Video, as a versatile and interdisciplinary tool, has the power to drive positive change across various sectors. From disease prevention to agriculture training, maternal and children's health to climate resiliency, video technology proves to be a transformative force. In this blog post, we explore how illuminAid's Video Education Workshops (VEWs) continue to offer innovation and opportunity in international development goals, leaving a lasting impact on communities worldwide.
Climate change and resiliency to environmental disasters are some of the most pressing global issues confronting us today. By far, marginalized and disconnected communities carry a disproportionate weight of this burden because of their direct dependence on environmental systems and limited access to infrastructure that can protect against an unstable climate. We already know that, in addition to technological and scientific advances, the best armor against climate change is embracing traditional, indigenous and community-led knowledge. This is exactly aligned with illuminAid’s vision of increasing access to education at the community level. When climate change threatens a community with drought, floods, food scarcity or even related economic or political conflict, it’s important that groups are equipped with the resources and information they need to respond proactively to these challenges.
Community-led video can accomplish exactly that by sharing critical messages or skills with a wide audience, even in off-grid areas. In August 2023, illuminAid had the privilege of partnering with CRS Ethiopia in Adama on a similar project, during which video education workshop trainees created videos promoting the creation of early-warning systems in rural communities to increase safety and organized leadership during disasters. Other climate resiliency video topics during this workshop focused on improved agricultural practices to reduce desertification (widespread erosion of agricultural soils) and how to manage crop yields to maximize economic benefit.
Another promising sector for community-led video implementation is women’s health. Using video as an educational tool in this discipline has many advantages due to its ability to discreetly share sensitive but crucial information on topics like sanitation, maternal and postpartum health and gender-based violence. There is a critical shortage of access to information on these subjects for women around the world. This is most prominent in rural developing communities, where social norms around women and their appropriate roles may color much of women and girls’ experiences, including whether they receive an education, when they marry and what access they have to women’s healthcare. Video, which can be developed with a specific audience in mind, has the power to unite and empower women around shared experiences, or it can be used to carefully shift social ideas through messages targeted at women’s partners, who also play a key role in advocating for women’s health.
When illuminAid partnered with Pathfinder in Mozambique in 2021, we saw this vision in action as teams collaborated with local health workers and women in the community to produce videos that aimed to delay marriage for young girls until after the age of eighteen. The prevalence of early childhood marriage for girls in Mozambique contributes to an array of social and health challenges for women. So, by creating positive video messages promoting delayed unions along with other important educational topics like women’s sanitation and hygiene, this project holistically addressed women’s health needs in the community.
Perhaps one of the most critical applications for video as a development tool is in sharing public health messages, especially those that prevent the spread of disease. Over the years, illuminAid has contributed to projects aimed at eliminating the spread of COVID-19, ebola, tuberculosis and many other infectious diseases through education. We are excited to jump back into that work this spring in partnership with an impactful organization in West Africa working to promote awareness about the spread and prevention of malaria.
illuminAid’s mission to deliver life-changing information to developing communities through low-cost video content is one that has thousands of applications and opportunities for positive change. If you are interested in learning more about how video can help make change in a sector you’re passionate about, explore our past projects or read about promising projects in need of funding.
