Programs
All of us recognize the power of film and video to educate and entertain. And for people whose lives have been scarred by poverty, conflict and violence and whose future holds but months or years languishing in camps, this alone has tremendous value.
FilmAid programs deliver both immediate and longer-term benefits for the communities in need and refugees we serve. At FilmAid screenings, individuals experience psychological relief and obtain knowledge and skills, giving them a greater sense of purpose and focus. FilmAid programs also offer individuals, communities and refugees a broader view of the world, an opportunity to imagine other futures for themselves and a vision for how they can make a difference in their communities.
FilmAid’s Programs consist of 3 components:
Informational Workshops:
FilmAid partners with other aid agencies in the camps to use video as a complement to their daytime educational, health care and skills training programs. These screening sessions are held in community centers and schools throughout the camps and are followed by group discussions led by local educators and community workers on topics relating to health, gender-based violence, conflict resolution, and family planning among others.
FilmAid has enhanced the informational workshop program with a special focus on reaching women and girls. As a result of their status in society, women and girls are at increased risk of violence and exploitation. However, as primary caretakers and keepers of the family bonds, women also are in a unique position to educate the next generation, particularly boys, about respect and community responsibility.
Through an innovative program, FilmAid recruits refugee women to act as “mobilizers” and spread the word about FilmAid’s screenings and workshops to other women. This peer-to-peer outreach has increased the number of women and girls who participate in FilmAid screenings. As a result, there has been increased attendance and a noticeable impact in women’s self esteem and empowerment. Mary Abul, a Sudanese refugee in her early twenties in Kakuma camp, notes, “I like to become a women mobilizer in order to support my women in my society. Not only here, even in Sudan I would like to do this work so that our women can become the women of the future.”
Outdoor Evening Screenings:
Outdoor Evening Screenings provide education and entertainment to thousands of individuals at a time. The majority of the films screened are locally produced African films that convey critical messages about social, health, and environmental issues including HIV/AIDS and how individuals and communities elsewhere are coping with similar problems.
As one refugee noted, “FilmAid makes people happy; it makes people come together in peace. It also shows people movies on conflict resolution and people have greatly changed; there are less conflicts between people in the camp.”We work closely with local advisory committees to choose culturally-appropriate films and always prioritize films produced in the region.
Community-based Film Production &
The Participatory Filmmaking Program:
Working with other relief agencies and refugee community leaders, FilmAid identifies emerging issues and develops appropriate video messages to help educate and inform. Filmaid engages with communities in need as well as refugee populations in the creation of these videos, and the resulting pieces are widely distributed and screened in outdoor screenings, workshops and in hospitals and clinics. In this way, FilmAid is able to respond to an immediate, unmet need for locally-relevant health and social messaging.
In the Dadaab camp in Kenya, for example, FilmAid worked closely with Somali refugee leaders to produce a series of 5 short films in the Somali language. The films address the health and social needs of the local community. The films address the misconceptions around disease prevention and helps guide the viewer through the steps needed for prevention and treatment. These short films have also begun to reduce stigma around these issues and opened a much needed and potentially life saving dialogue among Somali refugees in the camp.
As a true collaboration, these videos help reinforce and support the work of other aid agencies and advance their goals and that of the local communities.
