13 Ways illuminAid Can Help You Make Your Message Stick

This month, illuminAid celebrates 13 years of incorporation as a technology-based nonprofit serving developing countries around the world. We’re honored to have worked with 25 partners in 26 countries across four continents. Most importantly, we’ve helped these partners reach over 24,000 beneficiaries in rural communities using simple video technology. The skills learned in our Video Education Workshops have empowered our partners with the ability to make lasting changes in the behaviors and knowledge base of the communities where they work. 

In celebration of our 13 years, we rounded up 13 reasons why our program helps make your messages stick.

1. Video is the primary communication tool. 

Video is stronger and more effective than any other medium when it comes to influencing behavior change. Video has the ability to engage an audience with valuable yet concise information. It is authentic and incites action within a community.  For example, student learning outcomes increased by up to 84% in comprehension rate  in comparison to students who did not use learning videos (Fitriansyah, 2020).

2. We’re backed by 32 years of experience in videography

Our partner organization, Videomaker Inc., is a leading industry expert in the field of creating video for both professionals and new videographers alike. Of particular help for illuminAid is their insight into how new video learners can quickly and effectively incorporate new video skills.

3. Videos are created in the local language.

The most effective video is one you can understand. We teach our partner organizations to create the most accessible video possible, and that means video using local dialects and speech patterns. A subtitled or dubbed video feels far less personal than one clearly made for a specific community.

4. Videos are created in the local environment

Similarly, our partners learn to make videos with a local scene. During our workshops, we visit rural communities where videos will eventually be shown, and our partners learn how to create videos right in the hearts of those villages. The more relatable the environment, the more invested in the message a viewer will be. By presenting a workshop where members of the community feel most at home, they will be better able to connect with the message more than they would in a foreign environment, such as in a city hotel.

5. Trusted advisors deliver the message

A video is only as effective as the person on the screen, so we train our partners to look for trusted local community members and leaders to be the “on-camera talent.” A person is far more likely to change their behavior or listen to advice if the person telling them to do so is somebody they know and trust. For example, after people experienced a negative learning outcome, 57% of them were able to improve the outcome of their task by observing their peers through social and behavioral learning (Gariépy et al., 2014).

6. Interactive dissemination

During an illuminAid workshop, partners learn not only how to make video but also how to effectively show it in the community. This includes how to darken a room, how to successfully invite community members, how to have participatory discussion with the attendees, suggestions for breakout discussion sessions, and how to effectively navigate the projector technology.

7. Breaks barriers

In many rural areas, children don’t get the opportunity to go to school if they need to stay home and help the family grow food or take care of their siblings. In Burkina Faso, for example, kids don’t expect to make it past eight years of schooling. There, only 29% of adults are literate. As such, literacy is often quite low. In other communities, there may be learning disabilities, hearing impairment, or other challenges to reading or hearing — video transcends all these challenges. With video, there is the option to see and hear the message, ensuring everybody in the community has the ability to learn.  

8. Accessible technology

Speaking of technology, our equipment is one of the most effective tools an organization can find. We’ve developed three proprietary kits, all designed to work without electricity or internet, and small enough to put in a purse, or even a big pocket. A camera kit includes all the equipment needed to film a short video, while the portable projector kit   quickly and effectively can show those videos at any time. The recharge kit gives the option to repower the camera and projector kit through solar panels or car chargers when out in the field.

9. Multidisciplinary

Many of our partners work across a wide number of disciplines, including WASH, health, nutrition, agriculture, advocacy, and education. Our projects target a variety of regions, each with a specific goal. To meet the needs of a region and mission of our partner organization we continually refine our technology and facilitate video workshops geared towards a particular discipline. Once a team has the skills gained from a training workshop they are able to apply all they know to many different video topics and customize them for their community. 

10. Thorough training 

Our program is designed to cultivate confidence from day one so that those we train apply the technology in ways best suited for their position and natural inclinations. Everybody learns at different speeds, in different ways, and with different proclivities. Participants who have innate editing skills, for example, quickly become fluent in piecing together vibrant, engaging videos. Others are more skilled in scriptwriting or storyboarding and excel at ensuring all relevant content is considered. We ensure our training provides each participant with the tools needed to bring their unique skill set to the project, even if they have no previous experience with video production. Our training workshops are accessible to all and cover everything from script, storyboarding, conceptualization, filming, editing, and dissemination. 

11. Builds capacity

Our program builds internal capacity of staff and teaches lifelong skills that beneficiaries can take with them wherever they go. illuminAid’s Capacity Development Program ensures ongoing support once a workshop is complete. Assistance with scriptwriting, storyboarding, editing, or filming is available to ensure that video becomes a part of the organization’s DNA and that they will be able to continue their efforts to transform their community for the better in the years to come. 

12. Decades of experience and expertise 

The process of creating behavior change content from conception to key deliverables has many nuances. Our organization is backed by Videomaker.com, a leading expert in the video content creation field for over 32 years. Our team is highly skilled in all aspects of video and editing technology as well as in video conceptualization and content development. Most importantly, our expertise in creating behavior change video ensures aid organizations are systematically being taught an approach that results in ongoing content creation for their beneficiary community. 

13. Demonstrated impact

illuminAid’s unique experience has yielded impressive results. Our workshops have demonstrated a high success rate. After training 602 people in 25 countries, there was a 33% increased attendance to community health meetings, an 81% satisfaction rate with beneficiaries, and a 16% increase in comprehension of new behaviors. During a video training workshop, illuminAid conducts Monitoring and Evaluation baseline and end-line surveys to determine effectiveness and evidence of impact. After a workshop, 90% of participants indicated confidence in creating video, 91% in using projectors, and 88% that they can incorporate video with ease. 

illuminAid provides a new and effective way to engage with the world’s poorest communities. For the past 13 years we have transformed into an organization that is increasingly valuable in our digital world and to the field of ICT4D. Working with our partners to translate their curriculum into videos, we provide marginalized communities access to education that we are able to circulate, thereby benefiting entire communities. We found a way to reduce the burden of outreach teams while at the same time reaching more beneficiaries than ever before, transmitting  messages with ease and enjoyment.  

References

Gariépy, J. (2014b, March 31). Social learning in humans and other animals. Frontiers in Neuroscience. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2014.00058/full

Fitriansyah, F. (2020). Effectiveness of Video Learning Development Announcing. International Journal of Theory and Application in Elementary and Secondary School Education, 2, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.31098/ijtaese.v2i1.67