Beth Cullen (ILRI), Alan Duncan (ILRI) & Katherine Snyder (IWMI)

(Derived from PhD work by Beth Cullen)

Participatory Video as a means of capturing community perspectives

on rainwater management

Third International Forum on Water and Food, Johannesburg, 14-17 November 2011

What is Participatory Video (PV)?

Communication tool regardless of formal literacy levels.

Process: empower communities and act as a catalyst for action & change.

Product: community driven film that conveys issues, knowledge & perspectives

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Fogo process, ‘birth of PV’: Don Snowden, 1960s pioneered two-way flow of knowledge between community members and decision makers

PV under-documented: focus on doing rather than publishing

Recent developments:

PV is not new!

Why is PV relevant for research & development?

PV can potentially be used to involve community members in research processes, ensure relevance & legitimacy

Bridge gaps between conventional science and IK by making different types of knowledge accessible to different audiences.

Collaborative

versusTop-down

Excludes views of those being researched/‘developed’ Communicates grassroots perspectives & knowledge

Participants are introduced to video camera

They acquire basics through active learning

Learning is equal: students become teachers

Confidence gained through new skills

Games encourage dialogue & sharing

Additional equipment is introduced

Key issues are identified using PRA Storyboards develop narratives Process aims to be fun & engaging

Different community views captured

Participants watch & reflect on films

Enables access to inaccessible areas

Participation extended to editing Ensures control over the final product

Films screened to wider community

Feedback is gathered from range of community members

Screenings are documented to show communities their voice is

heard

Films shown to audiences including researchers & decision makers

Collaborative rather than extractive

Addresses research fatigue

Influence decision makers

Community analysis

Represents Indigenous Knowledge

Skills development and empowerment

Peer-to-peer knowledge sharing

Catalyst for action & change

Challenges

No method is a ‘magic bullet’: must acknowledge and critically analyse strengths and weaknesses:

Danger of raising expectations: must consider long term sustainability

Takes time: rushing can result in token efforts at ‘community participation’ which repeat or reaffirm existing paradigms

Incentives: facilitators should ensure participants get something from the process

Can be hijacked by more powerful actors whilst appearing to represent grassroots reality: requires awareness of local power dynamics

People may not want to represent their knowledge/reality/point of view to others, for good reasons!

In certain contexts (i.e. politically restrictive environments) it may do more harm than good.

Source: InsightShare, 2006

Engage communities and document local perspectives on key issues/challenges

Communicate community perspectives to higher level stakeholders and researchers: link to Innovation Platforms?

Facilitate collective action: encourage local innovation and take research into implementation

Monitor and evaluate the process

Encourage cross project and basin learning

Potential uses of PV within NBDC

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Questions & DiscussionHow do you think PV could be applied in your own projects?

What are the potential difficulties in using PV?

How could PV be used to support innovation processes?