Make it Grow: Community Video Screening Events, July-August 2024
By Sarah Wilson and Pamela Richardson
During 2024, Make it Grow provided training services on participatory video-making and project planning, to support community-based food initiatives in Zimbabwe. In July and August, Make it Grow coordinated three regional events with local partner organisations, Kufunda Village, ORAP and PORET Trust. The gatherings brought together trainee facilitators and participants from different communities and provinces, to present their video proposals and to engage in a collaborative feedback process. These events demonstrated the value of community-led development initiatives and participatory grant-making processes. The experience enabled 14 community groups to showcase their own creative ideas for enacting positive change in their local food systems.
Collaboration between Make it Grow (University of Sheffield), Kufunda Village, ORAP and PORET Trust was strengthened through this year's IAA-funded Knowledge Exchange activities, which aimed to deliver training to Zimbabwean organisations and to community groups who disproportionately lack access to digital skills education and start-up capital. Given the current and devastating impact of a severe El Niño-induced drought, Zimbabwe is facing a food crisis and small, locally-led interventions can go a long way to improve food security.
Following a series of online workshops led by Dr Pamela Richardson (University of Sheffield, Video-Co-Lab), the first Make it Grow regional gathering, hosted by Kufunda Village, brought together 18 participants from five rural communities. The participants enjoyed learning from one another and valued the opportunity to meet in person for the day.
The Community Video Screening Event began with the arrival of the participants, who ate breakfast together and received a tour of Kufunda Village. This allowed everyone to get to know one another and explore the area. Following the tour, everyone congregated in the thatched village dare, an open meeting space. The participants and facilitators all sat in a circle for the activities; this circle represented equality of viewpoints and voices. In the circle, everyone introduced themselves and took turns to share their motivations for participating.
"I joined so that I could learn another way to express what we are doing - through videos."
"I am very happy to be here and hoping to uplift our community through the project."
"I joined Make It Grow because I want to share our stories…to be heard in our voice, by us."
Five community groups then presented their project video proposals to each other. Due to a power cut, the screening was held in the sewing room, where solar power was available. The video pitches included a diverse range of community-led food project proposals, including:
An aquaculture project
A community greenhouse
A goat (rearing, breeding and compost-making) project
An indigenous vegetable garden
A poultry project
Each video proposal was appreciated and representatives from each group took part in a discussion with the audience. Questions were raised about the video production process, as well as about the viability of the community project proposals and perceived risks. People drew on their own experiences from their different communities to share helpful insights and support each other in the planning of their diverse community projects.
The video screening sessions were followed by group reflection and constructive feedback. The participants congratulated each other on their achievements. It was great to have an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate personal development, plans for the future and new video production skills.
The screening events emphasised the value of community-led development initiatives and participatory grant-making processes. The diverse and unique video proposals demonstrated that knowledge exchange can empower people to create meaningful, context-specific actions in their own communities. The groups' proposals were discussed openly and 'horizontally' in an encouraging environment, supporting peer-to-peer learning and relationship-building.
Significantly, the participants were not competing for funding; this generated a friendly and supportive space for sharing ideas. Having already completed the requisite training workshops and co-created their video proposals, the review and grant decision-making process was deliberately supportive and collaborative. Participants scored each other's video proposals against various criteria and offered comments and suggestions to help improve the project plans. Make it Grow provided follow-up for all groups, ensuring that the feedback was integrated. Within 3 months of the video screening events, all 14 community groups had successfully applied for and won small grants.
The Make it Grow team advocates for participatory video proposals to become more widely accepted by donors and charitable organisations, so that community groups can apply for funding in this way. We believe that through community capacity-building and participatory video proposal-making, marginalised communities can be empowered to raise their voices in the grant-making space, to innovate and fundraise, and to create more sustainable local food systems.
Overall, the events created a positive learning experience for the participants and facilitators. After several months of interacting online, the in-person event was uplifting and inspiring. The participants shared their thoughts on the day:
"I have learned a lot from watching all the videos and seeing what others are also doing in their communities.
"I learnt a lot of valuable lessons from the lovely videos, like how there are some things you cannot achieve on your own, but when you come together as a group, you can succeed."
There was a collective will among the participants to engage further and continue to develop their video-making skills. Some even shared plans to pass their knowledge on to others:
"I'm really happy to have learnt SO much today. Even some things that I will go and try out at my home for others around me to also see and learn."
Thank you to the hosts at Kufunda Village, ORAP and PORET Trust and to the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) fund. Without your support, these events would not have been possible. We can't wait to see what the participants do next!
Contact: p.ngwenya@sheffield.ac.uk