In the spring of 2024, illuminAid partnered with the U.S. Peace Corps in Cameroon to conduct a Video Education Workshop. The goal of the workshop, which was funded by USAID/Presidents Malaria Initiative, was to equip local video experts and Peace Corps volunteers with the proper tools and knowledge to create educational videos on health, specifically in malaria prevention, to further education in disconnected communities across Cameroon. Equipped with camera kits, projector kits and recharge kits, illuminAid's staff, volunteers and local Cameroonian video trainers hosted an engaging and empowering video education workshop for the Peace Corps teams.
Cameroon was one of the first countries in Africa to introduce a malaria vaccine when they rolled out the RTS, S/AS01 vaccine into their national immunization program last January. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 11,000 people die from malaria in Cameroon annually, many of them being children younger than five. With the new availability of the vaccine, as well as the high infection and death rate, it’s critical for education regarding malaria prevention and the vaccine to be widely accessible throughout the country. Creating hyper-localized videos made by those in the beneficiary community can be a powerful tool for influencing perceptions and uptake of the malaria vaccine.
illuminAid’s four-day workshop provided comprehensive training to participants on video production and the use of effective video technologies. During the workshop, Peace Corps participants expressed their enthusiasm, indicating that video will be an impactful tool in their work engaging underserved communities. As a result of the training, participants were able to take the skills they had learned and make something entirely their own. Many different kinds of films can influence an audience to make behavior changes, so the creation of dramas, testimonials, storytelling and even comedies can resonate with different people than will be reached through traditional messaging. By the end of the workshop, the Peace Corps volunteers and their local counterparts were properly equipped and empowered to continue producing content for their communities.
The work put in by the Local Video Trainers (LVTs) for this workshop greatly contributed to its success. IlluminAid’s LVT team members traveled from all over the country of Cameroon to lend their technical video production expertise to the workshop, and we couldn't have done it without them. Local Video Trainers are a very important part of illuminAid's workshops as they offer language support and cultural contextualizing of curriculum, and they can support our partner’s ongoing technical needs long-term, even after illuminAid has returned to the States.
We are thankful for the collaboration with the Peace Corps, USAID and PMI, and are proud to have made an impact on the local communities of Cameroon through this training.
