thought that the videos should be disseminated.  They decided that other communities in the park should see the films, and that the films should also be shown to the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Forestry in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar’s capital city.

In May, we had the opportunity to take the films to Nay Pyi Taw and show them to the Ministry. Through watching the film, the Director General and deputies of the Ministry were able to appreciate how difficult the living conditions for the local communities were.  As a result park wardens were instructed to allow communities to have greater access to timber for construction and ease the restrictions on resources that were impeding their basic livelihoods. This means that the villagers of Cou Htoo are now able to cut down the wood to finish building the school that they have waited so long for. The school is now being built, and will be finished in the next few months.

Creating Change

The PV process helped  to instigate direct change for the community of Cou Htoo in building their school, but also created an important for platform and exchange for both communities and park authorities in regards to the management of the national park.  In opening a space for dialogue and reflection, the community was able to look at some of the common objectives they had with the park authorities and suggest ways in which they could cooperate to both conserve the national park and improve their livelihood security.  We hope that through further engagement and dialogue with the ministry of forestry, the park authorities, and the communities living around the national park that this process can help to improve the governance of protected areas, and create greater space for co-management and joint ownership between communities and park authorities.

*You can click here to find out how to join the next Participatory Video training course.

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Making Mistakes together

by Juliet Braslow, trainee in the July 2015 Participatory Video Course 

Mistakes are great! 

This is not an easy idea for a perfectionist to embrace. The InsightShare Participatory Video (PV) training course threw me into the world of embracing mistakes, because that is how we learn best. After a week of making mistakes with a dynamic and creative group of participants with a wide range of expertise, I am converted. Mistakes ARE great, especially in the supportive and collaborative learning environment the training provided.

How do you lead a video training and empowering process through collective mistake making?

You start by playing a series of games and exercises that are carefully tailored to give just enough information for people to feel empowered to use the video equipment, teach their neighbor, and experiment. As a facilitator, you hold back from jumping in when things aren’t being done “right” because each game is followed by a session of watching the footage as a group and commenting on what works, lessons learned, and collective note taking (with the option of illustrative drawings if literacy or multiple languages are challenges).

For me it was a process of letting go: letting go of learning the ‘right way’ to do things, letting go of having my own notebook to take down every bit of wisdom, and trusting that together we would experiment, learn, and document the whole course. And if you saw the wall of the room we spent 6 days in together, you would agree that we captured it all and then some.

Understanding what I have learnt

Through facilitating PV in farming communities in Tanzania, Malawi and Ghana I look forward to a process that is less extractive and more creative than traditional research for development. The process is driven by the ideas and voices of the communities.

This does not mean that the topic under discussion can’t be framed by the facilitator and funding project. Before the training I was very concerned about this tension of guiding or “dictating” topics for participants. After going through the frustration of a completely open process of selecting a video topic I now realize the value and benefit of having some focus before the PV facilitation begins. Of course, it’s important to be honest and transparent with participants about the funding and expectations for subject matter from the beginning.

Valuing the process and community decisions

There is certainly a power in the ability to share videos widely online, with donors and on social media. However I now feel strongly that when using PV the process for the participants can get lost in the push to make a product that is polished and more a corporate communications piece. This may be something the participants are happy to do, but participants may decide not to share their film, or only share it to a specific local audience. This must be respected and has to be built into the proposals and expectations from funders and facilitators from the beginning. The power of the process lies far beyond the film and its screening.

PV is also about empowerment, fun, learning and sharing together

I know it sounds very warm and fuzzy, but it is fun and empowering. I’m no professional film maker, but after a week in the PV training I felt like I had gained so many film related skills that I could definitely lead a group through the PV process, so they too could learn just as much.

I strive to convert others to the “mistakes are great” methodology and make such a comfortable learning environment in the PV processes I will lead soon. I hope to explore how PV could be linked to learning on farms, in communities and at institutional levels and help strengthen the voice of communities in planning processes related to natural resource management and access.

PV is an intensive process, but I see the potential for it to be transformative for participants and facilitators. It requires commitment and an investment of time on all parts, but the rewards can be many. Now I will venture out to facilitate PV in communities.

Juliet Braslow is the Soils Research Area Coordinator at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and is grateful for the funding CIAT and the AGORA project provided to participate in this training. 

*You can click here to find out how to join the next Participatory Video training course. 

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Creating equality through film, a participant perspective...

By “A proud and grateful participant of the Creating Equality through Film Course” 

Using participatory film as a medium for highlighting inequality issues was a new experience for me and I am grateful for having received the opportunity. I feel Emile Flower (InsightShare Associate) was a brilliant facilitator, and I found the environment and people generally friendly and supportive. It was awesome being in a room surrounded by like-minded individuals who are passionate about tackling inequality and addressing the root causes.

Something that really stuck in my mind in relation to this course was when I watched the film that was centered on homelessness that was created by another group within my module. I felt it is one thing writing up/reading about inequality issues, but when you can see the same issues with your own eyes and the effect it has on the individual, it is just on another level empathy wise. Reading an article or writing an article does not show you the emotion or pain a person face, eyes or voice can convey. It is like a picture says a thousand words, but a film consists of many of those pictures so its effects are far more profound and longer lasting. I feel this is the major advantage film/participatory video has in regards to raising awareness of issues that are important to a group or individual! That is not just limited to inequality and this was something I learned whilst attending this course.

Additionally, creating a film/participatory video is something which was far easier than I first envisioned, and this again, was highlighted by my experience with the Amplify Leeds project. These short films were created in under a week by individuals who didn’t have previous experience and were using basic equipment. Granted, there was a supportive group and an experienced facilitator for guidance, but that does not take away from the fact that creating participatory video is accessible to many individuals/groups who may feel this is an arduous task beyond their capability. Simply put, it is achievable and the benefits speak for themselves.    

This experience really highlighted the power of film/participatory video as a medium for individuals or groups to express themselves and the issues they are facing. It is a means of creating change, raising awareness and it has the power to draw individuals together, to unite around common concerns with the hope of building collective people power to address those concerns.

My message to anyone that is running a campaign or project is simply this, utilise participatory video because of the benefits detailed above. It is a valuable and powerful tool/resource at your disposal and you will not regret it!

Yours Faithfully,

A proud and grateful participant of the ‘’Creating Equality through Film’’ course.

*Amplify Leeds is an action research project run by the Young Foundation that has brought together people from all over Leeds to amplify their voices and develop a more socially sustainable Leeds. Three participatory video workshops were facilitated by InsightShare  in the Spring of 2015 to strengthen their work. As well as initiating a rich process of learning the workshops resulted in 10 films made by the participants that showcase their perspectives of Leeds. 

To find out more about the Amplify Leeds project please click here

To watch the films made during this process please click here