SPHERICAL PICTURES

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

IT’S NERF