Volunteers try visual medium to spread awareness

Navsarjan Trust uses the method at the grassroots level to provide infotainment.

Prabhu (32) and Jitendra (21) have been working with five others to produce the latest episode on social issues for their Community Video Unit (CVU).

What makes the difference is their background "" while the former is a truck driver, the latter a daily-wage labourer, hailing from Surendranagar in Gujarat. This bunch of activists from the Navsarjan Trust are using the power of visuals to bring a social change in their neighbourhood.

Various organisations across India have tried to use the visual medium as a tool of empowerment. USA-based Video Volunteers is one such organisation that is establishing self-sustainable community-owned CVUs in India in partnership with Drishti Media of Ahmedabad.

The organisation works closely with local NGOs to set up video units and train the local youth in video-film making. At present, they have six units, having the total strength of 40 producers, in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. These are run in partnership with NGOs like Akshara, Saath, Navsarjan, Dappu, Laya, Yuva and Janvikas.

Collectively, they have screened more than 40 episodes and reached approximately 1,25,000 people during the last one year.

According to the NGOs involved in the work, the system works well at the grassroots level, as it provides information plus entertainment.

"The video movement worked well for the awareness of Dalit issues in Surendranagar thanks to the CVU work," says Manjula Pradeep, director of Navsarjan Trust, which works for the uplift of the Dalit community in Gujarat. Navsarjan CVU has screened videos on issues like inequality, social justice and unemployment.

For Jessica Mayberry, co-founder and director of Video Volunteers, the outcome has been satisfactory.

"We are getting an overwhelming response from NGOs. Our model seems to be working well with the local conditions. Inspired by the success, we are planning to launch seven more CVUs in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh by November 2007," she said.

The Video Volunteers-Drishti is also rolling out four education CVUs named "Video Shaala" by the year-end. "We are setting up these units in Surendranagar, Panchmahal, Bhavnagar and Ahmedabad. The aim of the unit is to run a virtual school that gives lessons on citizenship, religious harmony, social responsibility along with math, science and other subjects. It will collaborate with local bodies and work as a support system," Mayberry informed.

"It will be a pilot project and if successful, it will be implemented across the country," she added.

A CVU comprises seven-ten community producers aware of local issues and trained in documentary making, a trainer and the NGO support staff. The team identifies 25 villages or nearby areas as the working area and plans screening of episodes so that each village gets a screening per month.

The project costs around Rs 36 lakh for the first year "" Rs 26 lakh for the initial setup of the unit and the rest to sustain it.