Video and Community Dreams Project

This project drew on the tool of information and communication technology (ICT) in the form of video, using participatory and interpersonal communication strategies to foster the creation of films - and the awareness-raising and advocacy that was envisioned as a result. Specifically, the first training workshop for the project took place in early 1998. Participants were CEOSS staff, volunteers, and young women from three villages in Minya Governorate and from Zenhom, a low-income neighbourhood in Cairo. C4C conducted parallel trainings at three different sites, two in Minya and one in Cairo. This enabled the trainees to develop their fledgling video skills within their own localities. All of the participants met together for the first two days, during which discussions focused on project goals, issues of self-representation, and participants' hopes regarding their use of video.

“Workshop participants gained familiarity with camera functions and techniques through shooting exercises. They developed their interpersonal skills by taping both real and role-played interviews. They learned the importance of production planning and storyboarding, and of working closely as a team while filming. By the workshop's conclusion, each team had produced sequentially-shot ('in-camera' edited) videos, and had screened them for community members. In several cases, apprehension was replaced by relief and pride when audiences expressed their admiration for the teams' work.”

The approval and support of community members was considered essential to the project's growth. Initially somewhat nervous and self-conscious about filming in their communities, many team members spoke of the confidence gained in shooting, carrying out interviews with diverse individuals, and expressing their views in general. Several of the teams' tapes focused on topics affecting their community, such as environmental and educational issues. Progressively, the teams took on more sensitive issues, such as early marriage and the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM). Individual team members described themselves as bolder, more confident, readier to speak out and to take on challenges.

The tapes are designed to generate change, through advocacy. One of the first tapes produced by the team in Beni Ghani was about a polluted canal that had become a public health threat. Opening with images of the filthy waterway, the tape featured interviews with a variety of community members - children, parents, elders, the local doctor and an engineer - all of whom address the problem. The finished tape was shown to over 200 villagers. A community delegation then screened it for a key official. As a result, organisers claim, filling in the canal has become a priority among local leaders and officials. Other tapes have advocated for the educational and recreational needs of village children; presented medical, religious and social arguments against the practice of FGM; and decried pollution of the Nile.

Rights, Women, Gender.

CEOSS is an Egyptian NGO that provides wide-ranging community development assistance. Its social welfare-oriented approach emphasises integrated programmes and services in education, environment, health and agriculture. Volunteer-based, CEOSS fosters self-management of projects by community members. For several years, CEOSS has implemented the "New Horizons" curriculum in communities throughout Upper Egypt and the Cairo area. Developed by CEDPA in collaboration with several Egyptian NGOs including CEOSS, the essential aim of "New Horizons" is to enable girls and young women to make informed life choices.

Following the inception of the Video and Community Dreams project, C4C conducted a series of field visits and short follow-up training workshops. Four additional communities joined the project and received support and training from the original participants. Furthermore, each of the original community video teams trained new members, including girls aged 15-19. These new recruits offered many ideas for future programme topics, including a woman's 'right to choose' in matters of study, work, and her partner in life. Young trainees expressed their excitement at being involved, and particularly at the prospect of learning to use the video gear. As one village girl put it, through this project "she can do whatever a boy could do." Another stressed, "I am not less than a boy," and said that because of her involvement in the project she will gain respect in her family and the community.

Primary implementation ended by early 2000. Outreach activities relating to the themes and concerns addressed by the Video and Community Dreams initiative continued in the respective project communities with support from CEOSS. In Zenhom, the Cairo neighbourhood that was among the original project sites, some members of the original participatory video team founded an independent community association that included as one of their activities the video documentation of local events and issues.