Partner Portal

Indigenous Perspectives on Biocultural Diversity

New York and Uganda

In May 2006, Insight were invited to attend the United Nations Permanent
Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York, and to carry out Participatory Video projects with willing delegates. The resulting films were shown in the main assembly chamber to eager applause as Insight unveiled its first collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) - the launch of its handbook.

At the same event, the Global Environment Facility of the UNDP announced a new initiative to enable community-made video to be used as the first stage in an application to seek grant money for local projects. Through bypassing the need for literacy, it would enable people to show and present their needs to development agencies, as well as government, and also have a chance to take their own action with the support of outside resources.

To put this to the test, Insight were invited to conduct a training in Uganda in partnership with the UNDP Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP), the Global Human Rights Strengthening Programme, and with the Ugandan Ministry of Finance Participatory Poverty Assessment Programme (UPPAP). The training took place in Kisoro in the South West of the country and involved working in collaboration with Batwa community members and their advocacy organisations.

Before their expulsion in the early 1990s, the Batwa people used to live as hunter gatherers in the forests. These forests are now national parks, while most of the Batwa became landless squatters, and bonded or casual labourers on the lands of their neighbours. With limited access to education, and deprived of political and social rights, the Batwa live an extremely marginalised existence.

The Participatory Video training enabled the Batwa to make a very powerful film, which was screened to local and national government, and has since been used by Batwa advocacy organisations to represent the views and perspectives of the Batwa. Click on the image to see this video.

As a result of the training and the film, Insight's local partner, the United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU) has been given an opportunity to access a grant of up to $40,000 to assist the Batwa to build solutions for themselves and continue to use video to campaign for their rights.

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan -UNDP/GEF Small Grants Programme

Insight's continuing partnership with UNDP/GEF Small Grants Programme took director of Insight Chris Lunch back to a part of the world where he first started working with Participatory Video back in 1998.

In December 2007, Chris dug out his felt hat and warm clothes and headed for the village of Saty, nestled in a snowy valley at 1500m in the Tian Shan Mountains and situated on the edge of a newly formed national park. Here he was joined by 13 environmentalists and NGO leaders from East, South and Central Kazakhstan and Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan). These people learnt the basics of Participatory Video and then put their new skills to the test and assisted Saty villagers explore and communicate key issues they faced. Much of the work focused on the creation of the national park, and Participatory Video provided a tool which enabled a more open dialogue between villagers and the park authorities.

One group of villagers wanted to make a film about the poor state of their road, and to do this they decided to join their voices with those of three neighbouring villages. The resulting film is being used as a tool to encourage local politicians to ensure that promised funds are not misdirected. Local youths also got involved, they interviewed the school director and village mayor, who committed funds for building a village cultural center; the youths in return committed to helping with the work, the boys would carry building materials and bricks and the girls would help keep the building site clean and safe. Other villagers were very impressed at what they saw at the community screening:

"My favourite of the films is the one made by the youth. I never hear what those young people think, their film showed me something new, I"m so proud of them today!" commented one of the village elders.

The trainees are now conducting their post training assignments back on home territory on projects ranging from deforestation to drug use.

For more information and videos go to the Biocultural Diversity Theme Page.