illuminAid partners with CARE in Malawi

The second stop in our trip will be in Malawi, this time working with CARE. This will be our first time both working in Malawi and with CARE. Unlike most of the countries we travel to, Malawi’s official language is English, allowing our English-speaking staff to more directly engage with workshop participants.

It’s been a joy to work with CARE and their excitement for the training is infectious. “These two guys—Joseph and Gift—are incredibly vigilant. They’re on top of it,” said Matt about two of our CARE partners. “They want us to bring more sophisticated, slightly more complex cameras to produce better quality videos. There’s not one little variable that has gone by that they haven’t tried to address. They’re doing a great job and I can’t wait to see them embrace new technologies.”

Until this point, CARE has been relying on audio and spoken word when promoting positive behavior change in Malawi so video will have a potent impact on this critical work. Much of the work CARE does is health-related, and video is a particularly powerful tool when used to demonstrate positive changes in health-related behavior. A video can show an audience how to adequately wash their hands to reduce the spread of infectious diseases, how to properly set up bug nets used when preventing the spread of malaria or explain how disposing human waste in a creek or river can get others sick. In this workshop, participants will be creating videos on complementary feeding for babies—the type of food a caregiver gives a child after weaning. We are all very excited to witness the impact video can have on CARE’s mission in Malawi.