USA: Volunteers on video
Finding a voice in today's world is one of the greatest challenges for the world's poor. Having a voice may be their most powerful tool. This social campaign shows us how, and why
di Staff
What is the biggest hurdle to development? According to a World Bank survey in 1999 it wasn't food, shelter or health care. It was access to a voice.
Video Volunteers is a US based organisation that gives a voice to the voiceless through video. In collaboration with Drishti Media Collective in Ahmedabad, India, Video Volunteers is working to create a global network of 100s of rural or peri-urban Video Producers who produce and share media across the barriers of illiteracy, poverty and media neglect.
Their core activity is establishing sustainable Community Video Units (CVUs) in partnership with leading NGOs. Each Community Video Unit (CVU) comprises up to 10 community members, primarily women, who produce one "Video News Magazine" each month that is shown back to communities using wide-screen projectors or local cable networks. In 2006, ten CVUs are launching in India. Collectively, these CVUs will produce one hundred videos in their first year alone, on issues of social justice, development and human rights, that will be seen by thousands of people in their communities, providing a local, national and global platform for voice.
More info:
www.videovolunteers.org
