Film as a powerful tool for social change
The Participatory Films approach consists in training communities or groups who are normally denied access to communication to create their own films. Handling the camera gives participants visibility in their community and a rare opportunity to tell their stories and express their concerns. This aproach goes well beyond the mere transfer of technical filming skill. What really matters is the learning process that goes on during the training.
It empowers participants to:
- Find new ways of thinking and interacting.
- Identify and value their existing local knowledge and expertise.
- Break down the barriers of languages, illiteracy or disability that keep them and their communities in the state of dependence and poverty.
- Get involved in the decision making that affect their lives.
- Advocate for issues they feel strongly about.
Dominique Chadwick has initiated and ran successful participatory projects with groups and communities of men and women of all ages, farmers, market traders, members of nomadic communities, groups of street children and homeless people, groups of young people and children in Ghana, Zambia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Mali, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Cameroon, Peru and the UK.