Making every voice count for adaptive management initiative

30/10/2020

Using participatory video approaches as an interactive platform to support networking, knowledge generation, and documenting and disseminating knowledge assets and lessons learned.

On the 27^th and 28^th of October 2020, the South-South and Triangular Cooperation Division, the Forestry Division and the Partnership and UN Collaboration of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations set up two half-day trainings under the “Making every voice count for adaptive management initiative.”

The programme is committed to build a bridge between existing networks and platforms and strengthening the existing capacity in 11 child project countries linked to the GEF7 Sustainable Forest Management Impact Program on Dryland Sustainable Landscapes (SFM-DSL) - respectively eight countries in East/South Africa, one in West Africa and two in Central Asia.

To strengthen the leading role, FAO will leverage the convening power and deploy the policy setting of the Committee on Forestry (COFO) in order to facilitate the SFM DSL Program implementation, ensure overall coherence, and drive consistent Program-wide outcomes on the ground. In particular, the FAO Working Group on Dryland Forests and Agrosilvopastoral Systems (WG), an inter-governmental and multi-stakeholder body established under COFO, will play an essential role in coordinating this effort.

The sessions were led by Alberto Troilo from the Communication for Development team (ComDev), and it was designed to train local stakeholders on participatory video approaches, showing how to create a visual baseline of the best sustainable forest and land management practices in the 11 countries who are part of the programme.

The trainings were divided into three sections as follows:

The participatory communication approach section, in which the participants became familiar with the difference between information and communication, the use of different approaches, rural appraisal, selection of media and channels, and the process of communication.
The participatory video methodology section, where the trainer discussed the practical features that are part of the PV approach (script, storyboard, shooting and editing, screening and evaluation).
And the critical aspects section, where the trainer showed how to prepare the content and messages of the video, how to go about framing and composition, and what we mean by audio-visual language.

A follow-up session will take place in order to show how participants are putting into practice the different ideas that were shared during these two days. This seminar and the use of participatory video is framed under a participatory communication for development approach, viewed as powerful and relevant tool for enhancing stakeholder engagement, for completing a participatory monitoring and evaluation process, and for sharing knowledge and information.

Beyond the conceptual differences, the experiences in this field have emphasized the importance of an interactive and participatory processes, rather than the production and dissemination of information separate from the community processes.

Through digital storytelling, the co-organizers of this initiative aim to promote mutual learning and knowledge sharing among the 11 project countries, and at the same time contribute in terms of capacity development and communications. The end goal of this collaboration is both vertical and horizontal communication: at first, the videos will be used to share insights and ideas with policy makers. Simultaneously, the videos will be translated and shared through the S-S Gateway with other communities to ensure effective south-south cooperation.

These half-day trainings were just the first step towards ensuring that every voice truly counts for adaptive management and it will produce change: change in knowledge, change in practices and enhance livelihoods.